text:
Release Date:  September 28, 2000

RFA:  RR-01-005

National Center for Research Resources

Letter of Intent Receipt Date:  December 1, 2000
Application Receipt Date:       January 23, 2001

This Request for Applications (RFA) is to establish Biomedical Research
Infrastructure Networks to further enhance the research capacity of
institutions through collaborative partnerships to allow them to more fully
participate in the competition for NIH awards.

The Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program was established within the
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), National Institutes of Health
(NIH), in 1993.  The purpose of the NIH IDeA program is to provide funding for
capacity building assistance for biomedical research in those states which
have not previously participated fully in the research programs of the NIH.
Funds provided through the IDeA program are intended to help those states
build their biomedical research capacities.  The current cohort of 23 IDeA-
eligible states and Puerto Rico receives about five percent of NIH grant funds

Eligibility Requirements

Those states that attained either success rates for NIH grant awards lower
than 20 percent or received less than $70 million in NIH grant funds over the
five year (1995-1999) period constitute the cohort of eligibles for the RFA.
Under the two criteria, the following 23 states and Puerto Rico are eligible:

Alaska            Kentucky          Nevada                Rhode Island
Arkansas          Louisiana         New Hampshire         South Carolina
Delaware          Maine             New Mexico            South Dakota
Hawaii            Mississippi       North Dakota          Vermont
Idaho             Montana           Oklahoma              West Virginia
Kansas            Nebraska          Puerto Rico           Wyoming

In order to develop a Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN), a
state-wide IDeA Coordinating Committee, representing all eligible IDeA state
institutions of higher education (or their equivalents), will be responsible
for selection and inclusion of the institutions within its state and possibly
those from other IDeA states.  The IDeA Coordinating Committee (ICC) will
determine priorities for state proposal submissions as well as provide advice
relating to the planning and preparation of applications.  The ICC will also
be responsible for approving collaborative arrangements with other IDeA states
for those cases which require a pro rata commitment of funds to the
collaborative arrangement (see below-Funds Available).  Institutions in states
with Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitiveness in Research (EPSCoR)
Committees may choose to use them as their IDeA Coordinating Committee.  If an
EPSCoR Committee is not available or does not hold the requisite expertise for
health-related research in an IDeA-eligible state, a comparable IDeA
Coordinating Committee is to be established and to determine priorities for
proposal submission.  Applications may build the research capacity to address
any of the biomedical and behavioral scientific areas relevant to the mission
of National Institutes of Health.

Potential applicants are encouraged to contact NIH staff listed under
INQUIRIES. A technical assistance workshop will be offered on Friday, October
20, 2000, at the Lister Hill Center Auditorium on the main campus of the NIH
in Bethesda, MD.  Additional information may be obtained and registration may
be completed electronically at the NCRR Website,
(   A summary of that workshop
will be posted on the NCRR Website to assist administrators or investigators
who could not attend the workshop.

Mechanism of Support

The administrative and funding instrument for this RFA is an exploratory grant
award mechanism (P20). The total project period for an application submitted
in response to this RFA may not exceed three years.  BRIN awards will provide
the opportunity for planning and implementing a network to significantly
enhance the biomedical research capacities of participating institutions.  Up
to the first six to eight months of funding is to be used in a planning phase
to organize the network and to test the feasibility of the organizational
structure and operations.  The estimated costs for staff, supplies and
services related to the establishment for the initial planning phase are to be
specifically identified in the application.  As a condition of the award, the
plan must be approved by NCRR staff before additional funding will be released
for implementation of the plan to develop the BRIN (See below: Special

Funds Available

The estimated total funds available in FY2001 for the first year of support
for awards under this RFA will be approximately $45,000,000. THE TOTAL AMOUNT
$2,000,000 PER YEAR. Each IDeA state may submit no more than two applications
in response to this RFA. Alternatively, a state may elect to submit one
application that includes a budget request up to $2,000,000 in total annual
costs (Direct, and Facilities and Administrative costs) for each of the three
years of funding. If a proposed network includes institutions from another
IDeA state, the activity for the out-of-state institution(s) will be adjusted
pro rata and assigned to the other IDeA state’s ceiling of funding that may be
requested from this program.

The number of awards and the level of support will depend upon receipt of
applications that meet the goals of the RFA and the level of funds available.
Although this RFA is included in the financial plan of NIH, awards are
contingent upon the availability of funds. States may receive up to two BRIN
awards, assuming two separate applications were submitted in response to this
RFA.  Applicants are encouraged to discuss their anticipated request,
including budgets, with program staff listed under INQUIRIES prior to
submission.  At this time, it is not known if competing renewal applications
will be accepted and/or if this RFA will be reissued.

Although no non-federal matching funds are required for the submission of
these applications, clear evidence of institutional and state commitment
should be included with the application.  The level of institutional
commitment will differ among applicant institutions because of the variability
of resources available among institutions and states.  At a minimum, a letter
of support from a senior institutional official (e.g., President or Dean)
outlining the commitment for resources and facilities to sustain and support
the BRIN throughout the period of funding should be submitted.

For many years, the NIH has made a special effort to stimulate research at
educational institutions that traditionally have not received significant
levels of competitive research funding through the NIH.  The IDeA program was
established for the purpose of broadening the geographic distribution of NIH
funding for biomedical and behavioral research by enhancing the
competitiveness for research funding of institutions located in states in
which the aggregate success rate for applications to the NIH historically has
been low.  A major factor which may contribute disparately to the funding
distribution is that there are too few investigators in the IDeA states
trained to conduct biomedical and behavioral research. The Networks will
develop the research resources and modern laboratories needed to attract
established investigators, and develop the research skills of talented
investigators and gifted students.

Objectives and Scope

The purpose of each IDeA Network is to promote the development, coordination
and sharing of research resources and expertise that will expand the research
opportunities and increase the number of competitive investigators.  No one
approach for developing a BRIN will fit the needs of every state.  The size,
structure, and operational principles will be determined by factors such as
the state of institutional research facilities, access to modern research
tools, technical and scientific expertise and critical mass of investigators.
Up to the initial six to eight months of a BRIN award may be used for planning
the feasibility of the network.  The plan for the BRIN must be approved by
NCRR staff before funding is approved for implementation. During the
implementation phase, the networks are to recruit and integrate scientists
from many complementary scientific backgrounds to assure that a competitive
multidisciplinary research team is assembled to address important health-
related research problems.  Other infrastructure research-related needs,
including renovation of research facilities, developing shared research cores,
purchasing modern research equipment, are to be included during the
implementation phase.

As an example, a BRIN network may include a doctoral degree granting
institution or research institute as the applicant institution along with 3-5
baccalaureate or masters level degree granting institutions.  Some networks
may choose to include more institutions but the feasibility of the network
organizational structure and operation must be established at the end of the
6-8 month planning phase.  The inclusion of minority serving institutions is
encouraged.  The BRIN is also intended to strengthen the basic science
departments of undergraduate institutions.  This program provides
opportunities for undergraduate institutions to recruit outstanding faculty
who can pique the interest of their promising students in health-related
science through both the classroom and the research laboratory in which
students may choose to participate in their professors’ research.  As a
consequence, more students---well trained in science and technology---may
enhance the quality of the workforce and help attract biotechnology industries
that may enhance the economies within the IDeA states in the future. With
better employment opportunities, more students may choose to stay within the
state.  The undergraduate institutions also serve an important “feeder” role
to the science departments of graduate schools within IDeA states and Puerto
Rico. With access to more gifted, well educated students, the graduate schools
in the IDeA states can more readily build a critical mass of investigators by
recruiting competitive investigators from other institutions as well as
recruiting their own graduates.

Network Characteristics:

A network within a state should have a research institute or doctoral granting
institution serve as the network’s lead institution and also serve as the
applicant institution on behalf of the BRIN. The Principal Investigator (PI)
is to be selected from the lead institution and need not be an established
research scientist, but must have the administrative and leadership skills to
direct this multifaceted and highly diverse program. The PI of the lead
institution will serve as the director of the BRIN and will coordinate its
activities.  This person should devote a minimum of 30-50 percent effort to
this activity.  S/he will also serve as the director of the Administrative
Core (additional 10 per cent effort) and will establish an administrative
structure that will ensure efficient utilization of the scientific facilities
and investigators within the network.  S/he is responsible for management,
staffing and resource allocation, and for administering the award in
accordance with NIH policies.  The director must have demonstrated ability to
organize, administer, and stimulate collaborative initiatives in the planned
network.  The director will, in consultation with the Steering Committees,
select the directors for the mandatory and other cores; the director may seek
advice from the External Advisory Committee for the selection of directors for
the other cores.

