#BookReview ‘The Shadow Glass’ by Josh Winning

About the book…

A thrilling race against the clock to save the world from fantasy creatures from a cult 80s film – perfect for fans of Henson Company puppet classics like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, and The NeverEnding Story.

“There’s a stirring sense of adventure, excitement, and terror running throughout. A treat for fans of the movies that inspired it.” – Publishers Weekly

“Sometimes dark, but never heartless; gritty yet soulbaring. It stands proud with a VHS copy of its favorite movie held aloft, daring you to say it’s not the greatest film ever.” – Edgar Cantero, author of Meddling Kids

Jack Corman is failing at life. Jobless, jaded and facing the threat of eviction, he’s also reeling from the 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, but the film flopped on release and Bob was never the same again.

In the wake of Bob’s death, Jack returns to his decaying childhood home, where he is confronted with the impossible — the puppet heroes from The Shadow Glass are alive, and they need his help. Tipped into a desperate quest to save the world from the more nefarious of his father’s creations, Jack teams up with an excitable fanboy and a spiky studio exec to navigate the labyrinth of his father’s legacy and ignite a Shadow Glass resurgence that could, finally, do Bob proud.

I owe such a debt of gratitude to the wonderful Lydia at Titan Books for my gifted review copy of ‘The Shadow Glass’  the debut novel by Josh Winning which is available from all good bookstores from 22nd March.

Sometimes the right book finds you at exactly the right time, and as you read ‘ The Shadow Glass’, that feeling completely subsumes you as you enter the world of the kettu, a world where despite the nuances the problems are the same as the ones in the world we know only too well.

The quest for power. The acknowledgment of your culture, identity and history. The items or totems of being able to control the world and narrative around you.

Whether covered in fur or dripping with slime, puppet natured or flesh encased, all of these characters make you want to immediately leap onto IMDB and check the Mandela Effect of  the movie that never was-but boy you wish that you did.

As a child of the 80’s, who grew up in a cocoon of Henson productions, I clearly remember so fondly the movies where the children, the looked down upon, bullied and disenfranchised were the heroes. Those on the margins of society without a voice, they were given a platform, made to feel included and most importantly, seen. There was an awareness of death, it was not glossed over (Atreyu anybody? Still scarred….) The image of the puppets attending Jim Henson’s funeral and singing the Rainbow Connection never fails to raise a tear to my eye and when you think that his death meant an end to all the great visuals, that carried from Sesame Street to The Dark Crystal, from Labyrinth to Fraggle Rock, absolutely felt like there was not going to be any more of the films and television which allowed that escape, that dream-and nightmare-fuel which marked my childhood so vividly.

And this is what is so wonderful about The Shadow Glass, it takes the public persona of the director, Bob Corman, his one movie which became a cult fixture but was never really critically admired and places it in a very human context, seen through the eyes of his son, Jack. He arrives at his childhood home, two weeks after the death of his father, estranged from him by years of distance as alcohol and fantasy replaced his son in Bob’s version of reality. Jack is full of anger, disappointment and  a tinge of regret-he has been forced to literally face selling his childhood, a symbolic act in that a stranger’s purchase of movie hero, the fox like puppet, Dune, will in a sense free him-the 50,000 pounds will clear all his debts and give him a fresh start. But also, he has to face a living mausoleum to his father’s creative failure, his living tomb of regret in order to pick up Dune.

In the act of having to acknowledge his father’s legacy to secure his future, he has to on this dark and rainy night, face way more than resurfaced memories…

From being door stopped by Toby (a nod to the baby with the power), a queer fan of the world of kettu, who becomes a vital part of the action , to the realisation that the contents of the attic might not be as lifeless as they should be, the storm which whips up around Kettu house fulfils the role of the  tornado from Wizard of Oz, in that it propels the real and fantastical worlds together. Zavanna and Brol, 2 of the puppets who are the main characters of The Shadow Glass come to life and in front of Toby and Jack’s eyes, a battle between them and the villainous skalions. When the dust settles, it becomes quickly apparent that not only do they have to undertake a quest, but the clock is ticking very quickly as they have a narrow window in which to find the missing Shadow Glass, without which the world will be destroyed.

The transition from puppets bleeding fluff and wool to blood and limbs is shocking and deeply affecting-because they ooze filler does that mean the creatures are any less real or worthy than those of us who , when a finger is bitten off, cannot merely attach another one ?

The stakes are suddenly real and very high, they have to stop the skalions from finding their horrendous leader Yunin Kilda, a true grotesquerie, find the 4 parts of the Shadow Glass, and also rescue Dune from the mysterious Alden Smithee ( a neat nod to the filmic concept of Alan Smithee). By the next full moon. Which is in 24 hours.

We are on the quest with the lubs and Zavanna and Toby, Jack and Brol, we are there with them, urging them on, knee deep in the wonderful nostalgia invoked by the nods to movies, creators and fantasy worlds alike, which is done with such warmth and fondness that it feels like being enveloped in a hug by a close friend. The stakes are high, the peril is very real, and whilst you can read this as a straight forward quest novel, there is so much more to enjoy from the notion of fans ‘gatekeeping’ their favourite worlds, the ownership which certain fans (I use that term loosely) bring to bear on what they feel is owed to them. It shows the world beyond the film, the tv show, which was created by people, real and living people who are flawed, not perfect and it speaks to forgiveness not only of people who might prefer to live in a fantasy world-let’s face it , how great is the world we are living in right now?-but also forgiving yourself. Identity and acceptance, inclusivity and fighting together for the causes of good are universal themes which ally themselves to a fantasy world viewpoint and are brilliantly extrapolated here.

The novel itself is interspersed with clips from interviews with Bob, bits of screenplays, critical reactions to his movie and so much more which interject such a feeling of reality that it paradoxically reinforces the fantasy elements.

It is nostalgic, whimsical, reverential but never derivative, warm hearted and perilous all at the same time.

And, as an aside, I read this in the week approaching the second anniversary of my much loved dad’s sudden death, the week of the first lockdown. Grief and regret for a loved one are such complex and continuous processes to work through, and when you add in the particulars of dealing with a death as a pandemic is biting at your heels, you are working as a nurse and you cannot give your most loved parent a proper goodbye, whilst simultaneously being the last goodbye for patients who are in effect, strangers, whilst being so much more than that, well it’s going to-excuse my language- fuck with your head. The last 2 years have been an epic mindfuck for so many of us for so many reasons and I would honestly love to take the opportunity to thank Josh, for his honest, beautiful, wonderful book which was cathartic in so many ways and fell into my lap at exactly when I needed it to.

It truly is an astonishing, funny, wonderful book and I am so there for whatever Josh does next.

About the author…

Josh Winning is a nostalgia nut, book/film lover and author of The Shadow Glass, which is perfect for fans of Henson Company classics like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, and The NeverEnding Story.

He is senior film writer at Radio Times, 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.

Josh lives in London with his cat Penny and dreams of one day convincing Sigourney Weaver to yell “Goddammit!” at him.

Links-http://www.joshuawinning.com/

Twitter @JoshWinning @TitanBooks