Don’t be scared off by their [...]]]> A few weeks ago, I got wind that this article had featured The Steampowered Globe (available from our publisher) had been featured as a Singapore book of genre fiction that people should be reading. The article is on the Budding Writers League, a new site for local writers.

Don’t be scared off by their name – while their target audience includes younger writers, it also welcomes everyone no matter what the age. Sign up for an account, then you can post your stories for comments and suggestions by others on the site. I admit, some of the criticism can be a bit pedantic, but in a well-intentioned way.

The site’s quite new so they might be a bit light on content, but they do have a BWL Mentorship Programme! It’s pretty neat. So far they only have one mentor (the wonderful Joyce Chng, whose Wolf at the Door series is excellent and highly recommended), but perhaps in the future the programme will expand.

The Happy Smiley Writers Group (us, basically) have been contact with the BWL. We’re looking forward to working with them in the future. (:

For more information, check out their website and their Facebook group!

Which is [...]]]> Have you ever borrowed a hardcopy book from the library? If you have, then you know that the dust jacket is always wrapped and secured to the hardcover, uh, cover.  This is so that the dust jacket doesn’t go missing so the book is always easily identifiable, and the dust jacket is protected.

Which is pretty nifty! And I’ve always wanted to do that, but only recently I figured out how it works. You can actually buy the proper supplies from library or archival suppliers like Gaylord or Demco. I don’t have that many hardcover books so it wouldn’t be practical for me.

Or you could go the DIY route and use common items to do it yourself! It will definitely cost you less than ordering supplies and unless you’re really keen on protecting your books in the super long-term, it probably won’t make too much of a difference.

What you need:

• Roll of plastic (the thinner, the better – I’ll explain later)
• Paper – size will depend on how big your book is (also, the thinner the better)
• Sticky tape
• Scissors

I already had all of them, but it should cost you less than $5

Instructions under the jump!

Step 1

Remove the dust jacket from the book and lay it out completely flat on the plastic – that includes the flaps. Try to use the thinnest plastic that you’re comfortable with. The dustjacket should be facedown, that means the design on the table.

The plastic needs to be wider than the dust jacket, but it should be slightly shorter than the dust jacket – about 2cm on each end is enough. So your plastic will be 4cm shorter (on the long side) than your dustjacket.

Cut the plastic to size.

Step 2

Fold the top and bottom of the plastic over the dustjacket. A ruler might be useful because you want to make it as snug as possible. (Don’t tape it yet!)

Step 3

Place your paper underneath the plastic flaps. I used normal printing paper, but I think tracing paper would be a better choice. The size of your paper will depend on the size of your book, but the paper must:

• Long enough to stretch at least 90% of the plastic’s length
• Wide enough to reach the plastic flaps that you folded in Step 2

My book was really thick, but two pieces of A4 paper were more than enough. Tape the plastic to the paper.

You should end up with this:

Click for a bigger version

Step 4

Now get your book and fold the dustjacket over. You’ll see why I recommended you use the thinnest plastic and paper you can find, but if not, read on.

When you open the book, the dust jacket will move. If your paper and plastic are thick, the tape will dislodge or the dust jacket will too stiff to conform to the shape of the hardcover. The dust jacket will get all crinkly.

Tape the wrapped dustjacket to the front of the book.

That’s right, to the front of the book, not to the front of the dust jacket. Unless you don’t mind, in which case it doesn’t matter.

Ta-da!

Step 5

Admire your work!

That’s it. Pretty easy, innit?

You can also customise your book by putting something between the dustjacket and the wrapper if you don’t like the design of the cover or whatever. I figure you could even design your own if you’re so inclined, then get it printed and wrap it up so people can’t tell if it’s the original or not.

Any suggestions? Leave them in the comments!

Firstly, Spore Con! You know what video games are, yes? Console games on PS3s, Xboxes, Wiis, etc. etc. Now think of analog gaming: boards, cards, you name it.

