Have not yet purchased Anansi Boys, but a friend of a friend of a friend claims that the dedication page and/or acknowledgements mentions him/her by name (don't want to give away any gender specifics...not that the friend is a hermaphrodite, thank you very much). Can anyone here list the "thanks to's..." from the book? Is that even legal? Thought I'd ask...!

It's dedicated to the reader. When Neil signs the book, he circles that line and writes in your name.

*laughs* Yeah, a pretty cool idea, I think.

He signed my Harlequin Valentine with a heart (what a very poetic turn of phrase) and Adventures in the Dream Trade with "Keeping dreaming in darkness." *shrugs* Time for a name change?

That is cool, that he does that. But what I mean is, this person says they were a beta (?) reader, and therefore is mentioned by name, on the acknowledgements page.

The acknowledgments page is a different matter - I had assumed they meant the dedication because, well, someone else has already done that joke here ('Thanks for dedicating it to me Neil!'). The ackn. section is two pages long with many names, i.e., more than I'm willing to type out right now when you can flip to the back of the book the next time you're near a bookshop. Maybe someone else will....?

Thanks for 'splainin, GMZoe!

Yeah, I loved the bit with the dedication

Mine actually says "Jasmine [this one's for you circled] Have a Lovely Happy Birthday"

'cause the signing happened to fall on my birthday

of course - in honour of the board, my copy of Neverwhere says THIS BOOK is PANTS in red ink...as well as his traditional "Mind the Gap"..

He signed mine "Phil, you're one awesome dude and I totally remember you even though you were number three hundred seventeen out of seven hundred fifty. Here's my home phone number."
No, really. Honest, he did.

Okay. Went to Waldenbooks, opened Anansi Boys, looked at acknowledgements page, read names, recognized none, search is over. Thanks to you all, anyway!

quote:

Originally posted by debgatos:
Okay. Went to Waldenbooks, opened Anansi Boys, looked at acknowledgements page, read names, recognized none, search is over. Thanks to you all, anyway!

Ok now thats just cheating

it niggles me how he keeps name dropping tho, it kinda puts me off that Lenny Henry gave him the idea for Anansi Boys and that he wrote it at Johnathan Ross' house (his wife is too cool tho)...that sort of thing, it seems like he wants to be around the celebrity circuit and i imagined him being the opposite of that for some reason.
I'd rather think of him writing somewhere grittier than Jonathan Ross' jaccuzzi ty v much.

>>>I'd rather think of him writing somewhere grittier than Jonathan Ross' jaccuzzi ty v much<<<

Awww, go easy on the poor guy, he's 45 years old (which still makes him 2 years younger than moi), if he wants to soak in jacuzzi when he's writing, he's entitled.

And as far as the celebrity thing goes, I think in many ways he's still the nerdy little Jewish kid who won the religion prize in his Anglican school ... all this fame and stuff is still fascinating to him, so he talks about it. >shrug<

- Cho

He's not on anything like the celebrity circut. It just happens that some of the people he knows now just happen to be famous. And they sought him out rather than the other way around.

Is it name dropping if some of your friends happen to be famous? There's a couple of people I've known since '85 who happen to be famous, one stupendously so. Doesn't mean I'm on the celebrity circut.

And since when are Lenny Henry and Johnathan Ross on the "celebrity circuit?"

quote:

Originally posted by Cavenagh:
Is it name dropping if some of your friends happen to be famous? There's a couple of people I've known since '85 who happen to be famous, one stupendously so. Doesn't mean I'm on the celebrity circut.

*Thirith tries very hard not to ask who they are... The bone guy is a real celebrity slut...*

quote:

Originally posted by The human swiss army knife:
it niggles me how he keeps name dropping tho,

I find that rather amusing and frankly half the names he drops are by far less famous than him. So most of the time he's more like promoting his friends than anything.

*would like to know who Cavenagh's famous friend is too but is not asking*

Sorry, new to this message board and still checking out some of the threads. Rather fascinating: here are my two bits. I've know rather "famous" folks in literary, acting and music professions. Most enjoy folks just recognizing their work as artists rather than be just a name to be dropped. But other "ordinary" folks get a kick out of the whole "I know a celebrity" because they believe that since they are not considered special in the opinion of most (they tend to rule out the people who count, like the people who love them), so they name drop to make them think that since they "know" someone important that makes them important. Rather pathetic I believe, one should believe in themselves, not living vicarously through a celebrity.
Oh yeah, I know Peter Fonda. Just spoke to him last week (the last famous person I had contact with, thought I needed to drop a a name here).

quote:

Originally posted by The human swiss army knife:
it niggles me how he keeps name dropping tho, it kinda puts me off that Lenny Henry gave him the idea for Anansi Boys and that he wrote it at Johnathan Ross' house (his wife is too cool tho)...that sort of thing, it seems like he wants to be around the celebrity circuit and i imagined him being the opposite of that for some reason.
I'd rather think of him writing somewhere grittier than Jonathan Ross' jaccuzzi ty v much.

What d'ya want him to do, lie about it?

If Ross's jacuzzi gets Neil in the mood for putting his glorious words down on the page then I'm all for it!