The Sandman: The Dream Hunters is a novella by English author Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano, and published by DC Comics under its Vertigo imprint. The story is tangential to The Sandman comic book series, and can be read without prior knowledge of the main sequence. It won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Narrative. The story deals with a love affair between a Buddhist monk and a fox spirit or kitsune. Gaiman's afterword states that it was based on an old Japanese folk tale, drawn from Y. T. Ozaki's Old Japanese Fairy Tales and retooled to fit in the world of The Sandman, but no such tale is to be found in Ozaki's work. Gaiman has since stated when asked that the story was entirely of his own devising, most recently in the foreword to The Sandman: Endless Nights.
I was thrilled to discover a prose story in the Sandman universe. It was fascinating to see how Neil Gaiman delivered a wonderful retelling of a classic Japanese fable and seamlessly injected Morpheus into the tale. As always, Gaiman's wonderful storytelling creates a sense of magic and wonder that propels the story along.
neil gaiman + yoshitaka amano = slay
An excellent alternative-story about The Sandman. Perhaps, as other cultures see him. My first "illustrated-novel", I quite enjoyed the format and look forward to reading [book:Stardust] in its original format.