Spore Con is a celebration to analog gaming, which [...]]]> What an insane weekend! This is an extremely busy weekend, because for some reason everything is clumped together!

Firstly, Spore Con! You know what video games are, yes? Console games on PS3s, Xboxes, Wiis, etc. etc. Now think of analog gaming: boards, cards, you name it.

Spore Con is a celebration to analog gaming, which doesn’t necessarily mean just D&D or Warhammer 3K. Organised by the folks from Paradigm Infinitum, it’s a analog gaming convention with a side of other activities, including a talk on genre fiction!

The talk is conducted by members of the HSWG, and it’s completely free so there’s no excuse for you to not come! The talk is on Saturday, 28 May, at 11am. Find out more info at the Spore Con website.

Spore Con [website]
Date: 28 and 29 May 2011 (Sat and Sun)
Time: 10am – 8pm
Venue: Pasir Ris East Community Club

Secondly, a workshop by the HSWG! We’re doing a basic intro to creative writing workshop at the Central Library at Victoria St, and it’s also free. It’s exactly what it says on the tin: a short intro to creative writing, with a focus on genre fiction.

Introduction to Creative Writing
Date and time: Sat (28 May) 2pm-4pm
Venue: Multipurpose Room, B1, Central National Library
Cost: Free!

And lastly, because my friends will be there: Hooked On Flea! A flea market at Home Club, I have friends who have stalls there so go! Anyway, flea markets are great experiences even if you don’t end up buying anything. There are lots of pre-loved treasures waiting to be uncovered.

Hooked On Flea [website]
Date and time: Sat (28 May), 2pm-8pm
Venue: Home Club, 20 Upper Circular Road
Cost: whatever you end up buying

In other related news, look out for a travel post later this week. I spent 9 days in China and I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

For something free! The NLB Book Exchange is back again this year.

Bring your used books down to any NLB library from 10 to 23 April to exchange them for coupons. Then, on April 24, go down to the main library at Victoria Street to get books that other people have exchanged. All for [...]]]>

For something free! The NLB Book Exchange is back again this year.

Bring your used books down to any NLB library from 10 to 23 April to exchange them for coupons. Then, on April 24, go down to the main library at Victoria Street to get books that other people have exchanged. All for free!

Here’s a copy-n-paste from GoLibrary:

Give a book, get a book at the Book Exchange! Drop off your used books* at any Public Library from 10 to 23 April, 11.00am to 9.00pm and get a coupon for every book** accepted. Bring your coupon down to The Plaza, National Library Building, on 24 April to redeem for new reads.

Date: Sat, 24 April 2010
Time: 8.30am to 6.00pm
Venue: The Plaza, National Library Building, 100 Victoria Street

*We accept children’s and adults’ fiction and non-fiction books (eg. Cookbooks, travel guides and romance novels) in any four official languages. Books in other languages will not be accepted. We also accept used library books bought from previous Library Book Sales. Textbooks, magazines and audio-visual materials are not accepted. Used books for exchange should be in relatively good physical condition.

**Each person can exchange up to a maximum of 30 used books.

That’s right, Happiness at the End of the World is available in stores now!

So far it’s only been spotted at the main Kinokuniya store at Takashimaya, but we expect that the books will hit other Kino stores and other bookstores soon. :D

You can find it here in Kino:

With GST it’s [...]]]>

That’s right, Happiness at the End of the World is available in stores now!

So far it’s only been spotted at the main Kinokuniya store at Takashimaya, but we expect that the books will hit other Kino stores and other bookstores soon. :D

You can find it here in Kino:

With GST it’s S$19.26, but you can get it for S$18 (inclusive of shipping) at the publisher’s website!

Aaand what is Happiness at the End of the World about? It’s a collection of eight sci-fi short stories centering around the theme of, well, happiness at the end of the world.

