Shadow Show audiobook

When I was 11 years old, Ray Bradbury changed my life.One Saturday morning, when I was 11, I encountered Mr. Bradbury for the first time in the science fiction section of the San Luis Obispo public library, when I pulled his short story collection The Illustrated Man off the shelf to read while I waited for my mother to get done with her grocery shopping. The first story I read was "The Veldt", which had such a profound impact on my prepubescent brain that to this day I still think of it with awe. Even my unsophisticated 11-year-old self knew I had stumbled onto something miraculous.From that point forward, I read every Bradbury story I could find in the public library and the school library. I traveled far and wide with S Is For Space and R Is For Rocket; drank Dandelion Wine with abandon; romped through Greentown with Jim and Will in Something Wicked This Way Comes; I wrote very very bad derivative stories inspired by The Martian Chronicles for English and Creative Writing classes in junior high and high school. Writing my own stories made me appreciate the sheer artistry and genius of the man: how precise his word choices; how well he conveyed an entire world in 20 pages or less. That chance encounter at age 11 enriched my life in more ways that I can count. Bradbury opened the door that led me to Asimov and Clarke and Heinlein and Ellison, to Tolkien and LeGuin and Donaldson, to Poe and King and Lovecraft and McCammon, to all the masters of science fiction and fantasy and horror, and all the worlds they created.My world would have been so confined, so diminished, so impoverished, without Ray Bradbury.The authors of this collection of short stories feel much the same way. Twenty-six authors, each a writing great on his own; 26 stories, each after the manner of The Great Man; and 26 essays on how Ray Bradbury influenced, inspired, and awed each of these writers in turn.And while there are too many stories to review or synopsize each one, I want to spotlight a few. Neil Gaiman's tale of "The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury" is so perfect it defies description. "Children of the Bedtime Machine" by Robert McCammon brought tears to my eyes. "The Tattoo" by Bonnie Jo Campbell pays just and due homage to that other, more famous, story about ink and skin and humanity. In each of the stories, we find bits and pieces of Bradbury in mood, in tone, in setting; each story is unsettling and off-kilter by that much, by the teeniest tiniest littlest bit, by just enough to set the reader starting at the shadow by the door or the shape half-glimpsed by the corner of the eye.This collection was published in July 2012. Sadly, the Great Man Himself passed away just weeks before its publication. 'Tis a fitting tribute to my favorite author, and possibly the greatest author of all time. Sweet dreams, Mr. Bradbury. I'll miss you, and cherish you, forever and ever and ever.Thank you to Library Thing's Early Reviewers for the opportunity to read this book.

“His name will once more become synonymous with small American towns at Halloween, when the leaves skitter across the sidewalk like frightened birds, or with Mars, or with love.”In the introduction to this anthology, Bradbury discusses how from the age of 8, he was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and numerous other authors. He refers to Poe as his “true papa”. But now Bradbury himself has become the father, and this anthology is a family reunion of sorts, full of stories by those who subsequently looked to him as Papa. As he says, linking it back to his own story, The Homecoming, “a family of beautiful creatures - loving, winged uncles, doting telepathic aunts, and fantastic brethren from all over the world - gather to give thanks, of course, on Halloween.”Here’s the thing - if you’re a Bradbury fan, the Robert McCammon story alone is worth the price of admission. It was simply incredible. In Children of the Bedtime Machine he perfectly encapsulates how Bradbury’s work is timeless. It will transcend generations as parents and grandparents share the joy of Bradbury’s storytelling with their kids and grandkids. Love!!Another standout was The Girl in the Funeral Parlour by Sam Weller, which was very reminiscent of the vignette in Dandelion Wine when Bill and Helen fall in love with each other’s minds, but cannot be together as Helen nears death. Perhaps they will be together in a different life. In this story, Weller beautifully reflects on the possibility of meeting your soulmate after they have died.Gaiman’s story about a man who has forgotten Bradbury is as imaginative as I would expect, peppered with little references that fans will love picking up on. The Exchange was a very interesting mash-up of Lovecraft and Bradbury, whereas By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain is Joe Hill’s tribute to my most favourite Bradbury story, The Fog Horn.Of course, not every story hits the mark, but the great heavily outweighed the bad. I wouldn’t say you’d need to be a fan of Bradbury to enjoy this collection, the stories stand on their own, but it’s a joy to witness other authors celebrate his works. 3.5 stars.

