The Mixed-Up Files of Adrienne J. Odasso (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ajodasso) wrote in ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} lower_tadfield,@ 2005-09-24 00:06:00 |
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Forgive me if this comes out garbled, but I've just gotten home from the signing.
The line was hellishly long, and the interior of the church (yes, the event was held in a church) was hellishly hot, but once everybody was inside, it started up promptly. I had the privelege of meeting up with the lovelyobopolsk and the equally lovely ofrabjousday, who has already posted what she managed to capture on video. Lacking a transcript, however, I'm going to cut to the chase and tell you. After reading a segment from Anansi Boys, Neil said he'd start taking the questions. I raised my hand, not expecting to be called on since there were in excess of 500 people in attendance, but before I knew it he'd made eye contact and pointed at me. So I stood up and said the same thing I'd said to Terry, only I added, "Terry said he couldn't remember what it was that the two of you had said they were doing in the South Downs, so I thought maybe you might." Or something to that effect.
Neil proceeded to go off on an explanation that the first time they'd ever discussed a sequel was back around the time GO itself was first published, and that said conversation had happened at some convention where the two of them were sharing a hotel room to save money (thence proving that, at the time, neither was as successful as they are now). They'd been drinking down at the hotel bar, but Terry went up to bed first, and when Neil finally came back to the room, he was trying to be quiet and find his way in the dark. At this point, Terry, apparently awake, asked if his parents knew he was out and about at this hour. From there, they proceeded to have one of those bleary, early-morning conversations that resulted in the whole sequel-concept as the Second Coming, with Jesus coming down in a silver plane with the angelic secret service, and getting lost in Times Square, etc. He said that this sequel idea corresponded with the then-worldview, namely ca. 1990, but things are of course very different now. The conversation that he and Terry had earlier this year established that, well, the political climate is a lot different now, and if they ever do a sequel, it will be drastically different from the original concept.
And then, quite simply, he ended the ramble with, "Well, what they're doing on the South Downs is sharing a cottage. Next question?"
(And yes, the commentary fromofrabjousday about Aziraphale attempting to watch a pornographic film in the little two-minute preview snatch portions that you get on hotel television is correct. But that's hardly the thing I'm taking away from the experience. It's that Neil answered the South Downs question, seeing as it's been such an enigma for so long.)
The line was hellishly long, and the interior of the church (yes, the event was held in a church) was hellishly hot, but once everybody was inside, it started up promptly. I had the privelege of meeting up with the lovely
obopolsk and the equally lovely ofrabjousday, who has already posted what she managed to capture on video. Lacking a transcript, however, I'm going to cut to the chase and tell you. After reading a segment from Anansi Boys, Neil said he'd start taking the questions. I raised my hand, not expecting to be called on since there were in excess of 500 people in attendance, but before I knew it he'd made eye contact and pointed at me. So I stood up and said the same thing I'd said to Terry, only I added, "Terry said he couldn't remember what it was that the two of you had said they were doing in the South Downs, so I thought maybe you might." Or something to that effect.Neil proceeded to go off on an explanation that the first time they'd ever discussed a sequel was back around the time GO itself was first published, and that said conversation had happened at some convention where the two of them were sharing a hotel room to save money (thence proving that, at the time, neither was as successful as they are now). They'd been drinking down at the hotel bar, but Terry went up to bed first, and when Neil finally came back to the room, he was trying to be quiet and find his way in the dark. At this point, Terry, apparently awake, asked if his parents knew he was out and about at this hour. From there, they proceeded to have one of those bleary, early-morning conversations that resulted in the whole sequel-concept as the Second Coming, with Jesus coming down in a silver plane with the angelic secret service, and getting lost in Times Square, etc. He said that this sequel idea corresponded with the then-worldview, namely ca. 1990, but things are of course very different now. The conversation that he and Terry had earlier this year established that, well, the political climate is a lot different now, and if they ever do a sequel, it will be drastically different from the original concept.
And then, quite simply, he ended the ramble with, "Well, what they're doing on the South Downs is sharing a cottage. Next question?"
(And yes, the commentary from
ofrabjousday about Aziraphale attempting to watch a pornographic film in the little two-minute preview snatch portions that you get on hotel television is correct. But that's hardly the thing I'm taking away from the experience. It's that Neil answered the South Downs question, seeing as it's been such an enigma for so long.)
