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 In the intro to 'Shadow Show,' Ray Bradbury tells of meeting his "true papa" when he was eight years old. It was in the pages of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination that he was changed forever, bonding with the author in that weird way when ink can be thicker than blood. Bradbury's instant connection to Poe isn't far off from the countless writers and readers that have been sucked into Farenheit 451, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Martian Chronicles, or any of the other countless tales that Bradbury told -- or have been ripped off elsewhere -- that have been burned into the American collective unconscious.Bradbury may not be the "true papa" of the 26 contributing authors who celebrate him in 'Shadow Show' -- including Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Audrey Niffenegger, Margaret Atwood and Harlan Ellison -- but each writer involved can easily be mapped from somewhere off the Bradbury family tree, even it's sharing a single craggly twig of a twisted Halloween Tree. It's no wonder Bradbury calls the collection a second homecoming and also a family reunion. But since Bradbury wasn't alive at the time of the printing of this novel, for the reader, there's a darker shadow cast on this literary family reunion. The aptly titled anthology isn't a sunny family reunion, but instead a bittersweet October wake, as each author tells a tale inspired by the late Bradbury. Gaiman's story meets the author's legacy head-on, in a sweet, tragic tale where Bradbury's myths are forever burned into our collective brains, even when we can't remember him. 'Shadow Show' also features rocket ships, tattoos, the end of the childhood, smalltown USA, secretive basements, horrible futures and nostalgic pasts, and the twists and turns on ideas and themes that electrified Bradbury's gigantic imagination.With 26 stories, it's not surprising or even dissapointing that that many of the stories are forgettable. But there's still enough big names contributing and interesting ideas at play, that it's still a worthwhile celebration of the legend. I liked: - Charles Yu's super-clever, quick, funny, 'Earth (A Gift Shop),' a sad memormiam of humanity- Kelly Link's 'Two Houses,' with astronauts telling ghost stories in space (my favorite story)- 'The Tattoo' Bonnie Jo Campbell doing the origin of 'The Illustrated Man'- 'Children of the Bedtime Machine': bleak, apocalyptic, surprisingly emotional metaphor for Bradbury's stories- 'Fat Man and Little Boy'; a super obese man trapped in his house, confined to his bed, and his only friend, a pizza-delivering youth.- "Little America" Dan Chaon; an apocalyptic road-trip where the highways and every small town is terrorized and overrun with packs of wolf-children. Each story is followed by the author saying a few words about Bradbury's influence, and Chaon's own correspondence with Bradbury as a youth was amazing, showing Bradbury as an author willing to directly influence and help younger writers, not just with his stories.And it's only fitting that 'Shadow Show' ends with Harlan Ellison (copyrightTM)with a little ditty about the cosmic heat-death of the world, before recollecting a personal anecdote between him and Bradbury in a Los Angeles diner in 1965, and seeing Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton from afar, leading Bradbury to lay it all out; he and Ellison were brothers, and Bracket and Hamilton were their mother and father. It goes back to Bradbury's family reunion conceit and that connection we can have through stories, told by strangers we'll never meet that connect us like nothing else.
Do You like book Gölge Oyunu (2013)?
4.5/5 - Stellar writing Some were not to my taste but I enjoyed most of these short stories.
—c-jae
Eh, this was ok. The stories are pretty uneven. Only for hardcore Bradbury fans.
—finneltbaxter
Great collection of contemporary Bradbury-esque shorts.
—YourSweetestTemptation
