Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury

Book: Shadow Show

Author: A collection of short stories by many authors, including Neil Gaiman, Audrey Niffenegger, Dave Eggers, Sam Weller, Mort Castle, and Alice Hoffman.

 

Why I Read It: It's a collection of short stories in celebration of Ray Bradbury, who I love. Also, I was traveling at the time and a book of short stories travels easier than one long novel sometimes.

First Line: Hmmm, doesn't really apply because there are 26 first lines.
 

First Impression: Oh my. So very very dark. And creative.

Last Impression: This was truly an homage to Bradbury; emotional, unique, unexpected and human.

 

Ratings

Overall – 5 Heart Racing As it usually is with a collection of shorter works by different authors, this book provided a mixed hat of tales. Some truly struck a chord with me and some I trudged through to get onto the next story. However, the overwhelming feeling was one of deep satisfaction.

Characters – 3 With short works such as these, it is the story that pulls the reader forward, rater than the characters, so many times they were forgettable.

Story – 5 Unabashedly brilliant. Though most of the 26 tales were a delight, a few stood out as exceptional: The Girl in the Funeral Parlor by Sam Weller, The Companions by David Morrell, Little America by Dan Chaon, Young Pilgrims by Joe Meno, and The Tattoo by Bonnie Jo Campbell stand out as truly memorable.

Narration – 4 Again, varied by work, but these artists are all experienced and each story is masterfully crafted.

Read Again? Absolutely. And again. And again.

Tell Others to Read? I recommended this book as I was still traveling through its pages. It is a very specific readership however, and is best enjoyed by true Bradbury fans (those who have read beyond Fahrenheit 451).

Excerpt from the Introduction:

      In Shadow Show, this celebration of Ray Bradbury, artists who have been profoundly influenced by him pen their own short stories in homage, stories that through image, theme, or concept are either ever so obviously or ever so subtle "Bradbury-informed." From the lyrical magic of Dandelion Wine, to the shifting sands of Mars, to the rolling mist of The October Country, Bradbury's literary achievements in all their scope are honored by a host of today's top writers. Shadow Show presents our most exciting authors, who, like the honoree, are not contained or constricted by category or locale, as they touch the Bradbury base for inspiration to explore their own singular, wildest imaginings.

     The stories in this volume are neither sequels nor pastiches but rather distinctive fictive visions by writers inspired by a single common touchstone: the enduring works of Ray Bradbury.

 

 

Content property of HarperCollins.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Book: The Eyre Affair
Author: Jasper Fforde

Why I Read It: Because I LOVE Jasper Fforde. I found the Thursday Next series abandoned at the thrift store and I scooped them all up. This is book one.
First Line: "My father had a face that could stop a clock."

First Impression: How delightfully playful!
Last Impression: I had a pretty good idea how this book would end, but I very much enjoyed getting there.

Ratings
Overall - 5 Heart Racing Delightfully engaging and addictively playful.
Characters - 5 Each character is fun and believable with quirks that bring them to life.
Story - 5 The story is unsurpassed in playful creativity; how many of us would have loved to transcend reality and find ourselves within the pages of our favorite books? Not only do these characters have the opportunity to do so, they get to see the jet-flying, tourist-planning secret side of classic Bronte and Austen novels.
Narration - 5 I haven't fallen in love with narration like this since I first read Douglas Adams (the ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't). It's quick and witting and a delight to read.

Read Again? Absolutely! This is joining my "Favorites" shelf. I will probably read this at least two more times.

Tell Others To Read? Yes and Yes. Fforde crafts alternate realities with such care and depth you truly are transported away. The Thursday Next adventure is no different.

Excerpt: "I was what we called an 'operative grade I' for SO-27, the Literary Detective Division of the Special Operations Network based in London. It's way less flash than it sounds. Since 1980 the big criminal gangs had moved in on the lucrative literary market and we had much to do and few funds to do it with. I worked under Area Chief Boswell, a small, puffy man who looked like a bag of flour with arms and legs. He lived and breathed the job; words were his life and his love - he never seems happier than when he was on the trail of a counterfeit Coleridge or a fake Fielding. It was under Boswell that we arrested the gang who were stealing and selling Samuel Johnson first editions; on another occasion we uncovered an attempt to authenticate a flagrantly unrealistic version of Shakespeare's lost work Cardenio. Fun while it lasted, but only small islands of excitement among the ocean of day-to-day mundanities that is SO-27: We spent most of our time dealing with illegal traders, copyright infringements and fraud.
     I had been with Boswell and SO-27 for eight years, living in a Maida Vale apartment with Pickwick, a regenerated pet dodo left over from the days when reverse extinction was all the rage and you could buy home cloning kits over the counter. I was keen - no, I was desperate - to get away from the LiteraTecs but transfers were unheard of and promotion a nonstarter.


Content property of Penguin Books.