the sandman

neil gaiman and his dog

i'm reading writer neil gaiman's collaboration

with artist yoshitaka amano

entitled

"the sandman: the dream hunters."

it's simply brilliant.

beginning with a wager between a badger and a fox,

the prize for the winner is a temple.

but first - how to get rid of the wise and insightful monk?

then, issues arise when the fox falls in love with the monk and has to save his life!

i am loosely participating in a meme that has the following rules:

"collect the book that you have most handy,

turn to page 161,

find the 5th complete sentence,

and cite the sentence on your blog."

all good until i discovered that this book ends on page 128.

so i chose the halfway point of the book.

here's a tasty sampler from the book (with the fifth sentence embedded!!)

"to begin, darkness.

in the darkness a light flickered into being.

then another and another.

the lights were moving.

they were fireflies.

first a handful, then a swarm,

and then hundreds and thousands of fireflies

glittered with their cold fire in the darkness.

it reminded the monk of a river of stars,

or a bridge of stars,

or a ribbon,

twining away into the darkness,

insubstantial and glimmering,

and it was along this ribbon that the monk began to walk.

in his hand he was holding a scrap of paper,

which glowed even more brightly than the fireflies.

as he walked, the fireflies, which had been flickering on and off,

began to fall away,

to drop and to tumble like camellia blossoms.

the monk tumbled with them.

he realized as he fell that he was not falling through fireflies,

but through the milky way,

the river of the gods that passes through the night sky."

how good is that?!!!