The research capacity building may focus on clinical, basic or both types of
research in a creative, integrated approach. Collaborative and cooperative
programs between or among IDeA eligible states as well as collaborations with
institutions in other states is allowable, but no IDeA grant funds awarded to
an IDeA state may be used for activities in an non-IDeA state.
The number of other participating institutions in a proposed network will vary
since varying numbers of investigators may participate from some institutions.
It is the responsibility of the leadership of the BRIN to define an effective
partnership.  The network is to include undergraduate and graduate students as
well as undergraduate and graduate science department faculty. Special
programs may be designed to enhance the recruitment and career development of
participating students and faculty.  Collaborations with investigators from
outside the IDeA state are permissible but must be agreed upon by the BRIN
Steering Committee.

Some applicant institutions may have faculty who hold significant peer
reviewed funding from either federal or private sector sources to conduct
research.  Those faculty members may be included as mentors and scientific
members of a multidisciplinary research team for the next phase of network
development. The nature of the planned network will determine the need for
core research facilities and modern instrumentation.  The research plan for
the BRIN may be in basic or clinical or both areas of research.  There are
unique populations within the IDeA states and investigators are strongly
encouraged to include representations of those populations for valid analysis
of differences that may affect health disparities.  The NIH is committed to
working toward elimination of health disparities among racial ethnic minority
populations.  Since the NIH is concerned about the under representation of
minorities in biomedical and behavioral research, the inclusion of
institutions that serve these populations is encouraged.

Each network must have at least three cores; two are mandatory and the third
core is to be chosen to meet investigator needs.  The two mandatory cores are
the Administrative and the Bioinformatics Cores. In addition, a network must
select at least one other core---for example, Training and Mentoring Core,
Research Development Core, Centralized Research Facility Core.  Applications
may include more than three cores and may include cores not described here as
examples.  All applications must include an evaluation component, described
later in this document.

At the request of a BRIN awardee, the NCRR will identify one or more program
staff from an NIH Institute or Center with a research mission directly
relevant to the thematic research area(s) to be developed within the BRIN.
This arrangement will provide additional advice by NIH staff in areas directly
relevant to the research focus under development.

Mandatory Cores:

The Administrative Core will be directed by the Principal Investigator of the
BRIN and will provide the logistical support for the network.  Systematic
communication among investigators within the network is essential.  Outreach
activities to other institutions through mechanisms such as (but not limited
to) seminars, lectures, workshops or short courses are encouraged.  The
Administrative Core will also serve as a clearinghouse for ongoing research
activities, any clinical studies, analysis of research results, other funding
sources, and other information relevant to the scientific focus that is being
developed within the Network.  The Administrative Core may also provide
electronic networking to inform investigators both within and outside the
network of the availability and access to modern technologies at research core
facilities both within the network and located at other NIH-supported sites
around the country.

Some institutions may need to develop and administer an Office of Sponsored
Programs. (Note that the existing NIH Extramural Associates (EA) program can
be an adjunct for training institutional officials who may serve as EA
management fellows at the NIH for 4 to 5 months and become proficient in pre
and post NIH grant award management.  Applications to participate in the EA
Program are solicited annually by NIH.  The next RFA is expected to be
published shortly.) Such development of local institutional staff may be an
adjunct to network development, but applications for the EA program are
reviewed under separate guidelines. Additionally, regional grantsmanship
workshops can be organized as a part of the Administrative Core’s scope of
activities.  Those workshops can provide a forum for Federal and private
sector agencies to present their missions and goals and provide updates on
research funding opportunities for investigators within the BRIN.

The Bioinformatics Core is essential to provide investigators access to the
technical expertise and data management and analysis tools required for
competitive, multidisciplinary biomedical research. Careful consideration must
be given to optimizing access to bioinformatics and other related tools for
investigators in the network. This core will have a substantial impact on
enabling the pursuit of research areas by the  multidisciplinary research team
to be developed.  This core will promote informatics training and education as
well as understanding of approaches and methods for data management, develop
methods for multi-center research and resource sharing and provide methods for
secure and confidential data sharing.
Other Cores to be considered:
A Training and Mentoring Core provides special programs to develop the
research skills of promising investigators through the training and mentoring
by an experienced, independent investigator. Special courses may be designed
for students and junior faculty to hone their investigative skills. Support
may also be provided for attending national scientific meetings and workshops
to interact with the scientific leaders in the field and learn about the most
current research advances in the field. Salary support will be provided for
mentors, based on their level of effort for mentoring students and promising

A Science Research Core will support research, if reasonable projects are
proposed and preliminary research studies of junior faculty and some students.
The Core can assist both students and faculty in becoming familiar with
technologies that will facilitate their research.   The preliminary research
may relate to the feasibility of studies to be included in the next stage of
BRIN development.  The scientific leadership, in conjunction with the
principal investigator, will determine the site(s) of the core(s) and whether
more than preliminary research is to be hosted in the cores for the more
advanced BRINs.

The Centralized Research Core Facility will facilitate research among the
investigators in the BRIN.  Several research projects may need access to one
or more technologies included in the Centralized Research Core Facility.  The
Core Facility is to include professional technical expertise for investigators
to optimize use of the Core Facility.  These cores may also focus on service
functions-for example, mutagenesis, cell culture, gene sequencing, cell
sorting and so on.  The Steering Committee will determine the focus and scope
of one or more Centralized Research Core Facilities to be included in the

BRIN Committees:

Steering Committee

The PI will serve as Chairperson of the Network’s Steering Committee, one of
two required BRIN committees.  The PI and network institutional
representatives must form and agree to participate as members of the Network’s
Steering Committee.  The members of the Steering Committee will establish the
policies and operating procedures of both itself and the BRIN. The Steering
Committee will meet at least three times during the first year of the award
and at least semi-annually thereafter.  The Steering Committee will also
develop strategies as to how it will interact with the External Advisory
Committee, described below.  The Administrative Core will provide logistical
support to the Steering Committee.

External Advisory Committee

Each BRIN will include an External Advisory Committee (EAC).  Rules governing
the composition of the EAC and the tenure of the Chairperson will be
established by the Steering Committee.  The composition of the EAC is to
include at least three permanent members as well as ad hoc members who can
provide advice to the Steering Committee for scientific, administrative and
other matters. The permanent members can monitor the longitudinal progress of
BRIN development. The Administrative Core will provide logistical support.
Expenses for the EAC, including honoraria, are to be included in the budget
request.  The EAC must meet at least twice annually and minutes are to be kept
and be available for review by NIH program staff who are responsible for
working with the leadership of the BRIN. In the application, include a
description of the types of individuals to be included along with a budget
estimate to support the EAC. Do not include names of individuals.

The award mechanism for this RFA is an exploratory grant award mechanism
(P20).  The following terms and conditions will be incorporated into the award
statement and provided to the BRIN Director as well as to the appropriate
institutional official(s) at the time of award.

The Special Requirements are in addition to, and not in lieu of, otherwise
applicable OMB administrative guidelines, HHS Grant Administration Regulations
at 45 CFR Parts 74 and 92, and other HHS, PHS, and NIH Grant policy

There will be national meetings of the leadership of the BRIN networks,
initially at 6 month intervals, and at least yearly thereafter.   These
meetings will provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, information and
address problems that arise.  In addition, NIH staff will provide updates on
policies and regulations that relate to the conduct of research, including
discussions of conflicts of interests, NIH Electronic Research Administration,
ethics, and protection of human subjects to strengthen the Program overall and
the networks individually.  Applicants are to include the cost of attending
these two-day meetings in the Bethesda, Maryland, area within their requested

In addition, regional meetings of networks may be held to address
administrative or discipline-specific topics. Separately, the BRIN leadershp
may wish to confer with NIH program staff at least once or more anually to
seek logistical advice as well as to discuss the progress of developing the
BRIN.  Include the costs of up to two regional meetings in the requested
budget as well as the estimated costs of administrative visits with NIH
program staff.

Up to the first six to eight months of funding is to be used in a planning
phase to organize the network and to test the feasibility of the
organizational structure and operations.   As a condition of the award, the
plan must be approved by NCRR staff before additional funding will be released
for implementation of the plan to develop the BRIN.  Criteria for approval
include: 1) likelihood of implementation of the Plan over the reminder of the
grant period; 2) evidence of institutional commitment to the BRIN; 3)
reasonable recruitment plans for both established and promising researchers;
4) reasonableness of elective cores to complement proposed thematic research
area(s); 5) if appropriate, plans for research facilities renovations and
adequacy of research space across the BRIN; 6) adequacy of plan for defining
needed research tools and instrumentation; 7) reasonableness of plan for
identifying an adequate pool of established investigators to mentor junior
faculty and students; 8) adequacy of plans for undergraduate institutions;
and 9) adequacy of administrative principles and proposed committees to
develop an effective BRIN.

Letter of Intent

Prospective applicants are asked to submit, by December 1, 2000, a letter of
intent that includes a descriptive title of the proposed network, the name,
address, and telephone number of the Principal Investigator, the identities of
other key personnel and participating institutions, and the number and title
of the RFA.  Although a letter of intent is not required, is not binding, does
not commit the sender to submit an application, and does not enter into the
review of a subsequent application, the information that it contains allows
NCRR staff to estimate the potential review workload and avoid conflicts of
interest in the review.

