GAIMAN'S THE SANDMAN ON NETFLIX NOW

The ethereal Tom Sturridge is The Sandman on Netflix.

British author Neil Gaiman is one of the most recognizable names in science fiction and fantasy today, with a plethora of books, plays, short stories and graphic novels to his credit. He began his run in 2008 by becoming the first author to win both the Newbery and Carnegie medals for the same book (The Graveyard Book) and continued with the Book of the Year from the British Book Awards in 2013 for The Ocean at the End of the Lane. He’s won the Hugo, the Nebula and the Bram Stoker award as well. And, if that weren’t all, he’s done well-recognized work in light-hearted SF/F television series (Lucifer, Doctor Who, Good Omens).

Speculation and anticipation ran rampant for years that a project was in the works to adapt Gaiman’s popular DC Comics graphic novel series, The Sandman. In 2019, Netflix acquired the property in a massive deal with Warner Brothers, which owns the DC universe. Given the world-building requirements of the mind-blowing fantasy, The Sandman took a while to bring into being. But August 5, we all saw the result of years of written adaptation, careful diversified casting and gorgeous art production and computer- generated imagery when the 11-episode show debuted on Netflix.

I have to admit I’m a “Sandman newbie,” never having had time to read the original graphic novels. But Gaiman has said the show is aimed at an audience more like me than Sandman superfans. He and his other creative collaborators, David S. Goyer (DARK CITY, DARK KNIGHT, BATMAN BEGINS) and Allan Heinberg (WONDER WOMAN), wanted to make sure the series and its many characters were accessible to viewers who tuned in out of curiosity, not just long-time readers of the comics. And they succeeded. I was instantly hooked by the characters and fell deeply into the world of The Sandman.

I was seldom confused or lost by the narrative, but it helps to know some Greek mythology (which comes up a lot in the show), a bit of the Bible, and a lot about supernatural arcana a la Sam and Dean Winchester. Yes, The Sandman has its own stable of beings with superpowers—not only Dream/Morpheus/The Sandman himself (an otherworldly Tom Sturridge) and his siblings Death (the beautiful Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Desire (a nonbinary Mason Alexander Park), Despair (a bedraggled Donna Preston) and the rest. But also Dream’s creations—Nightmares like The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook) who takes his victims eyes, or Gault (Ann Ogbomo), who wants to stop haunting her humans’ dreams. There are also those who serve in Dream’s Realm—the Librarian, Lucienne, who takes over when he’s not around and serves as his conscience (Vivienne Acheampong), and Matthew the Raven (voiced by Patton Oswald), who serves as his eyes and ears in the waking world.

We first meet Dream in the series when an evil student of the occult, Sir Roderick Burgess (played by veteran actor Charles Dance), calls him forth in a ceremony really meant to capture Death. (Burgess has lost a son in WWI and wants him back.) When he recognizes his error, he takes Dream’s objects of power (his bag of sand, his helmet and a ruby amulet), the only one of which Burgess can use being the ruby, which makes dreams come true. But Burgess keeps insisting he wants immortality and won’t let Dream go until he gets it. Dream, in the meantime, says and does nothing. For a hundred years.

Dream’s captivity has all sorts of consequences—in the waking world, where thousands of people fall into a kind of coma called the “sleepy sickness” and don’t wake up, and in the Dreaming, his own Realm, where Nightmares escape to wreak havoc and the Realm itself begins to crumble. The objects of power, the ruby in particular, fall into the wrong hands and cause their own kind of chaos in the waking world until Dream can escape his captivity and recover them.

The first half of the show—roughly five episodes—busies itself with Dream’s quest to find his objects of power and undo some of the damage done during his time away from the Dreaming. This is based on the first volume of the graphic novels in The Sandman series, Preludes and Nocturnes. Volume Two in the series, The Dollhouse, provides the storyline for the last half of the show, minus the bonus episode at the end of the first season (more about that later).

As Dream returns to his Realm with his objects of power and begins the rebuilding of his Realm, some problems are left behind unresolved. Three Nightmares still roam the waking world: Gault, Fiddlers’ Green (played by Stephen Fry) and The Corinthian. Dream will have to corral these three and return them to their proper place in his Realm.

