The Sandman: Shadow Truths

Petra Borzynski

Exploring Mental Health and Creativity with Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman': “Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.” - Morpheus, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (The Sandman #19, Dream Country)

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Episodes

Passengers (The Sandman #5, Preludes and Nocturnes)
Mar 1 2024
Passengers (The Sandman #5, Preludes and Nocturnes)
"Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes...”I have been notably absent from Shadow Truths—a writer’s got to write, and she has to write some things before she writes others. In this particular case, several new courses and one and a half books ;)Alas, I am back, and you might find that the structure of Shadow Truths becomes a bit more free-flowing from now on because I was beginning to find the initial format I had chosen too restrictive (it’s okay to stop liking what once you liked, right?). I also intend to break up the publishing schedule a bit because I simply have to admit that creating two newsletters/podcasts on a weekly schedule, as initially planned, was a bit too ambitious.After that quick intro: Today’s episode will be about The Sandman "Passengers", the fifth issue of the first volume, Preludes and Nocturnes, which follows Dream's quest to recover his lost objects of power. We have already talked about his sand and his helm in previous issues—the last item missing is his ruby…All show-notes, links and transcripts for today’s episode can be found over at the Shadow Truths Substack channel.If you are interested in exploring general creativity and mental health topics, please also check out my newsletter The Creative Cure, which alternates with Shadow Truths and also has its own companion podcast.If you’d like to meet like-minded people and discuss, join our subscriber chat on Substack.Thanks to Ashot Danielyan for creating the music. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit creativecure.substack.com/subscribe
Sleep of the Just (The Sandman #1, Preludes & Nocturnes)
Jul 28 2023
Sleep of the Just (The Sandman #1, Preludes & Nocturnes)
"You threatened, cajoled and pleaded for gifts that are neither mankind's to receive nor mine to give. You had no thought for the harm you must have brought to your world."Welcome to the first issue of “Shadow Truths”, where we will explore the world of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, one of the most acclaimed and influential comic book series of all time.In this episode, we will focus on “Sleep of the Just", which introduces us to the main character, Dream of the Endless, also known as Morpheus, the King of Dreams and Nightmares.The Sandman has also been adapted into various media formats, such as Audible-exclusive audiobooks and a Netflix series by the same name.I will be pulling from all of these if and where necessary, but mostly, this podcast will be based around the original comics. If you feel inclined to read along (and I recommend it, although it’s not a must): I already briefly went into the different editions available in this post on Substack—there is something for every preference and budget.If you are interested in exploring general creativity and mental health topics, please also check out my newsletter The Creative Cure, which alternates with Shadow Truths on a fortnightly schedule and also has its own companion podcast.If you’d like to meet like-minded people and discuss, join our subscriber chat on Substack.You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram.Thanks to Ashot Danielyan for creating the music. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit creativecure.substack.com/subscribe