|
Author
|
Comment
|
deathcookie
Registered User
(8/29/02 8:01:05 pm)
|
Neil Gaiman
I just finished "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman, and thought it was outstanding. I had never heard of this author before, and I just picked the book up at the library out of the blue, and brought it with me on vacation. I couldn't put it down, especially not after the "Star" character was introduced. Has anyone else read this book? Neil Gaiman is definitely my newest favorite.
|
janeyolen
Unregistered User
(8/29/02 9:59:13 pm)
|
Neil
Neil is a favorite of mine as well, and a good friend of Terri's and mine. His early work was in comic books (one of which won the World Fantasy Award for short story) and then he wrote several adult fantasy novels with Terry Pratchett. Then started on his own fiction, first for adults, then children. His "American Gods" made the Times bestseller list, and his first children's novel (he also has a children's picture book out) has just made the bestseller lists as well. It is caloled "Coraline" and is a spooky, gorgeous children's horror novel.
Jane
|
Terri
Registered User
(8/29/02 11:15:39 pm)
|
Re: Neil
Neil's novel-length version of Stardust is an expansion of the *original* Stardust, created together by Neil (text writer) and Charles Vess (illustrator) -- the same Charles who is on this board. I love Neil's novel, but it's a pity that readers don't always know it comes out of a previous publication and was a collaborative creation. If you liked the novel, then the original illustrated version is well worth seeking out.
You can learn more about Charles' work at: www.greenmanpress.com
And you can read a lovely fairy tale poem of Neil's at: www.endicott-studio.com/cofinstr.html
Edited by: Terri at: 8/29/02 11:22:09 pm
|
Charles vess
Unregistered User
(8/30/02 12:53:45 pm)
|
About Stardust...
Actually the prose only version of STARDUST is, except for a few minor revisions that Neil wanted to make, exactly the same as the illustrated version it just doesn't have the 175 paintings that were done for the later edition. There was an interesting quirk left in the contract with the original publisher DC Comics/Vertigo which inabled Neil to resell the prose that he had written to another publisher. He deftly took advantage of that loophole. Now both editions exsist. And before anyone cries foul or unfare on my account I will say that Neil has most generously given me a percentage of all sales of the prose only version (and it has been published ALL over the world) as well as a nice percentage of the various movie options that have originated from that prose only edition.
If any of you are interested in getting a copy of the illustrated edition of STARDUST it is still in print and available through AMAZON. As I said it has 175 illustrations as well as a nice liitle sketchbook section in the back with alternative covers and preliminary concept drawings. Just type in it's full name: NEIL GAIMAN AND CHARLES VESS' STARDUST and there you are.
For a free look see at some of the art from the book just go to the gallery section of my website (greenmanpress.com) and click on "Stardust paintings".
I had a ball colaborating with Neil on this book and we both keep talking about working together again as soon as possible given both of our rather overcrowded schedules.
Enjoy! (and Hi, Terri.)
Charles
|
Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(8/30/02 1:54:12 pm)
|
Re: About Stardust...
If you haven't read Stardust yet, you really should. I am going to reread it before I hear Neil Gaiman speak here in LA in September.
Here are the links to it on Amazon if you have a hard time finding
it. As a librarian, someone is always asking me to help find stuff
online or in the library, so this is just plain habit!
www.amazon.com/exec/obido...lalufairyt
That is for the paperback. The hardcover has already become an expensive out-of-print collectible--like many things Charles has illustrated.
Heidi
Edited by: Heidi Anne Heiner at: 8/30/02 1:56:43 pm
|
janeyolenaolcom
Unregistered User
(8/30/02 11:05:23 pm)
|
Neil
I just assumed she had read the illustrated version. Silly me. When I nsee the book in my head, that is how it is.
Jane
|
Terri
Registered User
(8/30/02 11:53:29 pm)
|
Re: Neil
Sorry for the mistake, Charles. I thought Neil had expanded it slightly for the prose-only edition, I didn't realize it is virtually the same text. And I hope my message didn't sound like I was accusing Neil of foul play! I didn't mean to imply that, anyway. I know that you two have always had a good working relationship. But when mention of the prose-only edition comes up, I tend to jump right in and recommend the original edition -- knowing that the two of you created it in partnership. Anyone who loves Stardust ought to be given the treat of seeing the story in its entirety, art and all.
|
Charles Vess
Unregistered User
(8/31/02 7:31:41 am)
|
Star stuff...
Terri,
Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to imply anything by what you said. It's just that whenever I've brought this up in the past, too many "people" immediately jump into an "oh ho, well tell us all the dirt" type of mode and as this is a public forum I wanted to head that off at the pass so to speak.
