Monday, August 12, 2013

My Night With Neil

As those of you on Twitter probably know (I might have mentioned it), I had the chance to head up to Vancouver, BC a couple of days ago to catch Neil Gaiman on the last of his North American signing dates. We drove up on Thursday morning and got into town around three in the afternoon. We checked into our hotel and got a quick lunch and then I was dropped off at the Vogue Theatre, an historic art deco theatre built in 1941. Besides being a bit warm in the sun, the 75 minute wait outside didn't actually seem that long because I was so excited.


Once inside, I got a seat just off-center in the fourth row and had another hour to wait until Neil was on. Luckily I brought a book to pass the time (thanks, Connie Willis).


Then Neil came out (hooray!). I didn't get any good photos while he was on stage but I didn't try very hard either. Instead I sat back and listened while he read from The Ocean at the End of the Lane, answered a wide variety of audience questions and read once more from Fortunately, the Milk (an all-ages book out in September and really, truly hilarious). This part of the night flew by even though it lasted for about 90 minutes. He was funny and thoughtful and did his best to boost the confidence of the Canadian audience (that's a Canadian joke).

Then, the signing. Luckily, my wait was only about two hours long, as our row was called at about 9:55pm. (I say luckily because there was still easily half of the theatre that were still waiting patiently when I left.)


I was surprisingly not too nervous as my time came to get my books in front of Neil and there was a very kind volunteer there to take our phones and cameras so I got some fantastic photos of myself with himself.


At first I just stood there awkwardly while he signed my copy of Ocean (drawing a nice moon inside) and then I told him I came up from Seattle and he thanked me for doing so and I felt a bit calmer.


And then he got to the other book I brought for him to sign, Diana Wynne Jones' Reflections: On the Magic of Writing, which he wrote the foreword to and he just paused and sighed. Then he started telling me how he wished Diana had gotten the chance to read Ocean and that she probably would have loved it (I said I thought so too). I might also have mentioned #dwjmarch ...


We talked about missing her dreadfully and a bit about her new book (the one that her sister Ursula has written the ending to -- Neil was considered for the project but decided to say no to it) ...


And that was it ... time for one last smile and then he had to sign that book for the nice boy with the awesome hair that was behind me.

It was one of the most amazing nights of my life and it took me hours to fall asleep that night. I am so happy that the Vancouver Writers Fest was able to bring Neil to BC and that my kind husband and son drove with me all the way to another country "just" to see an author.

Still reliving a night to remember,
K

12 comments:

  1. Yay!!! I'm so so so glad you got to meet him. He's just so wonderful!

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    1. I still can't believe I was so calm but he really puts one at ease. He's fantastic!

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  2. So wonderful! Every Gaiman fan should have the opportunity to attend an event like this, and I'm sad that those opportunities are now coming to an end. I had the pleasure of seeing him on his tour for Anansi Boys and it is something I won't ever forget. Luckily I was one of the first persons to call and order tickets so we were in the very first line to go get signed. After the event I read that he was there for 6 hours signing. Which is why I understand his desire to quit the tours.

    Thanks for sharing your exciting time with us.

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    1. He's definitely a wonderful man for doing a signing tour like this. I thought I would feel rushed and maybe get time to say one sentence but it wasn't like that at all. I hope there are still chances to talk to him again in my future but, if not, I'm happy with what I got!

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  3. Wow!!! So amazing!!! And, what a story to tell ... you went to another country to see this wonderful author!! :)

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    1. I know. It was amazing and worth the travel time!

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  4. I had him sign the DWJ foreword too, and he was totally lovely about it. He said this book felt like Time of the Ghost. LOVELY TIME OF THE GHOST. LOVELIEST BOOK.

    (Neil Gaiman is seriously just amazingly nice.)

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    1. I kept going back and forth about what I would have him sign but the DWJ foreword just seemed like the most meaningful thing to me and a kind of connection to DWJ. The things he said about her were so perfect and I love that he loves her so much (and misses her).
      And Time of the Ghost! I can totally see it. Maybe that needs to be our read-along book for next dwjmarch?

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  5. What a fantastic experience! I'd love to have him sign the DWJ forward in my copy of Reflections too. I've been meaning to read The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and hearing it compared to Time of the Ghost has now made me just a little bit rabid for it.

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    1. You will definitely see traces of Diana in Ocean, both in the story and also in Old Mrs. Hempstock. Oh, I love Diana and Neil so much it hurts sometimes!

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  6. That's awesome. I adore his books, Anansi Boys is my favorite, and someday I hope I can go to one of his book signings. I nearly got to see him in Michigan in July while visiting my parents, but it just didn't work out. Someday!! I'm sure I'd be totally tongue-tied.

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    1. Anansi Boys is the last of his books that I haven't read (besides some of the Sandman stuff) but it's on my TBR (hahaha). There are few authors that I enjoy a lot who are actually still living so it was fun to meet him!

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