Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

There's probably something more self referential than writing a review of a book of someone's blog in a blog, but at the moment I can't quite think of it...

Adventures In The Dreamtrade is a collection of relatively minor pieces of Neil Gaiman's writing. There are a few short short pieces of fiction, a handful of poems and songs and some book introductions. It's probably these that will attract most Gaiman completists. However, the most interesting (and largest piece of the book) is a copy of Neil's blog.

There's a lot to be said for a look at the inside of a writer's head. Normally it's the creative process that interests us, but that's not what Gaiman's online dairy shows us. Instead of taking us through the writing of American Gods, he's showing us the other side of the writers life: dealing with manuscripts and copy editors as a book goes from word processor document to bookcase. It's a story of editing, of corrections and tedious re-reading, of interviews and reviews, of signing tours and hotel rooms. It's a lot of fun to read, and very educational. It's also a continuing work, which you'll find at his website.

This is a A Year With Swollen Appendices for the printed word. A recommended, and surprisingly entertaining read. Now if only the book had an RSS feed...