Goths to the left of me, Goths to the right.....

Thursday night. Pulp Fiction. Neil Gaiman. And not suprisingly the most popular colour was black.

The crowd outside, waiting for the gates to be unlocked. It must have been an interesting sight for passers-by.

Gaiman was doing what I can only assume was a promotional tour for his new book - Anansi Boys. I say presume, because due to the vagaries (some might say stupidity) of publishers in Australia, the book isn't due out here until October or November. Sad really.

The crowd waiting for the event to start.

Yes - here be pirates. Blurry pirates, but pirates none the less.

There's a lectern up there. Must be where the action will be.

It's the man of the moment - in his trademark black shirt and jacket - being introduced.

Watching the man speak.

Still - he had a copy he was toting around from which he read Chapter 4 to us. It sounds pretty funny.

He speaks!

Following the speaking and Q&A session, there was the obligatory signing session. So naturally we joined the queue.

Almost an hour waiting and the queue didn't seem to want to move.

Still, after another twenty minuites or so, we started to get closer to the front of the queue, and got a decent sight of Gaiman.

Top-hats and black lace - yep - the Goths were out in force.

"What - you want me to sign this?"

Almost there. This was one of the two vapid Asian girls standing in front of us the whole night. Ther 'friend' with them proceeded to regale them with tales of how the SAS scours gun clubs throughout the country, searching for highly skilled marksmen to distribute secret passwords to which transform them into deadly killing machines. It was hard not to laugh out loud. I hope he was taking the piss...

Getting closer.

Even great artists have got to eat sometime. Although it was funny watching the organisers trying not to look impatient when there queue still seemed as long as it was at the start, and there was only half an hour left before everyone had to vacate the building.

And the end result? I got two of my books signed.

The books that were signed.

American Gods - the not-sequel sounds like fun.

Good Omens - now for Pratchett's signature.