The letter of intent is to be sent to:

Dr. Charles Hollingsworth
Director, Office of Review
National Center for Research Resources
National Institutes of Health
6705 Rockledge Drive, Room 6100
Bethesda, MD  20892-7965
Telephone: (301) 435-0807
FAX:   (301) 480-3660

Instructions for Preparation of an Application

Applications in response to this RFA will be expected to compete for an BRIN
award (see below) that will be competitively reviewed, in part, on the
effectiveness of the approach for research capacity building along with the
organizational and scientific progress to be made during the planning and
impementation stages.  Preliminary scientific data are not required for the

Research Plan

Discuss the philosophy, priorities and objectives of the network. Address the
importance of the funds to develop the several components, including support
for promising but not yet established investigators.  Describe the potential
impact of the proposed plan on the research capacities of participating
institutions, faculty and students within the host state.  Describe the roles
of the BRIN Committees---Steering Committee and External Advisory Committee---
and the approaches to be used to set priorities for future research efforts.
Prioritize the needs within the proposed network and how those needs will be
met. Describe how the plan will build an effective research base that will
eventually lead to competitive research applications from a critical mass of
investigators who will form an effective multidisciplinary research team
within the BRIN. Finally, describe the anticipated impact on student and
faculty from undergraduate institutions on the workforce and as a “feeder”
into the graduate science programs within the state.

Infrastructure Needs:

Describe 1) the quality of existing institutional research space as well as
research facilities needed across the Network to conduct biomedical research
for investigators within the BRIN.  Describe and justify upgrading of existing
laboratories as part of this effort to be undertaken with support through this
RFA.  Similarly, 2) describe what research equipment is available and can be
used by BRIN investigators and students; describe and justify additional
research instrumentation needs of the BRIN and how those needs can be
addressed through this program. Summarize 3) how a critical mass of
investigators is to be developed to build a multidisciplinary research team.
4) Describe the foregoing needs for both graduate school and undergraduate
institutions and 5) provide a time line for how the BRIN will address
infrastructure needs as well as how the BRIN will prioritize those
infrastructure needs. 6) Describe any other sources of support that will
contribute to the development of the proposed BRIN.

Administrative Core:

Describe the qualifications and role of the Principal Investigator of the lead
institution selected collegially from among the participating institutions in
the proposed network.  Describe the administrative arrangements among the
participants and the mechanisms to be used to resolve differences of opinion.

Bioinformatics Core:

Describe the approach to be undertaken within the proposed network to provide
access to bioinformatics tools for data mining and model development, database
management of heterogeneous objects of varying size and the need for training
investigators in the effective use of those tools.  Describe how the network
will create an infrastructure for bioinformatics and other related tools for
investigators in the network and the impact of the Core on multidisciplinary
research efforts and the environment in which to develop a new generation of
researchers. If access to high end computational power is required, describe
how and where investigators can access this capability.

Other Cores to be considered:

Training and Mentoring Core

Describe the network’s plan to develop the research skills of both graduate
and undergraduate students and junior faculty. Describe the role of
undergraduate faculty.  Describe how mentors are to be selected and how they
will interact with the junior scientists and students.  Provide an estimate of
the ratio of funded, established investigators to trainees on the
multidisciplinary research team.

In parallel, describe how faculty will be recruited for undergraduate
institutions and their relative contribution to thematic research planned
within the network.  Describe plans to attract more gifted students into
science majors and their opportunities for exposure to cutting edge research
technologies.  Describe how approaches can contribute to the research
experience to launch an independent research career.

Mentors must have research expertise relevant to the scientific area(s) to be
developed within the BRIN.  Mentors will help oversee the proposed training
and career development of promising investigators.  The scientific leadership,
including mentors, will ensure that participants are coached in state-of-the-
art scientific methods, including testing hypotheses, designing valid studies
and analyzing data.  The application should also describe how junior faculty
will be protected for research time. The mentor may be a collaborator on the
junior investigator’s research project. Where feasible, women, minorities and
individuals with disabilities should be involved as role models, students, or
junior investigators. Finally, describe how mentoring will be evaluated to
assure students and junior investigators receive effective “coaching.”

Centralized Research Core Facility will facilitate research for investigators
not only in the network but also for investigators within the state but at
institutions outside the network.  Several research projects may need access
to one or more technologies included in the Centralized Research Laboratory
Core.  The Core Laboratory is to include professional technical expertise to
optimize use of the Core Laboratory’s technology. Provide the rationale for
the Research Core Laboratory/(ies) included in the application, its impact on
research, and how the Core Laboratory/(ies) will be professionally staffed.
Include justification for the level of funds requested to support the Core

The Science Research Core can support preliminary research studies of
promising faculty and selected students. The Core can assist both students and
faculty in becoming familiar with technologies that will facilitate their
research.   Describe how this core may relate to research studies to be
included in the next stage of development (beyond the three years’ support
provided by a BRIN award). Describe the rationale for the scope of the Science
Research Core requested and the rationale for the site(s) of the core(s).
Provide justification for staffing and operational costs and the potential
over all impact on the research direction(s) of the BRIN.

Evaluation Plan

An evaluation component is to be included in the application to assess whether
the effectiveness of the approach taken will meet the goals or benchmarks for
building an effective institutional research network.  The application is to
describe the development and implementation of the plan for formative and
summative evaluations of the network along with strategies for revisions, if
deemed necessary.  In addition, the evaluation plan is to set benchmarks for
the network’s impact on recruitment of outstanding faculty and students at
participating undergraduate institutions.  There may be other novel elements
that the applicant may choose to include in the evaluation.

The goals of NIH-supported research are to advance our understanding of
biological systems, improve the control of disease, and enhance health.  The
reviewers will comment on the following aspects of the application in their
written critiques in order to judge the likelihood that the proposed network
will have a substantial impact on the pursuit of these goals.  Each of these
criteria will be addressed and considered by the reviewers in assigning the
overall score weighting them as appropriate for each application.

The five criteria to be used in the evaluation of grant applications are
listed below.

1. Significance.

o  Will the network provide an integrated approach among the institutions and
enhance their research capacity building, including collaborations among the

o  Does the proposal include a systematic approach for new ideas, recruitment
and support for students, junior and established, funded senior investigators

o How will capacity building at participating institutions be undertaken?

2. Approach.

o  Is the conceptual organizational and operational framework reasonable and
appropriate to develop an effective network?  Is the time line realistic?

o  Does the proposal effectively integrate the goals of the participating
institutions with that of the proposed network?

o  Is there a viable strategy for developing a menu of undergraduate and
graduate educational opportunities, ranging from formal programs to courses
and seminars, visiting scientist programs and other similar activities?  Are
provisions made for familiarizing investigators and students with
bioinformatics tools?

3. Innovation

o  Does the network incorporate attainable approaches or methods for
developing and facilitating interactions among faculty across all
institutional levels?  Will there be an adequate pool of established, funded
investigators to effectively mentor junior colleagues?

o  Does the proposed network effectively include development of appropriate
state-of-the-art core facilities to enable health-related research?

o  Does the application address the need and key role of bioinformatics to
enable research across the network?

o What creative plans does the network propose to strengthen the participating

4. Administration

o  Does the Principal Investigator have the administrative experience and
skills to effectively lead this effort? Are other key personnel in other
areas, for example, bioinformatics, well qualified to work in developing the
cores and network?
o  Is the Steering Committee appropriately constituted and empowered to
effectively provide advice and recommendations to the participating

o  Is there a clear plan for defining sharing and discharging the
responsibilities of investigators and operational procedures among

o  Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and possible

o  Is there a formalized agreement---for example, memorandum of understanding
(MOU)---among institutions that are to constitute the network?  In the event
that disputes arise and cannot be resolved collegially, what recourse is
available to arbitrate those differences?

o  How and who sets final priorities for the BRIN?  What are the priorities
and goals of the network?  Are proposed time lines appropriate to meet the
goals of the BRIN?
o  If there are plans to recruit investigator(s), are those plans reasonable
and necessary and can those efforts be completed in a timely manner, such that
the recruited investigator(s) can make meaningful contributions to building
the network?  Are the time lines for building the network’s biomedical
research capacity realistic and attainable with the level of support provided
through this program?  Will the BRIN Award contribute to salaries and start up
funds for promising investigators; are there other sources of support for
salaries and start-up funds?

5. Environment.

o  Does the plan increase the likelihood that the network will effectively
enhance quality research and research competitiveness for research funds among
participating institutions?

o  Will the network effectively promote research and facilitate interactions
across disciplines and institutions?  Are there appropriate research cores
incorporated into their planned network?

o  Is there evidence that the institutions or departments that make up the
network can work together and develop an effective network?  Is the need for
upgrading research facilities and instrumentation justified? Is the approach
to select sites for renovating laboratories and purchasing research equipment
well thought out? Are the needs of the undergraduate BRIN components
adequately addressed?

o  If the network includes electronic communication, what advantages does it
provide?  Is there adequate technical support to oversee the electronic
network?  Is it cost effective? What is the primary goal or goals of
electronic communication?

o  Is there evidence of significant administrative and scientific commitment
of  the participating institutions to fulfill the objectives of the BRIN?  Is
there evidence of institutional support?

o Is there an effective plan to develop a competitive scientific environment,
including protected time for faculty participants, and recruitment of
competitive promising and established investigators to enhance the probability
of meeting the goals of the RFA?

