Last night my Brother-in-law Scott and I went to Bryn Mawr college to see a reading by one of our favorite authors, Neil Gaiman. The event was free and in Bryn Mawr’s Thomas hall. A large, ornate, cathedral like hall- a perfect setting for Mr. Gaiman and his “rogue’s gallery” of characters.

We arrived just before 7pm, the official start time to find the hall about 50% full. We grabbed seats in the front row of the second section with a very clear view of the stage. Mr. Gaiman was introduced and started reading around 7:15pm. He spoke wonderfully and with great characterizations and was very personable. He read 4 selections, for about an hour and 15 minutes. What a treat. We were treated to 2 selections from Fragile Things - his latest release, a collection of short fiction. He read Instructions - a brief poem on what to do if you ever find yourself trapped in a Fairy world - and The Day the Saucers Came - a poem about the end of the world, but not really.

The treat of the evening was the reading of 2 unpublished works. I felt like we were at a concert and got to hear a great piece of music before it was released. The first was a piece called Orange which is a series of answers, without the questions. It was quirky and funny and yet built a plot and characters. Very impressive. It is slated to be included in an anthology for young readers. WHEN - he did not even know. BUT to show it’s “crispness” he read it from his laptop.

And then, in my opinion, the best piece of the evening was Chapter 2 from his upcoming book to be released next summer. He called it The Graveyard, though I am not sure if this is a working title or the official title. It was a first draft - literally handwritten!. What a treat! And his first drafts sounds like something I would have spent months revising and fleshing out and ultimately not sound as good as something he wrote in an airport.

He then did a brief question and answer segment, but only actually took one question. He first gave out information about upcoming films, with Coraline being the one that was the most exciting. It is being produced as stopmotion animation by the same people who did Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Should be absolutely fantastic!

At the end, he did a signing and I brought 3 books, but we were only allowed one to be signed. Of the three I brought, Angel & Visitations was my choice, as this is out of print. He was kind and patient and very nice. He signed and drew a picture in the book. It was a nice evening and very glad we decided to go. If it was a bookstore reading we would never had gotten the time and unpublished readings.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 at 10:09 am and is filed under Amazing, Books.