![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greygirlbeastThere's no way I'm going to even attempt a lengthy, detailed description of Fiddler's Green. Late on Saturday night (actually, early on Sunday morning), watching Nuala and Destiny dance to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (in a geodesic dome beneath the cold Minnesota sky), Neil and I agreed that there was no possibility that we would ever be able to capture this wonderful, surreal, unlikely, exhausting, exhilarating event in mere words. I think you just had to be there.
I don't think I can even manage a list of my favourite moments. It was all very, very fine. And as for as raising money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, it was an unqualified success. Saturday night's auction netted more that $37,000 (a record, besting the CBLDF auction at the San Diego ComiCon), and after the art auction Sunday, the total had risen to more than $43,000! Take that, all you censorious right-wing tight-asses. My own contribution to the auction (besides my bidding war with The Fabulous Lorraine over the Desire Docs, which she won) was an offer to write one thousand words on any subject the winner's heart desired, fiction or non-fiction, and to give the copyright for those one thousand words to the highest bidder. I was absolutely astounded when my offer netted a whopping $1,000 after some furious bidding. The winner was Mr. Greg Ketter of Dreamhaven Books, who will be publishing the 1,000 words as a chapbook and donating all funds from its sale to the CBLDF to raise still more money for the cause. Details TBA. But the truly astounding event of the night was seeing the two-page Sandman story that Neil and I had conceived and scripted earlier that day, which Charles Vess and Jill Thompson had immediately drawn and Todd Klein had lettered that very same evening, go for $10,0000! Woot!
Later today, or maybe tomorrow, I'll post some photos that Spooky took this weekend.
And did the con lead me to a better understanding of my complex feelings about The Dreaming, as I'd hoped it might? Yes, I think so, in so far as anything ever will. Maybe, hopefully, I gained a little perspective, and I may even have learned that I am not "the most hated woman in Sandman fandom" (as I have described myself on more than one occasion). I am extremely proud of what I accomplished in The Dreaming, from 1996 to 2000, regardless of anyone else's feelings about the book, regardless of lackluster sales and Vertigo's failure to collect it in trade editions. Corporate decisions and the grumblings of a handful of loudmouth internet goons can be damned. It was good enough for me, and I know now, having remembered almost all the stories that I made myself forget, that I can look at The Dreaming years and years from now and know that I was given the chance to be a part of something very special. And my thanks to Rocky, for reminding me yesterday morning that "Empty barrels always make the loudest noise."
I almost cried three times yesterday, once during my reading, right in the middle of a passage from The Dry Salvages, that scene where Audrey and Zora are talking about Van Gogh and poetry and what will become of Audrey's three cats. I'm gettin' old.
This doesn't seem to actually be leading anywhere, so I'm just gonna say a few more thank-yous and then sign off for now. So— My grateful thanks to Bill Stiteler for ferrying me and Spooky from and back to the airport; to Mimi Ko, Squeaks, Rocky, Davey, Rain, Saint Nightwalker (you are just too frelling cool), Pat, and the ebullient Elizabeth Harrington; to the Fiddler's Green Committee, for making this whole thing happen; to Charles Brownstien for his work with the CBLDF; to Karen Berger for a great Thai dinner; to aRvin for showing up so I could finally meet a member of Nyarlathotep face-to-face; to Pat, for inviting me and Spooky to Whitby; to Greg Ketter and Dreamhaven Books, for getting copies of my books to the con; to Erica Vess, just for being delightful; to Maddy Gaiman, for informing her father that, while he was weird, I was cool; to Lorraine, for being a good sport; to Maureen, for being sure that The Green Fairy was in attendance; to Sheila Perry, for putting together a beautiful souvenir book and letting Maureen the Aforementioned see that my name had its fada throughout; to Kilted Coffee and the freaks who work there, for delivering us from the hotel's ass coffee and lousy, overpriced room-service breakfasts; to everyone who made it to Satellite 7-8 for my reading and stood in that really frelling long line at my signing and told me how much they'd enjoyed The Dreaming. And a blanket thanks to lots of other people I'm sure that forgetting, at least by name. Thank you all.
And you know what else? MirrorMask is going to frelling rock.
I don't think I can even manage a list of my favourite moments. It was all very, very fine. And as for as raising money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, it was an unqualified success. Saturday night's auction netted more that $37,000 (a record, besting the CBLDF auction at the San Diego ComiCon), and after the art auction Sunday, the total had risen to more than $43,000! Take that, all you censorious right-wing tight-asses. My own contribution to the auction (besides my bidding war with The Fabulous Lorraine over the Desire Docs, which she won) was an offer to write one thousand words on any subject the winner's heart desired, fiction or non-fiction, and to give the copyright for those one thousand words to the highest bidder. I was absolutely astounded when my offer netted a whopping $1,000 after some furious bidding. The winner was Mr. Greg Ketter of Dreamhaven Books, who will be publishing the 1,000 words as a chapbook and donating all funds from its sale to the CBLDF to raise still more money for the cause. Details TBA. But the truly astounding event of the night was seeing the two-page Sandman story that Neil and I had conceived and scripted earlier that day, which Charles Vess and Jill Thompson had immediately drawn and Todd Klein had lettered that very same evening, go for $10,0000! Woot!
Later today, or maybe tomorrow, I'll post some photos that Spooky took this weekend.
