L'estate è ormai un ricordo, l'autunno alle porte.
Una richiesta d'aiuto per avere risposte.
Una fabbrica di sogni arriva dal buio, sordida venditrice di incubi.
Gli occhi della gioventù mostrano la tristezza del tempo che fugge.
Due ragazzi, un luna park misterioso e il popolo dell'autunno.

Atmosfere alla King, tra weird, fantasy e horror ma senza prolissità.
Attraverso gli occhi dei due giovani protagonisti, Will e Jim, immersi nelle loro fantasie fanciullesche, assistiamo a eventi fuori dal comune che ben presto trasformeranno i sogni in incubi da cui fuggire.
Difficilmente rimango impressionato da un romanzo dalle tinte horror ma se fossi uno scrittore avrei voluto scrivere questo.

-------------------------------------------------------
Summer is now a memory, autumn is upon us.
A cry for help to get answers.
A factory of dreams comes from the dark, sordid seller of nightmares.
The eyes of youth show the sadness of time running away.
Two boys, a mysterious amusement park and the people of autumn.

King-like atmospheres, between weird, fantasy and horror but without verbosity.
Through the eyes of the two young protagonists, Will and Jim, immersed in their childish fantasies, we witness out of the ordinary events that will soon transform dreams into nightmares from which to escape.
I'm hardly impressed by a horror novel but if I were a writer I would have wanted to write this.

One of my favorite "semi-horror" reads. I suppose it could be called "horror" but it doesn't fit neatly into the mold. Like a lot of Bradbury's work the smell of late summer and early fall permeates this volume. The point of view is that of a boy on the brink of manhood as he gets to know more about certain concepts of "good and evil" than he ever really wanted to. I grew up on a farm within walking distance of a small (very small) town and this work hits home with me.

There are books that can become or are iconic. While I don't think this one has reached that point with the general reading public I think it might deserve to. It holds a special place in my library and my "reading history". It reached right down and touched something, possibly because I could feel the nostalgia ruffling through the volume and wafting out of the book with each turn of a page. October with it's mixture of melancholy and fun for children, riding on the edge of a dying summer and setting on the cusp of a holiday season leading us into Thanksgiving and then Christmas...the apex of an American kid's yearly dreams. At least it was for my generation, the one before and the one just after.

Is it that way still? Not as much I fear. Will children of the 90s or 2000s or 2010s (2020s and forward) have the same capacity for wonder and fantasy as the children of the 40s, 50s, and 60s or even the 70s and 80s? I guess we'll see.

The traveling carnivals that traveled from town to town and showed up at county fairs of my own youth that set the background for this tale with their mysterious denizens, noisy rides, lights that filled the night while leaving pockets of darkness are almost gone. The barkers and their "side shows", the fixed games of "chance" are passing, a thing of a bygone era. Some of that is probably good...but not all. As you join Jim and Will here and delve into the dark and sinister world of Mr. Cooger, Mr. Dark and the Autumn people I suspect you'll see some corollaries to life, but I can't be sure of that. A lot will depend on your own past...and your own capacity for wonder.

Catching Up…

A perfect month to talk about this classic.

And…How wonderful that it should also have been a donation to my Little Free Library Shed.

So…Time to write.

I am not one for haunted stories.

And…Ray Bradbury always had a way of making me think. Especially reading this as a teenager. I also remember reading The Illustrated Man in high school and then a few years later, Fahrenheit 451. Review here for Fahrenheit 451: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

But…There was something about this story that was a bit dark.

Well…Of course. A carnival rolls into a small Midwestern town on the heels of a thunderstorm, led by a man named…

Mr. Dark.

And…He bears gifts and promises.

Restored youth. Second chances. Fulfilled dreams.

For a price, of course.

Your souls.

After all, he is…Mr. Dark.

By this point, I am shaking in my blankets. Because I am usually reading in bed. I am not comfortable, at all.

Because…Bradbury’s carnival is everything to be feared. Age. Death. Failure. Right?

It’s like a virus that has just come to town.

And…We’ve lost control.

And…No cure.

Still…Reading this in my teens, I realized that the true horror wasn’t the carnival or its soul-swallowing ringmaster, Mr. Dark. It was realizing that our parents weren’t going to be the heroes we needed them to be.

