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    Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
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    Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
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    Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
    Ebook497 pages6 hours

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

    By Sam Weller and Mort Castle

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    “Ray Bradbury is without a doubt, one of this, or any century’s greatest and most imaginative writers. Shadow Show, a book of truly great stories, is the perfect tribute to America’s master storyteller.”
    —Stan Lee, legendary comic book writer and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics

    “Great new tales of imagination in the Bradbury tradition.”
    —Hugh Hefner, publisher and founder of Playboy Enterprises

    In Shadow Show, 26 acclaimed writers have come together to pay tribute to the work of the one and only Ray Bradbury with never before published stories inspired by the master. The incomparable literary artist who has given us such timeless classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and Dandelion Wine, is being honored by some of the most notable names in the writing world—including Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Audrey Niffenegger, Margaret Atwood, Alice Hoffman, Robert McCammon, and more—with new short fiction that thrills, frightens, moves, and dazzles in the great Bradbury tradition. Edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle, with an introduction by the man, Ray Bradbury himself, Shadow Show pays well-deserved homage to one of America’s greatest, most celebrated authors.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 10, 2012
    ISBN9780062122698
    Author

    Sam Weller

    Sam Weller is the authorized biographer of Ray Bradbury and a two-time Bram Stoker Award finalist. He is the author of The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury (William Morrow, 2005), and Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews (Melville House Publishers/Stop Smiling Books, 2010). Weller has written for the Paris Review, National Public Radio, and is the former Midwest Correspondent for Publishers Weekly. His short fiction has been published in numerous journals and magazines. Mort Castle is a horror author and a writing teacher who has published over 500 short stories. Twice a winner of the Black Quill award, seven times a Bram Stoker Award nominee, Castle edited On Writing Horror, the primary reference work for dark fiction authors. He lives near Chicago with Jane, his wife of 40 years.

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    Reviews for Shadow Show

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Originally reviewed here.

      Anthologies are rather tricky things to review. Usually, what I do (in the two I've reviewed) is have a little awards ceremonies for the stories awarding 'Best of' various wacky categories. For this one, I don't feel like that would really get my point across. I'm also not sure what categories I would choose. A couple I do know, so I'll share those for your edification. Funniest story: Charles Yu (his story seems indebted as much to Douglas Adams as to Bradbury); Most forgettable story: Thomas F. Monteleone (I read his story twice, having gone back unable to recall just that one, and I still have no idea what happened); Best Twist: Julia Keller (she got me).

      The stories in Shadow Show break down into two basic categories: science fiction stories with twists and stories about the endurance of love, life and language. While I liked all of the latter stories, my favorites were the former, as were my least favorites. The latter are more philosophical than anything else and were, for the most part, not as much fun to read, though I did like the thoughts behind them.

      My favorite part of Shadow Show, though, was not the stories. That seems a rather dismissive and insulting thing to say, but I don't intend it to be. Following each story, each author wrote a brief note about their story, about its debt to Bradbury, and about their relationship with Ray (personal or literary). I loved these. Even for my least favorite story (also one of the longest stories unfortunately), I liked reading that bit.

      What I found so incredibly moving was the incredibly love for Ray Bradbury and his work that welled out of these pages. The explanations made this so incredibly clear. The stories were on some level so incredibly personal, many based on personal experiences. Many others had been in the author's mind for ages, inspired by Bradbury not out of a duty to write a short story for this collection but because they WERE really inspired by Bradbury. That was so incredibly powerful.

      While I'm mostly avoiding specific discussion of particular authors, I do have to speak to the most moving piece of writing (one of my personal favorites). Harlan Ellison nearly made me cry, though his account of his friendship with Ray Bradbury is largely light-hearted. His writing style, his wit and the clear friendship between the two is simply beautiful. What made this so incredibly poignant was Ellison's clear knowledge that this would likely be his last published work and that both he and Bradbury would soon die, and, certainly, he was proved correct about Bradbury who passed away in early June. Before reading this, I didn't have any plans to read Ellison, but now I definitely will be.