Didn't want ugly rumors spreading about.
I've nothing but good things to say about Neil, who is a true gentleman and a wonderful collaborator.
Listening to him read his first draft of each new chapter over the phone was a complete delight. Somewhere around the studio I do have the complete first half of the book read onto tape for me. He read the first of STARDUST onto to tape because his hand writing is well nigh illegible and since he was insisting on writing the first draft in longhand I couldn't just read the manuscript and begin my illustrations so I needed something to start with. For later chapters, as the deadline began to loom, Neil's wife, Mary (who is apparently the only other human on the planet that can read his handwriting) would type out the manuscript for me but he would still call me as he finished each chapter and read it over the phone. This personal, first time reading was a treat to say the least!
Best,
Charles
|
sdn
Unregistered User
(8/31/02 3:00:26 pm)
|
coraline
what a cool story, charles.
i actually just read coraline this morning. iirc, neil has said that adults find it more frightening than children do! i didn't think it was terribly scary, and neither did a friend of mine (who is a dollmaker and whose work you all should check out -- http://members.aol.com/angelspoon/dolls.html), so i am clearly in the correct profession.
sdn, sham adult
|
deathcookie
Registered User
(8/31/02 7:58:01 pm)
|
stardust
Now I'm really anxious to read the original with pictures! I grabbed 4 different books at the library before we left for vacation, and I made the mistake of reading "Stardust" first. Now I can't get into the other 3 books; they seem so boring by comparison.
Thanks for letting me know about the original version, I will be looking it up as soon as I get home.
|
Gail
Unregistered User
(9/1/02 5:25:23 am)
|
Stardust
A great place to start looking for copies of the Gaiman/Vess Stardust is your local comic book store -- at least mine always keeps it in stock. It is truly a treat and I am not just saying that because I am a Charles Vess fan!
Yours in stories, Gail
|
Nalo
Registered User
(9/2/02 5:00:57 am)
|
Re: Stardust
Just bought Coraline and read it in about one breathless hour. Really enjoyed it. And Neil just last night took home a Hugo Award for American Gods.
|
Helen
Registered User
(9/2/02 5:16:38 am)
|
Yay!
How wonderful! I knew that he'd been nominated ... how fantastic! _American Gods_ is a beautiful, realistically rendered book that leaves you looking speculatively over your shoulder at neighbors and locals thinking "... what if..." _Coraline_ left me, a) with delicious shivers, b) with a sense of recognition from my own childhood as a strange child, and c) thinking that none of the comparisons, even when they're to people as great as Lewis or Carroll, quite succeed in doing it justice. Since you've already read _Stardust_ (a personal favorite, and in all likelihood the first thing that I'll read to any potential offspring, just to instill them with the right values), I highly recommend _Neverwhere_ (which has a lot of the "feel" of _Stardust_, but transplanted to modern London) __The Books of Magic_, and _Sandman_. Various issues of the latter two were also done in collaboration with Charles and a series of other wonderful artists; well worth buying. Just take my advice, and don't lend them out ... they have a mysterious tendency to disappear (although, in all honesty, I must admit that this could be due to *either* the mysterious qualities of the works *or* the larcenous tendencies of my acquaintences ... YMMV).
Best,
Helen
|
deathcookie
Registered User
(9/3/02 7:06:32 pm)
|
stardust movie?
I thought I heard there is a movie in the works for "Stardust"? Is that true?
|
Charles Vess
Unregistered User
(9/4/02 5:36:30 am)
|
Starry Starry Cinema
As to an actual movie, who ever really knows when dealing with the crazed money minds of Hollywood. Over the years the property has been optioned by Miramax (twice) and is now circling the camp of Kate Hudson's small production company (who in turn are circling the Dreamworks camp). I'm told that Kate Hudson "would love to be Stardust" for whatever that's worth.
There are only two things that I know for certain.
The first, is that given the vagaries of Hollywood, if there ever is an eventual film it probably will bear little relationship to the book that Neil and I labored on for years and years. Especially as the option is attached to the prose only version and the rights to my visualizations held by an entirely different company.
And the second is that we need a new roof on our house and that option money comes in handy for such things...
Best,
Charles
|
deathcookie
Registered User
(9/5/02 10:46:12 am)
|
stardust movie
Kate Hudson as the Star in Stardust? That's totally not who I was picturing.
:-[
|
Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(9/5/02 7:24:21 pm)
|
More Hugo Awards
Although she doesn't visit here, it is also nice to see Ellen Datlow was recognized as best editor this year. We already know she is good since she works with Terri! I wouldn't have some of my favorite anthologies without their hard work.
Heidi
|
