Shadow Show: Stories In Celebration of Ray Bradbury
By Joe Hill
An older lady is at her childhood home and remembers how stressed her ma had been due to all the kids in the house and not having quiet. Her pop requests she take her sisters to the lake whilst she sketched, due to her ma being ill and needing to sleep. She meets Joel and his bro, Ben on the shore and he shows her a squashy rock, which turns out to be a huge creature. Gail's sisters run to play with Ben in the forest. Joel carves their names on to the body, waiting on top of the body as Gail plans on returning with her pop, but she seeing Joel disappear with the living creature, the dead 1 dragged back into the lake. Gail's hubby comes into offer they take a ride in their boat 1 last time before the season changed, she agreeing and yearning to hear the odd foghorn noise again, which precluded Joel's vanishing.
A man's worriedly losing words, and when he used to be so stellar with remembering, he thought he was psychic, now he couldn't remember if there is a word for "remembering forward". He recollects how as a student, he'd live with the other boys and only ate the food on his shelf in the fridge, the other boys struggling with integrity. Then his physical property started getting taken, his boots, dictionary, as well as candles, and then a note insulting him from the whole house. His strategy to regain words is to remember similar words, if possible, or hints in similarity of subj.
When the other boys continue stealing his shit, he leaves when they take his radio. He remembers when riding the merry-go-round, which he couldn't remember the word for, and become younger (Something Wicked This Way Comes). He struggles to remember the name of the author who'd wrote about Poe, only hoping god returns the author's name and stories in place of his own. Gaiman recollects how he came up with the concept coming from actually having forgotten a dead buddy's name, but remembered their moments together. He sent this short story to Bradbury on his 91st birthday. Niffenegger got her concept from a cruise ship trip with her buddy, who lost her hubby. Illustrated by Dead Face author, Eddie Campbell.
Helene walks on the upper deck of the ship at night as her pop sleeps, she hoping he wouldn't die, yet. Her 1st time on a cruise made her nervous about forced activities, but is put off for nothing, they currently docked in Seville, and had looked at some old churches, so far. As the ship undocks, Helene thought of the sequence of cities they'd be hitting before home in Chicago. She'd gone on this trip in place of her recently passed ma, her pop not making her feel unwelcome during their stay, fortunately.
Helene notes she is still the youngest on the cruise at age 45, she thinking of her 14 years wasted with an older fella and how she'd have changed herself and her past as the city recedes with the ship backing out of the canal. She reminisces about how her parents lived as Atheists, but didn't inhibit her wish to check out religion, but hadn't continued due to how indifferent her parents were, wondering what her pop believed, now. She wishes she could give her pop her remaining years, since she feels she'd waste them, and when they begin passing under a bridge, she sees she's aged, joyful with the idea of her pop snoozing in their room.
W. L.A., a St. Louis writer, William is about to meet his hero, Ray Bradbury. He isn't disappointed by the old fell ain shorts and business top attire, as Bradbury asks about William's fave of his work, and chatting of using all of his interests to inspire his stories. Bradbury speaks of meeting Disney, and helping with writing the script for Moby Dick. He chats of George Burns and Alfred Hitchcock hiring him because he'd enjoyed Hitchcock's movies.
Bradbury talks William's ear off, and invites him back the next day, he continuing about his time at a carnival as a boy. Bradbury also shows off his basement full of books, toys, and masks. Down some stairs, he intros his buddies, at the ages he'd met them, most listed above. William then understands, hearing they are mechanic.
They have a grand time chatting and when Bradbury hugs him, William hears whirring. Next morning, he returns, Bradbury regarding William's revelation, not knowing where the real Bradbury is. William attempts to reassure the mech Bradbury he is more human than most, and before leaving again for good, hears the motors in his own head. Ellison's short story is inspired by the cover painting called, Nirvana. 3 aliens consider the end of a species, which is difficult to describe due to made-up words to describe what they are. The connection to Bradbury is more personal for Ellison, since he's known Bradbury forever and had a running bet on whether Bradbury, with his heaven is right, or Ellison with his Jew Atheism background is right, obviously neither able to share the answer.
Someone recollects going to Quetico Provincial Park as a kid, but hadn't gone back, since the girl, Frances Brandywine disappeared. Frances had gone to the lake one night, and used a rowboat to lounge and watch the stars. She heard knocking on the bottom, which begins to scare her, and when she tries rowing in, notices she doesn't make progress. When the knocking comes louder, she places an oar in the water for a poke around, and loses it by getting it tugged from her grip.
She sits there, waiting for morning, and when the journal's discovered, sees on the last page of someone else having written, "I knocked first". The progression of Earth and humanity is shared, spanning past fossil fuels destroying the planet, so humans looking for a new planet to live on. A long line goes to the new planet, an Earth museum with relics like a tv, record player, and Van Gogh painting no one could ID. Soon it becomes simplified to a gift shop, and the idea becomes about having had the experience of a human even if only as a consumer.
Marky is told by his ma of his dog Rusty being "gone", the little fella old. After getting a hug from his ma, he goes up to see his gramps, who knew how to explain things to him, he then understanding what'd happened, but in denial, saying he'd gone to Altenmoor, 1 of his gramps storybook places. His gramps agrees he'd touched Rusty to give him the strength to get there, and during the night, Marky wakes and goes to his gramps room. Gramps confesses he is going to Altenmoor when Marky asks, the next morning, when his ma had said his gramps is gone, he not sharing where he'd gone, believing she wouldn't get it.
In Aug, it is breaking records of sweltering heat, rumors going around by kids of an angel falling, and a boy having seen a man walk on air in a black cloak. This is enough to make mothers stop allowing kids out, and no one cuts through the field, except 2 16 yr old bfs called Cate and Abbey, they not scared. They'd go to the library so Abbey could get books to keep her preoccupied at night. Cate dreamt of real-life adventure, in Cali, specifically. Cate then asks what Abbey'd do if she saw an angel, Abbey responding she'd write of it.
They take the field, since this is where the angel'd been seen. Cate guesses right when she IDs the guy they see as a neighbor boy, Bobby's cousin from Cali, sharing of camping because he didn't like roofs. Cate seems like she's flirting, the 2 being offered beer, and Lowell chatting of totally getting Cate, and knowing Cali was in her future. Lowell kisses Cate before they leave, Abbey going out later and seeing Lowell in the field, so she running to Bobby's place.
He shares of the story of Lowell acting like a nutter, and saying he knew their future, so his parents kicked him out. Next day, Cate acts distant, and the day after Abbey shares what Bobby'd said, Cate too far up Lowell's ass to see how creepy he seemed. Abbey goes back to where Lowell is camping, seeing all the items he'd taken, then Lowell walking up, she seeing how he used girls by charming them, she letting him kiss her, which Cate sees and runs off, Abbey knowing this'd happen, and years later when Cate confronts her about how easy it seemed to be for her to betray her, Abbey confides Lowell hadn't been the only 1 who could see the future. Decent collection, knowing Bradbury's stories definitely helps, but isn't required. I certainly enjoyed the novelty of some putting Bradbury in their stories, and I feel these would've been better served if they were all full length stories per issue rather than clumping in the smaller shorts, despite some of them being fine, the bookended stories stood out more.