Overall Evaluation:

The review of the BRIN applications will be based on the review criteria
described herein, the administrative qualifications of the principal
investigator and the quality of the plan to develop an effective research
network that will contribute significantly to the state’s research base.
Innovation is a primary consideration in the review of these applications.

The initial review group will also examine: the appropriateness of the
proposed project budget and the duration, adequacy of clinical research plans
to include both genders and minorities and their subgroups as appropriate for
the scientific goals of the research and plans for the recruitment and
retention of subjects; the adequacy of plans for including children as
appropriate for the scientific goals of the research, or justification for
exclusion; the provisions for the protection of human and animal subjects; and
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Upon receipt, applications will be reviewed for completeness by the Center for
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In addition to the above criteria:
o  Applications will be reviewed for potential effectiveness of their
organizational structure and operations of the network, merits of proposed
capacity building and the proposed evaluation plan.

o  For research projects involving human subjects, the adequacy of plans to
include both genders and minorities and their subgroups as appropriate for the
scientific goals of the research.  Plans for the recruitment and retention of
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of children in the research project and evaluate the plans for conducting the
research in accord with the NIH guidelines on the inclusion of children as
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for animal welfare and biohazard safety in the research environment; and

o  The appropriateness of the proposed budget and duration, including the
justification for requested items in terms of the aims and methods of the
proposed research studies will be evaluated.

Awardee's Salary. Up to the legislative maximum for full-time professional
effort salary support may be requested. The total salary requested must be
based on a full-time 12 month staff appointment. It must be consistent both
with the established salary structure at the institution and with the salaries
actually provided by the institution from its own funds to other staff members
of equivalent qualifications, rank, and responsibilities in the department
concerned. If full-time 12-month salaries are not currently paid to comparable
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The institution may supplement the NIH contribution up to a level that is
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There will be a meeting of the leadership of the grantee networks at 6 month
intervals.  The costs to support and attend these meetings should be included
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Tuition. If essential to the awardee's individual development program, funds
for tuition for training courses may be requested on a course-by-course basis.

Ancillary Personnel Support. Salary for mentors is not allowed unless the
mentors are members of the established investigator pool which is to directly
interact and mentor junior investigators.  May request up to 25 percent effort
for mentors who are extensively involved in this BRIN activity.

Facilities and Administrative Cost will be reimbursed at the negotiated rate.

Allowable Renovation Costs to improve existing research laboratories or animal
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request up to 20 percent of the direct costs awarded over the three years.
Proposed renovations that will cost more than $100,000 require special
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Supplies for research

Office supplies

Salaries for support and technical staff as well as professional staff who
will direct Cores

Other costs not specifically excluded

This RFA will not provide support for new construction, including the
completion of shell space, or for equipment intended for teaching or other
non-research related purposes.  There is another NCRR program, entitled the
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BRIN awards will be based on the quality of the proposed network, development
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affixed to the bottom of the face page of the application.  Failure to use
this label could result in delayed processing of the application such that it
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number and title must be typed on line 2 of the face page of the application
form and the "YES" box must be marked.

The sample RFA label available at: has been modified
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Submit a signed, typewritten original of the application, including the
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BETHESDA, MD  20892-7710
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At the time of submission, three additional copies of the application and five
copies of any appendices must be sent to:

Dr. Charles Hollingsworth
Director, Office of Review
National Center for Research Resources
6705 Rockledge Drive, Room 6100
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone: (301) 435-0807
FAX: (301) 480-3660

Letter of Intent Receipt Date:  December 1, 2000
Application Receipt Date:       January 23, 2001
Council Review:                 September 15, 2001
Earliest Award Date:            September 30, 2001

Applications must be received by January 23, 2001.  If an application is
received after that date, it will be returned to the applicant without review.

Direct inquiries regarding programmatic issues to:

Dr. Sidney A. McNairy, Jr.
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National Center for Research Resources
National Institutes of Health
6705 Rockledge Drive
Bethesda, MD  20892-7965
Telephone:  (301) 435-0788
FAX:  (301) 480-3770
For information on budget and fiscal matters, contact:

Ms. Irene Grissom
Office of Grants Management
National Center for Research Resources
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 435-0844
FAX: (301) 480-3777

It is the policy of the NIH that women and members of minority groups and
their sub-populations must be included in all NIH-supported biomedical and
behavioral research projects involving human subjects, unless a clear and
compelling rationale and justification are provided indicating that inclusion
is inappropriate with respect to the health of the subjects or the purpose of
the research.  This policy results from the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993
(Section 492B of Public Law 103-43).

All investigators proposing research involving human subjects should read the
UPDATED "NIH Guidelines for Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in
Clinical Research," published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts on
August 2, 2000
a complete copy of the updated Guidelines are available at  The
revisions relate to NIH defined Phase III clinical trials and require: a) all
applications or proposals and/or protocols to provide a description of plans
to conduct analyses, as appropriate, to address differences by sex/gender
and/or racial/ethnic groups, including subgroups if applicable; and b) all
investigators to report accrual, and to conduct and report analyses, as
appropriate, by sex/gender and/or racial/ethnic group differences.

It is the policy of NIH that children (i.e., individuals under the age of 21)
be included in all human subjects research, conducted or supported by the NIH,
unless there are scientific and ethical reasons not to include them.  This
policy applies to all initial (Type 1) applications submitted for receipt
dates after October 1, 1998.

All investigators proposing research involving human subjects should read the
“NIH Policy and Guidelines on the Inclusion of Children as Participants in
Research Involving Human Subjects” that was published in the NIH Guide for
Grants and Contracts, March 6, 1998, and is available at the following URL

All applications and proposals for NIH funding must be self-contained within
specified page limitations.  Unless otherwise specified in an NIH
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be compromised when they directly access an Internet site.

The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the health promotion
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Award (IDeA) Network Program, is related to one or more of the priority areas.
Potential applicants may obtain a copy of “Healthy People 2010" at

This program is described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No.
93.854.  Awards are made under authorization of the Public Health Service Act,
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241 and 285) and administered under NIH grants policies and Federal
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to the intergovernmental review requirements of Executive Order 12372 or
Health Systems Agency review.

The PHS strongly encourages all grant and contract recipients to provide a
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addition, Public Law 103-227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994, prohibits smoking
in certain facilities (or in some cases, any portion of a facility) in which
regular or routine education, library, day care, health care or early
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Weather Forecast

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November birthdays celebrated PDF Print E-mail

November birthdays were celebrated at the Perkins County Senior Center Thursday, Nov. 12. Included in the festivities were (Front row, l-r): Kevin Tickle, Thelma Moser, Yvonne Sexson. Back row: Jim Salsman, Minnie Softley, Bob Brodbeck, Katy Miyamoto, Ivan Palu. (Courtesy photo)

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text:
Home Tour Heroes

Home Tour Heroes - Framed Sketch of 1936 Hudson Street

Heather Shockey and Tracey MacDermott made the Home Tour and Street Fair an almost zero waste event. They collected 55 bags of trash from the sites (at right). From those 55 bags, they recycled 2 full carloads of cardboard, 3 large bags of paper, 6 large bags of plastic, 2 large bags of crushed aluminum, 1 small bag of glass and 4 large bags of plastic bags and shrink wrap. Locust Street neighbors volunteered their compost bins to hold 8 large bags. In the end, less than 20 gallons of garbage went to the landfill.

Ed Moore Florist and Greenhouse has been creating the bouquets for the Home Tour show homes since 1978. Owner Lydia Mary says that, as the longest running florist in Park Hill, she does it to support the neighborhood. They make an appointment with the homeowners before the tour and decide what the bouquets will look like and where they will be placed. 35 years later, while Ed Moore Florist donates to many causes, Mary says that she’s broken all of her philanthropy records at the Home Tour.

The combined efforts of Marc Applebaum, Applebaum Architects, and Mike Jacobsen, Frame of Mind, have culminated in framed custom renderings for every participant of the Home Tour for nearly 30 years. Applebaum draws the renderings by hand with soft pencil, while Jacobsen archivally preserves the renderings, then mattes and frames them beautifully.

We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in this community. Thank you to these and all the Home Tour Heroes!


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Spring River Entertainment Assoc

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Access Partnership

Rating: 4.95 stars   110 reviews

Issues: Health

Location: P.O. Box 41093 Norfolk VA 23541 USA

Mission: Dedicated to bringing health care to all residents of Greater Hampton Roads so that anyone in need of care will not have to go without.
Target demographics: Uninsured, low-income adults ages 19 to 64 years of age.
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Review for Habitat For Humanity Idaho Falls Area, Idaho Falls, ID, USA

Rating: 5 stars

Great people and leadership. This is also an excellent opportunity to learn how to build a house or use your skills to teach others. Last year this group built two houses and three the year before.

