Five clips of Neil Gaiman’s & Henry Selick’s Coraline movie: The internet has made waiting for things pure torture
Of course, I love the internet but, at times, it drives me absolutely crazy. So, I’m a big reader and I also want to know what my favourite writers are up to.
For instance, two writers, whose work I really love, are Dan Simmons and Neil Gaiman – and both of them are truly very generous with their time and really do try to keep in touch with their fans.
Dan Simmons has this website that I really like. There’s a forum where his fans can talk about all kinds of stuff and Simmons takes part in these discussions too. He has also written several essays on the craft of writing and he sends his fans regular, long ‘messages’, in which he discusses his work, parts of his (working) life and the world at large.
Neil Gaiman has this journal – and he writes in it on an almost daily basis. He also shares bits of his life with his readers and provides links to whatever catches his fancy.
All of that is great fun but… Yes, as I said, on occasion it drives me more than a little bit crazy.
In the old days, before the internet, it was almost impossible to keep up with (the lives of) your favourite authors. Occasionally, you would read an interview with them in a magazine – and you would only hear about new books when they came out, through the reviews. Or you would simply have to trust that your bookstore would get any new book by writers you admired.
Now, we can all know far in advance when a new book will come out – and, at times, that’s not good. In fact, it can be pretty damn bad. So, I have known for about a year now that the next book by Dan Simmons will be a historical novel about a short time in the life of Charles Dickens. That book won’t actually hit the shelves before January, 2009.
WHICH IS HIGHLY FRUSTRATING!
Same with the next Neil Gaiman projects. His fans have known for months now about his upcoming ‘The Graveyard Book’ – and the waiting has been very painful. Even worse, we’ve also known for a loooong time that there will be a Coraline movie, directed by the guy who gave us ‘The nightmare before Christmas’, Henry Selick.
For that movie we will have to wait too…
… till bloody February, 2009!
Thanks to the internet, the life of a fan can be very annoying indeed. Of, course, I love to spread the misery around a bit, so here’s the link to the Rotten Tomatoes site, which has five short Coraline clips that will make you drool and gnash your teeth in can’t-fucking-wait frustration.
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