"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." The carnival rolls in sometime after the midnight hour of a chill Midwestern October eve. Ushering in Halloween a week before its time, a calliope's shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Young boyhood companions James Nightshade and Will Halloway are the first to heed its call. From a place of safety, they watch a midway come to spectral life, their emotions a riot of eagerness, trepidation, bravado, and ...
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"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." The carnival rolls in sometime after the midnight hour of a chill Midwestern October eve. Ushering in Halloween a week before its time, a calliope's shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. Young boyhood companions James Nightshade and Will Halloway are the first to heed its call. From a place of safety, they watch a midway come to spectral life, their emotions a riot of eagerness, trepidation, bravado, and uncertainty. For they can sense the change that's in the air; that this is the autumn in which innocence must vanish in the harsh, acrid smoke of disillusionment...and horror. Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two inquisitive boys standing precariously on the brink of adulthood will soon discover the secret of the satanic raree-show's mazes and mirrors, as they learn all too well the heavy cost of wishes and the stuff of nightmares. All those who still dream and remember--and those who have heard the whispering but have yet to experience its dark, poetic power--you are welcome. A shadow show like none other is about to begin...again.
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captivating writing style. Ray Bradbury is a sci-fi icon for a reason and this book proves it. It is a classic. Just read it. You'll see.
EEEngineer
Aug 20, 2007
Cooger & Darks Pandemonium Shadow Show
In a small town Bradbury uses two thirteen-year-old boys along with their curiosity about all things, to set the scene in the month of October. One is ready for risk and the other is cautious. Both are open to new experiences. There is a smell in the air that only the month of October can bring. The harvest is about to start. The cycle of life is dimming and the dread of winter is around the corner.
A carnival show slowly and quietly comes to this sleepy town. It is the seductive nature of this carnival that lures old men, middle age ladies, and young boys. These individuals are stripped of their façade. Their fears, desires, losses and regrets are exposed. It is the pain of these people that unknowingly feeds this show. It is the secret discovered by the boys that reveals the strength of the bond between them.
The author slowly reveals the many facets of the characters in this small town and those in the carnival. It is the town people?s thoughts about themselves that are about to be questions. It is the performers of the show that brings these pains, fears and regrets to the surface. It is the good in an elderly father that triumphs over evil even as his frailties and regrets are painfully revealed.
The lives of the people will be changed forever. Whether it is for the better or worse, their beliefs about themselves and the concepts of life will never be the same when the carnival disappears in the October dust as quietly as it came.
The author uses the eternal struggle of good vs. evil. The twist is in the good and evil that each character possess and their struggles with it on a day to day basis are brought to fore front of their conscious in such a painful way that each may not have the ability to face the demons that each have. The author subconsciously asks you, what are your frailties, regrets, losses and fears and how will you deal with them as you live your life? Upon reflection will you be able to identify with a character or characters?
