3rd appearance, Sunday 20th, panel discussion +brief signing
13.00 PM, Finnish time
I was there an hour early again, getting my usual front row
seat, admiring the anime they were showing before that. The
panel was supposed to be on Mythology squared 2, about how
mythology is used and reinvented in fantasy nowadays.
Due to this appearance being in a panel, I decided not to
take notes all the time, though I semiregretted it later.
The panel consisted of chairman Jukka Halme,
radio-dj Hannu Blommila, artist Petri Hiltunen, student
Tarja Rainio and Neil Gaiman, of course. I'm not sure
how well they stayed within the given limits, but it was
fairly entertaining and somewhat humorous, too. First
in line was dealing out the requested drinks, Neil saying
that he was fine as long as he got his Sunday morning
coffee, which one of his guides had brought in when he
arrived.
What I do remember was that when at one stage Neil had talked for rather a long time on something, the chairman threw in the comment "Welcome to the Neil Gaiman show", which promptly cut the opinion slightly shorter maybe. I don't know if the chairman had actually heard Neil's comment on the Neil Gaiman-show yesterday or not, but it hit the mark I believe.
The topics ranged from Tolkien to Howard, for example,Hiltunen saying
that without Tolkien we would now look at Howard's work as the
defining early fantasy influence, to which Neil said he disagreed,
that in his opinion Howard would be remembered as a minor cult
writer without Tolkien's work.
The "hashashini" also came up, Blommila bringing the topic
up I believe. You can find more about them via
Silent Arrows Library . For now let it just be said they're
the people who are responsible for us calling assassins just
that. I had a previous interest in the matter because of the
character of
Nasir in Robin of Sherwood in the 1980's, so it was fairly
intriguing to hear Neil talk about an idea about what if the pope
had used or was using the hashashiyun/assassinites secretly. I
can't remember what exactly was said, but there was an interruption
from the audience, from the head of Finland's Star Wars society,
saying that there actually is a Finnish short story quite like
that. I'm not sure if I've ran across it, but if I have, it
seemingly wasn't that memorable then.
Gaiman's opinion was that myths are what you have after you stop worshipping, after the traditions of religions stop. He was saying "Nobody sprinkles the sacred crocodile dust in the Nile delta at 6 am anymore..." when Hiltunen gestured that he has something to say to that, only for Neil to go "You do??" and make the audience laugh, of course. He also thought that from religion you first go to mythology, and when those start dying out, they become fairytales for us.
He also said that he's mildly pissed off with druids, despite
the usual "some of my best friends are ..." line. The reason was
that they claim to be part of a 5000 year tradition, when in
reality it started some 150(?) years ago maybe, someone coming
up with this and that and saying that this is how they
worshipped back then. We don't know what they did in reality.
In connection to this he said that what we do know about
someone worshipping Odin, for example, is that they hanged
one person every day for 9 days (possibly 9 people for 9
days in a row?) and had them hanging at the side of the
path to form a symbolic gateway through which people walked
to the main worshipping site, or something like that. So it's
fine by him if someone wants to worship in the old ways, only
there's that small matter of the rituals actually being
what they were. I didn't take notes on this, so don't quote
me on it.
There was a point being made about christianity being
used in literature like it was a myth though it's still
practised, which probably lead Neil to his comment on The
Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus. He first asked if anyone
had heard of it, a few hands rising from the audience,
mine being one of them, though I don't think he noticed,
looking the other way. He described the way the child Jesus
is performing miracles to the left and right of him, and
killing anyone he was displeased with, all that, and then
quoted Mary's words to Joseph, about how they won't be able to
let him out anymore if he keeps on killing everyone like
that, and saying what a wonderful line that is.
He also told this story from it about how some kid had died
falling off the roof of a building, everyone suspecting
Jesus had done it. Jesus said he hadn't, and
that he could prove it, waking up the dead kid. So the
dead kid wakes up, says Jesus didn't do it, and then
falls back dead again.
The panel finished and Neil was escorted out, but I stayed in my seat, waiting for the Author Reading scheduled in half an hour. Ken MacLeod was first in turn, reading a passage from his book Cassini Division. Again, I made no notes, so not having read the book the thing that most stuck in my mind was the brightly coloured suits they wore to travel on the surface of one of the moon's of Saturn (?), and that Saturn had rings then. He has a most charming Scottish accent, though I'm sure most Finns found it rather difficult to understand, would describe it as slightly "clipped" perhaps. Neil was a bit late when MacLeod finished, so there was a chance for a surprise questions and answers session, too. Unfortunately I just don't remember a single thing from it. I'm hopeless if I don't take notes.