And a new problem has arisen, the development of a Dream Vortex, a powerful human that disrupts dreams and has the potential to collapse the waking and Dreaming worlds in on themselves. This being takes the form of a young woman, Rose Walker (Vanesu Samunyai), with a complicated backstory, a tragic childhood and a separation from her younger brother, Jed (Eddie Karanja). This serves to introduce a host of other colorful characters and send us on yet another quest to find Jed. The quest ends up at a serial murderers’ convention, of all places, where The Corinthian is the honored guest. The Corinthian is using Jed as bait, but it turns out he is the one caught as Dream finds him at last, Rose and Jed are reunited, and everyone discovers the Dream Vortex is not who we thought she was after all.

Most of this plot moves along at a steady pace, if not a blistering one. There are some unnecessary detours along the way as we meander through several characters’ dreams, which I assume are there to satisfy fans of the graphic novels. I gather from reading the reviews that quite a few characters from the novels were left out. I didn’t miss them, and, as you can tell from this review, there are more than enough characters already. But I assume there would be plenty of material for another season. Netflix has yet to make a determination on that score.

Finally, a word about Episode 11, the so-called bonus episode, which is comprised of two separate stories, “Dream of a Thousand Cats” and “Calliope.” The first is an animated story about a Siamese who is on a mission to restore the natural order of feline dominance over humans by rousing her fellow cats to dream a different reality. But have you ever tried to get a bunch of cats to cooperate?

The second story concerns two successive authors (Derek Jacobi and Arthur Darvill) who bind the muse Calliope (Melissanthe Mahut) to their will, keeping her captive for years so she will inspire them to write for fame and fortune. It takes the intervention of her former lover Dream to free her. This little tale has the tone of an episode of The Twilight Zone, with the desperation (and cruelty) of the writers turned back on them in typical Serling fashion.

Yet it’s difficult to see the connection of this bonus episode to the rest of the show, despite the presence of Dream in both. There is certainly no sequential connection to the plot. The Sandman doesn’t appear to be an anthology series, though it could have been set up that way. So this episode (and a couple of others, like “The Sound of Her Wings” and “24/7”) stick out as oddities. If the show gets a second season, which it deserves, seems to me the concept needs some clarification.

Cheers,

Donna

 

 

 

Amazon's picked a winner

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's book, Good Omens, isn't SF and it doesn't have much in the way or romance – but I'm going to talk about it anyway. We first started to hear rumours of a movie of the book a year or two ago, saw the trailer, and then heard the release would be on 31^st May 2019.

Fingers trembling, I entered the date into my online calendar. On the day, I signed up for Amazon Prime for no other reason than to see this series. And I have to tell you, I was not disappointed. No, not one bit. It is fantastic.

For those who haven't read/seen Good Omens, it is a story about good, evil, Heaven and Hell, the End of the World, the Antichrist – and a demon and an angel left in charge of making it all happen when the time comes. But as it happens, when the time comes to bring the Antichrist into the world by switching babies in a maternity home, it all goes wrong, and the Antichrist is… er… mislaid.

Here's the blurb.

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .

I'm not precious about movie adaptations of books. Some people get their knickers in a knot if the screen play is not exactly the same as the novel. Me, I think we're talking different media with different requirements. Besides, the small differences between the original 1990 book (which I own in hardback and have read multiple times) and the series do not in any way detract from the story. In fact, they improve it. For those interested, here's an article to explain the differences. Be warned, HERE BE SPOILERS.

Some changesjust had to happen. The book was written before 1990 so the whole thing with cell phones and selfies wasn't even a twinkle in anybody's eye. The tech in the movie has been updated – with even a reference that demon Crowley invented selfies. Hmmm. Selfies as a demonic device? Could be.

I'm glad the book was made into a series, not a single movie. The complex plot doesn't have to be crammed into (at best) three hours. Gaiman, who wrote the screen play, had room to realise his (and Pratchett's) vision. The series includes much more background information about Heaven and Hell – and it's apparent they are both equal opportunity employers. While Archangel Gabriel is the embodiment of an American corporate with a penchant for jogging and The Sound of Music, both Lord Beelzebub and Archangel Michael are (I think) female, although they come across as a bit androgynous. Oh - and I must add, the entity in the TOP Job - you know, G-O-D - is a woman. Heaven is depicted as a light, bright, white corporate building with soaring ceilings and no personality, Hell is the basement; dirty, crowded, and unhealthy. But as the story progresses, I found myself wondering if there really is that much difference between the two sides.

There's much more in the series about how Aziraphale and Crowley got their jobs on Earth from first events in the Garden of Eden, and how their relationship developed over the centuries, which helps to make them more real as well as raising some question about the Ineffable Grand Plan. In the supernatural corporate world, these two are well down the pecking order and are normally completely ignored by their respective head offices as long as the normal reports are filed. Michael Sheen and David Tennant simply own the parts – and obviously had a wonderful time making the series.