Would you volunteer for this group again?

For the time you spent, how much of an impact did you feel your work or activity had?

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Pet Supplys
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Exceptionally Affordable

Quality Pet Care

Safety and Security

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Special Extras Available

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Packages Available

5713 Geneva Avenue North

Oakdale, MN 55128

Call: 651-777-1051

Fax: 651-773-6517

Welcome to Great River Pet Center

Our business centers on your pet. We invite you to stop by
anytime during our business hours to tour our facility and
meet our wonderful staff!

We are open between 8-10 am & 3-7 pm
7 Days a week with the exception of holidays

All pet's vaccinations must be current prior to their
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of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil
his due.
-- The toast that Hob Gadling offers The Lord of Dreams
in the 'Season of Mists' story as told in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series

Neil Gaiman once said that his favorite smell was 'November evenings -- frost and leaf-mould and woodsmoke. The smell of coming winter.' Now I'll bet you, like I, can now smell frost and leaf-mould and woodsmoke as that's what a truly great storyteller can do and Gaiman's among the best storytellers that have ever graced this culture. To his credit, he is also, as one fellow writer put it, 'a truly nice fellow'. Having encountered in my day some writers who were, to put it mildly, far less nice than one would hope they would be, Gaiman is one of the better blokes in the writing business these days! Once upon a time, we made him Oak King for a year -- an honor reserved for the best storytellers!

And he's certainly a prolific writer/scriptwriter/poet/lyricist as well -- we've reviewed more works by him than anyone else by far! So we honour him with a special edition that looks at him as a person, has suggestions on where to start reading his works, and has a whole slew of fellow writers saying what they like best by him. So let's get an Imperial pint of cider and take a look-see at Gaiman and his works!

A Night on the Tiles -- A friend's look at Neil Gaiman

Every once in a while, someone starts out an interview with me with the most irritating question anyone can ask -- What's your writing process?

There is nothing I can be asked that makes me crankier, or more fretful. Seriously. Even where do you get your ideas? can't compete. It's insanely squirm-inducing.

If you're a writer yourself, aspiring or otherwise, what works for me can't be your spur -- you need your own road. Besides, the question has no answer, because I don't have a process. I have characters, I set them on the road, I travel until the sun goes down or comes up at the end of the road. That's how I write a novel. See? No process.

So, if you were expecting an insightful look at Neil Gaiman's methods, sorry, but it's not going to happen. I don't care about his processes. I care about what comes out the other side of those processes, and I care about the man himself, because he is a corking good writer, a phenomenon, an absolute Scorpio and oh, by the way, a superb human being. He's also someone I consider a friend, and I'm damned glad of it.

This is about my first actual introduction to Neil. It's a very fond look at Neil, and my own 'get naked and roll in it' take on my own particular favourite book of Neil's, because it hits me where I live.

But a bit later on for that. First, let me take you back to 2 October 2006, a chilly sunny autumn morning in San Francisco, when my phone rang, and I picked it up to find buddy and dark poet Rain Graves at the other end, with an invitation -- Neil Gaiman was in town. He was touring Fragile Things. He was doing an event for Cody's Books in Berkeley that night, and he'd put us both on the guest list, for seats for what was an already sold-out event. Was I up for it?

Um - not enough oh hell yes in the world. At that point, Neil and I had several very good mutual friends. I actually read very little these days - I've been writing nonstop for several years now, and when I do that, I don't read. But I'd read one of his not long before, and it had pressed every visceral button I had.

So I made wheeeeeee! noises, and told Rain to come over early, I'd cook a lasagne and I'd drive us. I then went online and frankly gloated. I got a lot of envious comments (there were a couple of die, bitch! die! responses that made me blink), and a request, from one of those mutual friends mentioned above, to send love to Neil, by way of a hug.

We headed over the Bay Bridge, parked, and headed into the theatre. At that point, I found myself wondering. I've spent an inordinate amount of time in my life around rock stars, and what I was seeing on the pavement outside the theatre had the vibe of genuine star power to it -- people looking for scalper tickets, waving money and sounding desperate. To the Rolling Stones, okay - that, I could see. But to a book reading/question and answer? Really? Quois?

Neil had indeed reserved seats for us, very good ones -- third row, centre. As we settled in, Rain - who'd been out for late-night sushi with Neil the evening before - let me know that there was a high probability Neil would appear in black velvet trousers and a very particular teeshirt. (Yes, there's a backstory and no, I don't dare share it. Sorry.)

The nice gent from Cody's came out, did some shtick, and got massive laughs from the clearly anticipatory crowd. He finally dropped the shtick and introduced Neil, to fever-pitch delight. Neil was, in fact, wearing the black velvet trousers and very particular teeshirt, and that's all I'm going to say about that.

He opened by reading 'The Day The Saucers Came' (a brilliant poem, first published in Rain's own Spiderwords). Ten words in, I was lost, totally into it, enraptured, and at that point, I realised I was going to have to completely reshape my assumptions about Neil Gaiman.

We weren't talking rock star. We were talking Rock Star. Believe me, there's a difference.

Neil, onstage, is a revelation. Yes, the crowd walks in adoring him, and yes, that makes his job up there easier. But this is something different -- he walks onstage, there's an almost audible click and he's on. And Neil, in on mode, is astonishing. As an appreciative member of the audience, I was loving every minute of it. As a damned good writer myself, I was rocking and reeling at every visceral hit of language and light and shadow and dark he was putting out there. And -- oh hell, sorry Neil, not to squick you, but there you go -- as a middle-aged woman, I was impressed in, um, other ways. I suspect he's well aware of that particular reaction-induction sequence -- after all, the man shaves. He looks in a mirror every morning. Besides, there was that whole black velvet trousers/very particular teeshirt thing happening.

Rain and I were part of a capacity crowd, having a brilliant time as Neil rocked the house. When the event was over, we threaded our way out into the lobby and were escorted upstairs to the green room. At that point, I'll confess to some emotional itchies. It was all a bit too much 'backstage déja vu' for me -- shades of the Who at Winterland, or the Stones at the Cow Palace, back in the seventies.

But the green room turned out to be a funky little cave, crowded with people and folding chairs. This was definitely not the Stones' dressing room at Madison Square Garden, or even the Dead's band room at the old Fillmore East. And my own comfort level went to a nice happy place when I walked through the door, because the first person I saw was my friend Amacker Bullwinkle, and any time I can be around Amacker, I'm in a place of comfort.

(Seven months later, I would be the bringer of very bad news. Amacker was involved in a catastrophic motorcycle accident, and had been so severely injured that no one was sure she would make it through the surgery or even the night. I took a deep breath and e-mailed Neil -- I'm not sure if anyone's thought to tell you. . . . -- and got back, first stunned disbelief, and then a flurry of 'how can we help, how do we find out, I have to know, we can't just do nothing, tell me what's needed' e-mails. My husband and I drove down to Stanford Medical Center that night and camped in the Intensive Care waiting area, holding a letter I'd written, to be given to the first member of her family to walk through the door, begging, on behalf of Neil and myself, that we be kept in the loop. That letter contained, among other points of contact, Neil's private cell phone number. A rock star and a damned good friend, you know? Admirable. By the way, Amacker survived the accident, the night, the surgery, and nearly two months in an induced coma. But that's another story.)

Back to Berkeley -- Rain and Amacker formally introduced me to Neil, and I was able to pass along the hug request given to me earlier that day, from Jillian Venters whose book, Gothic Charm School -- An Essential Guide For Goths And Those Who Love Them, will be released on June 2, 2009 from HarperCollins. Jilli is a wonder, in the true sense of the word -- Seattle's Goth community's leading lady, she's also acted as Neil's 'minder' when he did Seattle -- making sure he ate, making sure he slept, bossing him and taking care of business, above all trying to ensure that he was less exhausted than usual at the end of it all. I'm delighted that she and husband Pete Venters are friends of mine, as well.

So, on being introduced to Neil, the first thing I got to do was hug him, on behalf of Pete and Jilli. Since I'm the least huggy human on earth, I was surprised at how good it felt, but after all, it was really Jilli's hug. Neil's face softened up a moment, at the mention of the Venters. 'Ah,' he said, 'two people I love.' And I got a good hard hug in return, or rather, Jilli and Pete did.

As it happened, I'd brought along my one pre-release copy of my own latest book, the fourth Haunted Ballad, Cruel Sister. I held it out, and he made a very pleased-sounding noise. 'Is that for me?' Yes, of course, and did he want me to sign it? That got me a precisely articulated 'YES PLEASE', with a hint of 'well, DUH' to it. It also led to my first exposure to Neil's version of The Look.

