Last night I read Neil Gaiman novella, The Sandman: Dream Hunters, which I had uncovered while packing up my bookshelf the other day. Novella’s are a unique reading experience to me because one can typically read the complete work in one sitting. It gives you a different feel to start and end a piece of literature in a single block of time, as opposed to the multiple sessions that it usually takes me to finish a novel; and I really enjoy the feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment that this experience brings. This is not unlike short stories, but the narrative structure of a novella seems quite a bit different then that of a fifteen page short story. I remember reading a quote by science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein where he suggested that a short story should hit the ground running and never look back, so perhaps the difference between a novella and a short story is pace. Among other things… The Wikipedia entry on novella has an interesting quote by Robert Silverberg from the introduction of his novella Sailing to Byzantium:

[The novella] is one of the richest and most rewarding of literary forms…it allows for more extended development of theme and character than does the short story, without making the elaborate structural demands of the full-length book. Thus it provides an intense, detailed exploration of its subject, providing to some degree both the concentrated focus of the short story and the broad scope of the novel.

But I digress, so back to Gaiman’s novella. Dream Hunters is a retelling of an old Japanese fairy tale about a monk and a fox, and their mutual affection to each other (I guess you could call it a love story). It’s not a cautionary tale per say, but there is a lesson to be learned and writing style like those you’d expect to find in a fairy tale. The novella is illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano who’s work graced the Final Fantasy video game franchise. Amano also illustrated Hideyuki Kikuchi‘s Vampire Hunter D novels, which have recently been translated into English published by Dark Horse Press. In Dream Hunters, the surreal illustrative style beautifully augments Gaiman’s narrative prose. The prose also provides a wonderful context to Amano’s work. This seems like a mute point, but after having only seen Amano’s colour illustrations put together seemingly haphazardly in a coffee table book called “The Art of Final Fantasy” (or some similar title), context is much appreciated. The combination of well crafted fairy tale and superb illustrations make this novella a true delight and a definite recommendation.

Net Sphere Engineer is the official sequal to Blame!

Volume 1, Chapter 1 of Net Sphere Engineer is available here.