There's a certain Monty Pythonesque feel to the titles which I expect wasn't a coincidence.

So much more could be written but I risk spoilers so I'll stop now. I repeat, I loved the series and will watch it again. And I am absolutely delighted to discover that there's every chance of a second series.

In an entirely appropriate gesture to the late Sir Terry Pratchett, it seems an empty seat was left at the premiere. I hope Sir Terry enjoyed the show as much as I did.

Ready Player One read by Wesley Crusher

Since I moved outside Seattle and have children who live half the time in the city, I do a fair amount of driving. I initially opened an Audible account because the girls got it into their heads they wanted to learn French, and it seemed a good way to pass the drive time. Now we've rearranged our schedule so they are going back and forth less, and I've been using the Audible credits to listen to books I might not otherwise have the time to read. Plus, some books are just made to be read out loud. I particularly love listening to Neil Gaiman's books, because they are read by the author and I could listen to him talk about organizing his sock drawer.

Recently I had some credits to use up and went to the Oracle (Facebook) to ask for advice. A fellow author recommended READY PLAYER ONE, in particular because it is read by Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Wil is a funny guy, and he's played a gamer in a couple of YouTube series (my favorite being Felicia Day's THE GUILD). He is the perfect voice for the first-person perspective of a post-apocalyptic gamer geek, and there is this awesome moment when ... nope, not gonna spoil it.

So let me start by saying Donna reviewed this book back in 2013. I read her review again before posting this one to ensure there wasn't too much overlap. If you are interested in seeing the movie (scheduled for release next spring) AND you're one of those people like me who prefers to read the book BEFORE watching the movie, now you have your deadline.

This review is high-level and only contains minor spoilers. It's adapted from my Goodreads review specifically for Spacefreighters.

READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline, read by Wil Wheaton
Genre: Young-adult sci-fi with romantic elements

I didn't have high expectations for this book. I'm a middle-aged woman, and READY PLAYER ONE ("RPO" henceforth) is about a teenage gamer essentially living inside a virtual world anchored in a post-apocalyptic society. I have played both arcade and computer-based games, but not in decades. I did not expect that I'd relate. But as Donna notes in her review, this novel is RIDDLED with references to 80s culture, and I was a teenager in the 80s. Music, TV shows, movies, commercials, even specific computer models I owned in early adulthood. What a genius decision by the author, amirite? You get the young adult audience, because that's the age of the protagonists, plus all the Gen Xers and some Baby Boomers too. And I had further reason to identify with the protagonist: he lives in a trailer park in Oklahoma City, where I was born and raised. (I never lived in a trailer park, but I knew people who did. Plus they were on the news every time there was a tornado.)

From the original book cover art. It's gorgeous,
though based on Cline's description
the trailer stacks were much closer together. 

RPO is sci-fi at its best. There's an underdog hero and an evil corporate villain, and they fight their battles with super cool tech, in both the real and virtual worlds. The post-apocalyptic world Cline paints is very believable, as you can see the seeds of his calamities already germinating in today's society. For example, Cline depicts government so ineffective and in bed with corporations as to be useless in its original role of serving the interests of the populace, and corporations that have been given broad powers over the lives of private citizens.

Believe it or not this young-adult-centered geekfest even includes a sweet love story. It doesn't take up a lot of screen time, but it's critical to the plot and the ending wouldn't be nearly as satisfying without it. Can you really fall in love with a person you've never actually met? You be the judge. And as for the ladies, they DO represent in this story. Frankly when I started this book, I figured I'd have to just be okay with it being about a bunch of dudes in their basements. Granted, a lot of the 80s reference ARE very male-oriented. The only female rock musician I remember being referenced (Pat Benatar) was mentioned in conjunction with Artemis, the protagonist's crush. But whatever.

Admittedly it took me a while to get into this story. As stated above, I have little in common with the protagonist (Wade) beyond our knowledge of 80s culture, and besides that there is a fair amount of setup and backstory to get through. Wade also has a tendency to use cliché phrases (ie, "armed to the teeth"), which as an editor and fellow author pulled me out of the story at times. But once the story clicked for me, I was swept away. (Hubs started listening to it with me about halfway through, on one of our drives to town, and after a bunch of initial protesting, he was asking to listen to it at home EVERY DAY until we finished it.) There's so much attention to detail in the world building, it feels like you're inside the game. In fact at times the detail can be a little tedious, but it fits the story, as these details MATTER to Wade.