There are all sorts of genres in the book, ranging from romance to crime to fantasy. Everyone has their favorite, so go pick up your copy and find yours ;)

Quick details:

All In! Young Writers’ Seminar: Writing and the New Media Venue: The Arts House (1 Old Parliament [...]]]> The All In! Young Writers’ Seminar is the first seminar-conference I’ve heard about that specifically targets post-secondary students from JCs, polys, and universities. I’d go, but I have exams that week so unfortunately I can’t ):

Quick details:

All In! Young Writers’ Seminar: Writing and the New Media
Venue: The Arts House (1 Old Parliament Lane)
Date: 20 Feb 2010, Sat
Time: 9.30am to 6pm
Admission is free

It’s organised by the National Book Development Council, the Arts House and the NUS Literary Society, with NUS being the National University of Singapore.

Here’s a rundown of what the gist of the seminar is all about:

This seminar will provide an insight into:

• How the Internet and web technologies have evolved and are evolving
• How has the traditional publishing value chain been affected by IT and the new media
• Writing in the larger context of Digital Media
• How to keep up to date with new developments
• Future trends like e-books, e-readers, interactive and multimedia content
• Responsible blogging

Things like comics and online journalism will also be covered during the session, so go forth and register! The flyer with the registration info can be found here.

Again: don’t own Twitter or any of its trademarks, won’t be making money off the novel, and Fail Whales are adorable.

“It’s almost nightfall,” Lina explained, splashing water onto the Phail Whales. “The Twitter birds are about to come [...]]]> Here’s the continuation of the preview from yesterday. The first part can be found here.

Again: don’t own Twitter or any of its trademarks, won’t be making money off the novel, and Fail Whales are adorable.

“It’s almost nightfall,” Lina explained, splashing water onto the Phail Whales. “The Twitter birds are about to come out, so the migration is gonna start.”

“Ooh,” she cooed. “Time to say goodbye?”

“Time to say goodbye,” Lina agreed.

“Aww.” Rain leaned down to hug the Phail Whale, tickling it under the chin. “I have to go.”

“Faaaaaaaaaaail,” the baby Phail Whale sang. “Faa?”

“It’s time for us to go,” she said indulgently, patting its head. “The migration is about to start. You need to go back to your mummy.”

“Illll? Aaaaaaaail,” it sang. “Ffttt. Ail. Ill.”

“He’s saying goodbye,” Lina translated.

“Llllll. Aaaaaaa. Ffffft aaaaaaaail. Failllll…”

“And he wants to play with you again,” Lina smiled.

“I wanna play with you again too,” she said, hugging it tightly around where its neck was approximately was.

It bumped its nose against her chest affectionately, and she gave it a little push towards the deeper waters. A big wave hit her, and she could see the adult Phail Whales surfacing as they approached the shore for the migration.

The baby Phail Whale swam off, followed closely by its bigger friend. It stopped halfway to its parents and turned around, singing and waving its tail at her.

Rain laughed and waved back. “He’s adorable!”

“They are,” Lina smiled, “The young ones are very friendly. They like humans.”

[...]

“Tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tw,” the Twitter birds sang. The tone had changed, and she could hear the sounds of hundreds of birds preparing to move.

“The migration?” she whispered to Lina.

Lina smiled. “Of the Phail Whales. The Phail Whales protect the Twitter Isles from anything that might want to eat the Twitter birds – they’re big enough and scary enough that most predators think twice about coming near the Isles.”

“In exchange, the birds help the Phail Whales migrate to the warmer waters on the other side of the Isles. It’s a spectacular sight.”

The birds were singing now, and suddenly a group of about two dozen birds burst out from the forest and raced towards the water.

“There they go!” Lina said.

Rain craned her neck to watch them. They were carrying something that gleamed in their beaks. It was so thin and clear that she could barely see it, just the way the light glinted off it.

She knew what it was: the famed gossamer nets of the Twitter birds. Much like the cave swift birds of Asia, whose spit dried into a gelatinous mass that formed their nests, the Twitter birds spun nets out of their spit for the migration.