I didn't get around to starting this review until I'd listened for quite a while & there are a lot of stories. I probably won't review them all & certainly not in detail, but figure they were at least decent stories & well read.Sam Weller and Mort Castle - Introduction - Not the best intro, but serviceable, especially if you're not familiar with Bradbury's history.Ray Bradbury - Second Homecoming - Quite good, especially the talk about it.Neil Gaiman - The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury - Apparently unmemorable after just a few days. I really can't even though I listened to bits of it again. It's read in a British accent, probably by Gaiman, so it will probably catch his fans' interest.Margaret Atwood - Headlife - This was VERY disappointing, especially from 2 big names doing homage to another. The story wasn't innovative, surprising, creepy, or compelling. It was obvious & better handled on Futurama. Then George Takei overacted his reading horribly which made a poor story even worse. He was unintelligible at times. They should have just pissed on Bradbury's grave, but added insult to injury by wasting my time on this.:(Jay Bonansinga - Heavy - Now this was a Bradburian tale! Kudos! Surprises, suspense, & black humor every step of the way.Sam Weller - The Girl In The Funeral Parlor - Ditto! Every bit as creepy as anything Bradbury has done & yet there is an understandable longing, too.David Morrell - The Companions - Same as above, excellent! I've read a lot of Morrell's books since he first rocked me with First Blood, which Stallone did a great job in, too. (Yes, the sequels sucked.) Morrell's other spy novels are really good too, but they're tough guy books so it was surprising to see him handle subtle creep & love so well.Thomas F. Monteleone - The Exchange - is an oft overlooked author. It's been years since I've read anything of his. Nice to see this story in the collection.Lee Martin - Cat on a Bad Couch - sigh. Show, don't tell. He even says so in his afterword. Not a bad story, but a little less telling would have made it better.Joe Hill - By The Silver Water Of Lake Champlain - was pretty close to fantastic. Can't say much without spoilers, so I'll leave it at that.Dan Chaon - Little America - Interesting story, but the afterword, what Bradbury meant to him, was even better.John McNally - The Phone Call - Wow, Twilight Zone script! Shades of Rod Sterling & Bradbury. Another good afterword.Joe Meno - Young Pilgrims - This one & the next few are all ditto the above. Perfect Bradbury & all have great afterwords.Robert McCammon - Children Of The Bedtime Machine - Ramsey Campbell - The Page - Mort Castle - Light - Alice Hoffman - Conjure - John Maclay - Max - Jacqueline Mitchard - Two Of A Kind - Up to this point, the stories were pretty wonderful. After this, I didn't care for them much. Missed the points, if they had any. George Takei read another & wasn't too bad, but he'll never be a favorite reader of mine. Some of the afterwords were quite good, though. Bradbury obviously made a huge difference.Gary Braunbeck - Fat Man And Little Boy - Bonnie Jo Campbell - The Tattoo - Audrey Niffenegger - Backwards In Seville - Charles Yu - Earth: (A Gift Shop) - Julia Keller - Hayleigh's Dad - Dave Eggers - Who Knocks? - Bayo Ojikutu - Reservation 2020 - Kelly Link - Two Houses - Harlan Ellison - Weariness - Yuck. Ellison has gotten even worse.

"The tragedy of life is not that men die, but rather that most allow their dreams to expire while they still live."Ray Bradbury certainly let his dreams run wild, and anyone who has had the opportunity to explore his beautifully crafted stories knows he is special. I love alot of the authors featured in this collection and have discovered a handful I want to read more of. In short if you love Bradbury this book is a must read!

I absolutely loved everything about this collection of short stories, from start to finish! I was a little hesitant to read it at first because I love Bradbury so much and I was worried that these stories would just be poor imitations of his work. Those fears were completely unfounded and I adored it. The authors did such a wonderful tributes to Bradbury’s style and it was just breathtaking. It's difficult for me to pick a favourite story out of the bunch, each of them was unique and captivating in its own way and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. After finishing this collection I am positively itching to revisit some of Bradbury’s work. I can’t stress enough how good this collection is, it is a must read for any Bradbury fan!

