Why yes Neil Gaiman did come to The Cleve!

Neil Gaiman at the Cleveland Public Library


Neil Gaiman is British. But, the good kind of British. The kind you would like to invite over to tea and listen to them talk for hours. He is charming, funny, a wonderful author and responsible for creating one of the most prolific, non-Superhero comic book characters around, Sandman. From comic book writing to adult fiction to children's literature, the man does it all. Many of his works have even been tuned into movies such as Stardust, MirrorMask, Beowulf (screenwriting credit) and most recently Coraline. What's not to love?

I was very fortunate recently to see him in person at the Cleveland Public Library as part of their 2009-2010 Writers and Readers Series. I have seen Neil Gaiman many times walking the floor of the San Diego Comic-Con in the years I have attended, but I have never actually had the chance to listen to him speak and it was lovely.

Apparently, Gaiman has a lot of fans in the Cleveland area. Over 1000 people showed up to the tiny venue. Some unfortunate people had to sit in the overflow room and watch the presentation on tv screens, but Gaiman was nice enough to visit these people beforehand as he said, "to prove to them it was actually him that was there speaking." But, even more unfortunate were the people who were turned away by the police when the event had gotten to large.

Praying that his voice would hold out since he was still fighting the after effects of a nasty flu, he started off by reading a portion of his new book, Odd and the Frost Giants. A short book written for World Book Day, it chronicles the story of Odd, a young boy who has had some very unfortunate luck of late, but is about to embark on the adventure of his young lifetime as one day in the forest he encounters a fox, an eagle and a bear, who just happen to be the Norse gods Loki, Odin and Thor. These gods were cast out of Asgard by Frost Giants and now it is up to Odd to travel with the gods and help then reclaim Asgard to put an end to the endless winter. I have not read the book yet, but from the excerpts Gaiman read it sounds enjoyable, plus as an added bonus he gave different voices to all his characters making the characters really come alive.

In between reading from Odd and the Frost Giants, Gaiman was able to answer some questions from the audience. One question being what he is working on now. Apparently he just finished and submitted work on a story called, "The Trouble with Cassandra" about a thirty-something year-old who as a teenager invented an imaginary girlfriend, only to have her turn up several years later contacting his friends and family via a social networking site like Facebook. Knowing Neil Gaiman it is going to either be a truly creepy story or one of his more offbeat, funny ones. I for one can't wait to read it. He is also working on a non-fiction book that is requiring him to travel to China soon. It is about the myth of the Chinese monk that traveled to India to bring original Buddhist texts to his country. Gaiman claimed he hasn't written a non-fiction book for about 13 years, so it seemed like a good time to revisit the genre.

When asked what some of his early inspirations were, he replied with C.S. Lewis and Harlan Ellison, as well as listing J.R.R. Tolkien as one of his favorites. He stated that as a child when confronted with a book, any book, no mater the subject matter, he would read it. It got so bad that as a young boy his family would frisk him before social events trying to find the hidden book they knew he was carrying.

After a few more questions, he read from his 2009 John Newbery Medal award-winning and New York Times bestselling children's novel, The Graveyard Book. If you haven't had a chance to read this book I highly recommend you pick up a copy or check it out from your local library. Yes, it is a children's book, but it is so well written and interesting that you won't want to put it down once you start it. It has everything from vampires, ghosts, werewolves and a graveyard where the hero Nobody Owens has come to live after his family is brutally murdered by a man named Jack, who incidentally is looking for Nobody throughout the book because no one ever gets away from Jack. Probably not something you would be reading to your 5-year-old, but definitely suitable for older children.

The fact that the Graveyard Book has been on the NYT Bestsellers list for over a year now led to another interesting anecdote. At a party he had attended in LA, Gaiman ran into a woman named Riley Ellis, who had received an advanced copy of the book. She predicted that the book would be on the list for at least 53 weeks. When the 52nd week hit, he sent her an email to tell her she was right in her prediction, to which she replied....I said 53 weeks. He also claimed via Twitter that if the book remained on the list for a year he would buy pie for everyone. After calculating the cost to buy pie for the entire planet he quickly reneged on that promise. At any rate, even without pie, congratulations are in order to Neil Gaiman for this feat.

Sadly all good things must come to an end. After lending us his already strained voice, Neil Gaiman left us with one particular thought. "Your imagination is the most invaluable thing you can posses." A simple statement really, but a true one coming from a man who should know, since his imagination spans universes.

Thank you Neil Gaiman for bringing yourself to Cleveland and brightening the day of this particular geek girl!

-Xtina