The Graveyard Shifts (and out come the freaks!)

On Tuesday 29th, it was Neil Gaiman evening! He was appearing, courtesy of The Children’s Bookshop at Holy Corner, at the Churchill Theatre to promote his new release, The Graveyard Book. The theatre was a sell-out, with a mixed audience of both his older fans and many parents & children, who were fans of his books for younger readers…

He read chapter 5 in it’s entirety, claiming to be wanting a change from chapter 1… The book features a young boy living in a cemetary, with each chapter set two years on as he grows up. In C5 he’s 10 and gets caught up in old customs, culminating in a Dense Macabre (or mac-a-bree as it’s often pronounced in the book).
After the reading he answered written questions that people had apparently submitted beforehand (Who knows? Maybe they’re the same at all the events) and then prepared for the mass signing onslaught. We left before that got underway – it looked extremely disorganised when we left, but no doubt some sort of order was imposed… Not sure how much thought had been given to switching from a seated audience, to a frenzied mob wanting to be first in a queue, any queue!
Good fun!

Last night was another Halloween event – Writer’s Bloc held their annual horror event at the Beehive Inn in the Grassmarket – they had a private room with a bar, with another raised area through some connecting archways. It felt a bit awkward initially, as the main room wasn’t really big enough, but it all worked out ok and certainly felt more fun than the Three Sisters ever did…
Several long works were interspersed by beer breaks and short ‘B’ movie trailers they had written, often loaded with puns… Aileron Smart solved a series of dastardly scone-related murders and the reprobates of Boleskin Academy made a welcome 3rd appearance following their pantomime antics a few years ago. And Sidney the Duck gained revenge on a nasty little boy!

Definitely good fun, although the venue still isn’t quite right…

edit to add: if anybody’s wondering, the title’s an oblique reference to a Was (not Was) track, The Woodwork Squeaks, And Out Come The Freaks.