http://www.rantingdragon.com/shadow-s...When the Ranting Dragon was first contacted about reviewing Shadow Show, I was intrigued. A collection of short stories honoring Ray Bradbury? Neat! However, once I got my review copy, I realized how very special this collection is. While Shadow Show was published a little over a month after Bradbury’s June 2012 death, this anthology was not thrown together at lightning speed to commemorate him. This book is actually a carefully curated collection of all original stories and was started well before Bradbury’s death; it even includes a secondary introduction from him. This anthology is meant to honor and celebrate not only Bradbury’s work, but also the influence he’s had on modern literature and current authors.For those who are unfamiliar, Ray Bradbury was an American author who was extremely influential within his own lifetime. He published twenty-seven novels (the most famous of which is the dystopian Fahrenheit 451), screenplays for movies and TV shows, as well as over six hundred short stories. Bradbury’s earliest work was in the science fiction genre, though he also published in the mystery and horror genres. His work appeared in numerous publications, from niche SF magazines to The New Yorker. This wide diversity has been credited with giving the entire speculative fiction movement greater exposure as more mainstream readers sought out Bradbury’s less mainstream work.Nothing short of epicEditors Sam Weller and Mort Castle certainly set themselves a herculean task with this collection. How do you celebrate the work of such a prolific and varied writer? And remarkably, there are twenty-seven short stories and two introductions in fewer than five hundred pages. My original thought with this review was to tell you about a few of my favorite stories, but some of them are so short that to spend more than a sentence or two on them would give away the entire story! And I don’t want you to read my three sentence reduction, but the original tale. Don’t worry if you don’t like extremely short fiction; there are some longer, twenty-page stories included as well. They are all exquisitely written by masters at their craft. The SF world is represented by none other than Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Harlan Ellison, Kelly Link, and Audrey Niffenegger. The authors coming from the mystery, adventure/suspense/thriller, and horror genres also read like a who’s who of modern publishing. You literally cannot go wrong with this crowd.One of the best parts of this collection is the notes attached to each story by its author. Some are inspired by Bradbury’s work as a whole, but many are tributes to a single short story. For instance, David Morrell’s “The Companion” is a reverse of Bradbury’s tale “The Crowd.” Audrey Niffenegger’s “Backwards in Seville” is in response to Bradbury’s “The Playground.” For those who may be experiencing much of Bradbury vicariously for the first time in this anthology, these notes offer an interesting roadmap to various works they may enjoy. Often in these notes, the authors will tell you just what Bradbury and his work mean to them. For some he served as inspiration throughout their careers, and for others he was a dear friend and mentor. I can’t imagine a more touching tribute for any writer.Why you should read this bookI will be honest with you: short fiction is not my favorite reading. I was sold on doing this review by the list of the authors involved, and I have not been disappointed. If ever there was a short story collection you could not go wrong with, this is it. It’s a literary buffet filled with dishes prepared by award winning chefs. Even if a story is not to your particular taste, you can still sit back and appreciate the craft that went into it. Also, what better way to sample genres you may have read sparingly than with a collection that also includes pieces in genres you’re sure to love?

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)I know a number of the people involved with this book, so it wouldn't really be ethically right for me to purport to do an "objective" review of it; but I at least wanted to make a mention of it here at the blog, mostly because it finally came up to the top of my to-read list last week, after first entering way back in July. (July! Shame on me! I am so sorry to all you authors that it's taking me so long to get through your books right now; but we're about to start bringing on additional reviewers soon, so we'll finally be getting that list whittled down to size before too long.) Anyway, this is an anthology of all-new work by some incredibly impressive writers, and edited by genre heroes Sam Weller and Mort Castle, all in honor of the recently passed Ray Bradbury, a Chicago-area native (for those who didn't know) who had one of the most interesting and varied literary careers of the entire Mid-Century Modernist era. And indeed, I think a big reason why it was so easy for Weller and Castle to attract the likes of such heavy hitters as Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Alice Hoffman, Kelly Link, Audrey Niffenegger, Joe Meno, Bonnie Jo Campbell and a lot more is precisely because Bradbury had a career that was so hard to define, a man who dipped his influential toes into horror, science-fiction, crime, Young Adult, even hippie weirdness without ever being trapped in one or another, and I think it's natural for writers to be inspired by this and want to occasionally do some Bradburian walking off the beaten path themselves. It's such a fitting and loving tribute because it's so smart and dense on its own, and Weller and Castle are to be commended for putting together one of the most entertaining compilations I've read in a while. It comes strongly recommended.Out of 10: N/A

In most of the anthologies that I've read there are often some good stories, some bad stories, and some in between. The end result is that I usually feel ambivalent. When I first started reading Shadow Show, I thought this anthology would be more of the same after reading the first story, which was written by Neil Gaiman As it turns out, Gaiman's story was the weakest in the anthology, which is chocked full of quality writing and quality stories. Shadow Show is a tribute to Ray Bradbury, one of the greatest science fiction writers to ever live. Some of the stories clearly struck a chord in giving a definite Bradbury feel. Even the ones that didn't still were generally high quality and entertaining.There were so many good and interesting stories that it's hard to say which ones were the best. If I had to single out two stories that really stood out were "The Girl in the Funeral Parlor" by Sam Weller, which had a great haunting quality, and "The Companions" by David Morrell, which is one of the best short stories I've ever read, the sort that stays with you long after you read it. The list of authors is quite impressive including Joe Hill, Robert McCammon, and Ramsey Campbell. If you are a fan of Bradbury or quality speculative fiction, this is an anthology that you will want to read. The vision that Sam Weller and Mort Castle had in creating this was definitely fulfilled, and it is a fitting tribute to Bradbury.Carl Alves - author of Reconquest: Mother Earth

