Extremely Silly Photos of Serious writers!

The two I want to show here are of Ernest Hemingway kicking a beer can & Neil Gaiman with Chuthulu on his head. Click through for Colette, Proust, Mark Twain and others *grins* 

Here are pics via Flavorwire

Neil Gaiman and The Sandman novels/comics

The amazing Neil Gaiman is back with "The Annotated Sandman" - the first volume is out Jan 10th from Vertigo Comics.
If you haven't heard or read The Sandman comics yet - I would HIGHLY, highly recommend that you go find them at your nearest library right now. I would say book store or library, but they were always too expensive for my then-student's pocket.
Blurb from The Sandman: 

Meet the Endless, a family of immortals that govern all aspects of life and death throughout the universe. However, one of theirown lays captured--Dream, the Lord of Sleep. As Dream makes his escape and returns to his duties after 70 years of imprison-ment, he encounters countless characters from myth, legend and comics, from Lucifer himself to the tragic Greek hero Orpheusto the HELLBLAZER John Constantine.

Right. The blurb tells you nothing.

It doesn't say that the Sandman graphic novels are amongst the most creative works of art you will ever see, anywhere. Just wait till you get into Book 2, and begin to see the genius of the story and characters!


The Annotated Sandman will do a page-by-page discussion on each Sandman comic. The first three pages are available here at tor.com, and we get a sense of the crazy detail and historical references that the Annotation covers.
Read this only after you read Sandman, this would be a great second/third read of the Sandman comics.

Teaser Tuesday #37 - Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things and Septimus Heap 6 Darke

This is a re-read Teaser this week! I'm reading (for the second time), a collection of Short stories by Neil Gaiman called Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders

Teaser from the Short Story - A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman: 

“Of course not,” said my friend. “I know the squeak of your brougham wheels, though, after all this time: an oscillating G sharp above high C. And if Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard cannot publically be seen to come into the parlour of London’s only consulting detective, yet comes anyway, and without having had his breakfast, then I know that this is not a routine case. Ergo, it involves those above us and is a matter of national importance.”

I'm also finishing up the latest Septimus Heap book, by Angie Sage. I know I'm completely over this age group, but it is still necessary for me to finish series I begin. I'm not posting  a teaser here, the Neil Gaiman book is far more captivating. Can't you tell from the above mind-twisting take on a classic Sherlock story?

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Teaser Tuesdays is hosted at Should Be Reading.

Free Story from Neil Gaiman

www.Tor.com is celebrating Zombie Week, and they have a host of stories available:

Tor.com is plus maggots and minus limbs this week as we turn our single, desiccated eye to the zombie phenomenon. You can keep track of all our zombie context here at the index , and be sure to check out Jason Heller's zombie playlist, Dave Palumbo onzombie art, John Joseph's Adams' round table, Paula R. Stiles on historical and literary zombies, and our caption contest , with a prize pack worth over $500. We're also serving up plenty of fiction and comics!

The story I'm talking about is the one by Neil Gaiman, originally published in Mojo: Conjure Stories_Warner Books, 2003. Its super creepy, and I was left with that feeling typical of Gaiman novels - the disorienting feeling that the world just twisted on its axis.
Bitter Grounds
You can read the entire 4-page story online for free!

Author Update - Neil Gaiman

So, how many of you haven't read Neil Gaiman yet?

If you still have not picked any one of his bestsellers to read, you should! The award-winning novels Stardust, Anansi Boys, Amercian Gods or his fantastic graphic novel series The Sandman should be on the top of your reading list. (Thanks Pi, for introducing the graphic novels to me all those years ago!)

He is known for brilliant anthologies too - His "Fragile Things", "Smoke and Mirrors" were so good I just had to buy the dead-tree versions..ebooks/library-borrowed didn't suffice. He also co-wrote the hilarious "Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" with Terry Pratchett. enuf said.

Gaiman has a new book out, called "Stories":  "The joy of fiction is the joy of the imagination. . . ."

 'Stories' is a collection of all new works, by some really big names - Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), Diana Wynne Jones, Jeffrey Deaver, Jodi Picoult stood out in the list.

 

Check out their entry criteria:
"We wanted to read stories that used a lightning-flash of magic as a way of showing us something we have already seen a thousand times as if we have never seen it at all."

How amazing does that sound? Clearly, this anthology will transcend boundaries. This is going to be a book that just uses Fantasy as a medium to tell a great tale, be it horror, love, mystery, supernatural, across genres.
Can't wait to get a copy for myself..