And…That truly scared me.

Bradbury did a great job of creating adults that were weak with temptation. They were really real, and that truly was a horror in itself.

So…The power of Bradbury’s writing?

Plan to be terrified. Frightened. Haunted.

And…Don’t read this in the dark.

“Beware the autumn people.”

A travelling carnival arrives in a small midwestern town one day in October, resulting in a nightmarish experience for two 13 year old boys.

Do you like coming of age tales? Do you like beautifully written prose? Do you like your stories to invoke stunning autumnal imagery whilst whisking you away to the carnival? Well then, step right up, because Something Wicked This Way Comes...

Ray Bradbury has been a new favourite for me this year. I read The Halloween Tree last year and although I liked it, I wasn’t completely enamoured. Then I read The October Country last month and it blew me away...I decided I needed more Bradbury STAT so picked up this one, and all of a sudden I’ve got a Bradbury Pinterest board and I’m sitting fawning over Bradbury quotes (this is a clear marker for when I’m obsessed with something!)

This book has it all! A carousel that depending on which direction it spins can either age the rider or turn the years back. A terrifying Dust Witch that has her eyes sewn shut yet can feel emotions with her hands. And she rides in a hot air balloon! Then there’s Mr Dark, the big bad villain who is also known as The Illustrated Man (linked to Bradbury’s collection of the same name, I wonder?)

The two young protagonists, Jim Nightshade (that name *swoons*) and Will Halloway are just perfectly drawn, the two of them running around and getting up to mischief, as young kids are ought to do. Then we have Charles Halloway (Will’s father) who I could listen to forever. His monologues about life and aging are an absolute pleasure to read. Plus he spends an awful amount of time in the library surrounded by books, and I know most of us can get behind that setting!! There's a little excerpt where Mr. Halloway talks about the "autumn people" and it simply took my breath away - it was basically Bradbury's way of beautifully describing those who are evil (see below):

"Beware the autumn people… For some, autumn comes early, stays late through life…For these beings, fall is the ever normal season, the only weather, there be no choice beyond. Where do they come from? The dust. Where do they go? The grave. Does blood stir in their veins? No: the night wind. What ticks in their head? The worm. What speaks from their mouth? The toad. What sees from their eyes? The snake. What hears with their ear? The abyss between the stars. They sift the human storm for souls, eat flesh of reason, fill tombs with sinners. They frenzy forth. In gusts they beetle-scurry, creep, thread, filter, motion, make all moons sullen, and surely cloud all clear-run waters. The spider-web hears them, trembles- breaks. Such are the autumn people. Beware of them."

Bradbury tackles a number of different themes in this piece of literary magic: growing old, father and son relationships, but most important of all - how laughter and love and being good can help drive out any darkness you may come across.

Not everyone will enjoy Bradbury's poetic prose in this one, and I can fully understand that. But it really worked for me as I was carried away in an autumnal breeze off to the carnival *sighs* This has been one of my top books of the year. Bradbury, you have stolen my heart. 5 stars.

Reread October 2021. Just as magical as I remembered.

n  By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.n
MacBeth Act 4, Scene 1

This book is straight-forward good vs. evil – and is quite terrifying at points! It goes beyond fantasy and mysticism and straight to the terrifying possibilities from the darkest reaches. This would be a great story to read if you are looking for a campfire tale, a Halloween scare, or a late night, nightmare causing fright fest. Some may find the scariness lost within the poetry of Bradbury’s writing, but for those who are comfortable with it, I guarantee you will be holding your breath at points throughout.

On a side note – I remember as a kid being terrified of this movie, but I don’t think I ever actually watched it! It was the idea that it existed and that it was dark and mysterious that had me quickly changing the channel if it was on. The character of Mr. Dark (played by Jonathan Pryce) would grace the screen and I would instantly almost pee my pants! The thing is, it was produced by Walt Disney so it was probably the scariest thing on the Disney Channel (except for some parts of Fantasia). There I was, minding my own business watching cartoons, and suddenly programming would switch from daytime to evening and I would see this:



Followed by some of the nopiest NOPE images ever!







I could go on and on – it was scary. Even after reading this, I am not sure I will go back and check it out. Still too scared!

