Neil Gaiman Comes to Decatur
Decatur Metro | December 15, 2009UPDATE: Little Shop’s “Thank You” note to Neil can be found here.
Paula is good enough to provide a recap to last night’s Little Shop Neil Gaiman event. (The AJC’s Jamie Gumbrecht reported on the event too.)
Report your own experiences in the comments below. If you have photos from the event, send ‘em in and I will post!
Just wanted to give a quick report on the Gaiman event last night. First of all, I am so incredibly proud of Little Shop of Stories. They did a great job all around – they put on a winning Graveyard Book Party, distributed a limited number of tickets in a fair and equitable manner, and did a great job corralling 1000+ anxious and cold Gaiman fans last night.
Neil spoke for a few minutes, read from Odd and the Frost Giants (he does great voices!), answered questions, read some from the Graveyard Book, then signed books and signed more books. In typical Decatur fashion, the people with kids got to jump the line, which was probably best for all involved. I had to go home about 8:30 to put the baby to bed, but my spouse toughed it out until almost midnight. We were in the main room, so I can’t even imagine how long the “overflow” folks had to wait. But Neil stayed until the last book was signed! Then, according to his Twitter stream, he slept 3 1/2 hours before getting on a plane to go do it all again in Winnipeg. Quite a stand-up guy! Again, congrats to Little Shop – y’all done good! And a big thank you to Neil Gaiman!
Atlanta to Winnipeg? He needs to smack his booking agent.
Actually, Neil set the itinerary. It is currently 13 below zero in Winnipeg.
Neil signed until 1:18 a.m. His presentation lasted over an hour, and he signed for six. Neil was as gracious and kind to the last person in line as he was to the first. Equally noteworthy, very few of his fans were discouraged by the wait; they expressed deep gratitude for the opportunity to meet Neil and displayed remarkable humor. For us at Little Shop, it will be a night we will always remember.
My mom and I were in the overflow room and waited until about 12:30 before we got to have our books signed. Neil was fantastic both in his presentation and in his humor with those of us who were further back in the line.
The wait was frustrating for sure but only because, you know, he Nail Gaiman and that’s just too awesome for words. It well worth it and nothing at all to complain about as there were loads of other interesting people there.
I was towards the back of the main room, and finally got through the line just a few minutes before midnight.
I can’t think of a better place to be stuck waiting, though (other than the obvious “at home” or “with beer”). Auditorium with not-completely-terrible seats! With books you like! Surrounded by people who you have something in common with!
Mind the gap.