The Shadow Glass

Dark Crystal meets About a Boy in a thrilling race against the clock to save the world in this nostalgia-infused adventure!

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.

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

"The fantasy adventure my 80s-loving heart needed! Loaded with unforgettable characters, a thrilling quest, and the best 80s pop culture references, I loved every moment." - Kat Ellis, author of Harrow Lake

The Shadow Glass is like the old children's movies it worships: sometimes dark, but never heartless; gritty yet soul-baring. It embraces its referents as a whole: their beauty with their ugliness, the healing power of nostalgia with its potential to poison the present. But it never goes cynical, never loses faith. It stands proud with a VHS copy of its favourite movie held aloft, daring you to say it's not the greatest film ever." - Edgar Cantero, author of Meddling Kids

"Wonderful. A bold and heartfelt adventure from another world, another time—and our own." - Max Gladstone, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning writer