Hmm, I’m torn between giving this book 4 or 5 stars.
It is creepy, it is “darkly poetic (Stephen King’s words)”, it captures you (or is that the Dust Witch), it is beautifully written with wonderfully descriptive passages, it is above all, Ray Bradbury.

All of that said it is in my view not as good as “The Martian Chronicles”. Maybe for 2 reasons; firstly I read TMC when I was young and impressionable, and my love of the book has stayed with me; and secondly whilst this is just as well written in typical Bradbury style, TMC contains an element of sf which is my genre.

The story revolves around Green Town and what happens to 2 young boys and one of their fathers when the carnival hits town. Beautifully written by the master of prose, this book is just a joy to soak up, to experience, to read.

Oh, ok it’s 5 stars ⭐️

Books, like many things, have a season. They have a time about them, a moment in the slipstream when they are best read. You can read a particular book anytime, of course, but to maximize the experience you would be wholly advised to find the optimal place in the continuum, that moment in the chronology of life that makes the reading experience fully immersive. And so I find myself turning to tomes that mark a certain section of the wheel of the year, in this particular case that mesmerizing change from the long and hot days of summer to the cooler and shorter days of the harvest, the promise of Autumn in the air. Such is the case with Ray Bradbury’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” a classic of dark fantasy and horror that virtually defines this juncture of the year. One should read Bradbury’s “Dandelion Wine” first, however. “Something Wicked” is not an official sequel, but the two books are thematically and geographically linked. They both mark a specific point on the calendar and they both take place in Bradbury’s fictional Green Town, Illinois, a proxy for his early childhood hometown of Waukegan. But where “Dandelion Wine” wallowed in soft nostalgia and a longing for the seemingly never-ending days of summer, “Something Wicked” brings us a fable of duality and the possibilities of the future and the regrets of the past.

The plot is easily recognizable, full of familiar tropes. Two best friends, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, find themselves on the cusp of their fourteenth birthdays. It’s October, and school and impending holidays are on their minds, when a mysterious carnival and its weird occupants arrives in town at 3:00 in the morning one fateful Saturday. Right from the start things begin to get strange, as curious and possibly occult events begin to plague the unsuspecting town and its citizens. The boys get caught deep in the subtle menace of the carnival, and it’s up to them and Will’s father to save the day. Who, or what, is Mr. Dark, the tattooed (or more precisely, ILLUSTRATED) proprietor of the show? What of his partner, Mr. Cooger? Who are the freaks and sideshow denizens who menacingly appear throughout the narrative? What secrets does the Dust Witch hide? No spoilers here, you will have to read for yourself and see.

“Something Wicked This Way Comes” is truly a masterpiece of its genre. It virtually defined the archetypal “dark carnival” plot device, though it was certainly not the first literary work to do so. Part dreamlike fantasy, part menacing horror, it moves along at an almost breakneck pace, packing a lot of action into its weekend timeframe. Jim and Will, of course, are the opposites that attract and compliment each other as characters. Their light and dark dance provides a catalyst for the story as Will’s desire for safety and compliance juxtaposes with Jim’s thirst for adventure and the things that the carnival might promise to a soul out of place in his own time. Will’s father, Charles, gets dragged into the story as a makeshift savior to the boys, his own life a reflection of the turn of the season, a metaphor for his 54 years of age. Jim’s mother and Will’s mother are barely seen or heard from, and in fact the only female character of any real consequence is the doomed schoolteacher, Miss Foley. Her fate is to be sucked into the carnival’s evil charms, her desire manifest in a way she hardly expected. As such, this is clearly a book about boys and men, and how those seasonal changes affect them, those transitions from boyhood to incipient manhood. As for Charles, he must navigate the careful and treacherous path from lost youth to middle-age, battling his own fears of growing old as he fights the good fight. There is certainly nothing even remotely homoerotic going on here, but there is a definite quality of the masculine to this book. First published in 1962, “Something Wicked This Way Comes” is a product of its era, a cultural point where women were still struggling to get out of the home and into more prominent roles in society. Bradbury has created strong female characters in much of his work, but there is little of the feminine to be found here.

