Visiting Neil: An Epilogue, Of Sorts

* An oversight in my previous post (see link, below): It was Special Collections librarian Meredith Gillies who led Neil Gaiman, Hank Wagner, Jack Zipes, Casey Hoekstra and I into the subterranean vaults of the University of Minnesota Children's Literature Research Collection. As promised, upon my return home I rushed a care package off to Meredith of my own work, and I hope in time to find a way to tap the collection there for my own research project on early children's literature on dinosaurs and prehistoric life. Mayhaps a reason to revisit the Midwest, when the time is right? I've many cool old samples of that genre in my collection (some of which I've already shipped off to the Bissette Special Collection at Henderson State University's HUIE Library), going back to the late 19th Century, but Meredith's tour and the mind-blowing scope of their special collection was a mouth-watering overture to arriving at a more definitive grasp of the roots of the prehistoric genre. Wish me luck!

In Part III of my posts on my visit to Neil Gaiman's, I mentioned Neil's signing session after his reading: "After the long line has been moved once to another room and each person (including a lanky pair of identical twin brothers) given time for signatures..."

Well, what d'ya know, an email arrived the next day from one of the brothers, Nick Folkman: "I just wanted to say that I read your blog today and was delightfully surprised to see you mention my brother and I (we were the lanky pair of identical twins at the Fantasy Matters conference). Had we known that you were there as well we would've attempted to say hello and try to pick your brain about comics. Anyways, I just wanted to say hello and good luck on the Gaiman biography!"

Thanks for writing, Nick, and a care package of comics (identical batch, signed to you and your brother) is already on its way to you; enjoy.

* To clarify: it's not a biography we're working on, it's a 'companion' -- an unauthorized overview and analysis of Neil's body of work to date, as complete as we can make it. Neil granted time for an exclusive interview, and when he's had time has answered some of our email questions, but this isn't a book Neil cares to have in existence, really -- to his mind, he's not done enough. Again, I'm a late-comer tagalong on this venture, happy to be working on it, invited in during the eleventh hour to help with this and that; it's Chris Golden's and Hank Wagner's book, I've done only a fraction of the work involved as and when asked, and Hank has been hammering Chris and I with completed chapters this week. We're in the home stretch, so I won't be blogging much this weekend due to workload on the project.

As of this week, I'm trying to excavate my set of Miracleman comics for that writeup this weekend, and have one more polish of The Wolves in the Walls to tackle before I fire the final draft of that chapter off to Chris and Hank. Again, wish me -- and us -- luck... I think the book is turning out pretty well.

* Last night, one of my CCS students asked me a question about Alan Moore, then flinched and covered their mouth and said, "Oh, God, sorry -- !" I laughed and answered their question, brushing off the unnecessary apology. Funny, though, that someone I've never discussed any of this with had that immediate a reaction, suddenly aware this might still be a sore point. Funny, too, I'd thought of it yesterday AM myself, for reasons noted below.

One of the first things Neil said to me almost immediately upon Hank's and my arrival to Neil's home two weekends ago was, "I just thought you should know I saw Alan the other day, and he seems very happy..." Alan and Melinda (Gebbie) were of course married earlier this year, and Neil was there, too; I posted links and congrats here when that popped up on Neil's blog.

Neil's immediate comment was completely appropriate, and it's nice to know Neil knew it to be. Neil is my only remaining 'lifeline' from the often intense ten-year friendship I enjoyed with Alan (Rick Veitch and I just don't talk about it any more, and haven't for a couple of years). It was a kindness indeed for Neil to share his news with me. I've made my peace long ago with Alan's exile of yours truly, but all this came to mind yesterday morning as I listened to one of my current favorite tunes on Mirror Mirror, the gift CD Lorraine Garland sent me home with from the visit to Neil's home. The following lyrics resonate in the context of all this:

"Every cold mile between us is painful,
All of the words we could never unsay in full,
Moments are magical, pain universal,
Frozen like ice and it's just too damn personal..."

- "Personal Thing," lyrics by Neil Gaiman, music by Neil Gaiman and Graham K. Smith, from Lorraine a' Malena's CD Mirror Mirror

(Again, the link...)

That's how it felt for a few years, but no more: the song, heard in the context of musing over lost friendships, captures the initial grief and melancholy that followed, but it's past history. It's no longer personal, when so many people know about it; and it's nice to know, per Neil's kind words, that Alan's doing well these days. What's done is done; life goes on. Thanks for the kindness, Neil, via the comments, via the song.

* One more followup to Neilland for this AM: I mentioned the backdrop of gunshots and deer hunters in the Midwest during our visit. Deer hunting season is closed here in VT now, but the aftermath lingers! But -- Goona Goona? No dice!

Marek Bennett asked if this (click link) counts as goona-goona --

-- sorry, Marek, that's not exotica, a necessary component for goona-goona. It's just New England nature at work. I've stumbled on far worse in the woods in northern and southern VT -- but those are tales for another day...

