So even though I’m not a huge fan, I gave in and purchased P2,000 worth of Neil Gaiman’s books to get a book signing pass. I took half the day off from work to go to Rockwell and have my Stardust graphic novel and The Graveyard Book signed. Those are my favorites out of Neil Gaiman’s books. It was tiring but a lot of fun! 🙂 I bumped into a couple of people and I’m glad I got to meet Celina and Maricar and we talked about books while waiting for the signing to begin. Yay for new book friends! I was telling heaven_spawn that this was like a rock concert for book geeks. I wish we had something similar to the conferences that they have abroad like Worldcon, BEA or Sirens over here.
Anyway, Neil’s a really great guy. He signed the books with drawings! Check out the pictures. And he’s very friendly, he let people hug him and kiss him. I felt bad that I didn’t bring anything for him because other people brought him calamansi juice, dried mangoes, cards, artworks, etc. But maybe I can email him to thank him. Now that I attended the event, I’m a bigger fan! 🙂 And I want to have my Marvel 1602 and Dream Hunters signed.
Click the pictures to enlarge. I posted pictures of his signature in various books so you can see the different illustrations.
This is what he wrote/drew in my Stardust graphic novel.
This is my UK edition of The Graveyard Book, isn’t it pretty? And Neil speaks Filipino, you know. Haha okay, I just asked him to write that and told him it means “Happy Birthday”.
Celina’s books – Coraline and The Graveyard Book
Maricar’s Neverwhere
Here’s Minnie, reading my copy of The Graveyard Book! Nah, just kidding. I was joking around that she’s bored and she took up reading. It doesn’t look like a big hit though.
I wonder what his Sandman signature looks like. He even uses a silver marker for that because the starting pages of the Sandman books are black. If you have a picture, please share!
Those are COOL! I must say, if you have to spend P2000, at least Gaiman really does fun autographs!
What kind of puppy is that? So cute!
Wow! Fab autographs and pics!! Totally worth the $ and time!! I read his blog and he does seem like an incredibly generous, nice man.
You *can* go to a “nearby” Worldcon. It’s going to be in Australia next year. Really, you should go to just one in your life if you can afford it at all (I’ve been to 4). Worldcon has everything: interesting panels, gaming, singing (filking), anime, and lots of really cool authors.
I’d go, but it will be winter and I don’t want to tour Australia and NZ in the cold.
I know, he really is a cool guy! Imagine doing that for 500 people. I was there early so I was in the first hundred. He did 100 in 1 hour and 30 minutes. I wonder how long it took to finish all 500. It was like an assembly line of book signing.
Minnie is a Siberian Husky. I have a couple more pictures here.
He really is! After he signed my books, I said “Thank you so much!” and he replied with “Thanks for coming!”
You’ve been to 4 Worldcons! I’m so jealous! That should really be one of my goals, to attend at least one. Australia is nearer but I think the airfare from here to there is just as expensive as going to the States. But I’ll see if it is within my financial capacity.
Winter! Oh no, I’ve never been to anyplace during winter. I get cold easily.
Thanks!:)
Thanks for posting this! Me too, I am now a bigger fan of his! He really is such a great guy, and he tweeted this morning “I love the people in the Philippines. Such hospitality.”
I’ll post my pictures soon. I really enjoyed meeting you and Maricar! I don’t think I would have lasted those 5 hours of waiting without you guys.:D
Oops…I didn’t indicate my name. But this is Celina. Haha!:)
Re: Thanks!:)
I had a great time too! I’m glad we got to meet in person. 🙂 Yeah, he’s really nice and he loves Manila. He wrote about it in his blog. I feel bad that I didn’t bring anything for him. I didn’t know that he liked chocnut and dried mangoes. Research skills, FAIL.
Haha that’s okay, I figured it out when you mentioned Maricar.
Inggit! Definitely worth your 2K!!!
Next time, go na rin! 🙂 What did you end up buying in Fully Booked Gateway?
Re: Thanks!:)
Chocnut!!!!
LOL.
Re: Thanks!:)
, do you miss chocnut? 😛
I was hoping LJ has this very big LIKE THIS button. This is so awesome!:D
Re: Thanks!:)
Yup!!!!
Oooooo… I’m super jealous. I bet that would have been an awesome event. The more I read of Gaiman’s stuff, the more I’m convinced the man is genius.
Crown Duel, Queen of Attolia, Fire, and The Looking Glass Wars. The last one was on the 80% off pile so I got it only for Php 75. Might as well get it.
I also saw Red Scarlet? (One of the Once Upon a Time series) in that pile, but I’m not sure if you have that already or if you’re interested in that. What did you get from Fully Booked and National? The guy from Gateway, Roland, said you got everything?
Oh! and I have Princess Academy reserved, and I’m contemplating on buying King of Attolia because I’m feeling very OC on the spine crease. >_<
The guy from Gateway, Roland, said you got everything?
I didn’t get naman everything from the store! Haha just kidding. Yeah, I got all of the books that I had reserved: Jellicoe Road (I found a paperback copy on the shelves so I swapped that with the hardcover that I had reserved), Going Too Far, four Miles Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold (I have the complete series yay!) and Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie.
Hahaha you can decide by next weekend when you’ve read the book.
I know! Sometimes I wish LJ has a like button too. But you can like it in Facebook, I have more pictures uploaded over there.
It was really fun! We rarely have book events over here so I think it’s always a good idea to go the ones that we have. I haven’t read all of his works too. I want to start on the Sandman series but it’s expensive to collect.
neil is such an awesome guy! you’re lucky you got those autographed! by the way, minnie is one cute puppy!!!
Lucy, tell the Fully Booked folks thanks for organizing this! My Neil Gaiman autographed books are now included in my prized belongings. 😛
Minnie is no longer a puppy now! She’s a huge dog already.
That’s pretty cool. I love how BIG the pictures and his signature are.
I know, I love how creative his signatures are. It’s worth buying P2,000 (around $40) worth of his books to get the book signing pass.
Lol, Chachic. Love that you got him to write some Fillipino! Sounds like he’s an awesome author to meet. *making a mental note* The UK cover for GRAVEYARD BOOK is awesome btw. I like.
He’s very nice! He kept hugging everybody who came up to him. I wasn’t really a big fan but I decided to go because we don’t get to meet a lot of authors over here and I’m glad I did! I became a bigger fan after meeting him. 🙂
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