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I Saw Neil Gaiman!

Last weekend, Brian and I went to see Neil Gaiman give a talk for Pen World Voices. Neil Gaiman, if you don't know, wrote Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and Neverwhere, among other things. His latest book, The Graveyard Book, just won the Newbery Medal, for best American children's fiction. Neverwhere and The Graveyard Book are my two favorites. I liked The Graveyard Book so much that I forced Brian to read it. He liked it too.

It was awesome to see him. Brian and I got terrific, front row seats. Neil was funny and interesting, even a bit inspiring at times. When we left, Brian said he even felt inspired to start writing!

My favorite part of the talk was his revealing a fantasy he had as a kid. He dreamed of being the guy who wrote The Lord of the Rings. He didn't just want to write a book like it. He wanted to write that specific book. So, he fantasized that he would be holding the book and somehow transport to a parallel universe where The Lord of the Rings was never written. Then he would have to find some adult to type up a copy of the book for him. He was a little boy and couldn't do it himself. After that, of course, he would need to kill the adult in order to cover up the evidence and take the glory of having written The Lord of the Rings. This fantasy still makes me giggle. I like how perversely complicated it is.

Here is a picture of me getting my book signed:


Here is a picture of the signature page:

I love what he did. I am proud to know that Neil Gaiman wrote my headstone.
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