This morning I stayed in bed and read. Lazy Sunday morning. April Fool's day was over for another year. Our (Socar, myself, and some help from Sica) prank had run its course and entertained a few. We'd managed to get our mythical Howard Glassman interviewed on a popular weblog. We'd drawn comments (both bemused and annoyed) from Neil Gaiman's fans in a number of web communities.
But, we'd failed. Neil hadn't shown the slightest inkling of awareness.
A little after 10am, I wandered over to the computer, bearing coffee and reheated leftovers for breakfast. My Sunday morning changed in 30 seconds when I opened my browser and chat windows. Neil blogged our prank... NEIL BLOGGED OUR PRANK! Poisson d'Avril, and other interesting dishes. (No, I don't believe Neil swallowed our hoax at face value and was completely taken in. If you're a regular reader of his journal, you'd know that he remains skeptical about what he reads on the web. His entry title should give you a clue.)
Socar (the one with the inspiration and wonderful Howardly writing) has a selection of responses. Here are a couple more:
From Robin Slick: In her own write
Neil! Susan! We've been duped!
...
Me sulking and then totally perplexed altogether
Wow. And just a few hours ago I was sulking that Neil Gaiman had linked Susan Henderson in his blog instead of me --the self-proclaimed Empress of Cyberworld -- as concerns the lunatic I told you about who was eating all of Neil's books.
But the story has now taken a strange, bizarre twist.
Guys? We've been duped.
In fact, we have been hornswoggled.
Ha! Brilliant!
From film ick
Strange Man Eats The Compleat Works Of Neil Gaiman
I saw this link on Neil Gaiman's blog. It seems like a brilliant marketing ploy, and I don't know for sure that it isn't.
But it might just be the work of a complete and utter lunatic.
Or maybe, to be fair, an odd-witted performance artist who needed a little more fibre in his diet.
Late update (12th April):
When catching up on some delayed blog reading over at tisiwoota, I noted Shameless Adulation of Virgil and Socar.
...Unlike those wannabes who think they’re being sooo clever by posting on March 30 rather than April 1, these pros get their pranks rolling a full month in advance. And boy are they elaborate...