None of that changes the fact that this is a brilliant piece of work by the venerable Mr. Bradbury. I make it a point to at least skim through both “Dandelion Wine” and “Something Wicked” as the August days draw to an end and September and October loom large on the calendar. It’s all about seeking that moment, that precipice upon which to linger for a few moments as the year swings forth in its relentless cycle of days. And of course all of this is written in that lovely, poetic Bradbury style. “Something Wicked” was a bit of an anomaly for Bradbury, as it is one of his few continuous narrative pieces. Even “Dandelion Wine” was a fix-up, a series of interconnected short stories with added connective and thematic material written to shore the whole thing up and make it into more of a novel. I can’t resist ending this review with a short bit of prose from the Master himself…….

“So, each taking his part, in their own good time, the boys told of the wandering-by lightning-rod salesman, the predictions of storms to come, the long-after-midnight train, the suddenly inhabited meadow, the moonblown tents, the untouched but full-wept calliope, then the light of noon showering over an ordinary midway with hundreds of Christians wandering through but no lions for them to be tossed to, only the maze where time lost itself backward and forward in waterfall mirrors, only the OUT OF ORDER carousel, the dead supper hour, Mr. Cooger, and the boy with the eyes that had seen all the glistery tripes of the world shaped like hung-and-dripping sins and all the sins tenterhooked and running red and verminous, this boy with the eyes of a man who has lived forever, seen too much, might like to die but doesn’t know how……."

Something Wicked This Way Comes (Green Town, #2), Ray Bradbury

Something Wicked This Way Comes is a 1962 dark fantasy novelو by American writer Ray Bradbury. It tells the story of two thirteen-year-old best friends, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, and their harrowing experience with a roving carnival that comes to their Midwest Territory home in Green City, Illinois, on October 23rd. The boys learn how to face fear, by dealing with the frightening characters of this carnival. The leader of the carnival is the mysterious Mr. Dark, who seems to have the power to grant the citizens hidden desires. Indeed, Mr. Dark is a malicious malevolent person who lives, like a carnival, on the lives of those enslaved. Addresses Mr. Dark; William's father, Charles Halloway, is a town librarian who hides his fear of getting old. Because he feels too old to be a father to William.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز دهم ماه مارس سال2021میلادی

عنوان: بوی شر می‌آید؛ نویسنده: ری بردبری؛ مترجم: نوشین سلیمانی‌؛ تهران، سبزان، ��ال1397؛ در332ص؛ شابک9786001173929؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده20م

کتاب «بوی شر می‌آید» یک رمان فانتزی تاریک است، که نویسنده ی آمریکایی «ری بردبری» آن را در سال1962میلادی منتشر کردند؛ داستان دو دوست نوجوان و سیزده ساله به نام‌های «جیم نایت‌شید» و «ویلیام هالووی» و تجربه دلخراش آن‌ها با یک کارناوال سرگردان را بازگو می‌کند، که در روز بیست و سوم ماه اکتبر به منطقه غرب میانه در شهر «گرین سیتی، ایلینوی» می‌آید؛ پسرها با برخورد با شخصیتهای ترسناک آن کارناوال، شیوه ی رودررویی با ترس را یاد میگیرند، رهبر کارناوال همان آقای «دارک» مرموز است؛ «جیم» و «ویل» همان دو نوجوان که در پی ماجراجویی شان پرده از رازهای تاریک کارناوال برمیدارند؛ سیرکی که شبها زندگی مییابد، و بازیها و وسیله هایی جادویی را در خود جای داده است، از آنجمله یک هزارتوی آینه که هر کسی میتواند در آن گم شود، و چرخ فلکی که میتواند با حرکت به جلو یا عقب، افراد را در زمان حرکت داده و جوانتر یا پیرتر کند

نقل از متن: (مرگ وجود نداره؛ هیچوقت وجود نداشته، هرگز وجود نخواهد داشت؛ این ما هستیم که تصاویر مختلفی از اون برای خودمون ساختیم، سالیان ساله با چنگ و دندون بهش چسبیدیم و رهاش نمیکنیم، در تقلاییم درکش کنیم، ازش برای خودمون هویتی ساختیم که زنده است و حریص؛ با اینهمه، مرگ فقط یه ساعت از کار افتاده است، یه خسران، یه فرجام، یه ظلمت؛ مرگ پوچیه.)؛ پایان

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 19/12/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

