Neil Gaiman | Edinburgh 'fringe' event | Sequel promised to American Gods

A pre talk cup of tea, our new copy of American Gods, Neil in full flow...

As it celebrates its tenth anniversary, Neil Gaiman admitted last night that he is working on a sequel to his cult hit, American Gods.

He said that the story was coming together and that he was likely to start writing it soon.

Gaiman, author of American Gods, Coraline, The Sandman series, Stardust and countless other novels was speaking at a 'fringe' appearance in Edinburgh. He'd already been at the official Edinburgh International Book Festival: but this was an extra gig organised by the Edinburgh Book Shop. There's a nice blog about the event here, from one of the people involved.

About a hundred Gaiman fans - and many of them really were fans, who came toting huge anniversary boxed set editions of The Sandman - gathered in The Crypt, below St John's Church on the corner of Princes Street and Lothian Road. This would have been a great choice of venue even if it wasn't a vegetarian cafe (Neil is a famous veggie). Food was served during an interval: almost all of which was gloriously edible. If this is a precedent for book events then it is a good one.

Gaiman was charming. He started with a glorious short story from Smoke and Mirrors, the opening tale about  a pensioner finding the Holy Grail in her local Oxfam shop (and buying it for 40 pence). It's a lovely, slow burning tale: funny and poignant. Classic Gaiman.

The chit chat ranged the expected areas. We heard about his bees freezing to death in the Minnesota winter. We heard about Dr Who - don't hold your breath for a second Gaiman episode, the one he did seemed to dominate 18 months and I doubt the BBC could afford to pay him for a second one. Incidentally - and this is BIZARRE - he suggested to the BBC that he write a novelisation of the episode based on material that didn't make the final cut. And the BBC said NO! Unbelievable. Apparently it jarred with their current novelisation policy ( I ask you?) Memo to the Beeb, this was Neil Gaiman: the answer is yes.

Gaiman's wide ranging interst - horror, graphic novels, scie fi, myth - were obvious. They are the root of what is becoming a very broad appeal. Sure, there are the comic fanboys in the audience (few men wore a shirt with a collar, I noticed: it was Dr Who T-shirt central). But he also appeals to children and to people like me, who simply love a well told story.

Looking forward to American Gods II, Neil. But don't be too quick, I haven't actually read the first one yet.

Edinburgh International Book Festival | Guardian Debate | NOT The End of Books

The Guardian sponsored debate The End of Books at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Saturday was entertaining enough - but it missed the point.

Ewan Morrison's talk in favour of the motion – the end is nigh, etc, reproduced on guardian.com at the moment - was considered and laden with stats. But I still think his take on the issue is wrong. The other speakers concentrated on the novelty of producing an iPad app of The Waste Land and the love of holding a paperback in your hands. Both these things seem as transient as the other to me.

Digital or paper, there will always be a demand for new authors, new voices, because each generation needs to recreate the world in its own image. I wonder how many kids now will read (and watch ) A Game of Thrones instead of Lord of the Rings. How many Harry Potter fanatics have ever read The Famous Five? Ewan seemed to suggest that publishers and Amazon -- the digital publishing giant of the near future [ie evil empire] -- will simply reproduce and mash up old writing and sell it anew. New writers will soon be on the scrap heap forced to take jobs in call centres rather than follow their calling by producing potential Booker Prize winners.

Ewan even referred to Shakespeare and Dickens as if they were getting by on modest advances awarded to them simply because their work was considered (by who? The great and the good?) to be artistically worthwhile. In reality, Wills and Charles were two of the most commercially successful writers of all time. Neither would recognise the current economic realities of the publishing / literary world, but they'd want to get paid.

The attraction of digital is that it allows a writer to bypass the traditional publishing log jam. Self publishing is no longer the resort of the vain but a decent option for a new talent wanting to showcase him or herself. A few have even made good money out of self Kindle publishing -- Amanda Hocking etc. But can the trick these genre writers have pulled off be repeated in the literary fiction world?

The fact is: lit-fic simply isn’t as popular as other genres and it is hard to feel sorry for well educated, talented author wannabes who would rather spend their days in a garret writing prose no one wants to read instead of holding down a proper job. Dedicate your life to literature if you want, but do it at your own expense.

Darren Shan | Horror | Edinburgh International Book Festival

For a man who spent his formative years as a vampire's apprentice, Darren Shan looks like a man who loves reading and snacking more than running full pelt through a forest in pursuit of a rogue pack of werewolves.

Then again, perhaps those books were more fictional than they first seemed.

Shan was joined @EIBF (today, Saturday August 20, 1.30pm) by Alexander Gordon Smith and Barry Hutchison to discuss horror (their love of reading and writing it) with the extreme bearded comic writer Philip Ardagh.

Together Ardagh and Shan showcased how to do it: a reading event aimed at YA, that is. When it came to delivering an exceprt of his own latest novel (Lord Loss, about Demons being eaten by crocodile dogs, it would appear) he performed a scene with barely a glance at the script in front of him. He knew it off by heart. Similarly, his opening extract - from a book that inspired him - was brilliantly delivered: the scene when the vampire boy comes to the window in Salem's Lot. I doubt Stephen King himself could have done it better. The other authors were interesting in their own right, but both could learn from the well chosen and well executed manner of Shan's readings. Perhaps he, as the best known of the trio, has simply had more practise.

It underlines however just how much of a showman you have to be these days in publishing. There's no point churning out the words if you can't sell them too. For many, many authors (there are exceptions) book festivals offer their biggest chance to reach a wide audience directly. Hutchison and Smith must have snatched at the chance of appearing next to a multi-million best seller like Shan.

Shan - a Londoner who speaks like a city barrow boy, and who sticks his tongue out expressively when he laughs or even sometimes just to punctuate a sentence - also had the best answer to the event's best question. One lad asked 'have you ever had a fight with another author?' Which seemed appropriate enough considering the fantasy violence these guys all write about. Shan recalled criticising Anne Fine for a review of another author's book - Melvyn Burgess I think - which she said was so bad it ought to be pulped. He also mentioned squaring off with Philip Pullman for sniffily saying that "no one should write in first person, you miss so much".

Actually, that was only the second best answer to the 'fight' question. The best was from Barry Hutchison who 'revealed' that he had once punched Jacqueline Wilson in the face. How we all laughed. But as Philip Ardagh said, she was probably asking for it...

Edinburgh Book Festival | Video archive

I'm looking forward to heading through to the Edinburgh Book Festival later this week. In the meantime I've been whetting my appetite by looking through their video archive. You should check it out, and feel free to make a donation too.

Book festivals have exploded in popularity over the last decade, with many following where Edinburgh has been leading. Tickets are however hard to come by with many of the hotter events selling out well in advance. Indeed, often on the first day.

Which begs the question whether they will ever dare to make the festival bigger. Charlotte Square is a cosy, perfect sort of a venue. But why keep something limited to that space if there is demand? The Hay Festival has ballooned in recent years... Edinburgh has kept itself strictly within the Square's iron railings. As I struggled to find a top event with any availability left this week, I couldn't help but wonder that perhaps it is time to think big and move to larger premises.