Neil walked in again and said he would do a reading from his upcoming book American Gods. He quipped that it was going to be published under the category of "Bestseller", though I'm still not sure whether he was serious about that or not. You can never tell with him. He described the book as an odd mixture of short story collection and murder mystery and everything in between, and said it's taking him so long cause practically every chapter he adds in one short story in between, if I got that right.
This is where I start smiling widely as I'm typing this, it's something that happens to me every time I think about his reading. I start smiling and I get tears in my eyes if I think about it too closely. The chapter he read for us was called "Coming to America 1721", and it told us the story of the life of Essie Tregowan. If you ever get a chance to go to some reading of his, I recommend you do, it's a wonderful experience. I still hear his voice in my mind when I think about the story, can hear lines from here and there, the tone of voice he used. If your father read you bedtime stories like that you'd never want to grow too old to be read one.
The story itself is hard to describe unless I want to
spoil it in advance, which I don't, especially as I hardly
have his talent of making things sound the way he makes them
sound, wording and phrasing. Get the book when it comes out,
it's there somewhere. All I can say is it involves pixies
(which I always thought were pronounced piksies, not piskies)
and appletree men, and tells of transportation, and pleading
the belly and many other things. It starts out like any
story does, and goes on to describe Essie's life with love
and care, so that at some stage you realize you care about
the character, the way you care about most of Neil Gaiman's
characters.
When he got near the end of the story, I was trying not to
cry and I was still smiling, too, at the same time. You felt
like you knew Essie and that she mattered, that essentially
all the people in the world matter. It's what his writing
does to me, and that's why I end up trying not to cry, though
I've been described the most unfeeling person sometimes.
That's one of his greatest gifts in my eyes, the characters
he writes. I admit that his reading the text out loud may
have something to do with my reaction, too, but I still say
the story is good.
I particularly liked the way she reacted when Mr. John
Richardson came to see her one night, very characteristic
of her. Or should I say any woman who's gone through what
she has and has half a brain? Get the book to see what I mean.
I probably liked her because her life reminded me
of what my life might have been like back then, and because
she's a survivor. And the chestnut hair doesn't hurt either,
I guess.
Another thing that stuck in my mind well was that exchange
of lines between Essie and a certain someone, the way she said
"If you're who I think you are, I've no quarrel with you."
The way he replied "Aye, and I no quarrel with you, Essie
Tregowan", and "You've done me many a good turn", as well as
"Good and bad. Our kind blow both ways." But I better
move on or I'll be smudging the keyboard with mascara
coloured teardrops.
He finished and all the people in the auditorium woke from
the enchantment. I tried to make my way out quickly, not
certain what was up next, but not wanting to miss any of it if
there was something happening still. Neil was by the info and
sales table, talking about a decorated doll someone had given
to him, something about butterflies I think. I had the chance
to give him my little Thoughts and Thanks-note then, right
after which everyone moved to the signing table, where there
was more room. There had been no planned signing for Sunday,
but everyone got in queue spontaneously just in case. This time I
was about 9th or so. Neil was talking to a handicapped guy in a
wheelchair at this stage.
The impromptu signing was fine by me, since I still had one
more Finnish version of Neverwhere to sign with me, this time
for the guy who originally introduced me to the Sandman and
Gaiman's work. I felt I owed that much to him, if not more.
At the same time Ken MacLeod's signign was about to start, so there
were 2 lines next to each other. When there was only one person
in front of me and no one in front of MacLeod I asked him if I
could get his autograph while waiting, only for the person in
front of me to move away at the same time, so I was trying to
juggle both celeb-conversations at the same time, get the
dedication names right, etc. Another new name for Neil and Tiina
with MacLeod.
This signing was very short, so I was lucky to have squeezed
in. I went out to the terrace, the door of which was by the
queue, and was coming back in when Neil was leaving. I smiled
hello's to the guides and exchanged a glance, raising eyebrows
for recognition or something, with Neil as he passed. It's my
most predominant memory of him, the way his eyes looked as he
fixed them on me, passing. I can't interpret the look on the
face, but I do remember the eyes.
So anywaysies... He left, hovering in the hall a bit further still I think, last words with some people, as I saw hovering on the other side of the hall, getting my last impressions.
Back to What Neil Said, part 1
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