      Shadow Show bursts with love for both Bradbury and writing. For those who love Bradbury, you definitely need to procure a copy of this to read. For those that don't, you still should consider it.
    • 4/5
      It's been a while since I read a book by Ray Bradbury, which, as this anthology reminded me, is really unfortunate. The stories included here truly capture the essence of Bradbury's unique storytelling - the sense of wonder, the correlation between everyday life and the extraordinary, the transportation of the reader to other worlds. It is, ironically, also a very timely anthology, as its publication date falls only a little over a month after Bradbury's death. As with most (or all?) anthologies, some stories stick out to you and some don't. A lot of the beginning selections did not stick with me, and I often felt like the endings didn't offer much closure. The more I read, though, the more the stories became memorable. I loved "Young Pilgrims" by Joe Meno, which for me felt as much a Nathaniel Hawthorne-inspired tale as it did Ray Bradbury. It had a similar theme taken from New England, Puritanical history. "Conjure" by Alice Hoffman was perhaps my favorite - I loved the unexpected, kick-butt heroine ending. "Earth (A Gift Shop)" by Charles Yu was probably the funniest, while "Who Knocks?" by Dave Eggers wins for both one of the shortest stories and one of the most terrifying. "Two Houses" by Kelly Link also had a fantastic ghost story embedded in it. "Reservation 2020" by Bayo Ojikutu had the most interesting futuristic scenario, and Harlan Ellison's notes about Ray Bradbury provided an excellent and moving conclusion to the collection.
    • 5/5
      Generally when I read an anthology I find myself confused as to why one or more of the pieces were included. Fortunately, that didn't happen with this particular collection. Maybe that's due to the broad path Mr. Bradbury paved in the world of science fiction, but I believe it also has a lot to say about the editors here. Every piece is plainly, respectfully, and beautifully unique, with the one common thread of a deep love and admiration for Bradbury and his words. I've always been a fan of Bradbury's particular take on sci-fi, and to read multiple takes on that same level of admiration made me feel incredibly connected to the book and it's contributors.Not long after I received my copy of Shadow Show, I learned that Mr. Bradbury had passed. I only hope that he was able to hold a copy of this in his hands before he left us. Luckily for us, though, he left a large part of himself in his work and it transfers to every single artist his work touches from now until forever.
    • 5/5
      Shadow Show was an amazing tribute to Ray Bradbury. There was not one story in the bunch that I didn't think was good, although I may have been a little more lenient with my criticism seeing as how these were stories inspired by Ray, for Ray. And, I am so pleased that he got to see them before he passed away.I especially appreciated the author's personal words at the end of each story. How Mr. Bradbury motivated them, inspired them and made them the authors they are today. And to know that Ray was such a giving and encouraging guy to up-and-coming writers made me love him even more. This compilation is worth every minute.
    • 4/5
      Whether or not you've ever read Ray Bradbury (and you should) this book is a delight. A notable collection of authors were asked to contribute original stories that related to Mr. Bradbury and his work. Each author took a different approach and each brought to the mix, in his or her individual way, a special tribute to an exceptional writer. The brief commentaries that follow each story are interesting, touchng, informative. Harlan Ellison's comments, delivered in his inimitable style, are especially affecting. It's hard to say which of the stories I would most recommend; Neil Gaiman's, certainly and Jo Meno's. Joe Hill, Alice Hoffman and Mort Castle all offer stories that are memorable. In short, this is an excellent anthology, dedicated to a man whose influence on 20th Century fantasy and science fiction cannot be overstated.
    • 5/5
      This is a great collection of Bradbury-inspired stories. It's a pretty all-star collection of speculative fiction in its own right, but made more special with the reminiscences about Bradbury that each author uses to explain their inspiration. I really enjoyed it, and would be happy to recommend it even to folk who may know little about Ray Bradbury -- it certainly makes you want to go and read some of his works!
    • 5/5
      There are some really intriguing ideas hidden in these stories. "The Girl in the Funeral Parlor" begs the question: What if you met the love of your life after they had died, and you missed your chance with them? "By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain" is a sweet and sad story of childhood. I loved the innocence of childhood friends Gail and Joel. "Little America" was another favorite, keeping you guessing, trying to sort out just what is going on. However I have to agree with Ray Bradbury's earlier assessment that the story was too short and incomplete. It just left me filled with questions. It opened the door onto a great story without letting me come inside and experience it. It shouldn't have been a short story. It begs to be much bigger.The editors refer in their introduction to a form of storytelling known as "shadow theater", which is as they state: "...an art from which this