[Sandman fic] "Dreams, Absent" by qwerty Note: The original version of this rec has been written in February 2007 and crossposted to various places (my own journal, the_dreaming, and dingsi_recs). My apologies if you see this more than once.
Fandom: The Sandman (comic) Title: Dreams, Absent Author: qwerty (queasy on FicWad) Pairing: none (gen), the main character is Lucien the Librarian. Warnings/Rating: I've rated it PG-13 for some violent imagery. Link:Story hosted on the YuletideTreasure.org archive Additional info : You can leave feedback directly at the archive via comments, or use the email adress provided in the author profile.
Why should people click?
Without its King, the Dreaming falls apart, and Lucien tries to hold the pieces together.
This is a sad story. It's about slow decay, about a crumbling world and dying dreams, because the being that represents their essence is gone. And it's about Lucien, head of the Dream King's library, who stubbornly and with as much grace as he can muster refuses to give in. It has dark, beautiful images, sometimes described in mere haunting glimpses, like dreams and nightmares tend to be. It's just two pages in MS Word, but it left a lasting impression on me, not just because I like Lucien -- who you can see in my icon, by the way -- but also because I love the atmosphere.
"Outside, he looks up at into the firmament he remembers filled with myriad myriads of dreams sparkling in and out on the edge of unconsciousness. He is dismayed to notice, for the first time, the fixed, unlovely dreams like dull stones; glimmering shattered drifts of dream, and patches of void. (...) Another dream winks out without returning as he puzzles over the change."
If you'd like to read my further thoughts on the matter, a more in-depth (and spoilery!) review is here.
Where to find more by this author: There's the personal website qwertyuiop_roach (Sentinel fic only), and the FicWad.com profile (mostly Anime/Manga and Harry Potter). Sadly, no other Sandman fic by this author. It's a shame.