On Sunday I met Neil Gaiman. Not quite “hanging” with him, but I did get up early-ish to get in line for a signature from him. I thought I was early, but some peeps had actually been there since 7 in the morning. And to be honest with you, I wish I had been there earlier (even though I was among the 20 first in line, arriving several hours before the signing started). The thing is, even though it was raining and all that, I had a great time. Met some cool people, and the time seemed to fly.
When Mr Gaiman arrived at Outland, we were in for a real treat: He started the session by reading to us from his book Fortunately the Milk! I read this book at the start of the year, and it was a fun read, but hearing Mr Gaiman read out loud from it himself, was really something special. He has such an excellent voice for readings!
I got one of my copies of Neverwhere signed, as well as the Norwegian translation of Fortunately the Milk! As for the latter one, I am thinking of giving it to someone as a gift. I haven’t quite decided yet. Anyhow, even though I forgot to tell Mr Gaiman my name for the Neverwhere signature, I got a fun signature. You can see the photo below. Neverwhere has been my favourite book for 15-20 years, and I used to have a really nice paperback copy of it. Unfortunately, I lent it to someone, and never got it back. The copy I got signed is a hardback copy, and actually a first edition published by Avon Books in 1997.
I have posted a photo of my signed book, as well as a photo of Mr Gaiman signing books at the end of this blog post. But before that, I have a video clip of Neil Gaiman, reading from Fortunately the Milk! at Outland, Oslo (Norway), 25 May 2014. Recorded by yours truly, and with the permission of Neil Gaiman.
Though this year’s EasterCon was my second (last year was my first), I still feel a bit of a newbie. I had therefore decide that for this year’s con, Satellite 4, I would volunteer. My friend DC pretty much “claimed” me for Ops, so I had shifts there every day of the convention.
Though I had arrived on Thursday, the first day of the convention was Friday 18 April 2014. I didn’t actually attend any program items this day, but had two shifts in Ops, and had a blast doing that. However, I managed to attend a few on Saturday, among them one called “Astronomy and poetry”, which was pretty much reading of poetry with some sort of astronomy link. I really enjoyed it. It was lead by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who’s a British scientist and Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford.
Another fun program item on Saturday was “Is it steampunk if it’s real?” Here we could listen to Feorag NicBhride tell us about some odd transportations that was developed in the 19th and early 20th century. One thing is for sure: There was no lack of imagination at the time! If the transportation actually worked? Well…
Two other program items I attended Saturday were “African Writes” and “Read for your life!”, and I enjoyed both. Especially the latter ones, where you could listen to known and unknown readers read from their works. If there’s a similar item next year, I would love to listen to it! It’s not every day you get to hear an author read something from their brand new one-week-old idea!
Come Sunday, I managed to oversleep terribly, that meant I missed breakfast, as well as the first program item I had planned to attend. Fortunately, I did not miss the panel “Red planets”, which was on politics in science fiction and fantasy. It’s no secret politics interest me, so this was an interesting discussion. I would probably have gone to it even if my friend Pogodragon hadn’t been on the panel.
After the politics, I hurried over to the next item I wanted to listen to, this one called “Humans are weird”. And this item made it clear we really are a weird mammal. Our babies are helpless, we have good eyesight and amazing sense of taste (humans have 10000 taste buds, while a hen has only 24!), and we have a rubbish sense of smell.
When the weird humans were done with for the day, I headed for my shift in Ops, before going to a sort of celebration of Terry Pratchett. This was a sweet and fun program item, where stories about the wonderful Sir Terry Pratchett were told. Stories about meetings and other fun facts. I have never met, nor probably ever will meet, Sir Terry Pratchett, but he seems like a grand dude, and writes fun books indeed.
Sunday ended with a party for next year’s EasterCon, Dysprosium. There was a beheadding of a chocolate bunny, drinks, snacks, and people to talk to. It was indeed fun, until I decided it was time for me to go to bed.
Monday was the last day of the convention, and I started it with a shift in Ops, before some time to relax. I then attended the program item “Early science fiction writing”, which I must admit was a great disappointment. I actually ended up fishing out my e-reader to read my book! Just because I was too polite to get up and leave, and maybe in the hopes it could turn better?
The convention officially ended with the closing ceremony. Prizes were handed out, people were thanked, and we all concluded it had been a wonderful convention. We can’t wait for the next one!