The Look is a very Scorpio thing. Rain, another Scorpio, does an almost identical look, albeit with slightly different teeth; estrogen has a different flavour than testosterone, after all. Come to think of it, Jilli, also a Scorpio, has that look down to an art form, and she tells me she doesn't even know she's doing it. It's indecently effective.

I wasn't the only visiting author back there that night; Ellen Klages, whose beautiful YA novel The Green Glass Sea was about to be released as well, was showing off her own pre-release copy. Amacker had melted away, and the theatre management was making shooing gestures at the rest of us. It was clear that they wanted their green room back, and besides, it was after ten and Neil hadn't eaten. Food was clearly called for.

A ride back into the City, a two-car caravan -- me with Rain beside me and Ellen Klages in the back seat, following Neil in the town car provided by his publishers, who, as it happened, had also provided him with some lovely posh digs at the Four Seasons. There was a lot of thumb action going on, as Rain and Neil texted feverishly about dinner. Since I'd been working on my own JP Kinkaid Chronicles, five-star hotels were fresh in my mind, and I pointed out that that's what the concierge at the Four Seasons was for. That suggestion led us to Scala, as upscale a restaurant as you'd want in San Francisco. They kept the restaurant and the kitchen open for us, until well past one in the morning.

So - okay. What have we got? A lovely memory of meeting Neil Gaiman. That, in and of itself, should matter to anyone who isn't me just about as much as my writing processes should matter -- not at all. But it illuminates Neil for me and enables me to write about him, specifically about two distinct moments where the Rock Star suddenly relaxed into a very tired man who'd been on the road a bit too long at concert pitch, and who was feeling it.

Moment One -- Conversation around the table, ordering, dealing with the waitress, dealing in general, and the waitress went off to the kitchens and there was no one there but our group; we were alone in the restaurant. And Neil suddenly grokked that, just visibly got it. I was directly across the table and I watched it hit -- crikey, I don't need to be ON just now, I can let it down. And he did. The Rock Star was still there, but human, and exhausted, and the show was over and he was safe among friends. And suddenly there was a tired man, mellowing toward the end of yet one more long evening that had demanded everything he had, full on mode.

Moment Two -- his phone rang. One look at the caller ID, and his face went warm, just joyful, in a way I recognised, because I'm a parent and I know that trigger. And yes, of course, it was one of his children, his son Michael, on his way from university to visit, giving a flight update in bad weather, and for a moment there, Neil was less terrifyingly exhausted and was just a happy man who was going to see his son. A few feet across the table, I could hear the distant clack of Michael's voice, asking something. And Neil replied, 'Oh, just having a nice evening out, carousing with a few of my disreputable friends.'

So that was my introduction, my evening out on the tiles, once again a Rock Star's disreputable friend. That was my world for awhile, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy getting back into it. And that was my first look at Neil, tired and brilliant and human and sensationally real. No downside anywhere that I could see.

Ah, but Neil's a writer. I should say something about the books, yes?

Yes, indeed. At least -- one book, in particular.

I have a peculiar relationship with London. My love for San Francisco is uncomplicated and joyous -- this is where I live, heart and soul and spirit, in every sense my town. But London, well, that's complicated. It took me in, gave me what I wanted, pushed me away, expelled me, demanded me back, and finally shrugged me off. London, to me, is like the lover who calls you the moon, cries because he wants you so badly, and then, having attained his heart's desire, devalues you. I got a bit of that conflict down when I wrote Plainsong -- Max, the Wandering Jew, walking away from a post-plague London in which packs of happy children dance in the streets, and old washing, left flapping on the lines of tower blocks when the inhabitants all died of the plague called the Big One, moves like ghosts seen from the corner of the eye. I wrote that in 1989, and back then, it was as close as I could get to capturing my sense of failure -- the London I might have known better, had it only let me.

Neil's Neverwhere hit me in both ventricles of the heart, in a way that almost defies language. London Above, London Under, doors that lead nowhere and everywhere and bridges of night, into night, into lordly chambers and corners holding mystery. This was my sense of London, perfectly articulated, the sense I hadn't been able to write myself. When I finished reading it, I put my head on my arms and sobbed for about ten minutes, a crying jag I couldn't stop, weeping for a city I loved and which never loved me back.

I'll close this with a very recent Neil moment, one for which I'm simply thankful. Back in November, my friend Michelle McFee, a forty-plus year fixture in the tightly knit Bay Area rock and roll community, underwent eleven hours of radical cancer surgery. My husband Nicholas and I organised a benefit concert for her, Words & Music.

There was also an auction. Of course, the music community all stepped up, and I had no hesitation in hitting the literary community, of which, after all, I'm a member in good standing. They stepped up as well -- Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman sent signed first editions. Ben Bova sent the entire Mars trilogy. Alex Bledsoe, a rising star in fantasy/sci-fi, sent signed books. And of course, I asked Neil, and of course, Neil said, easy! Done.

I was expecting a signed something -- I left the choice up to him, and to his amazing assistant Lorraine. What I got was a hardback copy of Coraline, and yes, of course, he'd signed it. But he'd added something more -- on the title page, he'd drawn a sleepytime rat in a nightshirt, looking groggy and a bit put out, with the words 'Sweet Dreams!'

So that's my look at Neil Gaiman -- no earnest questions about writing processes, no earnest ponderings about whether his present work is lighter or darker than his earlier work. Just a night on the tiles with a marvelous writer, a sensational and very generous man, a doting parent, and -- most fun from my perspective - a disreputable friend.

[Deborah Grabien]

Green Man recommendations

Editor-in-Chief Cat Eldridge has two recommendations. Neverwhere is one of the earliest urban fantasies and still one of the most perfect ones done, with a truly memorable setting in London Below and too many well-crafted characters to list here. Hill House was going to release a definitive edition before they went tits up and rumors swirl that it will get released someday. American Gods is a nightmarish road trip through America with a protagonist that isn't who he appears to be and a cast of supporting gods, monsters, and mortals that has to be read to be believed. Gaiman would revisit the themes here in Anansi Boys.

Similarly, Book Editor April Gutierrez, who guest edited this edition, has two recommendations, though entirely different. The Sandman, as a series entire, is a must-read for anyone who loves a good story and superb storytelling. Not only is the over-arching plot engaging and satisfying, but the stories within a story are also little gems. The Sandman, along with other Vertigo titles, convinced me that comics were something an adult could enjoy. While The Sandman was my gateway to Gaiman's comic work, the short story "Chivalry" -- as read aloud by Gaiman at Dragon*Con 2002 -- was my introduction to his prose. It neatly encapsulates what's so marvelous about his short stories -- the blending of fantasy elements with the every-day, whimsy without falling into a twee trap and a masterful command of the language.

And What Should You Read First?
A Bevy of Choices!

Green Man, like The Dreaming in Gaiman's Sandman series, collects lots of interesting folk. So we asked those folk which Gaiman works they would recommend to someone who has not yet had the delight of reading his works. (I know that sounds nigh unto impossible for readers of Green Man who I swear know everything he's done, so let's just pretend it's so.) Needless to say, their answers are fun to read. . . .

Leading off is Summer Queen to be Terri Windling who says 'Smoke and Mirrors, his wonderful 2005 collection of stories and poems.'

Next up is Deborah Grabien who says 'Starting with Neil? My own love is for Neverwhere. But it really depends on the age, taste and inclination of the first-time reader, perhaps more so for Neil's stuff than for most. If they're into graphic novels, you can't go wrong with Sandman. Thoughtful nonstraight genre, I think American Gods may be a bit overwhelming. There's always Coraline. Fragile Things is a nice mouthful of different nibbles for a first-timer. But for novels? I'm all about Neverwhere.'

A Winter Queen, Jane Yolen, says that 'The easiest to start with would be Stardust, Coraline, The Graveyard Book, and the complete Sandman. In that order, I think. Then you get everything that will come out in the bigger books as well.'

Gwyneth Jones has a trio of choices -- 'The Sandman series, all or any. Good Omens. Outstanding, the Antichrist story better than Monty Python on Jesus, but it's really just an excuse for wit and wisdom. Does it matter if it's a collaboration? Proving Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett were made for each other. Coraline. First and best of his juveniles, fantastique. A star turn at 'Gaiman knowing you don't always need to explain the extraordinary', as someone on Amazon puts it, & I couldn't agree more.'

Vera Nazarian has good choices as well -- 'I would say Stardust, followed by American Gods and Anansi Boys. Then catch up with the other graphic novels.

Holly Black has a detailed answer -- 'Hmmm. A fine question. I think I would advise them to start with the graphic novel, Volume 2 -- A Doll's House, which I think stands on its own enough to work and will make them buy the rest of Sandman almost immediately. Oh, and The Books of Magic, which is just fantastic. . . . the short story collection Smoke and Mirrors, which has one of my favorites, 'Murder Mysteries.' . . . and finally, either The Graveyard Book or Neverwhere, both of which I think are great introductions to the novels.

