_Something Wicked This Way Comes_
by Ray Bradbury
read by Kevin Foley
Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade live in houses side by side, and their windows
are opposite one another. They are nearly the same age; Will was born a minute
before midnight on October 30th while Jim was born two minutes later, a minute
after midnight on October 31st. They are best of friends; and when at three
o'clock in the morning in mid-October the two thirteen-year-old boys hear a
train coming through town and stopping out in the meadows outside it, they slip
out of their homes to go investigate.
But the Cooger and Dark Carnival and Shadow-Show is not your everyday carnival.
And Will, Jim, and Will's father Charles come under attack when they learn
perhaps too much about the evil nature of its proprietors and those who make up
its freak show. For Mr. Dark and Mr. Cooger appear intent on capturing visitors
to their show for their own dark purposes....
Inspired by various events starting when he was a boy, Bradbury had originally
envisioned this as a screenplay for a movie he wanted to write for Gene Kelly.
After financing for the film failed to appear, Bradbury reworked it into a
novel, only to have it eventually be made into a film a decade or two after it
was written. He does a lot of wordplay within the book, but does it so that it
adds to the creepiness of the tale. I've learned he wrote a series of six books
set in Green, Illinois, two of which are available through Audible and two
others are available through other vendors. Check Bookshare and BARD to find
out if they are available there.
I got it on sale from Audible, and enjoyed it. My only complaint is that
Foley's voices for Jim and Will aren't especially distinct from one another,
although that is a minor thing. I have found that Audible has it read by two
different narrators, so if you don't like Foley's reading the other one might be
more to your taste.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very
wise cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
We gave the Goblin King control of our nation!
