Celebrity author readings are a strange animal, involving a base formula of author, mic, and podium that produces a “live rendition” of the words on the page-kind of like a musician doing a concert version of their CD, but with somehow less to-do about it.
But when you’re Neil Gaiman, the certified rock star of fantasy and horror who left his mark on the comics world by taking comics into the realm of literature with his acclaimed Sandman series, your reading is much more of an entertainment event.
Gaiman spoke to about 750 people filling the pews of the Bloor St. United Church on Saturday as part of his North American tour to promote his new novel, Anansi Boys, which was released in September and currently tops the New York Times bestseller list.
The 45-year-old author of comics, novels, television series, film scripts, and children’s books refuses to limit himself to one genre or medium, and his diehard fans like it that way.
“I was surprised that no one was here before us,” said Christine, who was first in line after arriving two and a half hours in advance. Gaiman, who’s known for going the extra mile for fans, didn’t disappoint: he promised to sign at least three items per fan after his reading, in a streamlined process that allowed him to process 100 fans per hour.
“I’ve figured out a way to do it by moving my shoulder instead of my wrist,” he explained.
He signed copies of Anansi Boys, in which an unremarkable man finds out that his recently deceased father was Anansi, a traditional African trickster god that slaves brought with them to America through oral storytelling. A layered meditation on how gods and myths still exist in today’s world, it was clear from the reading that the novel is first and foremost simply a heartwarming and very funny tale.
The evening, sponsored by The Learning Annex and filmed for later broadcast on the Space Channel, began with a video montage about him and his work, and included an excerpt from his new film MirrorMask (which he wrote and longtime collaborator Dave McKean directed).
Gaiman then walked out wearing his trademark black t-shirt and black leather jacket, his own take on a visual antithesis to cult author Tom Wolfe’s white suits. After his reading, Gaiman was interviewed on stage by Canadian author Nalo Hopkinson, and then answered pre-submitted audience questions.
“Isn’t it ironic that a reading from a book with the tagline, “God is dead. Meet the kids” would be done inside a church?” Gaiman quipped, inciting laughter from the pews.
In his interview with Hopkinson, Gaiman spoke about his life as a writer and about some of the themes explored in his latest novel. He noted that unlike most books written by white authors, most of the characters in Anansi Boys are black unless specifically identified as being otherwise.
“It irritates me in books when black characters are identified, because it seems that white is the default,” he said. “I just liked the idea that white wasn’t the default.”
Despite having a blog that’s read by over a million people, the British-American writer now does much of his writing on paper. This antiquated approach is not simple Ludditeism, though.
“Paper doesn’t fail, doesn’t lose power, and I can write in a notebook whether the plane is taking off or landing,” he explained.
Toronto has always loved Gaiman with an intensity bordering on obsession, ever since Space Channel producer Mark Askwith sold more copies of Gaiman’s graphic novel Violent Cases through local comics shop The Silver Snail than “in all of the U.S. combined,” as Gaiman put it. Askwith also featured Gaiman on the short-lived Canadian science fiction show Prisoners of Gravity.
“Which means this is the only place in the world where I actually get recognized on the street,” Gaiman noted, much to the crowd’s delight.
“There’s just something about the ‘Neilness’ of Neil,” Askwith explained. “There was a time when we wondered, ‘Will he be able to make the jump from comics to writing novels?’ But the fans just follow him.”
“Will you ever write a story set in Canada? What about Toronto?” read one of the audience questions, which he answered with his signature rock star cool.
“Haven’t I?” he said, shrugging. “No, I don’t think I have. All right.”
