Reading Update: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Suitably for Halloween week I've recently finished ( re- ) reading Ray Bradbury's spooky classic of small-town American Gothic, Something Wicked This Way Comes. That's my battered copy of the book above, which is about as old as me :-)

I've posted a short review on the SFX Book Club forum:

( I was going for a Bradbury-esque vibe, but I think it just came out pretentious..... )

Re: SFX BOOK CLUB 57: Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Beneath the tattooed skin of this book, with its nightmare circus and gruesome sideshow freaks, the meat of the story deals with the joy and pain of growing up and growing old. Bradbury's prose is a hymn to late summer days, blood brothers, skinned knees and the approach of Halloween. Two teenage boys and an old-before-his-time father have to face their fears and desires as Cooger and Dark's carnival pulls into town in the dead of night, promising renewed youth for some, a fast-track to adulthood for others. And from the sideshows and tents, out come the freaks: the Dwarf, the Illustrated Man, the Skeleton and the terrifying Dust Witch. Bradbury's characters are put to the test by this bizarre crew of misfits, and their souls are the prize. With its decaying, autumnal feel Something Wicked... is a unique fantasy of life, death and all the moments inbetween.