Brief Lives (1994) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

show spoilers

• Delirium: for reasons unknown even to Destiny. One eye blue and one eye green, with an appearance that constantly changes. She knows more than the rest of the endless, including things even Destiny does not know.
• Dream/Morpheus: Dream is personification and lord of all dreams. All that is not reality is his domain. He is the father of Orpheus and Brother of the Endless. Although he is ultimately heroic he has many negative aspects. He can be insensitive, self obsessed and slow to forgive. In appearance he is remarkably similar to Neil Gaiman himself and always wears black.
• Destruction/Olethros: The fourth eldest of the Endless, with an appearance rather similar to Brian Blessed. Destruction abandoned his realm and his responsibilities some time around the turn of the seventeenth century. The reason for this was the onset of the human Age of Reason, which would eventually culminate in the invention of the atomic bomb. Destruction was unwilling to be responsible for the destruction this would cause, and therefore left the family. He did not cease to exist as the active aspect of destruction, but rather stopped directing the affairs over which he has control.
• Barnabus: Destruction's talking dog
• Alper: Add a description of this character.
• Ishtar: aka "Astarte," "Belili" She was a Goddess of love in Mesopotamia and was romantically linked to Destruction 2,000 years ago - before he left his realm. She is now working as a stripper.

Quotes edit see section history

• “-I didn't know you could stop being a God.-You can stop being anything.”

  Between Dream and Delirium

• “You lived what anybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime.”

  Death

• “Um what's the name of the word for things not being the same always. You know. I'm sure there is one. Isn't there? There must be a word for it.. the thiing that lets you know time is happening. Is there a word?(Dream answers - Change)”

  Delerium

• “I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. God come, and Gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don't last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend.”

  Destruction

• “I know how Gods begin, Roger. We start as dreams. Then we walk out of dreams into the land. We are worshipped and loved, and take power to ourselves. And then one day there's no one left to worship us. And in the end, each little God an Goddess takes its last journey back into dreams...And what comes after, not even WE know.”

  Ishtar

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Fables & Reflections , and followed by Worlds' End.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Neil Gaiman (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Daniel Pellizzari (Translator)
2. Jill Thompson (Illustrator)
3. Vince Locke (Illustrator)
4. Dave McKean (Cover Artist)
5. Peter Straub (Afterword)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 741.5973

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Authors, A-Z › ( G ) › Gaiman, Neil
• Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Dark
• Books › Comics & Graphic Novels › Graphic Novels › Fantasy
• Books › Comics & Graphic Novels › Characters › Sandman
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history