The Ray Bradbury I remember reading decades ago was not this poetic. Something Wicked was a surprise, his evocative language doing so much to capture the mood of early fall and the seasons of life, both literally and metaphorically. Clearly, he loves words in their many forms. Equally clearly, he is gifted as using those words to create a finely layered tale about two thirteen-year-old boys when the carnival comes to town. These boys are on the brink of change; longing to be older, to do more and be more. The father of one is a little bit lost in memory of what he once was, haunting their background and the library. Change is in the wind, and a few unusual events in the town seem to herald a larger shift. A lightening-rod salesman comes to call; the barber gets sick; a found playbill describes a carnival coming to town. The boys sneak out of their bedrooms to see it arrive, and it is with a mix of fascination and fear that they watch the carnival set up. Danger ensues--but is it the danger of growing up? Or of fear? Or something more malevolent?

The language is a delightful mix of specificity and metaphor.
"One year Halloween came on October 24, three hours after midnight... both touched towards fourteen; it almost trembled in their hands."

Each brief chapter is almost a poem, an image; a scene described so perfectly as to catch that edge between reckless and safety, age and youth, mystery and knowing. Threads of both exuberance and loss run through, and hints of change.

And characters! In brief sentences, he encapsulates the complexity of a life:

"And the first boy, with hair as blond-white as milk thistle, shut up one eye, tilted his head, and looked at the salesman with a single eye as open, bright and clear as a drop of summer rain."

"Jim stood like a runner who has come a long way, fever in his mouth, hands open to receive any gift."

"What was there about the illustrated carnival owner's silences that spoke thousands of violent, corrupt, and crippling words?"

Bradbury's ability to uniquely characterize extends to the carnival, arriving at the dead time of 3 a.m., setting up in the dark:
"For somehow instead, they both knew, the wires high-flung on the poles were catching swift clouds, ripping them free from the wind in streamers which, stitched and sewn by some great monster shadow, made canvas and more canvas as the tent took shape. At last there was the clear-water sound of vast flags blowing."

Then there is the added bonus of the library. Clearly, Bradbury loves libraries and books, which guarantees affection in my books (I know, I know--the puns!). "The library deeps lay waiting for them. Out in the world, not much happened. But here in the special night, a land bricked with paper and leather, anything might happen, always did. Listen! and you heard ten thousand people screaming so high only dogs feathered their ears...This was a factory of spices from far countries. Here alien deserts slumbered. Up front was the desk where the nice old lady, Miss Watriss, purple-stamped your books, but down off away were Tibet and Antarctica, the Congo." How perfectly that meshes my own memory of the library!

During the second half of the book, the tone shifts more and more from that cusp of fall into the fear of winter, of death. People change, quite drastically. Will's father has been hearing the carnival's calliope as well, and feeling every one of his fifty-some years in distance from his son. Between the boys and the father, Charles Halloway, the viewpoint of the reader is identified, explored, honored. Do we rush forward? Gaze backwards? Which way will we ride on the most sinister merry-go-round? ("Its horses...speared through their spines with brass javelins, hung contorted as in a death rictus, asking mercy with their fright-colored eyes, seeking revenge with their panic-colored teeth.")

It's even more surprising that a book first published in 1962 stands the test of time so well. To my mind, nothing dated it. Bradbury's thoughts on meaning of life, aging and fear are well worth reading again. An amazing book that wholeheartedly deserves a second read and an addition to my own library.

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2012/1...

Two boys encounter a mysterious lightning rod salesman in their small town. He gives one of the boys a rod with strange markings. This is the start of some unusual late-night activity that the boys investigate surrounding a carnival, maze of mirrors, carousel, and a cast of evil characters--Mr. Dark, The Dust Witch, and more. Will, Jim, and Will's dad face off with this new darkness.
-Dark fantasy
-Horror for all ages
-Life & death
-Aging
-Time
-Coming of age
-Best friends
-Young boys
-Carnivals
-Fathers and sons
-Friendship
-Good and evil
-Halloween

As I write it has been about a week since Ray Bradbury passed away, as you can expect for such an influential author, numerous tributes are being written by famous authors, celebs, columnists, and of course fans. Instead of adding another drop to the ocean of tributes I would rather pay my own little tribute through rereading and reviewing my favorite Bradbury books. This one is my favorite of them all.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is one of Bradbury's best-known works. Like  Fahrenheit 451 this is a fully fledged novel rather than a collection of interconnected stories like  The Martian Chronicles or  Dandelion Wine. If this was written recently it would probably be classified as YA. Fortunately, it was first published in the 60s, so it escapes such unnecessary stigmata and was read far and wide by readers of all ages.

