The Price

Someone asked me the other day why I was such a Neil Gaiman fan.

Hum, well, he did write the Sandman comics - which were ABSOLUTELY amazing - yes, I was a huge comic book geek - ask husband how he built custom shelves to house my collection after a water heater mishap in the basement.

Anyway, that is not the real reason.

The real reason is not even "Good Omens, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" , if you do not own, stop reading right now, and purchase this book. What in the world could be better than Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett? Nothing. That was not a question, I was stating fact.

But my favorite thing is something all together different.

It turned out to be something I read late one evening, by myself in my library (do yourself a favor and when you design/buy a house, make room for a library. Pretend you are Poe in the Raven poem.....ah, that is so much fun!!!) There was the first time I read one of my favorite stories.......

It is the short story "The Price"

Not since a kid reading Ray Bradbury had I read a story that actually gave me shivers. It is the best feeling when you read something that you know is changing your life at that moment.

If I was a writer, that is the story. That is it. I could write that and shout form the tallest mountain that this is my story, no apologizing or self patronizing. I would own that. If I had indeed written it. But I did not, and likely never will even come close.

From then on I was a fan.

This is truly how bad it is. I was at a reading of his, and he talked about how he was going to read a story that someone had requested as an auction winner.

The minute, he put the book on the podium and I saw where the bookmark was.....I knew. I had read it a dozen times!

He is going to read "The Price!" OMG - I get to hear him read the whole story!!!

If you are the unfortunates who do not live in Portland, Oregon (very close to Milwaukie, Oregon, my current haunt, where Dark Horse Comics is head quartered) then you might have missed the show. Even better if you are a Tori fan, he read the poem he wrote for her when she was pregnant with her daughter called "Blueberry Girl" - He respectfully asked the audience not to share it on the Internet. It is available now, but after that reading, I could not find it anywhere (that was 2001). I cannot think of another artist who can command such respect from his fans for them to give up that Internet fame.

But if you want to give some money to charity - you can buy the DVD and hear what I heard for yourself. (minus Blueberry Girl, which you can find on YouTube now.)

Someone told me that I like it because it was a "cat story and you just like cats" - I no longer call that person a friend, it was just one of those moments. You know, the one when you know that someone is not right for you. :)

I like it because it is perfect.

If Clive Barker had not written Damnation Game, Neil would be my favorite writer. But that is another story. :)