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Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) is a novel by Ray Bradbury. It is about two boys, named Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, who have an unpleasant experience with a nightmarish carnival that comes to their Midwestern town one October. The mysterious and sinister carnival is presided over by Mr. Dark, a man who bears a tattoo for every person who, enticed by the offer of living out one's secret fantasies, has become part of the show — many unwillingly. Countering Mr. Dark's malevolent presence is Will's father, who finds his own life force tempered by middle-age melancholy.
In tone and setting (the fictitious Green Town, Illinois), Something Wicked can be seen as an autumn sequel to the summer of Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, with the latter novel's Doug Spaulding and John Huff reincarnated one year older as Will and Jim. Bradbury has said that the character of Mr. Halloway was inspired by his own father. The character of Mr. Electrico was inspired by a more benign carnival magician of the same name, who commanded the twelve-year-old Bradbury to "Live forever!"
The novel originated in 1955 when Bradbury suggested to friend Gene Kelly that they collaborate on a movie for Kelly to direct. Bradbury offered his 1948 short story The Black Ferris as an 80-page outline treatment. When Kelly was unable to obtain financial backing for the movie, Bradbury expanded the treatment to novel length. The title comes from the witch's statement in Macbeth, "By the pricking of my thumbs / Something wicked this way comes."
The novel was made into the Disney movie Something Wicked This Way Comes in 1983, with a screenplay by Bradbury.
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