anthology derives its name. Utilizing paper cutouts held between a light source and a translucent screen, shadow puppetry dates back more than two thousand years...And like the fantastic modern myths of Bradbury himself, shadow theater also portrayed fantastic stories of fable and folklore. It's moving figures became shadowy metaphors for ancient myths and modern truths..."What a perfect way to describe these short stories!Ironically even though Ray Bradbury just passed away June 5, 2012, this collection includes an introduction by him. He was well aware of this tribute collection and refers to himself as the Papa welcoming all of his children home to the reunion.My final word: The title of this collection is very apropos. You do have the feeling when you read these stories that you are watching shadows, blurry figures dancing on a paper screen. How funny that illusion and allusion are so close in terms, because within these pages they are lovers, blending and melding and becoming one. I happily recommend this book to all fans of sci-fi, horror, and everything Ray Bradbury!
    • 5/5
      (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
    • 3/5
      Some good stories and some OK. The bits at the ends of the stories where the writers talk about Bradbury were nice.
    • 5/5
      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
    • 4/5
      An anthology of stories dedicated to and/or inspired by Ray Bradbury, including quite a few by big-name authors like Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, and Harlan Ellison. In some there's an explicit and obvious connection to Bradbury, while for others he's more of a vague influence.Being a fan of Bradbury's, I started this with high hopes, but found the first handful of stories to be quite a letdown, my reaction to them ranging from, "Well, I appreciate what the author is trying to do, but it's not really working for me" to "Geez, this reads like it was written by a high school student." Mostly it was just making me really wish I was reading Bradbury instead. But then, just as I was resigning myself to disappointment, the book took a complete turn and, as if rewarding me for making it that far, presented me with a lovely string of good-to-fantastic stories all in a row. (I will call special attention to Joe Hill's "By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain, in particular. It's inspired by a specific Bradbury story -- "The Foghorn" -- without feeling at all derivative, and the themes, tone, and language strongly evoke Bradbury, while the story remains very much Joe Hill's. It's pretty much the platonic ideal of what a story for a collection like this should be, and it's also just darned good.)The rest of it gets more uneven after that, but I ended the book feeling orders of magnitude better about it all than I did at the start.Rating: I'm going to give this one a (slightly tenuous) 4/5, as the best stories really do very nicely redeem it from the bad ones.
    • 4/5
      I'm not sure how best to review this collection of short stories. I thought about commenting on each story in turn but with more than 2 dozen stories, that surely would have gotten a little unwieldy. Instead I'll just make a few comments about the book, the intent and the content.This wonderful compilation of stories was envisioned and put into work by a pair of huge Bradbury enthusiasts as a tribute to his amazing work. The editors petitioned a number of modern day writers and asked them to each submit a story that is evocative of the way Ray Bradbury has influenced their own lives and works. In an interesting turn of events, Ray Bradbury passed away just shortly before the release of the book. I truly hope that Mr. Bradbury had the opportunity to read these pieces before his death and to be reminded anew just how much he has influenced literature and even the world as a whole.The stories in this anthology range from the eerie and strange to the frightening and creepy to the magic of the mundane. Each of the stories was uniquely different and yet all shared the common theme and tone that tied them back to Bradbury. Each author also included a short commentary after their submitted story in which they commented on the motivations of the story or Bradbury's influence in their life. In reading this collection, I was reminded just how little I've actually read of all of Bradbury's works. He truly was prolific and I look forward to reading some of the works alluded to in these stories. I also plan to seek out works written by some of the authors showcased here. This is a great collection of talent and imagination and was a good fun read.****4 out of 5 stars
    • 4/5
      This book was a collection of stories written in honor of Ray Bradbury by writers who were affected by him. Many of them did such a good job of echoing his style that it felt like getting to read some good old Bradbury again. My main reccomendation is to read the last three sometime in the middle -and then save "Children of the Bedtime Machine" for last. The order doesn't matter because it's all short stories, and I think this would be a more satisfying way to finish the book.
    • 5/5
