honey and sting

Went to the Neil Gaiman book-signing in San Diego yesterday. Neil was just incredibly nice, along with witty and touching. The most telling thing, to me, was his statement of intention about his latest book, Anansi Boys. He said (well, after he said he wanted to write a funny book to show he could be funny because, after American Gods, so many people started to assume that Neil is a "serious" author and that when he and Terry Pratchett had collaborated on Good Omens, Neil had written a "serious book" and Terry had come along after and sprinked jokes in it)-- *pause to breathe* -- he said, his intention in writing Anansi Boys was to "increase the sum total of happiness in the world." And that he was going to begin it with the dedication. "This book," he said, "is for you. Personally. And you can tell all your friends that it was dedicated to you." Because, he said, he wanted each person to be happier for having read this book, and what is nicer than to begin it knowing it was written for you, personally? So when each person came up to get their book signed, he wrote their name at the beginning of the dedication, which says "this book is dedicated to you", and underlined the "you." Despite a certain element of... contrivance about it all, it really was quite unexpectedly touching.

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