Somniloquy!

Mike Schilling

Mike has been a software engineer far longer than he would like to admit. He has strong opinions on baseball, software, science fiction, comedy, contract bridge, and European history, any of which he's willing to share with almost no prompting whatsoever.

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6 Responses

  1. North says:

    Yeah, the Desire story was epic.

    I thought that the genesis of Desire’s desire (I’m tickled by that) to kill [this]Dream was when he showed her/him up in the Emperor Norton story?Report

  2. 1) I love the art in the Death story. It’s the same artist who did the “Ramadan” issue, whose name escapes me now even though I did that recap. Gorgeous.

    2) The end of that issue is yet another example of the silliness I found in one of the recurring, if minor, themes in the whole Sandman run — the notion that, properly understood, Dream is actually scarier than Death.

    No. Death in this case resulted in something pretty grim for the Count, no matter how glad to see her he seemed. Dreams end (unless you’re Alex Burgess), and no matter how horrifying won’t mutilate you (unless you happened to be one of those poor souls who met the incarnate Corinthian).

    3) The Desire story is totally, totally bad-ass. Another one where s/he comes off looking more likeable is here, also included in one issue or another of Ultimate Sandman.

    4) Gur fbhepr bs gur Qernz/Qrfver pbasyvpg vf erirnyrq va nabgure bs gur Raqyrff Avtugf fgbevrf. V svaq vg… hapbaivapvat, naq vg pregnvayl qbrfa’g rkcynva jul f/ur jbhyq jnag Qernz qrnq.Report

  3. Glyph says:

    Sorry so late to this guys, just did the reading tonight. I don’t think I have re-read these in a while, for whatever reason I usually stop with The Wake.

    Which, I’m not sure why. These are pretty, pretty, prettay great.

    Knowing that Gaiman is a HUGE Lou Reed fan (he interviewed him a couple times, and his daughter is named after Holly from “Walk on the Wild Side”) makes me wonder if the repeated references to a “perfect day” in the Death story are a tribute; Gaiman often slips in song lyrics or titles.

    Likewise, I wonder about the “forest fire” ones in the Desire story.

    It’s just a simple metaphor, it’s for a burning love
    Don’t it make you smile like a forest fire
    Report

    • Glyph in reply to Glyph says:

      Also, (sorry I can’t go to the other books to check – they are in the room where the baby is sleeping and there’s not enough cash in the world for me to risk waking her), three more thoughts/questions:

      1.) Is the Death story one of the story ideas Richard Madoc had (wasn’t one of them “people partying against the darkness”)?

      2.) The Count reminded me a bit of old Burgess and his Order of Ancient Mysteries – big magical plans, but they keep getting the wrong guy – Burgess shooting for Death and getting Dream; The Count thinks he is facing long-thwarted “Time” (and he plans to KILL him – just as smart a plan as Burgess’ to bind Death, genius), but he got Death instead.

      3.) Why did the flower behind the ear of the decapitated dude feel familiar? Did Orpheus ever get a flower behind his ear?Report

      • Jason Tank in reply to Glyph says:

        1) That’s an interesting thought. I’ve been fascinated by those ideas he got, and have tried writing several of them, including the party. It never occurred to me that this story may have been one of those ideas, too. (My story is different from Gaiman’s, except we both drew inspiration from Poe.)Report