      This wonderful anthology was published only a month after Ray Bradbury passed away, so the timing is especially poignant. Editors Sam Weller and Mort Castle have put together an amazing collection of stories that manages to feel “Bradbury-esque” without losing the flavor of each particular writer’s style, a remarkable achievement. Each author was asked to write a short story to celebrate the esteemed man, and each one took that instruction to heart in different ways. Some of the stories are directly related to specific Bradbury tales, and are instantly familiar. Others evoke the emotions one feels when reading a Ray Bradbury story, and you will recognize those too.These stories explore common Bradbury themes, such as loss, marriage, death, loneliness, and especially the future. Bradbury himself wrote many stories that posed the question “What will the future be like?” As many of these were written in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, the idea of space travel was new and exciting and gave writers the freedom to imagine whatever they wanted to. Several stories in this collection pay tribute to Bradbury’s love of science fiction and what a future Earth might be like. Kelly Link’s Two Houses is a great example, a very strange tale about twelve women traveling through space on a ship called The House of Secrets, complete with a talking computer named Maureen that can alter the ship’s décor at will. Probably my favorite story of the bunch is Young Pilgrims by Joe Meno, where two children living on an unnamed planet, a desolate place with un-breathable air run by strict and menacing adults, discover an underground Eden filled with remarkable plants and animals and oxygenated air. In the afterwards, Meno mentions that he was influenced by Bradbury’s famous story The Veldt, which was immediately recognizable to me. Robert McCammon’s Children of the Bedtime Machine is a hopeful story set in another desolate future, and describes a lonely woman who finds a machine that when cranked, shows a hologram of a child. The woman begins to read stories to him every night, and of course she reads to him from one of Bradbury's books.Many of the stories derive their inspiration from specific Bradbury tales. Joe Hill’s By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain is a companion piece to The Fog Horn, and has an eerie, otherworldly quality to its sad story about a dead sea monster. The Companions, by David Morrell, imagines Bradbury’s The Crowd in reverse, and is a spine-tingling tale of guardian angels. Cat on a Bad Couch by Lee Martin gets its inspiration from I See You Never, although Martin explains in his afterward notes that it was the way Bradbury crafted his story that gave him inspiration. The Tattoo by Bonnie Jo Campbell is, as you might expect, an homage Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man, and is an odd and magical story about a man who gets an enchanted tattoo at a carnival, a tattoo whose pictures change and form stories, stories that don’t always have happy endings. Audrey Niffenegger gives us her take on The Playground in Backwards in Seville, a short but powerful tale of a grown woman who wants to give her aging father her extra years, and manages to find a way to do so. One of the funnier stories is by Charles Yu as he re-imagines There Will Come Soft Rains, in Earth (A Gift Shop), where a future Earth is devoid of people, except as a tourist attraction.Some of the writers had personal relationships with Ray Bradbury himself, either through years of friendship or correspondence, and in their afterwards notes they explain these relationships, which I thought was fascinating. Another of my favorites is Dan Chaon’s Little America, which starts out with a sinister premise (a man has kidnapped and tied up a small boy), but does not turn out the way the reader expects it to. Jacquelyn Mitchard, an author I would not expect to find in an anthology like this, used her years of writing back and forth with Ray to start her own writing career, and here gives us a horror story with familiar Bradbury overtones. The collection concludes with a short and chilling look at the end of life itself, Weariness by powerhouse Harlan Ellison, a man who had a life-long friendship with Ray.Even the editors get in on the fun and contribute stories. Sam Weller’s The Girl in the Funeral Parlor is a poignant look at a man who meets his true love after she’s died, and Mort Castle’s Light is an unexpected series of snapshots of the life and death of Marilyn Monroe, told in a sparse but potent voice. In both cases Bradbury’s influence is clear.I wish I had the space to specifically mention each story in Shadow Show, but I will say that I was moved in one way or another by all of them. The collection as a whole is filled with everything you would expect from Bradbury’s own stories: wonder, sadness, the joys of childhood, and enough imagination to fill ten rocket ships. It made me want to dust off my old Bradbury paperbacks and reread the stories that I remember from my earliest days of reading fantasy and science fiction. I’ll have to admit it’s been a while since I’ve read a Bradbury story, and if it’s been a while for you too, and you’re looking for a nostalgic reading experience, you’ll want to dive into Shadow Show as soon as possible.Many thanks to Library Thing for supplying a review copy.
    • 2/5
