Who da thunk it?

Shush, you. I'll be over here with my talking animals. Did I mention that I'm going to be a fairy-witch-princess when I grow up?

Nope, musta missed that one. Oh wait, there was that one time...

I can confirm the other part of that analysis: I was always a superhero's alter-ego as a young'n. Still waiting to spring into action.

the part about how little girls dream that their lives aren't their lives and their parents aren't really their parents

See, that part bugged me. I never would have fantasized about something that, because I was terrified of strangers.

I fantasized about that--it's why I stopped sucking my finger, because you never saw pictures of princesses sleeping that way.

I played at being Princess Leia and Princess Ardala, but I suspect that was different.

And I've spent all afternoon trying to remember some insanely elaborate lets-pretend games I played with friends. I think hanging around while my brother played D&D had a very strange effect on my recess activities.

I shifted pretty cleanly from princess to spy to marauding barbarian. Can't wait to see what's next!

And I've spent all afternoon trying to remember some insanely elaborate lets-pretend games I played with friends

I was mostly an evil witch/fairy/vampire. Who was a princess. Who was going to rule over the world with an army of stuffed animals to carry out my every whim.

Cape, horse, sword. More of a Red Sonia than princess. Monte Cristo and d'Artagnan. NOW it makes me sad that I was forever co-opting male roles--that there weren't girls like that around. Can't think of any except Pippi Longstocking...

I finished Fables and Reflections.

"Soft Places" is...this whole collection seems to be stories about Gaiman playing with historical figures, and I'm just not getting into them. Sure, Marco Polo is cool, but his story, not so much. There are some nice touches, like the very idea of a "soft place," where the line between dream and reality blur, I like that; I was amused by the setting of the desert, which allowed the use of physical sand; and I like Fiddler's Green. It's a decent tale, but not a favorite.

"The Song of Orpheus" is Gaimain's retelling of the Orpheus myth, and since I'm into Greek mythology, I liked it all right. It's our first glimpse of Destruction, the prodigal brother (was the special published before or after Brief Lives?). It's interesting to make Orpheus the son of Morpheus, and...was it always like that? The similarity in names can't be coincidence. I don't remember the details of the myth as I learned it. I don't recall anything about Furies ripping him apart, either. But I really liked the short scene with Charon, entranced by the song of Orpheus. It's a nice reminder that just because you serve in Hades does not mean you don't appreciate beauty. And the ending is a killer, with a biting parallel. GREAT FUCKING PARENTING, DREAM! At least he went to the trouble to get his son's severed head back a few thousand years later. Man, wouldn't life suck as a head?

"The Parliament of Rooks" is of course a winner, being a story about stories. And Matthew is now one of my favorite Dreamlings. Also, Hippolyta! Daniel! Oh, continuity. And it makes me wonder what Dream really wants with Daniel (he doesn't even appear in the issue!) because the baby's allowed in the Dreaming and gets to hang out with Dream's peeps. And oh my God, Li'l Death and Li'l Dream are SO CUTE HEE HEE HEE.

"Ramadan" was very, very nice. It reminded me of "August" in that it was about a monarch's feelings about his kingdom, but I was much more into it, I think because of the style, the use of mythical language, the feeling that you're sitting in a room and being told a great story about fantastical events. And it's so sweet, Haroun's wish to have the city preserved in dreams so that it can last forever.

I've read the first issue of Brief Lives. This is going to be good.