Twenty birds joined their individual strands together so that it formed a stronger net large enough for an adult Phail Whale.

There was a Phail Whale swimming apart from the pods gathered as near the shore as they could stand to be. She recognised her little Phail Whale friend hovering near a much larger, adult Phail Whale who looked kind of feminine, presumably its mother.

The birds headed for the separated Phail Whale and dipped low to the water. The clear net disappeared underneath the surface of the water, and the birds hovered close to the surface as the Phail Whale propelled itself gently towards the net. It didn’t swim as such; with a big flick of its large, inverted handlebar moustache, it glided towards the net.

It glided to a stop more or less within the net’s boundaries, and sang loudly to signal the birds that it was ready. “Ffffftt aaaaaal.”

The birds tweeted back, and their little white and orange wings flapping madly, started to lift the Phail Whale up.

It didn’t seem that difficult for them, and before long the Phail Whale rose from the surface of the sea around the Twitter Isles.

Rain’s breath caught in her chest. It was beautiful, and so serene. The Phail Whale was singing loudly. It was so loud that, as they rose to several dozen feet above the heads of the spectators, Rain could feel the song vibrating in her chest. It was beautiful.

The Phail Whale was calm and serene, and – and smiling. She didn’t know Phail Whales could smile, but this one was, and it was singing.

“It’s reassuring the others,” Lina whispered. “It’s telling them that everything is fine and that the view from the top is beautiful. It’s telling them that they’re going to a better place with lots of fish and warm water and funny humans.”

Rain couldn’t help but smile. “It’s so gorgeous…”

And then everything went wrong.

She saw the lights in the sky first, and she thought perhaps they were more birds. As they emerged from the cloud cover, she saw what they were.

Fireballs.

Travelling at high speed.

Towards the Phail Whale.

She didn’t even have time to scream when the first fireball struck.

‘Informata’ is based on the premise that things on the Internet exist in a dimension that certain people can access and maintain, so it was a natural choice that the Fail Whales of Twitter fame [...]]]> I’m doing Nanowrimo, and I promised a few people I’d put up a preview of my favorite part so far.

‘Informata’ is based on the premise that things on the Internet exist in a dimension that certain people can access and maintain, so it was a natural choice that the Fail Whales of Twitter fame should make an appearance.

Plus they are so ridiculously cute.

Disclaimer: I don’t own, and don’t claim to own, any of Twitter’s trademarks. The Fail Whale belongs to Twitter. I’m not making any money off Informata, because I fully intend to bury it in my hard drive forever after November.

That being said, have Part 1 of a preview!

“Ftl ftl fffaalll,” it sang happily. It made a “ftft!” sound when Elaine splashed water playfully at it.

“Rain,” Elaine greeted cheerfully, waving at her. “Come join us!”

Lina was in the water too, wearing a big loose scarf around her waist. She was standing in deeper water; where the water was at Elaine’s thighs, Elaine was fully chest deep in water.

She was patting the side of a larger baby Phail Whale. Its tail was flapping happily as well.

“Is there space?” Rain grinned.

“There’s always space!” Elaine giggled. She had never seen Elaine quite so… girly before. She was still in her overalls, but she didn’t seem to care that she was getting soaked. She was having too much fun with the Phail Whale.

Rain threw her towel over a convenient low branch and waddled into the water. The Phail Whale Elaine was playing with circled around her, singing in what sounded like a curious tone as she approached. “Faaaaa?”

“Aaailll,” Lina sang back. “Illlll. Ftt.”

“Fffffft,” it sang back, then swam right against her leg in greeting. It felt soft and slightly squishy.

“Can I touch him?” she asked Elaine, her voice hushed.

“Go ahead,” Elaine grinned dreamily. She put her hand in the water and the Phail Whale swam right up to it, bumping its nose against her hand

Rain tried it too; she put her hand in the water, and seeing it, the baby Phail Whale swam through to her. It bumped against her hand but didn’t go away, instead bumping against her repeatedly.

