Josh Winning

3.75 stars

Jack Corman is everywhere and nowhere all at once. He’s in debt, can’t hold down a steady job, and his familial relationships are unstable. He’s also the son of a well-known film director with a mixed reputation. Deeply affected by his past experiences with his father, Jack reluctantly returns to his childhood home to settle business matters after his father’s death. Once there, pushing negative memories aside, Jack sets his “make a quick buck” plan in motion only to be thrown off by a catastrophic thunderstorm that reveals the familiar and the unknown living in his childhood home. The puppets from his father’s film are alive and in need of his help. From there, a life-changing journey ensues.

Josh Winning’s The Shadow Glass wasn’t on my radar until a bookish friend of mine, Ven of Ven’s_Corner posted a review about it. He mentioned how the book had an 80s nostalgic feel to it because of the characters and storyline. ‘80s nostalgia’ seems to be a buzz phrase for me, so I took a chance and borrowed The Shadow Glass from my local library.

The book delivered on the 80s nostalgia and put me in the mood to rewatch some of my childhood favorites by the late Director, Jim Henson. I was immediately transported to the feelings I felt when watching Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. The emotions that come with humans fighting alongside puppet-like creatures are not only nostalgic but heart-warming and inspiring. In The Shadow Glass, the fantastical seamlessly converges with reality. Initially, the characters are less than fond of each other, but through their collective efforts to complete the hero’s journey, they gradually create a bond and work toward their internal journeys. The construction of the story reminded me of a Matryoshka doll.

The main journey is finding the Shadow Glass. An otherwise easy quest that is not without its obstacles. Jack and his crew are racing against time and opposing characters. A notoriously vile villain and her minions are on the hunt for the coveted Shadow Glass too. Along the course of this journey, Jack is forced to conjure deeply archived memories of his father and the film. Specifically, the memories of people, places, and events that are connected to finding the Shadow Glass.

Through these recollections, we learn about Jack and his father, and why they grew estranged. This estrangement is better understood as Jack’s search for the Shadow Glass grows into a life-and-death situation. Furthermore, they act as a vehicle; helping Jack realize his purpose in life and understand facets of his father that were difficult to understand or put into perspective prior to his father’s death. It goes without saying, the quest to find the Shadow Glass propulses the plot and carries the story.

The internal journeys of each character are carefully woven throughout the story but did not add to the development of the story in the way that I would expect. In other words, character development was lacking. Imagine my surprise at the realization of this when I’ve made 70 to 80 percent progress through the book. It was disappointing, to say the least. I had expected to feel something or shed a tear when a character experiences distress, panic, suffering, or death. Although the characters are endearing and feel familiar, my time with them felt incomplete. Unfortunately, my emotional attachment to them affected my enjoyment.

If someone were to ask me what I most enjoyed about The Shadow Glass, I’d say the 80s nostalgia. I stayed and completed the book for the vibes. The story is different but familiar, the pacing is medium, and the balance between the story being character or plot-driven leans more towards the plot. It’s an overall good read and I look forward to reading other books by Josh Winning. Give it a try. It’s guaranteed to give you the hankering to watch something with puppeteered characters à la Jim Henson films. Don’t be surprised if you want a lub after reading this book.… (más)

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
There are a lot of battles and fights which involve blood and gore including dismemberment. One character loses a digit in a fight, there are serious poisonings and mass mind control. There is reference to a child dying of a terminal illness off the page. Recurrent themes of alcoholism and grief throughout. On page deaths do occur.

The Shadow Glass is more than just a book about the eighties or pop culture; it’s a complete experience. This is pop culture metafiction in all its glory and Winning hasn’t just written a book about a film, he’s created an entire franchise and community and then written about it. The amount of effort that has gone into The Shadow Glass makes it well worth reading just for that experience alone. In between chapters Winning has neatly slotted what I’m going to refer to as bonus material, like you would find on a DVD, incidentally, I believe bonus material from a DVD is one of the things included. There are extracts from the script of the film “The Shadow Glass”, interviews with the creator Bob Corman and other crew members, as well as additional content such as an encyclopedia. There’s even transcripts of comic con appearances. Each one is short, no more than one to two pages each time and not information dumps in any way. They’re quite the opposite in fact, offering a fun way to give context and provide the reader with information rather than having a character sit and explain everything.

These are just one of the ways that Winning’s vast experience in the entertainment industry shines through in the novel. There is so much insider information snuck in through the plot and descriptions, as well as the character creation. It’s clear that it isn’t just Winning’s professional life that has had an effect on his writing; this is the work of someone who loves pop culture and more importantly, the community of being a fan. At least the positive side of it anyway. He doesn’t shy away from the nasty side of fandom, such as the fans who believe that their view of a fandom is the only way. I don’t know if a certain part was a nod to a lawsuit happy lawyer during the nineties and noughties, but I’m an old enough Internet user to remember the days when fans didn’t talk openly with authors or cast members and lived in fear of getting cease and desist letters for fanfic. It was much appreciated that Winning included both these situations in The Shadow Glass and I like how he worked one of them into his world building.

Moving onto the world building and the plot of The Shadow Glass itself, I’m going to straight up say that it has a very tropey redemptive hero storyline and that’s absolutely fine. It works because that is part of the whole eighties vibe. While it is tropey, Winning’s writing and character development is anything but, and the story is fantastic with all the elements of an eighties fantasy adventure quest that you could want. It’s also filled with all the complexities of real life, and what it’s like to have a difficult father that many people adore and put on a pedestal. They didn’t have to live with him though, did they? Jack has enough to deal with already when he returns to his childhood home and then the puppets COME ALIVE.

It is as off the wall as it sounds and Winning does a fantastic job of injecting reality and humour at every turn. There is a huge twist at one point which has to be one of the funniest plot twists I’ve ever witnessed, and I’m going to be laughing over that for a long time. There’s also a level of terror which you don’t realise until you’re reading the story, because it’s not just the good and the cute puppets that have come alive… and when you think about it, there are some pretty awful and disgusting creatures in puppet movies. The Shadow Glass has a whole level of horror that kind of came out of nowhere for me.

The full cast of characters is great and nerds will love the full nerd squad, a group of friends who love The Shadow Glass film and end up becoming involved in the quest along the way. Winning has successfully encapsulated a group of friends who are bonded over their love for a fandom, and I’m going to bet that this comes from experience again. I recognised a lot of familiar personalities amongst the nerd squad, and it gave me a nice fuzzy feeling as I recognised my people.

In many ways The Shadow Glass is a love letter to geeks, to pop culture and the communities it creates. There’s a moment at the small convention that Jack recognises the impact his father has had on people’s lives, and he reflects that his dad had helped people find an escape, a safe place. What particularly caught my attention was Jack’s next insight; “This wasn’t about using nostalgia as a shield, it was about celebrating the things that defined them, the characters that spoke to their heart’s truth, the things that made them different and unique and powerful in their own special way. It united them”.

And if that doesn’t sum up what the geek/fandom/pop culture community is all about, I don’t know what does.

The one thing that I didn’t like about The Shadow Glass was that it leaves you wanting more. It isn’t just a great book, it’s a whole experience, and it gives you a glimpse at a film that doesn’t exist but leaves you wishing it did. You’ll fall in love with the fierce some kettu, and the adorable lub. You’ll want to know the full story of Dune and Dorr.

This is a fantastic book which you need to check out.

For more of my reviews please visit my blog!… (más)