"Blueberry Girl"

Blueberry Girl is a poem originally written for Tori Amos' Daughter. It has now been released as a book. Also available for free on youtube, as an animated video:



"Hello.

You're probably wondering what kind of book this is.

This is the kind of book that comes about when a friend phones you and says, "I'll be having a baby in a month. Would you write her a poem? A sort of prayer, maybe? We call her the Blueberry. . . ." And you think, Yes, actually. I would.

I wrote the poem. When the baby was born, they stopped calling her the Blueberry and started calling her Natashya, but they pinned up the handwritten Blueberry girl poem beside her bed.

I kept a copy at my house, taped to a filing cabinet. And when friends read it, they said things like "Please, can I have a copy for my friend who is going to be giving birth to a daughter?" and I wound up copying it out for people, over and over.
I wasn't going to let it be published, not ever. It was private, and written for one person, even if I did seem to be spending more and more of my time handwriting or printing out nice copies for mothers-to-be and for babies.

Then artist Charles Vess (whom I had collaborated with on Stardust) read it.
And somehow, it all became simple. I made a few phone calls. We decided to make some donations to some charities. And Charles began to draw, and then to paint, taking the poem as a starting point and then making something universal and beautiful.

On his blog he said, "Taking Neil's lovely poetic meditation on the inherent joys of a mother-daughter relationship and developing a compelling narrative impulse without robbing the poem of its highly symbolic nature was an interesting conceptual journey." Which I think is Charles for "It wasn't easy to make that poem into a picture book.” He did an astonishing job, but I still worried. I stopped worrying the day the assistant editor at HarperChildrens, who was herself pregnant, called me to let me know that she'd got the artwork in, and read it, and then started crying in the office.

It's a book for mothers and for mothers-to-be. It's a book for anyone who has, or is, a daughter. It's a prayer and a poem, and now it's a beautiful book.

I hope you enjoy it. I'm really proud of it. And I hope this means I don't have to copy it out any longer….

Neil"

Neil Gaiman & Claudia Gonson: "Bloody Sunrise", with lyrics

Claudia Gonson of the Magnetic Fields singing Neil Gaiman's Halloween song "Bloody Sunrise". Click on the "Play" arrow to listen.

lyrics:

"every night when i crawl out of my grave, looking for someone to meet, some way that we'll misbehave. every night when i go out on the prowl, then i fly through the night, with the bats and the owls. every time i meet somebody, i think you might be the one, i've been on my own for too long, when i pull them closer to me, bloody sunrise comes again, leaves me hungry and alone every time, bloody sunrise, and i'm nowhere to be found every time, and you're a memory and gone, something else that i can blame on bloody sunrise.

every night i put on my smartest threads, and i go into the town, and i don't even look dead. every night i smile and i say hi, and no one ever smiles back, and if i could i'd just die. but when i'm lucky i do get lucky, and i think you might be the one. even though the time is flying, when we get to the time of dying, bloody sunrise comes again, leaves me hungry and alone, bloody sunrise comes again, and i'm nowhere to be found every time, and you're a memory and gone, something else that i can blame on bloody sunrise, and you're a memory and gone, something else that i can blame on bloody sunrise."

"The Graveyard Book"

For the record I liked "The Graveyard Book" very much, although I didn't think it was better than "Coraline", which I adore. It was nice to see Gaiman playing a few of his old beloved riffs, like a female Death, and a character which can enter other people's dreams. It's certainly cool that it won that Newbury Award.

I'm re-reading "Coraline" now, because I won't get a chance to see it in the cinemas until may.

Button-Eyes

This exclusive Neil Gaiman introduction to the new "Coraline" movie is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while.

http://www.bordersmedia.com/backlot/coraline.asp

"Sandman" 20 year anniversary interview.

Neil Gaiman speaks to The LA Times!

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

"Coraline" article

Long article about the "Coraline" movie. Cant' wait! Can't wait! Can't wait!

Neil Gaiman's "I Google You"

The Neil Gaiman song "I Google You" is now online, sung by Amanda Palmer (of the Dresden Dolls), with lyrics and all. I got the lyrics from this thread, where they were posted by His Neilness himself.

(The song was orignally written for Peri Lyons, and her version can be found on her Myspace page.)

I Google you
late at night when I don’t know what to do
I find photos
you’ve forgotten
you were in
put up by your friends

I Google you
when the day is done and everything is through
I read your journal
that you kept
that month in France
I’ve watched you dance

And I’m pleased your name is practically unique
it’s only you and
a would-be PhD in Chesapeake
who writes papers on
the structure of the sun
I’ve read each one

I know that I
should let you fade
but there’s that box
and there’s your name
somehow it never makes the pain
grow less or fade or disappear
I think that I should save my soul and
I should crawl back in my hole
But it’s too easy just to fold
and type your name again
I fear
I google you
Whenever I’m alone and feeling blue
And each scrap of information
That I gather
says you’ve got somebody new
And it really shouldn’t matter
ought to blow up my computer
but instead….
I google you

"Coraline" movie clips

Five clips stuffed with bits and pieces from Henry Selick's upcoming "Coraline" movie. Awesomeness!

• Clip 1
• Clip 2
• Clip 3
• Clip 4
• Clip 5