Then it sang. “Fffffft. Ffftallllll. Faaaaaaailfff…”

“He likes you,” Lina smiled. “And he wants to play.”

Elaine splashed her and laughed. Rain splashed back and the Phail Whale sang happily. Its tail, shaped like an exaggerated upside down handlebar moustache, wriggled happily.

[...]

Lina beckoned her, and she swam out to the deeper waters. The two Phail Whales circled them, singing happily.

“You can understand Whale song?” she asked Lina as they splashed water at the Phail Whales.

“Sure I can,” Lina smiled. “I’m here because I’m the only person they could find who’s fluent enough in Whale song. I’m actually our Phail Whale specialist. Everyone else specialises in the Twitter birds.”

“By the way,” Lina continued, “Did you see my uncle? He works at the Junction City air docks. Ian Woon?”

“I did,” Rain said. “Rodney promised to bring back saltwater taffy for him.”
“In saltwater, I hope,” Lina smiled. They laughed.

“Faaaaaaaaail,” the larger Phail Whale sang, its tail brushing against her hand.
“Guess we couldn’t ignore them for too long,” Lina laughed. She reached down and tickled the Phail Whale’s chin.

“You can do that?” Rain exclaimed.

“Yes,” Lina grinned. “See?”

She took Rain’s hand and guided it under the water. The larger Phail Whale sang, almost purred, as she scratched it under the chin.

The smaller one, clearly the younger whale of the two, swam up to them, not wanting to be left out. “Ffft? Ailll?”

“It’s okay, we haven’t forgotten you,” Rain laughed, reaching underneath and tickling it under the chin.

The Phail Whale shivered, its entire body wriggling, and it swam around her happily. “Ffft! Ftl ftl fttttttl.”

“He likes it,” Lina translated.

Rain giggled. “Who’s a good little Phail Whale? Who’s a good widdle Phailey Whaley?”

“Fffft! Aaaaiii.”

It splashed water at her. She laughed, tasting the salty orange water. She splashed back, and before long they were involved in a playful splashing match, their laughter echoing back to shore.

Part 2 is now available! Click me to go the second part of the preview!

On Saturday was the kick-off party for the Singapore chapter of Nanowrimo, of which I’m proud to be co-Municipal Liaison for. It was also the launch of Happiness at the [...]]]> I don’t have many pictures for this, largely because I was too busy to take any! Quite a lot of the photos were by Nerwen.

On Saturday was the kick-off party for the Singapore chapter of Nanowrimo, of which I’m proud to be co-Municipal Liaison for. It was also the launch of Happiness at the End of the World, a collection of short stories revolving around the title theme. You can buy Happiness from our publisher, Two Trees!

Things started off really well with a gigantic cake box being delivered to my home. I was a little late because traffic was bad, but by the time I arrived at Earshot cafe things were already buzzing.

There’s quite a lot of thanks to go around, so I’ll try to fit everyone into my thirty-second speech :P

Thanks to: Seriously Sarah, Joelyn Alexandra, Nerwen, NotKieran (and family!), our long-suffering editor, publisher, typesetter and writer extraordinaire Rozen, Ziyang, Kiaace, Wena Poon, The Arts House, the National Arts Council, Singapore Writers Fest volunteers and staff, Singapore Wrimos, Hafiz aka ‘Zebra Preen’, HRH The Drama Queen Afiq, the boys who proved the cake was not a lie by finishing it (man slices!) and everybody else who came down to Earshot! :D

There were competitions and prizes given out, but everything went so fast and so crazy that I completely lost track. I had a heck of a time. I was so pleased with all our Undercover outfits – what with it being Halloween and all.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Rozen undercover as a tourist, winner of the Best Undercover competition

Joelyn Alexandra as Lady Una

NotKieran, in characteristic black

Nerwen as a vampire, Sarah as someone with pink hair, horns and an eyepatch

Afiq aka Baghead and Hafiz aka "I'm Ris Low on the inside" (he was wearing zebra prints underneath)

A Wrimo who came underneath book covers!

