Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
Edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle
Morrow, Jul 10 2012, $15.99
ISBN 9780062122681

Paying homage to the late Ray Bradbury, twenty-six authors provide strong short entries honoring the recently deceased superstar whose career spanned decades and many of his works turned into many movies. Mr. Bradbury added a short thank you to his contributing “children” while acknowledging his “true papa” was originally Poe and then Wells and Verne. Neil Gaiman sets the tone with his whimsical “The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury” as the narrator knows all the stories but not the name of the author. With a nod to the short story “The Swan”, he met her too late as she is “The Girl In The Funeral Parlor” (by Sam Weller). “Something Wicked This Way Comes” to BFFs in “Conjure” by Alice Hoffman. The compilation pays homage to Mr. Bradbury; for instance, Dave Eggers’ “Who Kicks” to “A Sound of Thunder”; Bonnie Jo Campbell’s “The Tattoo” to “The Illustrated Man”; and Bayo Ojikutu’s “Reservation to my personal favorite Bradbury “Fahrenheit 451”. This is a fitting tribute to one of the great writers.

Harriet Klausner