Neil Gaiman is currently on tour promoting his latest book, Norse Mythology, and San Diego got to see him on Wednesday, March 29th, at the Civic Theater,. The evening consisted of Neil Gaiman reading selections from his various works, impromptu storytelling, and Q&A. For the Q&A portion, Gaiman had asked people to submit questions prior to the event, and he brought out the ones he hoped to answer during the course of the evening.
Gaiman said that the seeds for Norse Mythology were planted on November 10, 2008. He stated he can recall the date, exactly, because November 10th is his birthday, and 2008 is when he met Amanda Palmer. On Nov. 10, 2008, Gaiman was meeting a friend for lunch, and discussed ideas for a book that would, ultimately, become Norse Mythology. As an additional tidbit, Gaiman said that, during this lunch, Amanda Palmer had called him and left him a message saying she had a birthday present for him, and he should meet her in Washington Square Park, where she was reading. Gaiman said, "Being a reader myself, I thought, 'oh, she's reading on a beautiful day. I won't rush over. I'll let her enjoy her reading time'."
While the day was clear and sunny, it was quite cold. Gaiman and his friend got to the park an hour later, and walked around. They saw a women in make-up, dressed as a bride, standing still like a statue, and holding a basket of flowers. Gaiman said he placed some money into the basket, and the woman handed him a flower. Gaiman then turned to his friend, and introduced her to Amanda Palmer, who was that bride statue. Gaiman said that, after his friend left, Palmer took him out for hot chocolate with the money she made from selling flowers. Gaiman said he felt bad that he had, unwittingly, left Palmer out there in the cold for so long (as he had no idea what she had planned), and when he asked her if she suffered much, Palmer responded, "No, I wasn't cold at all. It's a human statue thing." However, since then, that day has become an on-going reference thing between them, and Palmer has, since, admitted to be being very cold.
Gaiman talked a little about the American Gods TV series, currently in production. He said that he is very involved with the show, and one of the best things, is getting to see footage before everyone else. He says, "You are all in for a treat. It's really, really good!" In response to a question about Terry Pratchett, Gaiman revealed that he has just finalized a deal with the BBC for Amazon Prime to make Good Omens into a TV series. He said that Good Omens was written as a dialogue between himself and Pratchett. Gaiman said he would write until he got stuck, then he'd call Pratchett, who would take over writing until HE got stuck, and so on, back and forth, each feeding off of the other and trying to make each other laugh. Gaiman said the hardest thing for him in working on the Good Omen TV series is that, when he fixes something that didn't work for the TV series, he can't call Pratchett to talk about it. He misses him, and the fact that he can't share things with him feels uncomfortable and wrong, especially in relation to the Good Omen series.
All in all, it was a wonderful evening, and we hope he will get back here to San Diego soon!
Labels: Author Appearances