This is a story of two boys Will Halloway and his best friend Jim Nightshade. How their lives are turned upside down when a mysterious carnival arrives in their Midwestern town and all hell proceed to break loose.

From the 1983 film adaptation

Novels centered around a friendship between two kids like Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn can be very wonderful if done well. There is something about friendship at that young age when walking always seems too slow to get to where you want to go to do what you want to do, so you must always run. If you have a "bestie" to run with better still; the race is always on and winning it is unimportant. Those days stay with you for the rest of your life even if the friend has gone his separate ways.


Reading about Jim Nightshade and William Halloway makes me feel nostalgic and brings back a lot of happy childhood memories even though I did not have to battle creepy supernatural gentlemen from a dark carnival. That said, the fantastical element of this book makes the story even more vivid for me because that is how my mind works. The book is written in simple yet evocative prose, there is a poetic rhythm to Bradbury’s writing which is characteristic of him. Practically every paragraph contains something quotable as an example of written elegance. The book is also highly atmospheric, I love the portentous feeling of the impending arrival of the mysterious carnival; I can almost hear the creepy calliope music described in the book.

The characters are beautifully drawn, Will Halloway is intelligent and earnest without being a mere cipher for the readers, his friend Jim Nightshade is impulsive, impatient and loyal. Will's father Mr. Charles Halloway is a lovable melancholic janitor who finds grace under pressure. Mr. Dark (AKA The Illustrated Man*) the villain of the piece is suitably suave, evil and formidable, his witchy henchwoman is even more creepy than he is.


Beside a great story, there is plenty of food for thought, moral lessons and philosophical issues to ponder. I envy the boys their friendship, I do not want to go on that weird merry-go-round, and I love this book from first page to last. R.I.P. Mr. Bradbury.

Art by FictionChick


Art by SharksDen



* Not to be confused with the eponymous The Illustrated Man from Bradbury's famous anthology.

This would be my Halloween pick for any year.

Notes:
• If you like spooky circuses, check out The Night Circus.
• If you type in GR's code for this book's title in a review or a comment, like this:

GR will generate a link to this identically titled " Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Jenika Snow, which looks like a godawful book!

Not a review, really - just some thoughts.

By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.

Other than being a rather creepy story, this novel is also a lament for the passage of time and the ending of things. Consider Jim Nightshade, who at the age of thirteen, has decided not to ever have children:
‘You don't know until you've had three children and lost all but one.'
'Never going to have any,' said Jim.
'You just say that.'
'I know it. I know everything.'
She waited a moment. 'What do you know?'
'No use making more People. People die.'
His voice was very calm and quiet and almost sad.

This passage resonated incredibly strongly with me.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is pretty melancholic and poignant, in its own fashion, and Bradbury’s lyrical writing style underlines that fact. It is also pretty creepy:

A bad thing happened at sunset.

Bad things do happen in this story. Perhaps not the same “bad things” as you would expect in a contemporary horror novel (there is, for example, no evisceration), but bad enough in its own way. Whether you can identify with the America of Bradbury’s youth or not (this should be considered a moot point, since we can’t identify with Dickens’s England or with Middle Earth either, and that’s never a problem), this novel succeeds on many levels; death and fear are, after all, universal and timeless.

How do you hear it, how are you warned? The ear, does it hear? No. But the hairs on the back of your neck, and the peach-fuzz in your ears, they do, and the hair along your arms sings like grasshopper legs frictioned and trembling with strange music.

Something Wicked is a very, very good story, and written beautifully. It’s a quick read, but it compensates for that in many other ways.
The exact nature of the Carnival is somewhat obscure. It seems to be vested in mysticism and the occult, but it remains open to interpretation. The Autumn People theory is fantastic! Suffice to say, the whole thing remains suitably sinister…

The stuff of nightmare is their plain bread. They butter it with pain.