Viv's Halloween Blog - 11 days until Halloween!

[vivien]

One of my favorite books to read around Halloween is Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. I haven't read it in a few years; I seem to have misplaced my copy. This needs to be remedied, because this is a classic horror tale about a small town, the evil carnival that sets up shop around Halloween, and the two young boys who save the day. It was originally published in 1962, and it is no surprise at all that Stephen King has mentioned it as an influence.

Here is the first paragraph of the book:
The seller of lightning rods arrived just ahead of the storm. He came along the street of Green Town, Illinois, in the late cloudy October day, sneaking glances over his shoulder. Somewhere not so far back, vast lightnings stomped the earth. Somewhere, a storm like a great beast with terrible teeth could not be denied.

You can find the rest of chapter 1 at Ray Bradbury's book site. It's a short, shivery read, and I am getting me a new copy posthaste.

Comments

[darthrami.livejournal.com]

Oh, that IS one of my favorites. *g*


(Both the book itself, and the fact that it contains my favorite chapter in a book ever.)

[saphyria.livejournal.com]

The first paragraph sounds likes something out of the last few chapters of Yrael's canon. >_>

[dryadgurrl.livejournal.com]

My Bradbury Halloween tradition is Halloween Tree, a chapter a night starting on Oct 13th and ending on the 31st. I read it all last year, and this year my roommate and I are alternating chapters. It's awesome.

[the_croupier]

Among the many things I'll have to answer for someday is the time I had Malcolm run afoul of Mr. Dark. ;-)

[skygiants]

That is an awesome book, and you remind me that I need to read more Bradbury.

[batyatoon]

My eye fell on the italicized bit of your post before I saw the introduction, and I recognized the opening lines of Something Wicked This Way Comes instantly.

I love that book so much. It's the first thing I ever read that kept me awake late at night after I was done reading it.

Have you ever read Bradbury's The Halloween Tree? It's also nice for this time of year.