Free Verse: Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

I attended an event last night at the Walker Art Center put on in conjunction with Rain Taxi, a local literary review magazine. It was part of the Free Verse series of readings, and discussions and starred frequent collaborators Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. They are probably best know for their work on The Sandman, but they have been working together more or less for over 20 years, and have created such books as Coraline, Wolves in the Walls, The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish, and Mirrormask.

The evening started out with Dave showing some short clips of his animation, and then moving on to his wider portfolio which includes comics, novels, cd, posters, and movies. He gave a very interesting commentary as the presentation unfolded.

Neil, followed Dave, and proceeded to let the packed audience of 350 people in on the fact that he had just planned on winging things until he found out that Dave had actually prepared. So he interspersed readings from his latest book Fragile Things, in between his recap of his relationship with Dave. Most of the key points in their partnership can be found in this essay.

After their individual presentations, they say down together for a some joint reminiscing before taking some questions from the audience. The whole event lasted right at two hours.

This is the 4th time, I've gotten to see Neil , and its always a delight. He is extremely engaging, and possesses a voice that just pulls you into his readings. It was, however, the first time I'd seen Mr. McKean, and while not quite and outgoing as Neil, Dave had a tremendous wit, to go along with his amazing artistry. I can see why they have prospered so well together. They were introduced as England's greatest artistic duo since Lennon and McCartney. That's not too far off the mark in my opinion.

The event was carried live on the web, and should soon be available to view here

John M. Ford

Ford is, I believe, a criminally under known author. The Dragon Waiting won him the World Fantasy Award. He has also written amongst other Heat and Fusion and Stories a collection of short stories, and The Last Hot Time, which is simply an amazing contemporay fantasy. I met Mr. Ford at this year's Boskone. He is also a local Minnesota resident like a slew of other talented fantasy authors. If you are looking for something new to read, you could dop far worse than picking up some of Mr. Ford's work.

Charles Stross

Charles Stross is relatively new to the speculative fiction scene. But boy is he prolific, and has he made his prescence known. In just a few short years, he has become the darling of the Hugos. He won Best novella in 2005 for The Concrete Jungle, and he is nominated this year for Accelerando, which is near the top of my to be read pile. I have however read the two novels so far released in The Merchant Princes series. The series takes 2 parts Zelazny and one part Puzo and combines them in a delightful and entertaining amalgam. The Merchant Princes consists so far of The Family Trade, The Hidden Family, and the soon to be released, The Clan Corporate

I got the pleasure of meeting Mr. Stross at this year's Boskone. Unfortunately I didn't arrive in time to stand him up for drinks like the rest of my friends. perhaps the next con.

George R.R. Martin

Martin is my favorite author, and A Storm of Swords is my favorite book. I got George to sign this for me at Conquest 2005 in Kansas City. A whole group of his fans who name themselves the Brotherhood without Banners, usually turns up at any convention that George appears at, and Conquest had a bumper crop. I got to meet many of the people I had talked with online from the ASOIAF message board. One traditon of the BwB, usually reserved for worldcons, is that George Knights them. But first he sends them on a quest. Our quest in KC was to bring back burnt ends. Normally not a difficult propostion in the BBQ capital of the midwest, but we did not receive the quest until 1AM, when all reputable BBQ joints were closed. The stay out of dumpster comment was a jab at part of our attempt to find burnt ends.