Wrimos signing in

Earshot got crazy crowded as I took this - more than half were Wrimos!

Ziyang reading his story from Happiness

Aaand we actually finished our cake this year!

I went to see Neil Gaiman today! After waiting over four hours for tickets, you can bet I was excited as heck to see the man himself! With me was Seriously Sarah, Nerwen, Joelyn Alexandra (formerly Raven Azure, who is moving sites) and Justin from Nanowrimo.

They had to move the venue from the [...]]]>

I went to see Neil Gaiman today! After waiting over four hours for tickets, you can bet I was excited as heck to see the man himself! With me was Seriously Sarah, Nerwen, Joelyn Alexandra (formerly Raven Azure, who is moving sites) and Justin from Nanowrimo.

They had to move the venue from the Chamber inside the Arts House (200 seats) to the Victoria Theatre (900 seats) because demand was so high. I learnt a lot of things about the area today, including that it’s very easy to walk from Cavenagh Bridge to Victoria Theatre and cut through to the Arts House. I’ve been going to that area for four years now, and only this year I find out… Sigh.

I was in the ticket-holders line, of course, but there was also this – and the organiser’s sense of humor really shines through…

Heh. People did try, though! Nevermind that all the tickets were gone. It’s Neil Gaiman, man. And some of them got really lucky! I saw a few people in the ticket-holders line give their extra tickets to the ticketless, largely because their friends couldn’t make it at the last minute.

The talk was 2pm, but we joined the line before 1pm. I’m not entirely sure, but we were very early. There was already a queue outside the entrance, and we were lucky enough to be standing inside the foyer, where there was shade. The line grew quickly, and the organisers were good enough to let us in early so people would be out of the sun.

Joelyn, Justin, Sarah and Nerwen

We got seats in the fourth or fifth row, so we were basically at eye-level height! While we were waiting, people passed us these little pieces of paper to write a message to Mr Gaiman. Then a drawstring back got handed around and we all put our messages inside, so we could give it to him at the signing session after the talk.

Singapore <3s Neil Gaiman!

I have giant handwriting, yes. But it was a good idea, so I was very happy to add on my message.

Just after 2pm, Mr Gaiman himself walked onstage to thunderous applause and a lot of cheering, mine included. I am a shameless Neil Gaiman fangirl.

Moderator Lim Cheng Tju and the man himself

Neil Gaiman is brilliant, funny, witty and so very interesting. He told us the ‘Scary Trousers’ story, which was hilarious – he even did Alan Moore’s voice, which was fantastic and really funny. I kind of regret missing his reading yesterday, but I was at the Nanowrimo Kick-Off party so I couldn’t go. ):

He told us that he didn’t mind turning 50 next year, and that he was happy with all that he’s been able to do, in his personal and professional life. He mentioned that if the plane went down tomorrow, he wouldn’t be going “Oh no, I didn’t have time to do X”. When he said that, there was a lot of knocking on wood. No sense in tempting fate, after all, though the value of his autographed items would skyrocket if that did happen. (Choy choy choy, touch wood!)

Someone asked about his bees, and that was really interesting. Apparently it was an idea he had 16 years ago, but his assistant Lorraine had a pathological fear of bees (the type where you believe you’ll die from whatever you’re afraid from). It was only about four years ago when he was reading about colony collapse disorder – basically when honey bees suddenly start dying in huge numbers for no apparent reason. Mr Gaiman wanted to do his part, and he met up with a friend who was passionate about wildlife.

By the end of the afternoon, it was decided that his friend Sharon would take a professional beekeeping course and become head beekeeper, and Mr Gaiman would pay for the course and become junior beekeeper. The bees would be on his land. Apparently Lorraine and Sharon’s husband were convinced this was a bizarre suicide pact.