As some of you may know, I adore Ray Bradbury. I was one of those creepy kids that devoured any books that looked like they might spook me. I read many typical scary stories for kids, with only a few truly standing out. Ray Bradbury's, Something Wicked This Way Comes was one such story. It stayed in my brain and never quite left me alone. It captured the way Halloween felt, not just what it looks like. So, Ray definitely captured my imagination at a very early age. Since I have loved Ray Bradbury for many years, I was very excited to see this book on the shelves of my local library, especially because several of my favorite authors contributed stories to this collection including: Alice Hoffman, Joe Hill, Neil Gaiman, and (of course) the man himself, Ray Bradbury. This collection was marvelously fun to read with just the right combination of chills and thrills for anyone to read, even if you don't like spooky stories. If you love Ray Bradbury, you'll love this collection.

I very much hoped to give this a 5-star rating. (Some may think I'm too generous with those anyway - but what can I tell you? Reading a book is a commitment, so naturally I'm going to try to choose books I'm going to end up loving or find totally satisfying for one reason or another. Why waste time on books that will end up wasting your time?) The truth, though, is that - for me - this collection comes to about a 4.5. If you include his touching introduction, there are 27 writers pooled together here for this 'celebration' of Bradbury's work; this recognition of his vast influence. As I've suggested, the bulk of the stories here are just terrific. Quite a few of them are, indeed, Bradbury-esque... while a number of others are Bradbury-informed. Particular favorites (*denotes standouts):Heavy / Jay Bonansinga*The Girl in the Funeral Parlor / Sam Weller*The Companions / David MorrellThe Exchange / Thomas F. Monteleone*Cat on a Bad Couch / Lee Martin Little America / Dan Chaon*The Phone Call / John McNally*Young Pilgrims / Joe Meno*Children of the Bedtime Machine / Robert McCammon*Conjure / Alice Hoffman*Max / John MaclayFat Man and Little Boy / Gary A. BraunbeckThe Tattoo / Bonnie J. Campbell*Earth (A Gift Shop) / Charles Yu*Hayleigh's Dad / Julia Keller*Who Knocks? / Dave EggersThe overall best quality in the best of these stories is economy - as well as knowing what to leave out (and up to the readers' imaginations). Some of the tales I didn't mention I at least appreciated on some level- while a few others I found wanting and too long for the stories they were telling. I think I'd like to make my way back to some more Bradbury stories, though.

Ray Bradbury is a giant in literature, so tagging his name onto things sets the bar pretty high. This collection lives up to the expectations, although my favorite part isn't the stories themselves: instead I particularly enjoyed how after each story the authors discuss the influence Ray Bradbury has had on them. Touching, funny, and personal, these brief essays are a gem.As for the stories, there are a few duds, but many more amazing successes. Some stand outs for me were: "Heavy," "The Girl in the Funeral Parlor," "Young Pilgrims", "The Tattoo," and "Fat Man and Little Boy." These five of the twenty-six stories really stood out to me as truly celebrating Ray Bradbury, his work and his themes."Heavy" is the story of friendship found unexpectedly."The Girl in the Funeral Parlor" is a story of unrequited love and questions all the little choices of the day-to-day."Young Pilgrims" takes us to another world which is of course, not so different from our own."The Tattoo" explores another carnival, love, and the human heart and need for self-expression."Fat Man and Little Boy" once again touches on friendship, censorship, and government control of ideas.The only really disappointing story was from Dave Eggers, which surprised me as I usually enjoy his work. However, "Who's Knocking?" seems completely cliche, I know I've read almost the exact same story in some collection of ghost tales somewhere before, and if most of my books weren't boxed up in storage while I'm away at college, I'd go find exactly where it was.All in all, this is an excellent collection of short stories and well worth adding to your collection, whether you are a lifelong Bradbury fan or just enjoy short fiction.

‘My family is a family of circus people, a strange and wonderful midnight carnival of performers, lion tamers, magicians, and beautiful freaks. They make this reunion remarkable’. (From Ray Bradbury’s Introduction).Twenty-six writers are gathered in this collection to celebrate Ray Bradbury with a short story. They tell their tale by the fire, their face illuminated, darkness all around them. Stories are Bradbury’s legacy, stories are the best way to pay homage to him. This volume is something you don’t want to miss if you love Ray and his family.My fab 5: The man who forgot Ray Bradbury (Neil Gaiman)The girl in the funeral parlor (Sam Weller)The phone call (John McNally)Children of the bedtime machine (Robert McCammon)The Tattoo (Bonnie Jo Cambell)