Neil Gaiman and Conan Doyle

 With Netflix running a long overdue adaptation of some of Neil Gaiman's classic Sandman works, and Neil being very near to our Sherlockian world, with at least one classic Holmes-based tale and a few appearances at Sherlockian events ("appearances" more in the realm of sighting an other-worldly being than the typical celebrity arrangement) . . . well, it made me start thinking of how unlike Conan Doyle he is.

Both writers like to do horror. But Conan Doyle's most popular take on horror, The Hound of the Baskervilles, takes us to the brink of the demonic, then pulls back: "Oh, no, this was just the scheme of a disgruntled heir using an abused dog." Neil Gaiman like to go to that same brink and then go, "Oh, do you think that's all there is? Here's so much more."

I feel like Conan Doyle liked keeping Sherlock Holmes grounded in the real world, because Conan Doyle believed that fantastic spiritual things were already in the real world and he didn't want his fantasy hero touching his "reality." Doyle was fascinated by history and was a student of same. Neil Gaiman, so far as I can tell, seems very grounded in reality, yet is fascinated by the myths and legends of the world, and delves further and further into them because he isn't shackled by a side mission of proving to the world that fantastic beings are real. It's a very different sort of history.

Am I making any sense here?

I know there are experts on both authors out there who could make some much better comparing and contrasting observations, and undoubtedly note an error or two in the above. Doyle did write fantasy on occasion -- he wrote a little of everything, really. And I'm not conversant in the full Neil Gaiman catalogue, just wandering through things like Anansi Boys, American Gods, Stardust, and, of course, Good Omens among them, along with all his comics.

Would it be better to compare Dream and Sherlock Holmes? They do both have a certain other-worldly quality to them. And at least one very powerful sibling. And seeing Stephen Fry show up in Dream's world after being said sibling to Sherlock, well, that connection had to make a Sherlockian smile. (I mean, it's Stephen Fry. I think I'd smile anyway.)

But no spoilers. You know how our minds drift back to Sherlock Holmes no matter what we're enjoying.