Oh, the diner episode. Oh, the apprehension I felt about this episode. In the comic it is extremely nasty, not least because all the characters John Dee kills at the diner are extremely nasty themselves—which feels very suitable to the time it was written. In 2022, for whatever combination of reasons, it no longer feels transgressive for everyone to be awful people hiding loathsome secrets. Many of the plot points are ported over directly from the comic, but they feel different here, perhaps because the episode pushes back hard against John Dee’s claim that he’s making a more honest world…
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We open with Dream and his new raven the only raven that matters now so please shut up about it, Dream, heading into hell. Give it up to the hair and makeup team and the costume design guys on this show, because every time I see Dream full-on with his black coat and black boots, and he’s approximately the width of two of my fingers, I’m like, yeah, I recognize him. This is the sulky fuckboy with near-infinite power that I remember from the comics. What you don’t realize about is that this is secretly an episode of The Amazing…
Leave a CommentJohanna Constantine dreams. I am in love with her. She’s wearing the worst pants in the world, yet she still looks beautiful. How? I don’t know. I am surprised to find this level of allegiance to Jenna Coleman within my heart. She’s such a little chipmunk face! There’s some business I don’t fully understand where she has to clean up the satanic ritual mess of an irresponsible drunk with an adorable daughter called Astra, but it doesn’t matter too much because in the next shot Constantine has woken up from her scary dream and is getting out of a cab…
Leave a CommentWe open on Dream’s realm looking very much like Mordor. Lucienne tells him she kept a journal for a while of what happened in his absence, but then the words faded out, the ink vanished from the paper of all the books in the library, and then the library vanished and Lucienne never found it again. You can tell Dream really appreciates that Lucienne stuck around, especially when she’s like “I knew you would return.” Of course he doesn’t thank her. That is not his Vibe. He tries to at least put his throne room back together, but without his…
Leave a CommentWhen I was eighteen years old, my godmother gave me $100 as a graduation present, and I very excitedly used that $100 to purchase the entire run of Sandman in trade paperbacks. This was a huge and terrifying investment for me. It was one of my first online purchases, and it must have been one of the most expensive purchases I’d ever made for myself to that point in my life. I had never read graphic novels before. I had tried to read Preludes and Nocturnes once and couldn’t figure out the mechanics of reading it even, because if you…
Leave a CommentI enjoyed Elaine Castillo’s first novel, America Is Not the Heart (in part because of my conviction that she has written fanfiction in her life; this is based on nothing), and I am ravenously excited to read her new book of literary criticism, How to Read Now. I will put the relevant link first so that y’all can share my excitement. Here are the links! “My issue with how we read is as much an existential grievance as it is a labor dispute.” Elaine Castillo addresses the foundation of white supremacy in the literary world, making me VERY excited to read…
Leave a CommentHI FRIENDS, I rejoice to report that I’ve got a new column at Tor, entitled Ships in the Night, that looks at fantasy and SF romance. My first post is up now, exploring the figure of the misfit heroine and Olivia Atwater’s debut novel Half a Soul. Enjoy! Say hi in the comments! Let me know what other books you think I should be covering! https://www.tor.com/2022/07/26/how-to-not-fit-in-the-misfit-heroine-and-olivia-atwaters-half-a-soul/
Leave a CommentI apologize in advance to everyone that I have included links about the Depp/Heard trial in this round-up. I would have loved not to, but it felt irresponsible as we witness in real time the misogynistic backlash to #MeToo, with people of all genders cheering on Depp for getting vicious public revenge on an ex (who had, by the way, a lot of clearly documented evidence for her claims). As much as I wanted not to pay attention to this trial, I think it’s important to bear witness to the fact that despite the eleventy-thousand “this woman from the 90s…
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