Summer Queen to be Kage Baker sips her tea and says after a pause, 'Hmmm. I'm partial to the one he did with Pratchett, Good Omens. Obviously Coraline would be on any list, and Sandman. American Gods should probably be included on any list of Gaiman essentials as well.

For Sharyn November it's the the original Sandman books and Coraline.

Steven Brust says simply 'Start with the Sandman comic, then Good Omens, then American Gods.'

Josepha Sherman agrees that 'The Sandman series is terrific...' and adds 'So is The Graveyard Book and Coraline.'

Tim Pratt has a long answer he thinks is unhelpful which is not true '-- 'This is an incredibly tricky question, because Neil does so much varied work in so many varied genres. I still think Sandman, as a whole, is his most impressive work. But since telling people to read thousands of pages of comics is perhaps a bit daunting, I'd probably point them at The Graveyard Book -- it's smart, it's funny, it's Gaimanesque in that hard-to-define way, and it's short. My own favorite of his books -- the one I think is the most fun -- is Anansi Boys. Sort of a spectacularly unhelpful answer, wasn't it?'

Delia Sherman says 'If they're not big graphic-novel fans, I'd say Coraline and The Graveyard Book, just to get them warmed up and introduce them to Neil's style. And then I'd send them to Sandman. Because no matter what else Neil writes or how good it may be as a novel, Sandman will remain his magnum opus, the thing he's done that isn't like what anybody had done in any genre -- and still haven't and probably never will because we don't live in the world that gave birth to it any more. If they like graphic novels already, of course, I'd send them straight to Sandman.'

Christopher Golden who will one day be an Oak King here, has these picks -- 'Firstly, of course, The Sandman -- Preludes and Nocturnes. Then, Neverwhere, followed by The Graveyard Book. And, finally, the beautiful Blueberry Girl, which is a children's picture book.'

Winter Queen to be Elizabeth Hand says The Sandman series, and Anansi Boys, whereas another Elizabeth and past Winter Queen, Ms. Bear to precise, says simply Sandman. Sarah Monette, who has collaborated with the latter Elizabeth on a novel, has her choices -- 'I think Sandman is Neil's masterpiece, and it showcases what makes him brilliant. So either A Game of You or The Doll's House. For someone who finds graphic novels intimidating or offputting, though, I'd start with Stardust.'

Oak King Charles de Lint picks The first Death mini-series, The High Cost of Living. Another Oak King, Peter S. Beagle, says 'Cat, if I had to pick one book, I'd go with Neverwhere. That, and probably American Gods.'

Jennifer Stevenson picks The Doll's House, one of his Sandman graphic novels, and 'The Troll Bridge' a short story, whereas Cherie Priest says she 'prefers his YA stuff to his adult stuff. Coraline and The Graveyard Book are probably my favorites.'

Ellen Datlow is also fond of Sandman -- 'The Absolute Sandman starting with Volume One, Smoke and Mirrors (collection of short stories); Mr. Punch -- The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy (with Dave McKean), and Coraline (novel). '

Oak King Paul Brandon opines 'I guess I'd have to say start with The Sandman to give yourself a grounding, but from a novel point of view, I'd ease into his writing through Good Omens (with Pratchett) and followed that up with something short and tasty like Neverwhere or Stardust. When your confidence builds, hit American Gods followed immediately by Anansi Boys, interspersed with the Smoke & Mirrors short stories and a little light Coraline> reading just before bed.'

Yet another Oak King, James Hetley, says 'I haven't read much of his work, although our boys had numerous Sandman volumes and other graphic novels. I read and much enjoyed both American Gods and Good Omens (the latter a collaboration with Pratchett, of course).'

Summer Queen Emma Bull went for mostly lots of graphic novels, to wit Violent Cases, Sandman -- A Midsummer Night's Dream, Sandman -- The Dream of a Thousand Cats, the Good Omens bevel written with Terry Pratchett, and The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish. Emma's husband, Will Shetterly, picks 'Sandman -- The Sound of Her Wings. If you like it, go to the beginning of the series and read them all.'

Cheryl Morgan says 'American Gods and Coraline, because they are Hugo winners. Having just read The Graveyard Book, I think I might need to add that. It is wonderfully accessible, and very clever in many ways as well. It may well become a Hugo winner, of course.'

A Reader's Guide to All Things Neil Gaiman

There's much to read, but we've helpfully broken it down by genre so you can wade in anywhere and enjoy!

We liked Gaiman's tale of old gods still alive and well today and walking among us, American Gods, so much we reviewed it twice. You can check out the special edition here

In Anansi Boys, Gaiman again explores the idea of gods among us, and what it's like being a god's son. (It isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be.)

Gaiman and Terry Pratchett collaborated in the '80s on the very funny Good Omens.

The Mirrormask novella is a nice adjunct to the movie (see below for our review of that), giving readers more insight to heroine Helena's frame of mind as she sets things aright, and a bit more of a wrap-up back in the waking world. Those who have seen the movie will relish these added tidbits.

Gaiman's first novel, Neverwhere, is a particular fan favourite. This story of a English Everyman who gets pulled into a secret London world he never knew existed is filled with memorable characters and charm.

Stardust is a delightful fairy tale of a half-fairy, half-mortal and his encounter with a fallen star beyond the walls of his country village.

Young Adult

Few authors seem equally at ease writing for adults and children. Neil Gaiman is one such author. His children's books don't underestimate his young readers, and so can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish

revisits the jumbled surreality of childhood, matching Dave McKean's art to Gaiman's offbeat story about a little boy who trades his dad away for two goldfish . . . and then must quest to get his dad back.

Interworld, a collaboration between Gaiman and Michael Reaves, started life as a television concept about a multitude of worlds and those gifted enough to walk between them. Alas, that didn't pan out, so the two reworked the text into a YA novel.

In his whimsical offering for World Book Day 2008, Odd and the Frost Giants, Gaiman and artist Mark Buckingham tackle Norse mythology.

The Wolves in the Walls

has a similar feel to The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, with its surreal flavor, plucky child hero and charming wit.

M is for Magic is a repackaging of a few of Gaiman's short stories with a couple of new ones added into the mix, along with a chapter from The Graveyard Book.

The Graveyard Book, a charming tale of a young boy raised by ghosts -- yes, in a graveyard -- netted Gaiman his first Newbery Medal. And deservedly so!

The Sandman

The 75 issue comic series The Sandman is arguably the most popular gateway to all things Gaiman. Running in the DC/Vertigo imprint from 1989 to 1996, this series not only breathed life into characters long forgotten, it opened doorways to a universe of stories and demonstrated Gaiman's mastery of story-telling.

All ten volumes are represented here -- Preludes and Nocturnes, A Doll's House, Season of Mists, A Game of You, Brief Lives, Dream Country, Fables & Reflections, World's End, The Kindly Ones, and The Wake.

Starting in 2006, DC started re-releasing The Sandman in an "absolute" omni edition of four volumes. Over-sized, hardbound and high quality, they're gorgeous versions. GMR has reviewed all four volumes -- Absolute Sandman -- Volume One, Absolute Sandman -- Volume Two, Absolute Sandman -- Volume Three, and Absolute Sandman -- Volume Four.

As an adjunct to the main series, Gaiman also produced two three-volume mini-series about one of the most popular characters in Sandman, Dream's gothy older sister, Death, Death -- The High Cost of Living, and Death -- The Time of Your Life

In 2003's The Sandman Endless Nights, Gaiman returns to the characters and setting of The Sandman for a series of short stories illustrated by such artistic talents as Glen Fabry, P. Craig Russell and, of course, Dave McKean.

The Quotable Sandman is precisely what it claims to be, a collection of quotes drawn from the 75-issue run of Sandman, illustrated by many of the artists who lent their talents to the series. A nice addition to any Sandman collection.

Another must-have for Sandman fans is The Collected Sandman Dustcovers, which is an exquisite hardback collection of all Dave McKean's Sandman covers, complete with background info.

Graphic Novels/Comics

The 1602 mini-series takes the Marvel universe and sets it on its head by rolling the clock back 500 years.

If you like your comic book heroines statuesque, intelligent, and capable of kicking ass and taking names, then Angela's Hunt, Gaiman's mini-series devoted to this side character from Spawn is right up your alley.

Black Orchid was Gaiman and McKean's first work for DC/Vertigo, beautifully reviving a superhero character so obscure, editor Karen Berger thought Gaiman meant a different one altogether!

Books of Magic features Timothy Hunter, an English lad who may or may not be the Queen of Faerie's son, and who may also become the greatest magician of his age.

Coraline is a brilliant adaptation of Gaiman's novel into the graphic novel format. P. Craig Russell has distilled Gaiman's prose down to its essence, adding to it his top-notch illustrations to provide his own solid take on the story.

Creatures of the Night is the first of two collaborations between Gaiman and artist Michael Zulli that we've reviewed. This one contains two animal-related tales.

The Facts in the Case of Miss Finch is another Gaiman-Zulli collaboration, this time about a most unique circus in underground London.

