even more wonderful things people have mailboxed to Neil Gaiman...

It's been a bonkers September, but now is the time to do a little mailbox round-up. Always a joy to see what people send through the postal services of the world.

When Neil lost his Tardis pin, he was a very sad best-selling author. Lucky for him, his pin came from the aptly-named Two wacky pin guys! They sent him a replacement Tardis pin, along with some other goodies, and issued this caveat: 3's the limit! (which i found hilarious, but it's easy to amuse me)

They included a photo taken on the Canadian leg of Neil's book tour, when Neil realizes who is standing in front of him...

here is a great envelope housing a letter from Germany..."no favors.."

some great books came in:

this ghostly one was actually a gift to me...thanks, Emily!

and a play.

the inscription was so great, I had to photograph it. As for SANDMAN being a play for the stage, talk to DC!

some of the beautiful art from Bethany's Song by Donald Juengling, the lettering is delicious. (i'm really picky about lettering, can stop me from reading a comic, sad but true)

Boss, you will want to read the letter that came with this card...

the new Hera! thank you, you Icelandic beauty.

A young American named Tyler stationed in Afghanistan sends this touching gift to Neil and Amanda from the Afghan bazaar, I sat there on the floor after I opened the very battered smashed-up box and almost cried. The heart opens in face of such kindnesses.

this little movie, Mouse and Grudge, I will watch tonight before sending on to NG, stop-motion by Reita Piecuch!!

this next one I believe I am going to submit as a selection for Neil's All Hallow's Read H'ween book giveaway. William Rosencrans brings back to life, the works of V.V. Swigferd Gloume.

I think it's a tie between Steve N. King & Clarve Biker for my favorite blurb!

Speaking of All Hallow's Read, I will announce a Neverwear contest for some spooky art, with some mighty yummy hard-to-find prizes.

stay tuned, as I tinker a bit on that end with the help of our beloved WebGoblin. Special thanks to Mr. Christopher Salmon of Silverfish Productions for haunting up the Neverwear blog, we will get a better look at that gravestone shortly...

an August mini-Neil mailbox

Part of my job is to field the mails for Neil. I really love this part, and try to keep up with the sliding avalanche that can be the mails. I have started a new "HOW TO MAIL NEIL GAIMAN" and it mocks me, unfinished on my desktop. I am boxing up many things to send off to the archives of Gaiman, some great things came in this week. There are also several things from ComicCon, that he just couldn't carry back with him.

look at this gorgeous Dr. Who timeline print, which I have just very carefully rolled up for safe time travel.

a little detail!

Line master P. Craig Russell & his right-hand man Wayne Alan Harold sent over TWO copies of the vol. 3 of the brilliant series Graphic Storytelling, one for each! (or maybe Wayne's imaginary child sent them, if you don't follow WAH on twitter, consider doing so: @WayneAlanHarold)

here is a bit of a sad post office case, even though they wrote DO NOT BEND in red marker, somewhere between the UK and Los Angeles, someone DID bend it mightily. It was meant to be Neil doodling on a Tardis, for @ArtVCancer, am sure that Boss can do some wonders on it-- In this case, we can learn that sending soft paper bits in a smooshy padded envelope with red protective charms written over it, doesn't always end well.

this so-charming letter comes with a question I have definitely asked of Neil...

and this beautiful book comes to us from the good people of Canongate, THE NOVEL CUREby Ella Berthoud & Susan Elderkin.

It is an A-Z guide to literary remedies and I think Neil will really enjoy it. His work is referenced three, count 'em, three times, for curative powers.

something in this book for everyone--

this arrived from Jane Rawson in Australia and I may be judging a book by its cover, but I love a good map.

wrapping this up, because Husband is home from his last stadium date of the Taylor Swift tour and I am taking him to Sunday brunch, this is the good part about being a roadie...coming home.

here's one for the road:

gratitude, a Neil Gaiman documentary, the post office, plus kittens.

it's been busy around the Treehouse, but nothing like last month. July, you may never be topped.