When the bees arrived, Mr Gaiman was away on a signing and so Lorraine had to put the bees in the hives. Poor girl. By the time he came back, though, she seemed to have one of those rare spiritual moments after facing her life fear, and she was at peace with the bees.

And so they have bees. They entered the honey into the county fair as a joke, and they got blue ribbon! They were convinced it was a fluke, so they entered honey and a comb into the county fair last year – and won blue ribbon again. He said that his top few highlights of his career was something like this: 1. Newbery Medal, 2. Hugo Award, 3. Blue ribbons for the bees, and then all the other literary awards. Hee.

He told us the famous Scary Trousers story, and he did Alan Moore’s voice so it was extra funny. The other 899 people and I were laughing away.

I liked what he said about adapting his works from one medium to another. The key is translate, he said, not transliterate. I wholly agree. Some stories work on paper, but won’t make a good movie if you transliterate it directly. But if you translate, like how Henry Selick adapted Coraline for a movie, if you change certain things so that they’re suited for the other medium, then it can work.

Which is basically how I feel about comics-to-movies, or movies-to-books, etc. adaptations. I can get quite catty with people who complain that a movie is really bad compared to the book, or they changed X and they hate it. Things have to change when the medium changes, because not everything works across media.

But yes. There was more, but I can’t really remember all of it. Sarah did take a video though, so I shall post that as soon as she uploads it.

The talk itself lasted about an hour, so after that it was signing. It was limited to one item per person, which is totally understandable because there were 900 people there. Mr was quite funny about it; he announced, before the end, that it was one item per head because his flight was at 3am and he really wanted to make it, haha.

And then cue running across to the Arts House, where the signing was to take place. It was a bit nuts as everyone rushed outside. Nerwen nearly got hit by a car and didn’t even know it, but my heart skipped a beat when I saw the car move. (Good grief, Nerwen, be more careful next time!)

Only ticket-holders could get things signed, and the organisers gave each of us a paper with the rules and a space to write the name that you want Mr Gaiman to dedicate the item to.

In the end we got a place in the first 300 or so people, so that was good. Joelyn got lucky and somehow ended up pushed into the queue at the front, but she still waited with us after she’d gotten her stuff signed.

The line ahead of us...

... and the line behind us, which stretched to the river

The line ahead of us was about 2.5 hours long, and I think they took a five-minute break so Mr Gaiman could rest his hand. He was really accomodating, which was really awesome of him.

Totally worth it.

Unfortunately, when we reached him, I turned into a gibbering idiot. *facepalm* I could barely think, and I wanted to ask him a question but I totally forgot.

We gave him a copy of Happiness at the End of the World, our book of genre short stories, with messages from us. And then he shook our hands. Which basically broke my brain and made my day.

The conversation went something like this:

Mr Gaiman: Hullo!
Me: Hi. *giggle*
Mr Gaiman: [takes book, sees the dedication paper] And this is for Viki.
Me: Yes. *giggle*
Mr Gaiman: I’ll draw you a Sandman.
Me: Okay. Thank you. *giggle*
Mr Gaiman: [draws Dream, signs name]
Me: *giggles madly* *hyperventilates slightly*
Nerwen, Sarah, Joelyn: Breathe! Remember to breathe!
Mr Gaiman: Are you okay?
Me: Yes.
Mr Gaiman: Do you want a hug?
Me: [not thinking] No, it’s fine, thankyousomuchMrGaimansir.

I said no to the hug because I’m still sick with a respiratory tract infection and I didn’t want to pass it to him, but also because I thought I might faint on him. Which would be extremely embarrasing, to say the least.

He drew on my Absolute Sandman! He drew on it!

The inside cover of my Absolute Sandman Vol. 1 - joy!

Am I a huge fangirl? Yes, unabashedly so. I hope he comes back soon! I would love to see him again. Singapore loves Neil Gaiman, and I’m proud to be one of his legion of fans.