Saturday, September 11, 2004

My happy place...My happy place... My happy place...

Ok news news...at last something that caught mi attention. Where to start? Ok...once upon a time there was a guy that had a way with words. His mind and imagination reached beautiful, enchanting places, and he decided that his mission would be to tell the things he saw inside his mind. He invited us to different realms, and presented us to their rulers. We met seven siblings: DREAM, DESPAIR, DESTRUCTION, DESIRE, DELIRIUM, DEATH and DESTINY. The guy's name is NEIL GAIMAN. And yes, he too is one of the rulers of one of
my favorite realms: Imagination. Last decade he brought new dreams and nightmares to our lives, with his ten volumes of THE SANDMAN. Graphic novels that mark an important moment in the history of graphic novels and literature. With a mix of fantasy, mythology, legend, fiction, and dark dreams, he made our world change. I dare to ask who has finished reading The Sandman and has not felt lost, not knowing if you'll ever have the opportunity to read stories so inventive, so rich, so powerful. Years have passed and thank god, great
writers have made us feel whole again, great gods among mortals with the same mission Gaiman had years before, to present us with different worlds, to let us inside their sometimes twisted masterminds and make us believe. Guys like Alan Moore, Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis. We salute you.
But this will not be a review about The Sandman. I'm not ready yet. There are so many things to say about it that it makes me tremble. Some other day, some other time, I'll be prepare and I'll do justice to the series. Not today. Today I just wanted to give happy news.
Gaiman had life after The Sandman, and he has written great stories, such as Neverwhere, (one of my favorite books) Smoke and Mirrors, The Sandman: Endless Nights and Coraline.
CORALINE is Gaiman's first novel for all ages. Yeah, an 8 year old kid can read it, but that doesn't mean that you will not want to leave the lights on when you go to bed. It is frightening, disturbing and dark. The story is about a girl named (guess guess!!!) Coraline (your deductive skills never cease to amaze Ms. Mysterious) that moves with her parents to a new flat. Everything gets complicated when she unlocks a door to find a passage to another flat , in another house just like her own. It even has another set of parents, just like hers, that want her to stay on that place forever. But as usual, no everything is as easy and as
beautiful as it seems. This is an exciting and imaginative novel, and yes! the reason I'm telling you this (besides trying to hypnotize you with my wisdom and words, and make you send me a free pizza to my home) is that there are probabilities that Coraline will be turned into a film. The idea is to make a stop- motion version, made by Henry Selick,the same guy that made TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, (love that movie- love the songs- miss Sandy Claws).
So yeah, that was all. That was the big news. Sorry, there's so much to say about Gaiman, about his books, his stories. Let's just say I'm getting you warmed up for the day I really start talking about The Sandman.
In the meantime if you haven't read anything about this guy go buy something. Please. I strongly recommend The Sandman series (obviously), or if you are poor like me (or even if you're rich!) buy the novel Neverwhere. I admit it..they're my favorites. And Smoke and Mirrors....and The day I swapped my dad for two goldfish..and The wolves in the
walls
...and...YEAH YEAH I like a lot of things! So sue me dammit!!! And Neil, don't worry. If your sales go up because of me, just invite me a coffee and teach me how to write :).