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Christian Dittus
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THE SHADOW GLASS

Josh Winning

Jack Corman is failing at life.

Jobless, jaded and on the "wrong" side of thirty, he's facing the threat of eviction from his London flat while reeling from the sudden death of his father, one-time film director Bob Corman. Back in the eighties, Bob poured his heart and soul into the creation of his 1986 puppet fantasy The Shadow Glass, a film Jack loved as a child, idolising its fox-like hero Dune.
But The Shadow Glass flopped on release, deemed too scary for kids and too weird for adults, and Bob became a laughing stock, losing himself to booze and self-pity. Now, the film represents everything Jack hated about his father, and he lives with the fear that he'll end up a failure just like him.
In the wake of Bob's death, Jack returns to his decaying home, a place creaking with movie memorabilia and painful memories. Then, during a freak thunderstorm, the puppets in the attic start talking. Tipped into a desperate real-world quest to save London from the more nefarious of his father's creations, Jack teams up with excitable fanboy Toby and spiky studio executive Amelia to navigate the labyrinth of his father's legacy while conjuring the hero within - and igniting a Shadow Glass resurgence that could, finally, do his father proud.

Josh Winning is a senior film writer at Radio Times. He is contributing editor at Total Film magazine, writer at SFX and Den of Geek, and the co-host of movie podcast Torn Stubs. He has been on set with Kermit the Frog (and Miss Piggy), devoured breakfast with zombies on The Walking Dead, and sat on the Iron Throne on the Dublin set of Game of Thrones.
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Book

Published 2022-03-01 by Titan Books

Comments

"There's a stirring sense of adventure, excitement, and terror running throughout ... this is a treat for fans of the movies that inspired it."

“A pitch-perfect ode to the '80s fantasy films I loved so much as a kid. Josh Winning has crafted a novel that not only celebrates nostalgia but also warns against its potential dangers, while deftly wrapping it all around an emotional story of a troubled young man coming to terms with the memory of his late father. It's a magic trick worthy of the Mystics of The Dark Crystal!” – Evan Daugherty, Hollywood screenwriter of Divergent and Snow White & The Huntsman “A thrilling and deeply emotional coming-of-age-in-your-30s quest that weaves a heartfelt tale about grief, denial, and the complicated relationship between parents and children. Suspenseful, funny, imaginative, and often as creepy as a Skeksis banquet, The Shadow Glass is a must-read for any fan of Jim Henson who ever dreamed what it would be like if the Creature Shop came to life.” – Robert Berg, HensonBlog.com “Henson Heads, rejoice! Of the myriad of pleasures Josh Winning conjures within this stunning novel, perhaps my personal darling is the rendering of a complete cinematic fantasia that could easily stand alongside such practical FX classics as The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and The NeverEnding Story. I was instantly transported back to the video store of my youth, sent down the fantasy aisle once again, where these pre-CGI pleasures of puppetry reside... and magic still exists.” – Clay McLeod Chapman, author of The Remaking and Whisper Down the Lane “Packed with heart and featuring a plot as fiendish as any Goblin King's labyrinth, The Shadow Glass is a masterpiece!” – William Hussey, award-winning author of Hideous Beauty and The Outrage “A blast of big-hearted fantasy fun, The Shadow Glass will have 1980s nostalgists digging back through their VHS collections with glee.” – Matt Glasby, author of The Book of Horror