Neil Gaiman book signing

The local indie bookstore Little Shop of Stories won a contest to have Neil Gaiman come to their store and do a book signing. Since their store is, I'm guessing, only about 300 square feet, the event was actually held in Presser Hall at nearby Agnes Scott College. It was a wild success. According to Neil's twitter, 1050 fans showed up.

Neil started about 10 minutes late, spoke for a little while and clearly had the audience in the palm of his hand. He then read chapters 2 and 3 from Odd and the Frost Giants and lived up to his reputation as a great public reader. Next he answered questions that had been pre-submitted, which he didn't get to look at until he was on stage. This wasn't a problem as they were all pretty standard questions...until the last one (I think) asking if he would tell us the meaning of life. He then read chapter 17 from The Graveyard Book, and around 7:30 the bane of all writers, the book signing, began.

The organizers were brilliant and the audience was spectacular. You have never seen such a patient crowd. They started by letting anyone with kids come up and get their books signed first. Then they started taking people out of their seats by rows. I was about 20 rows back and didn't get my books signed until 11:30. Even that late there were more smiles in the audience than scowls, well, on the faces of those still awake anyway.

During my four hour wait I went to the back of the auditorium and bought a pre-signed copy of The Graveyard Book, even though it was a 19th printing and I almost never bother to get anything other than first printings signed. I also read most of Fragile Things, all but finishing it when my row was finally called.

You could only get one book signed, or two if you bought at least one book from Little Shop of Stories. I brought a book I bought from the store, a hardcover first printing of Fragile Things and a hardcover of Robert Bloch: Appreciations of the Master; the latter being the only book in my collection signed by Philip José Farmer that Neil also appears in (I'm still kicking myself for not realizing Joe R. Lansdale is in the book and not getting him to sign it at Farmercon a few years ago). When my turn came I gave Neil a copy of Farmerphile #11 (January 2008), the 90th Birthday Issue, and explained I had tried to contact Neil to get him to write a birthday wish for Phil, but he was on a tour at the time. He seemed interested in the magazine and said he wished he had been able to contribute. Very gracious I thought. I hope he finds time to read it.

Prior to the announcement of Neil coming I had only read two of his books, American Gods and Anansi Boys. I'm now looking forward to reading more, especially Good Omens, but I don't know if I'll be getting into the comics and graphic novels. As for what I'm reading next...

I don't really think of myself as having an issue with Attention Deficit Disorder, until I stop and examine some of the things I do. I have a stack of books on my night stand all jumping up and down waving their pages shouting, "Me, me, pick me!" These are all books I recently decided are at the top of my "What to read next list." But yesterday I got a package in the mail from Subterranean Press containing a book I had pre-ordered over a year ago and which was all but forgotten. But when I opened the package my brain went, "Ooh, it's shiny, it's new," and so now I'm reading Nick and the Glimmung by Philip K. Dick

I'm not an active member of the Atlanta Science Fiction Society, but I did sign up on their yahoo group so I get an email every time someone posts a message and that is how I learned that Neil Gaiman was coming to town. As for Little Shop of Stories, I never even new they existed until this happened. They do have a charming little store, with friendly staff and a table in the back with books signed by at least a dozen authors (the one time I went to the store to get my ticket). It is mostly a children's book store, but I plan on checking them out every few months to see if they have any new signed books. They did a great job and I hope they reap long term benefits from Neil's visit.