Have a thumpin' Thursday --

Visiting Neil, Part V
Friends, Music, Buzzard, Bunnies & Alchemy

A key aspect of the trip to Neil's I've only touched upon thus far is the amazing circle of Neil's friends, peers and associates Hank and I met a few of in our mere three days. Who knows who we might have spent time with, had our stay been longer?

First and foremost, natch, is Neil's family; we met Maddy, who wasn't born yet when I last visited Neil's Midwest home. Maddy is well known to all who frequent Neil's blog; she's thirteen now, and I missed seeing Mike and Holly, who are now adults and making their own ways in the world. Their mom Mary and I spent some time together Sunday, catching up and chatting -- an hour just wasn't enough time, but it's what we had, and that was precious.

It was great to see Lorraine Garland, aka The Fabulous Lorraine, again -- the Midwestern Ayesha, She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed and the person to seems to hold the gravitational forces of all in Neil's orbit in uncanny balance. Lorraine is a beautiful and amazing spirit, deftly juggling what must be a daily onslaught of energy from within and without, and doing so with complete grace and unflappable skill.

Our pre-trip emails concerning possible needs prompted me to joke about my aversion to liver on any planned menu, and Lorraine had prepared for our arrival by lovingly plopping no less than five raw chicken livers into Cabell's (Neil's dog's) outdoor snack bowl; my copy of Lorraine a' Malena's new CD Mirror Mirror is blessed with Lorraine's exquisite handwriting, "To Steve, Love, Magic & Liver!!" Next time, I'll tout my revulsion for pancreas.

Lorraine a' Malena, on da stone & in da flesh (photo by Dr. Dan)

Lorraine has her own careers flying, primary among them her music. When I was last visiting, it was The Flash Girls, Lorraine's duo with Emma Bull, but that's long past. I'm soooooo out of the loop. Since that time, lo over a decade ago, Lorraine has connected with Malena Teves and they've been making music as Lorraine a' Malena, ably assisted and backed by the likes of Neil (occasional lyrics), Chris Ewen, Adam Stemple, Robin Adnan Anders, Scott Mulligan, Armitage Shanks, Earl E. Mammal, Paul Score, Lojo Russo, and others.

I've been spinning Mirror Mirror all week, and savoring it; perfect drawing music, too. Neil's lyrics for The Butterfly Road (The Faust Song) resonate eerily since our visit -- how autobiographical is it?

Now there's no going-back
And there's something-undead
In your mind and your eyes
In your heart and your head
And if anyone asks how you feel
Just say it was part of the deal...

Lorraine's blog -- actually, it's Lorraine and Malena's venue, but it's the purest shot of online Lorraine you'll find -- is highly recommended, peppered with factoids, insights and mucho candid pleasures.

Lorraine a' Malena's website awaits you here, with news, photos, music, links, fanclub entry and more -- including how to purchase their new CD Mirror Mirror -- check it out.

For those envious of Fabulous Lorraine's demanding lifestyle, weigh your envy with care and be cautious what you wish for:

a day in the life of the Fabulous Lorraine is a daunting proposition for any mere mortal to contemplate.

Lorraine makes it look easy -- she handles it all with aplomb, but rest assured she earns her status with fifteen years of hard experience to date! All hail, Lorraine!

We also met

Sharon Stiteler, better known online as Birdchick -- here's the link, you'll love exploring this site!

Fortunately, the nanosecond in which I met Sharon and her husband Bill, I just happened to have my sketchbook in reach -- the one I toted to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science Raptor Center last year, when the Center for Cartoon Studies students and I drew from close-up drawing sessions with select raptors. When Neil mentioned to Sharon that she'd like my comic Tyrant, and Sharon fixed me with those baby blues and asked what kind of drawing I did, I handed her the sketchbook which opened right up to my brassy head-and-neck sketch from life of a turkey vulture, and Sharon melted. She loves them birds, and my buzzard was the quickest shot to her heart I could have fired as an artist.

Mayhaps it'll play out that I'll be able to collaborate with Sharon on something in 2008, wedding our mutual affection for birds of prey; time will tell, but it would be fun, and having the VINS raptor center within a half-hour of my home provides ample live research and models to work with.

Sharon's Disapproving Rabbits book and blog are another branch of her naturalist interests, be it a bizarre one; look no further than here to check it out.

Sharon generously gifted Hank and I with copies of the book, which is indeed brimming with color pix of disapproving rabbits, whose star allure is reportedly quite high in rabbit circles. I wouldn't know, I just take Sharon's word for it.

More tomorrow --
________________

A sobering parting thought for the day, compliments of HomeyM:

“We are members of the most destructive culture ever to exist. Our assault on the natural world, on indigenous and other cultures, on women, on children, on all of us through the possibility of nuclear suicide and other means - all these are unprecedented in their magnitude and ferocity.” - Derrick Jensen