And did the con lead me to a better understanding of my complex feelings about The Dreaming, as I'd hoped it might? Yes, I think so, in so far as anything ever will. Maybe, hopefully, I gained a little perspective, and I may even have learned that I am not "the most hated woman in Sandman fandom" (as I have described myself on more than one occasion). I am extremely proud of what I accomplished in The Dreaming, from 1996 to 2000, regardless of anyone else's feelings about the book, regardless of lackluster sales and Vertigo's failure to collect it in trade editions. Corporate decisions and the grumblings of a handful of loudmouth internet goons can be damned. It was good enough for me, and I know now, having remembered almost all the stories that I made myself forget, that I can look at The Dreaming years and years from now and know that I was given the chance to be a part of something very special. And my thanks to Rocky, for reminding me yesterday morning that "Empty barrels always make the loudest noise."
I almost cried three times yesterday, once during my reading, right in the middle of a passage from The Dry Salvages, that scene where Audrey and Zora are talking about Van Gogh and poetry and what will become of Audrey's three cats. I'm gettin' old.
This doesn't seem to actually be leading anywhere, so I'm just gonna say a few more thank-yous and then sign off for now. So— My grateful thanks to Bill Stiteler for ferrying me and Spooky from and back to the airport; to Mimi Ko, Squeaks, Rocky, Davey, Rain, Saint Nightwalker (you are just too frelling cool), Pat, and the ebullient Elizabeth Harrington; to the Fiddler's Green Committee, for making this whole thing happen; to Charles Brownstien for his work with the CBLDF; to Karen Berger for a great Thai dinner; to aRvin for showing up so I could finally meet a member of Nyarlathotep face-to-face; to Pat, for inviting me and Spooky to Whitby; to Greg Ketter and Dreamhaven Books, for getting copies of my books to the con; to Erica Vess, just for being delightful; to Maddy Gaiman, for informing her father that, while he was weird, I was cool; to Lorraine, for being a good sport; to Maureen, for being sure that The Green Fairy was in attendance; to Sheila Perry, for putting together a beautiful souvenir book and letting Maureen the Aforementioned see that my name had its fada throughout; to Kilted Coffee and the freaks who work there, for delivering us from the hotel's ass coffee and lousy, overpriced room-service breakfasts; to everyone who made it to Satellite 7-8 for my reading and stood in that really frelling long line at my signing and told me how much they'd enjoyed The Dreaming. And a blanket thanks to lots of other people I'm sure that forgetting, at least by name. Thank you all.
And you know what else? MirrorMask is going to frelling rock.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-11-15 06:43 pm (UTC)You wrote:
"to Maddy Gaiman, for informing her father that, while he was weird, I was cool"
*dies laughing*
I can't wait for the photos.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-15 08:16 pm (UTC)By the way, check your e-mail again. More about that thing. You know, that thing? Not that thing, the other thing.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-15 08:21 pm (UTC)There are plans...
no subject
Date: 2004-11-15 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-15 10:34 pm (UTC)On the subject of TGWWBD are there any plans to collect it? I've told a hundred friends over the years how wonderful it is, but short of loaning out my well worn copies there's no other way for them to read it that I know of...
no subject
Date: 2004-11-16 01:17 am (UTC)Unfortunately, no. The original plan was to release TGWWBD as a tpb in April 1999, but it and several other titles were pulled from the schedule when Vertigo decided too many trades were being released too fast, and it was never rescheduled.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-15 11:40 pm (UTC)Oh, excellent! I was very bummed that I couldn't make it to the con, especially considering that I live only an hour away (but, alas, could not afford it any which way), but this is exciting news. I adore Dreamhaven, too, so this is very cool.
And do you mean 10,000 or 1,000 words? Did the excitement lead you to sprinkle a couple of extra zeroes in this post? ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-11-16 01:06 am (UTC)Yeah. Extra zeroes. Only 1,000 words. Thanks for catching that.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-16 01:19 pm (UTC)Whitby as in England? Home of Whitby Goth Festival?
We live about 40 minutes from there (in another, slightly less glamorous coastal town), and can definitely recommend a visit during one of the bi-annual goth fests.
Roo
(I also missed your posts while you've been away, and (on an unrelated and slightly bizarre note) had a very weird dream last night in which I had to play against you on Centre Court in a Wimbledon ladies singles final - you were in full Nebari costume, and I had to forfeit the match because I realised I had no idea how to play... most odd.)
no subject
Date: 2004-11-16 02:27 pm (UTC)Yep.
had a very weird dream last night in which I had to play against you on Centre Court in a Wimbledon ladies singles final - you were in full Nebari costume, and I had to forfeit the match because I realised I had no idea how to play
It's too early in the morning to be witty, so I'll just agree. Yes. that is indeed a weird (but charming) dream.
No...
Date: 2004-11-16 10:22 pm (UTC)That's why I pushed for you to be there!
Thank you, Caitlin, for being there. We showed the past, the present, and the future that was Sandman over these 15 years, and you are a fabulous part of it.
Thanks for coming to dinner with us, thanks for drinks, and thanks for the fantastic time. There is no way it would have been as cool as it was if you weren't there.
Give my love to Spooky!
Yours,
-- Walker
no subject
Date: 2004-11-16 11:26 pm (UTC)I'd noticed at SpookyCon that your name on the cancellations list was lacking it, so I grabbed a sharpie and did my best to fix it. Seamless, huh?
By the way, there are two Ls in "Connelly."
no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 08:58 am (UTC)-- Mimi
no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 06:13 pm (UTC)(Also, it just now occured to me that we should have auctioned off the improbable sight of Neil sitting on Maddy's infamous whoopee cushion.)
no subject
Date: 2004-11-21 08:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:18 pm (UTC)It was really great to meet you last weekend.
I'll not soon forget the Saturday night sociology experiment watching the locals in the hotel bar. heh.
Hope all is well with you!
-a