Harlequin Valentine is a collaboration between Gaiman and John Bolton, deftly turning Gaiman's short story about Harlequin and Columbine into graphic novel form.

Gaiman joined forces with Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano (early Final Fantasy game character designer, original Vampire Hunter D movie character designer) to recast Dream into a Japanese setting. The Dream Hunters is a beautiful showcase for both.

In the first volume of the Eternals, Gaiman takes aim at reviving a 1970s Marvel property. In doing so, he breathes new life into some of Jack Kirby's old characters.

Gaiman crafted The Last Temptation around Alice Cooper's (yes, that Alice Cooper) concept CD of the same same. The result is this three issue modern -- and oh-so-slightly sinister -- coming-of-age story.

Midnight Days is home to several Gaiman shorts, including three Swamp Thing-related stories and and a beautifully bleak Hellblazer one (plus the titular collaboration with Matt Wagner).

Mr. Punch, an early collaboration between Gaiman and McKean, toys with perception and memory, this time through the lens of the always violent Punch and Judy puppet show.

Another early collaboration between Gaiman and McKean, Signal to Noise explores the distortion that occurs when thoughts become external.

You actually get two reviews for the price of one in our look at the Stardust -- Illustrated Version, for ten years after the initial release, Vertigo produced a hardcover edition to coincide with the movie.

Violent Cases is yet another early collaboration between Gaiman and McKean. Like Signal to Noise, it reflects upon distortions, this time in the lens of memory.

In the two issues of What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader?, Gaiman kills off Bruce Wayne and Batman. No, really -- and it's done with style!

Short Story Collections

Angels & Visitations is a collection of Gaiman's earlier works, including short stories and non-fiction pieces.

Murder Mysteries and Snow Glass Apples are a pair of rare chapbooks that GMR is fortunate to have. Murder Mysteries reveals the very first murder ever, while Snow Glass Apples is a quite unique take on the Snow White story.

Smoke and Mirrors comes chronologically after Angels & Visitations and contains some of the same short stories, to which have been added more stories and poetry.

Fragile Things -- Short Fictions and Wonders is Gaiman's most recent collection, filled with wonders indeed!

Blueberry Girl, a poem he wrote for friend Tori Amos and her then unborn daughter, illustrated by the always marvelous Charles Vess, is a joyful celebration of girls and women and life's journey between the two.

Crazy Hair pairs Gaiman's verse with Dave McKean's surreal art to tell the story of a young girl, a guy and his rather chaotic coif.

The Dangerous Alphabet uses clever rhyming couplets to lay out the grand adventures of a very wee threesome (two kids and a gazelle) in the big, bad world.

Gaiman's only collaboration to date with Polish illustrator Dagmara Matuzak, Melinda, relates the tough life of seven-year-old Melinda, alone in a post-apocalyptic world. The stark, beautiful poem 'hints at a rich story of hardships survived and future dangers to overcome.'

In his Babylon 5 -- Day of the Dead Script, Gaiman blends technology and mysticism for one of the more unforgettable Babylon 5 episodes ever.

The Beowulf -- The Script Book provides two drafts of the Gaiman-Avary script, plus concept illustrations and comments from both. And then there's the final product based on that script, the actual movie Beowulf.

Directed by Harry Selick of A Nightmare Before Christmas fame, the animated version of Coraline is sure to please fans of the book, despite a few tweaks.

Although it's never been produced as a movie, A Screenplay represents kind of an alternate take on the Gaiman-Pratchett Good Omens.

Mirrormask -- The Illustrated Film Script of the Motion Picture from the Jim Henson Company includes Dave McKean's storyboards and Gaiman's script for their original animated feature, Mirrormask, which is a dark yet whimsical take on the traditional hero's quest,featuring circus-girl Helena's coming of age. Not content to just review the movie and the script, we also have a review of The Alchemy of Mirrormask, which provides an in-depth look at the making of the movie.

Back in the '90s, there was a six-part mini-series that the BBC made of Gaiman's first novel, Neverwhere, which finally made it to DVD nearly a decade later.

Gaiman worked with both Disney and Studio Ghibli to adapt the Japanese script of Princess Mononoke (Script) for its English-language release. You can read about the trials and tribulations of doing so in one of the interviews we have below.

Although the humor in Stardust the movie is broader perhaps than its source novel, it still retains a ready charm.

To crib from the actual review, Adventures in the Dream Trade 'consists of a hodgepodge of previously published writing', introductions, poems, short stories and even eight months' worth of Gaiman's blog.

Don't Panic is a biography of Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and his works, written when Gaiman was in his 20s.

Neil Gaiman -- Live at MIT -- The Julius Schwartz Lecture is a live DVD featuring Gaiman eulogizing the late Julius Schwartz and giving a talk about a wide variety of subjects.

A Walking Tour of the Shambles is a tongue-in-cheek collaboration between Gaiman and Gene Wolfe, purportedly a guide to a fictional place called the 'Shambles'.

Read by Lenny Henry, Anansi Boys is a terrific listen even those who've already ready the book. And we liked it so much we also reviewed the Anansi Boys - Playaway Edition.

Gaiman himself narrates the unabridged Coraline audiobook, to great effect, and the same is true of the delightful audio version of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish

The audiobook version of The Graveyard Book has just garnered an Audie for top audio book of the year.

The Neil Gaiman Audio collection contains not only Gaiman reading The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, but also Wolves in the Walls, a short story, a poem and a short interview.

The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch isn't an audio book, but was a BBC Radio broadcast of the play version of this graphic novel.

Two Plays for Voices pairs together audio versions of Snow Glass Apples and Murder Mysteries,

Warning -- Contains Language contains, actually, Gaiman reading aloud some of the stories from Angels and Visitations and Smoke and Mirrors.

Gaiman's personal assistant, the Fabulous Lorraine, was once in a band of sorts with author Emma Bull -- the difficult to describe Flash Girls. In addition to having some fabulous guests on their three CDs (Maurice & I, Play Each Morning Wild Queen and The Return of Pansy Smith and Violet Jones (Postmortem on Our Love, Tea and Corpses and more)), the duo were also graced with some Gaiman-penned lyrics.

Two of our staffers were fortunate enough to interview Neil on separate occasions, once at the 2004 National Book Festival, and again the following year.

And to wrap up, we have a few otherwise uncategorizable items either about Gaiman and/or his works that fans might enjoy taking a look at.

Book of Dreams a collection of short stories set in the Sandman universe by a diverse set of authors -- Steven Brust, Nancy A. Collins, George Alec Effinger, John M. Ford, Barbara Hambly, Delia Sherman, Will Shetterly, Tad Williams, Gene Wolf and more!

The Neil Gaiman Reader is a critical examination of Gaiman's body of work.

Although the script isn't by Gaiman, the text in Mike Carey's graphic novel adaptation of Neverwhere manages to capture the feel of the original.

In Prince of Stories, collaborators Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden and Steve Bissette have compiled more information about Neil Gaiman and his works than you can shake a stick at. It's a valuable bibliography and chronology and helpfully provided the format for this GMR issue.

Sandman Companion serves as a thorough concordance to The Sandman series.

Fans of Neverwhere (the movie, in particular), will find What I Thought I Saw of definite interest. Photographer Kelli Bickman joined Gaiman for two weeks on the set, resulting in this quirky collection of black and white photos.

Where's Neil When you Need Him?, with its Gaiman-inspired songs, is a mixed bag, but still an interesting listen.

We should remind you about our special editions which are our way of looking at specific writers and other subjects worthy of exploring in-depth. Of course, we've done several editions on master storyteller Peter S. Beagle which you can find thisaway and over 'ere. Needless to say, we're very proud of the great edition on Charles de Lint we did.

We did one on the ever fascinating trio of Brian, Toby, and Wendy Froud; naturally we did one on master storyteller J.R.R. Tolkien who is much loved by our staff; not to mention ones on Catherynne M. Valente, Patricia McKillip, and Elizabeth Bear

Oh, our Editor just reminded me that we did (as if I could 'ave forgotten!) an edition devoted to the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror anthology.

We also decided to have our reviewers pick the single best music recording that they reviewed for us. We think you'll find their choices rather interesting!

Lastly, we have put together a recommended series reading list covering many genres from fantasy to mystery and (of course) sf for your reading pleasure. You can find that list thisaway.

For our main page, please go here; to search the roots, branches, and leaves of This Tree, use the Google search engine; every past edition of our fortnightly What's New can be found here; for a detailed look at Green Man Review, go thisaway; and lastly, you report errors over here. Still have questions? Email our Editor here. Provided he's not in the Green Man Pub savouring a properly poured pint of Guinness while listening to de Lint tell a tale or play a tune with the Neverending Session, he'll try to answer your question!

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Entire Contents Copyright 1993 - 2009,Green Man Review, a publication of the A Bleak Miswinters Publishing except where specifically noted such as the photo here of Neil Gaiman which is copyrighted by Sphoia Quach. All Rights Reserved.

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