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Neil Gaiman’s A Calendar of Tales


Neil Gaiman recently started an amazing and innovative project that would allow him to be influenced by his readers, and in turn influence them. The first part of the project was held on Twitter, where Neil tweeted questions to his followers in order to get answers that would (hopefully) inspire him to write 12 short stories.


 
The response was awe inspiring, as Neil tells us in his live journal:

Over on Twitter today I’ve been initiating a strange and beautiful art project. It’s about half way through the very first stage, which consists of throwing out questions to Twitter, and seeing what I get back.

Questions like “Why is January so Dangerous?”

or “Where would you spend a perfect June?” with the appropriate Hashtag – #JunTale in this case.

The answers have been amazing. Personal, honest, imaginative, glorious, surprising, strange, unexpected, familiar, magical, wise, funny… all of those things. They can be read over on the BlackBerry Hub for the project, and also on Twitter (just click on the relevant hashtag — here’s April’s. Here’s June’s.)

I’ve been retweeting them like mad, because I loved them and wanted to spread them.

The second stage is now underway, where fans of Neil Gaiman are encouraged to read the stories he has created and submit artworks that have been inspired by the stories. Many online artist communities, like DeviantArt, have been used as a medium to find artistically inclined fans to join in with the project.

The end result is to have a calendar with the twelve stories written by Gaiman (and inspired by his fans) along with the artworks selected. The entire effort has been sponsored by Blackberry, and you can find out more about the project and why Blackberry has gotten involved on their Keep Moving website.

As a huge Fantasy reader and lifelong fan, it is truly wonderful to see the authors we love and idolise engaging with their fans and giving back to them in a way that allows them to be a part of the tales they love so much. Well done Neil Gaiman!

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