Now I'll tell you what I liked best about this story, besides the amusement-park-ride quality of the plot. As Wade goes about his quest for the ultimate high-stakes Easter egg, which has been hidden inside the virtual world (the Oasis) by its now-deceased creator, you find yourself rooting and cheering at every turn. He's just a kid vying for a prize along with thousands of other "gunters," but it's fun to watch his obsessiveness and attention to detail begin to pay off. The REAL payoff, however, comes as Wade begins to evolve as a person, developing relationships that bring out his more noble qualities—empathy, loyalty, openness to emotional vulnerability. Qualities that, fairly or not, we don't often associate with gamer personalities. Wade learns to use his powers for the greater good, and that's a quality with timeless, universal appeal.

"Be like dandelions"

C. A. M. Lindman (1856–1928)

In a previous post I mentioned a talk by Neil Gaiman — his 2013 keynote speech at the Digital Minds Conference. It was received fairly quietly when he made it, because he said a lot of stuff that particular audience didn't necessarily want to hear. But that's not the part of the speech that really stuck with me.

I love Neil, and my agency doesn't pay me to say so. He has some very cool philosophies that I embrace. In his speech, he says to the audience, "Be like dandelions."

What he's talking about is getting your work in front of as many people as you can, as many ways as you can. I'll stay away from the aspect of that philosophy that I know bothers at least one of my co-bloggers: the idea that readers downloading books for free is a good thing (easier to say when you're a bestseller and able to pay your bills). The aspect of this I really latched onto is the "as many ways as you can."

I think this is a critical piece of advice for authors today, whether indie or traditionally published, or somewhere in between.

My life often feels overwhelming. I work a day job. I'm a single mom half the time. I have book deadlines. I'm always struggling to make ends meet, and I never feel I get enough accomplished.

In 2012 I contracted with Tor for two books, and then last year I contracted one more. Those books until recently have been the entirety of my publishing career, because frankly it was all I could handle. But as we all know SFR is a tricky genre. It's hard to get your name out there, and your work noticed. The jury's still out on whether my first three books will sell enough copies to get me another contract.

Since I'm not likely to quit, I decided the best thing I could do while working on my next book is try a few new things. Shorter works. Edgier works. Different heat levels. Different formats. Different audiences. All of them my signature blend of romance and geeky spec fic.

Except for the occasional procrastination-inspired infidelity, I am typically a monogamous writer, sticking with one project until it's finished. So this is a real challenge for me. But I'm convinced that it's the way to go, and that working on multiple projects might even help me to be more efficient by keeping me inspired and warding off writer's block.

So to illustrate my point, here's a list of the irons I've got in the fire. I cannot possibly compare to the unstoppable (and undoubtably sleep-deprived) Pippa. But for me, this is bustin' out.

• LOST THINGS, FOUND THINGS — This is the new book I've been working on, and I am super excited about it. It's set in Portland, a town I adore. A little physics, a lot of mythology, and a sexy couple with a date with destiny. You can read a short excerpt (and see photos from my research trip) here.  
• A HEART FOR COPPER — This steampunk fairy tale is the "choose your own adventure" style short story I wrote for SilkWords, the company where I work as senior editor. It's also going up on WattPad, where I'll ask readers to vote at each choice point to see the next segment of the story. (Or they can buy the whole thing with all the choices here.) It will also be available soon in the Kindle Store. 
• THE GARDEN RULES — An erotica short (first in a series) I'm going to publish using a pen name, either myself or in partnership with my literary agency (TBD). I'll admit I went into this thinking it might be a good way to make some extra cash. But I ended up really having fun with it. I originally planned to submit it to Kindle Shorts. Actually I did do that, and got a request for the full story. But then I decided the margins are much better to go KDP. 
• RED — A zombie-ish story that started out as a piece of flash fiction. It's been on the back burner for months, but the idea stuck with me. It's a gritty first-person, present-tense SFR, and I wasn't sure whether it would have a large enough audience to merit devoting a lot of time to it. But I had this idea to use it as a WattPad experiment. I've posted the first two parts, and will squeeze in more work on it as I can. The plan is not to have a plan. I'm not plotting in advance. I'm truly pantsing this one, one scene at a time. Yep, told y'all I was bustin' out.  

In another of Neil's talks, he tells the story of a woman who was trying something new and feeling anxious about it. He told her: Pretend you're a person who can do this. I think he's onto something. 

Are you spreading your writerly seeds? I'd love to hear about your projects!