The view from the cheap seats : selected nonfiction

The view from the cheap seats Selected nonfiction

Neil Gaiman

Sound recording - 2016

"The View from the Cheap Seats brings together... more than sixty pieces of his outstanding nonfiction. Analytical yet playful, erudite yet accessible, this cornucopia explores a broad range of interests and topics, including (but not limited to): authors past and present; music; storytelling; comics; bookshops; travel; fairy tales; America; inspiration; libraries; ghosts; and the title piece, at turns touching and self-deprecating, which recounts the author's experiences at the 2010 Academy Awards in Hollywood."--

Saved in:
Place a Hold Save to List Email this

2nd Floor Show me where

COMPACT DISC/824.914/Gaiman
0 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor COMPACT DISC/824.914/Gaiman Due May 7, 2024
Subjects
Essays.
Creative nonfiction.
Genres
Essays
Creative nonfiction
Published
[New York] : HarperCollins Publishers [2016]
Language
English
Main Author
Neil Gaiman (author)
Edition
Unabridged
Item Description
Title from container.
Physical Description
13 audio discs (15 hours, 30 min.) : digital, CD audio ; 4 3/4 in
ISBN
9780062417190
  • Some things I believe. Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming : the Reading Agency Lecture, 2013 ; Telling lies for a living...and why we do it : the Newbery Medal Speech, 2009 ; Four bookshops ; Three authors : on Lewis, Tolkien and Chesterton; the MythCon 35 Guest of Honor Speech ; The pornography of genre, or the genre of pornography ; Ghosts in the machines : some Hallowe'en thoughts ; Some reflections on myth (with several digressions onto gardening, comics and fairy tales) ; How dare you : on America, and writing about it ; All books have genders ; the PEN Awards and Charlie Hebdo ; What the [very bad swearword] is a children's book, anyway? The Zena Sutherland Lecture
  • Some people I have known. These are not our faces ; Reflections : on Diana Wynne Jones ; Terry Pratchett : an appreciation ; On Dave McKean ; How to read Gene Wolfe ; Remembering Douglas Adams ; Harlan Ellison : The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World ; Banging the drum for Harlan Ellison ; On Stephen King, for the Sunday Times ; Geoff Notkin : meteorite man ; About Kim Newman, with notes on the creation and eventual dissolution of the Peace and Love Corporation ; Gumshoe : a book review ; SIMCITY ; Six to six
  • Introductions and musings : science fiction. Fritz Leiber : the short stories ; Hothouse ; Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 and what science fiction is and does ; Of time, and Gully Foyle : Alfred Bester and The Stars My Destination ; Samuel R. Delany and The Einstein Intersection ; On the fortieth anniversary of the Nebula Awards : a speech, 2005
  • Films and movies and me. The Bride of Frankenstein ; MirrorMask : an introduction ; MirrorMask : a Sundance diary ; The nature of the infection : some thoughts on Doctor Who ; On comics and films : 2006
  • On comics and some of the people who make them. Good comics and tulips : a speech ; A speech to professionals contemplating alternative employment, given at PROCON, April 1997 ; "But what has that to do with Bacchus?" Eddie Campbell and Deadface ; Confessions : on Astro City and Kurt Busiek ; Batman : Cover to Cover ; Bone : an introduction, and some subsequent thoughts ; Jack Kirby : king of comics ; The Simon and Kirby Superheroes ; The spirit of seventy-five ; The Best of the Spirit ; Will Eisner : New York stories ; The keynote speech for the 2003 Eisner Awards ; 2004 Harvey Awards speech ; The Best American Comics, 2010
  • Introductions and contradictions. Some strangeness in the proportion : the exquisite beauties of Edgar Allan Poe ; On The New Annotated Dracula ; Rudyard Kipling's Tales of Horror and Fantasy ; From the days of future past : The Country of the Blind and Other Stories, by H.G. Wells ; Business as usual, during alterations : Information Doesn't Want to Be Free, by Cory Doctorow ; The mystery of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown ; Concerning dreams and nightmares : the dream stories of H.P. Lovecraft ; On The 13 Clocks by James Thurber ; Votan and Other Novels by John James ; On Viriconium : some notes toward an introduction ; So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish : an introduction ; Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones ; Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore ; Art and Artifice by Jim Steinmeyer ; The Moth : an introduction
  • Music and the people who make it. Hi, by the way : Tori Amos ; Curious wine : Tori Amos II ; Flood : Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition, They Might Be Giants ; Lou Reed, in memoriam : "The Soundtrack to My Life" ; Waiting for the man : Lou Reed ; Afterword afterword : Evelyn Evelyn ; Who Killed Amanda Palmer
  • On 'Stardust' and fairy tales. Once upon a time ; Several things about Charles Vess ; The King of Elfland's daughter, Lord Dunsany ; Lud-in-the-Mist ; The thing of it is : Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell ; On Richard Dadd's The Fairy-Feller's Master-Stroke
  • Make good art. Make good art
  • The view from the cheap seats : real things. The view from the cheap seats ; A wilderness of mirrors ; The Dresden dolls : Hallowe'en 2010 ; Eight views of Mount Fuji : Beloved Demons and Anthony Martignetti ; So many ways to die in Syria now : May 2014 ; A Slip of the Keyboard : Terry Pratchett.
Review by Booklist Review