I have been catching up on all the things that slid a bit while on the tours and at San Diego Comic Con.

Lined up a few more interviews for the guys at Respect Films, who are doing a documentary on a year of Neil Gaiman's life, one of the busiest I have seen him go through to date.

We met at the David Mack art show in Culver City, at Century Guild- I introduced Patrick and Jordan to David to get some of his thoughts on Neil.

It was a very busy event and David was a good sport on taking a moment out to talk about Neil.

A few days later, we met at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab to get the gorgeous Elizabeth Barrial on film.

Jordan adjusts the lighting. The whole tiny shop, which you must visit if you find yourself in the LA area, smells like magic. Real magic. Here there be tigers.

Portable film crew of one.

Jordan and Patrick will go to the UK to film Neil having a street named after him, which should be in all caps, as it is an AMAZING honor.

to find out more about the Portsmouth event, read HERE.

When not chasing after film crews, I have been rolling and shipping Neverwear orders, all caught up now. ALso while in San Diego, in Neil's skyscraping suite, I had him sign thank-you prints to each of the bookstores that hosted the OCEAN signing tour dates in the US.

a thank you to the good people at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, we loved this event.

I have to go back and blog some more photos-- like this spot-on fan art given to Neil at the Lex event.

and Tattered Cover in Denver! I use the pictured pen Charles gave me daily (i may need another ten of these-best pen ever!)

Selina Kyle supervised the operation from her perch high above us...

Here is Drew carrying a load for the post office in my most beloved Batman bag from SDCC. Thank you, Warner Brothers, for making this bag. I heart it so.

Meanwhile, the USPS is struggling under the new rules and price-hikes. I have been seriously considering switching carriers, and then I found out that Fed Ex has sub-contracted the post office to deliver much of their load. Higher prices for a subcontract, no... The overseas rates have sky-rocketed and the new customs forms are a nightmare. (pictured here are my last precious remaining single-sheet CN22 forms)

I have not raised my shipping rate in years, but may have to step it up to keep up. To ship a single teeshirt to UK is now $16.75 and it is taking more time than usual for orders to arrive to customers, which we do not like. We ship all over the world, and some places are luckier than others for getting to the destination. Pardon the pun, but we will keep you posted...

on the plus side, the post office has just issued this Johnny Cash stamp, which wins them points back...

now, in other completely unrelated news, KITTENS! for anyone that is interested in our mission to adopt some Maine Coon kittens...

for more about our NEW KITTIES, Jonesy & Ripley, click here.

San Diego ComicCon part 2

!!! somehow my original veeryyyyyyyy long post got deleted-- trying to re-create-- meanwhile, booooo. enjoy some photos anyway... I said some very nice things about young David Mack who painted our newest print--a slice from THE GOLDFISH POOL, one of my favorite of Neil's stories. We debuted it at ComicCon and David sold it at the Century Guild Booth- Tomorrow night there is a show at the Century Guild gallery in Culver City, I hope to see our LA people in attendance!

David and Caro came up to our SD suite and signed overlooking the lights of the convention

Got to have a little overdue hang time with the Hall H goddess, Pam, my supergirl crush! She accidentally got us into the Metallica panel, truly, BY ACCIDENT. She's showing off her Trujillo picks, the little minx.

Here before Neil's Sandman panel, he holds up an original piece of history, the title page art from Sandman #1.

Seeing Todd Klein and Dave McKean was wonderful, and I got to meet Sam Kieth for the first time- what a panel!

goofing around on the floor, with WETA!

LEGENDARY!

here we wait to go into Roman Dirge's REBUILT panel!

Starburns Industries gifted Roman with this new wolfy cane, and here is Husband modelling with him.

For Neil's spotlight panel, Jonathan Ross, the textbook brilliant interviewer brings the crowd down.

sorry that my full blog disappeared, I usually save them properly, but Mercury-retrograde is having fun with me. Spending most of my time getting caught up with Neverwear orders, thank you to ALL who were so patient with me, Neil wrote me out some great excuse cards for lateness: