Product Description

Prepare to enter the world of The Sandman as we journey to the Dream King's realm, The Dreaming. The talents of some of the industry's top writers and artists are unleashed as never before, as fantasy, mysticism, dark humour and the downright macabre collide in a veritable feast of the imagination. Three very different aspects of The Dreaming are brought to life, exploring tantalisingly exotic outposts of the unconscious. Contains adult themes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #484270 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

Mysteries, secrets, and border country
"They walked on, thinking of This and That, and by-and-by they came to an enchanted place on the very top of the Forest called Galleons Lap...Sitting there they could see the whole world spread out until it reached the sky, and whatever there was all the world over was with them in Galleons Lap."
- A.A.Milne, THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER

Alisa Kwitney's the editor. Gaiman acted as consultant rather than writer. Since Gaiman's involvement is tangential, THE DREAMING stories tend to avoid the use of the Endless, instead utilizing SANDMAN's supporting players. Cain and Abel appear in all the stories herein, although only briefly in "The Lost Boy" (wherein the Fair Folk, Mad Hettie, and Joanna Constantine play significant roles).

LaBan, Terry: "The Goldie Factor" (artist: Peter Snejbjerg) Goldie can't stand seeing Abel abused by Cain anymore, and can't protect him due to Cain's mark, so she runs away. The brothers, it turns out, don't know much about her; gargoyles are to be found guarding places where mysteries and secrets are to be found or celebrated, but Goldie's unusual among gargoyles.

The main plot revolves around Goldie encountering Tempto (the serpent from the Garden of Eden, the original pathological liar), who abandons his normal pastime of manipulating stray dreamers to trick Goldie into taking him into a mystery of the Dreaming he'd never be permitted to enter alone.

The most interesting part of "The Goldie Factor" to me isn't the plot, but the various outlying regions the brothers pass through in their search, and those they encounter: the Dream Exchange, where people can buy shares of *big* dreams; Terra Incognita (the 'crocodile hunter' type they encounter rides a horse with Prince Charles' face), and the place people go when they're killed at sea (Cain's temper is the same as ever). The dream of the first kingdom reflects yet another set of stories in Genesis.

The story seems flawed by continuity errors: Eve could've told the brothers Goldie's story at any time, and Goldie was male in "The Parliament of Rooks" but female here.

Hogan, Peter: "The Lost Boy" (artist: Steve Parkhouse) Far and away my favourite in this collection. Like the Lost Boys of Peter Pan, Brian Salmon was taken away from his homeland when found wandering lost - but the guardians of the borderlands stranded him decades in his future rather than in Never-Never Land (although to Brian, our present is nearly as puzzling). Fortunately, Mad Hettie takes an interest in him for reasons of her own, and is willing to help him in exchange for *his* assistance.

Kwitney, Alisa: The title of "His Brother's Keeper" comes from Genesis, Cain's confrontation with God after Abel's murder: Am I my brother's keeper? The story shares some elements with Gaiman's own THE WAKE; apart from sharing the same artist (Michael Zulli), the reader is similarly incorporated into the story. Cain's other guests have come to the conclusion that they're dead as the only explanation for the mystery of why they're here, awaiting their host's arrival.

The story also shares features with "The Parliament of Rooks" from FABLES AND REFLECTIONS (which was also set at a gathering of guests in the houses of mystery and secrets), as a member of the family - the third brother, Seth, in this case - turns up and requests a story: the *full* story of why Cain murdered Abel the first time. (The author's treatment of the idea may be unfamiliar to some readers; like Eve's story in "Parliament of Rooks", it's drawn from the Jewish theological tradition rather than being Kwitney's invention.)

A very nice book, although not a Gaiman work.
Well, if you have read The Sandman and still want your fair share of the dreamlands, here is the chance. The storyline (or the two stories really) may not be very creative in the first one but still the Dreamlands bear the touch of creativity. And the feeling that you are told `a story you knew, but from the other side' feeling still pervades for both stories. Anyway, if you liked the Sandman series, probably you'll like this one, too. Ah, one more thing, the artists are the ones from previous Sandman series, so the book is a visual treat.