Made up of introductions to other authors' books, speeches, and newspaper articles, including interviews Gaiman conducted, this is what used to be called a book of fugitive writings, short pieces that would otherwise have escaped book publication under their author's name. Except for the half-dozen in the last part (which contains the title piece, on attending an Oscars ceremony), they're about the stuff of Gaiman's vocation as a writer prose fiction, movies, and comics and a few rock singer-songwriters. Beyond that, they're basically about fantasy stories and storytelling, imaginative (made-up) as opposed to mimetic (realistic) literature. If that makes them sound ponderous, well, rest assured, they're witty, comical, lighthearted, enthusiastic, personal without egoism, entertaining even at their most serious. They acquaint us with entire rosters of fantasy writers and their best books, with the most revered superhero- and fantasy-comics creators, and with how comics and movies relate and don't. The speeches among them are the best kind of pep talking to gatherings of fellow comics creators, fantasy writers, and those two bands-of-colleagues' great enablers, comics distributors and librarians. Delicious.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Pooling together his various nonfiction works over the decades, including articles, reviews, book introductions, speeches, and more, Gaiman gives listeners a fascinating exploration into his own mind and artistic influences. Whether he's discussing classic literature, comics, film, or other works, Gaiman draws out subtle considerations that often can change how listeners think about the topic. He narrates the book effectively with his deep, slightly nasal voice and a conversational manner that will make listeners feel as he is talking to them directly. His voice reflects his own emotions-often excitement and enthusiasm-as he discusses the ideas, people, and experiences that have had a lasting impact on him. Rarely is an author as charismatic in speaking as he is in writing. A Morrow hardcover. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Prolific, award-winning fiction, comics, film, and TV writer Gaiman (Neverwhere; American Gods; Stardust) stormed onto the literary scene in 1990 with the novel Good Omens, cowritten with Terry Pratchett of "Discworld" series fame. Gaiman's eclectic work has been a force majeure ever since. Over the years, he has authored dozens of essays, reviews, introductions, and remembrances-"Some of them are serious and some of them are frivolous and some of them are earnest and some of them I wrote to try and make people listen," writes Gaiman in a brief introduction-collected here. Despite the self-deprecating title, there's nothing at a distance or unearned about his observations. Gaiman's prose reveals the relaxed intimacy of a cherished dinner partner and never loses sight of the big picture. Included are thoughts on the importance of reading and literacy; notes on the roots of sf and fantasy; musings on music and making good art; heady, existential yawps on painting and identity; and a fitting tribute to Pratchett in the collection's capstone piece. VERDICT Highly recommended for readers of Gaiman's work, specifically, and sf and fantasy generally, as well as those interested in cultural criticism and the art and craft of writing. [See Prepub Alert, 11/23/15; "Editors' Spring Picks," LJ 2/15/16, p. 29.]-Patrick A. Smith, Bainbridge State Coll., GA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Similar Items