I’ve gotten more suggestions for my 1974 Challenge, and here’s final list:
– Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard
– The Dispossessed, by Ursula le Guin
– Carrie, by Stephen King
– Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values, by Robert M. Pirsig
– Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein
– Serendipity, by Stephen Cosgrove
– The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
– Centennial, by James Michener
– If Beale Street could Talk, by James Baldwin
– Alive, by Piers Anthony Reed
– Mister God, This is Anna, by Fynn
– Tales of the Black Widowers, by Isaac Asimov
– Greenwitch, by Susan Cooper (middle book of 5 in series)
– Lille Persille, by Inger Hagerup
– The mote in God’s eye, by Larry Niven
– Poirot’s Early Cases, by Agatha Christie
– Kjærleikens ferjereiser, by Edvard Hoem
– Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delaney
– The Inverted World, by Christopher Priest
– Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, by Pjhilip K. Dick
Now, these are the suggestions. I will pick some of the books on the list, and might very well read other books I come across. 😉 First book to be read in my challenge is Carrie, written by Stephen King.
As I’ve mention previously, I’m planning on challenging myself by reading books published in 1974. Here are the suggestions I’ve had for my challenge so far:
– Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard
– The Dispossessed, by Ursula le Guin
– Carrie, by Stephen King
– Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values, by Robert M. Pirsig
– Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein
– Serendipity, by Stephen Cosgrove
– The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
– Centennial, by James Michener
– If Beale Street could Talk, by James Baldwin
– Alive, by Piers Anthony Reed
I went to London with the Girlfriend last week end. Arrived Friday night and went home on Sunday. It was nice. We did things like visiting the huge bookshop Watersone’s at Picadilly, the Biritish Library, Lonely Planet, and going down Oxford Street at night. Not to mention pubs, and the lovely cupcake heaven Peggy Porschen Cakes. I never get enough time in London!
I was very happy that the Girlfriend wanted to go to the British Library. There’s currently an exhibition on children’s books illustrations there, which I loved. That, along with the original Alice in Wonderland and Jane Austen manuscripts were my personal favourites. The Girlfriend’s were “the old books” (her words).
The only letdown was the hotel. We had booked a room at the Holly House Hotel in Victoria. The booking page said the following about it:
In central London, Holly House Hotel is only 5 minutes’ walk from Victoria’s rail, tube and coach stations. There is good access to the Gatwick Express airport service.
Each room at Holly House has free Wi-Fi, tea/coffee facilities, a TV and a small fridge. Most rooms have en suite facilities, while others have shared bathrooms.
Each morning, a continental breakfast is served in the spacious dining room. The property has a 24-hour reception and check-in is available from 14.00 onwards.
When we arrived, we got our keys, and it turned out it was a “two in one” hotel: There were actually two hotels, with two doors, sharing owners, reception and “dining room”. Our room was at the part called Ivy House Hotel, but it didn’t really matter. The room faced the railway, meaning the noise from the trains bothered us though out the night, so we didn’t sleep very well. The so called en suit bathroom was really tiny, and not very nice, so we couldn’t bear the thought of showering there. The room was also very small, so moving around was hard, and even after we turned the heat off, it was sticking hot. I could kick myself for not checking TripAdvisor before we booked. The only good thing I can say about the hotel is that it was very cheap, approx. GBP 110 for two nights.
I have a review coming up for the hotel, indeed. A good thing we only stayed for two nights, and that we hardly spent time at the hotel.
I originally found this meme on Facebook, but decided to post it here.
(…) list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take more than a few minutes and don’t think too hard – they don’t have to be “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.
Here are my books:
1. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
2. Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien
3. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
4. Northanger Abbey, by Jne Austen
5. Odinsbarn, by Siri Pettersen
6. Ingen må vite, by Aina Basso
7. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
8. Tipping the Velvet, by Sarah Waters
9. Jordmora, by Katja Kettu
10. Amazone trilogy by Ingar Knudtsen
So, I’m turning 40 next year. The big four-oh! So, I was planning on challenging myself, and read some books from the year I was born, i.e books published in 1974. Do you have any suggestions? If so, please let me know by commenting below!
EDIT 27.12.2013
Please give me your personal suggestions on books you think I should read, and it would be fun to know why you think I should read it too! Please don’t point me to a list on GoodReads or elsewhere, I’m quite good at finding such lists myself. I want your thoughts, not some list someone has made, that’s not quite the same. 😉
I’ve gotten more suggestions for my 