      The minute Ray Bradbury's name is bandied about, expectations run high. To invoke his name in relation to any book – as the author, as the editor, as the inspiration – instantly heaps what can only be considered unwarranted pressure on the contents of that book.So this collection, sub-titled "All-new stories in celebration of Ray Bradbury", comes with an almost untenable weight of responsibility. Then throw in the storied collection of individuals who have contributed, such as (and I will only point out a few names, because all come with accolades, experience, and talent) Dave Eggers, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Kelly Link, etc.Just to get a feel for the talents and honors this group brought to the table, I tried to tally up the awards as described in the bios. Here is just a taste – five New York Times bestsellers, two Pushcart Award winners, two Nebula Award winners, five Bram Stoker Award winners, a Newberry Award Medalist, a Carnegie Award, one Oprah Winfrey Book Club selection, one Pulitzer Prize winner, one O. Henry Award winner, an Edgar Award Winner, and even more awards, nominations, and prizes than I have the time to include. By the way, the biographies did not contain all information about prize winning (for example, there is no mention of Kelly Link's Nebula Awards), so this list is incomplete for a number of reasons. All of that – Bradbury's name, the honors, the lofty goal of celebrating a famous man – makes the success of any such book an almost insurmountable task.Bad news – even if you lowered your expectations when realizing how high those expectations may have gone, the collection still does not succeed. It is, when the quality and impact of the entire collection is taken together, a book that brings together a relatively mundane group of stories. I approached this collection recognizing that it would be impossible to live up to that hype. But I still expected to see quality writing, some of which might carry the imprint of Bradbury.What I got was a mixed bag of stories that tried to evoke the wonder of a Bradbury story but did little more than achieve pale imitation, of stories that were "homages" to the man or his stories without any of the magic, snippets and vignettes that did nothing and went nowhere, and an overriding feeling that the task asked of these authors was beyond what most could achieve – a task that was daunting and intimidating and resulted in work that was far from their best.It all started out quite badly. A soliloquy of a man who is forgetting what he has read (a nod to Fahrenheit 451), a story with a twist where people we don't care about get their comeuppance, a story of love mistimed (that begins to come close to the Bradbury feel, but doesn't seem to get anywhere), and so on. As I said, vignettes, attempts that do not achieve the magic, and pale imitations.It is not until Joe Hill's "By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain" (page 114) that there is some satisfaction for the reader. Hill gets it right; there is the "feel" of a Bradbury story and the telling a darn good tale. There is the hint of nostalgia, there is a fantasy element, there is a painful loss, and there is a real good story about children who find a dead dinosaur. (Just that last line shows how Bradburyesque the story is.)There are other successful stories. Dan Chaon's "Little America" about a world where most children have turned into something horrible and feral. Some of the children can be saved, and one man is trying to bring one such child to a location where help can be obtained. The horrors from the past are masterfully (and slowly) revealed and character is built for the two primary characters in the story. Robert McCammon's "Children of the Bedtime Machine" is another story that evokes the best of Bradbury. A woman lives alone in a world where barter has become the basis for all trade. She obtains an old machine that she hopes will help her sleep. Through that machine, she begins to make contact with others and with herself. Gary Braunbeck's "Fat man and Little Boy" about the last days of a gentleman who refuses to accept the mandates of regulatory restrictions on his personal freedoms. Kelly Link's "Two Houses" about ghost stories told aboard a spaceship – and the meaning those stories have about actual occurrence. (And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I should note that I'd buy any book for the chance to read something new by Ms. Link.)There are other stories that are perfectly fine – not great, but fine.But, overall, there is just too much disappointment here – wasted talent and wasted time (for the writers and the readers.)Ultimately, what I wanted was a visit with the memories of Ray Bradbury. What I expected was a collection that would be fun to read. What I got was a few good stories with a mish-mosh of mediocrity.
    • 5/5
      I suppose I should start off by saying that this is a really great collection. Usually when I read an anthology, there's at least one story where I wonder what the editors where thinking when they included it. Not this time, though. I enjoyed all the stories in this anthology.Ray Bradbury was a genius. He was one of the best writers of the 20th century. I think that this book isn't great just because it's a collection of great stories inspired by Bradbury. It's also great because it shows how much Bradbury influenced the great writers who came after him, (and Harlan Ellison® who was a contemporary). It's also great to see that while Bradbury is most often thought of a science fiction writer, this book also includes stories by fantasy, horror, and more mainstream writers.This book is a fitting to one of our best writers. Anyone who is a fan of Ray Bradbury should give it a try. Anyone who isn't a fan of Ray Bradbury, should pick up some of his books and become a fan.
    • 5/5
      Definitely an anthology to savor. Awesome, despite what Harlan Ellison might have to say about my use of that word.