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DREAMS AND SHADOWS

C. Robert Cargill

Screenwriter and acclaimed film critic C. Robert Cargill makes his fiction debut with Dreams and Shadows, taking beloved fantasy tropes, giving them a twist, and turning out a wonderful, witty, and wry take on clash between the fairy world and our own.
Something is missing from Ewan and Colby’s lives. Residing in the corners of their memories is their time in Limestone Kingdom, a realm filled with magic and mystery, a world where only some may travel amongst the menagerie of mystical souls and sinister demons.
Cargill offers well-crafted characters and an absorbing, intricate plot that will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman and Lev Grossman. Dreams and Shadows pulls you into an extraordinary universe of darkness that exposes the magic and monsters in our world, and in ourselves.

This is a brilliantly crafted modern tale from acclaimed film critic and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill—part Neil Gaiman, part Guillermo Del Toro, part William S. Burroughs—that charts the lives of two boys from their star-crossed childhood in the realm of magic and mystery to their anguished adulthoods.
There is another world than our own—one no closer than a kiss and one no further than our nightmares—where all the stuff of which dreams are made is real and magic is just a step away. But once you see that world, you will never be the same.
Dreams and Shadows takes us beyond this veil. Once bold explorers and youthful denizens of this magical realm, Ewan is now an Austin musician who just met his dream girl, and Colby, meanwhile, cannot escape the consequences of an innocent wish. But while Ewan and Colby left the Limestone Kingdom as children, it has never forgotten them. And in a world where angels relax on rooftops, whiskey-swilling genies argue metaphysics with foul-mouthed wizards, and monsters in the shadows feed on fear, you can never outrun your fate.

Dreams and Shadows is a stunning and evocative debut about the magic and monsters in our world and in our self.
Available products
Book

Published 2013-01-01 by HarperCollins/Eos

Book

Published 2013-01-01 by HarperCollins/Eos

Comments

Brazil: DarkSide Books; Britain: Gollancz; Spain: Anaya Group; Taiwan: Doing Publishing

"In this beautifully written debut" "The Universe is richly detailed, and issues of destiny and sacrifice give the story depth” “Readers with delivate sensibilities should leave this one for those who enjoy a rollercoaster ride into the depths of strangeness and despair" Read more...

DREAMS AND SHADOWS by C. Robert Cargill is on everyone’s list! Publishers Weekly names DREAMS AND SHADOWS one of its top 10 most highly anticipated books of the season! io9.com calls it one of their can’t-miss books for February! Amazon.com lists it as a February Editor’s Pick!

Cargill’s début film as a screenwriter was released nationally and internationally two weeks ago and received amazing reviews. Read more...

Dreams And Shadows is tremendous. A tragedy borne on epic wings.

Enthralling, dark, moving, funny, beautifully written and totally perfect. Brilliant stuff.

PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of February 25, 2013: Dreams and Shadows by C. Robert Cargill (Harper Voyager) - In this beautifully written debut, Cargill chronicles the friendship and adventures of Ewan, stolen as a baby by the fairy–goblin crossbreeds called Bendith Y Mamau, and Colby, an eight-year-old who encounters a djinn. Readers with delicate sensibilities should leave this one for those who enjoy a roller-coaster ride into the depths of strangeness and despair. Read more...

Exceptional worldbuilding, sure-handed plotting and well-rounded characters, even the nasty ones… A mesmerizing and highly original debut. Read more...

Hard to put down…this is definitely going to attract readers of contemporary fantasy, particular those who enjoy Neil Gaiman’s adult books or Lev Grossman’s The Magicians

Publishers Weekly calls DREAMS AND SHADOWS “a beautifully written debut,” saying Cargill uses “an unhurried storyteller style that provides total immersion….Legends and fairy lore are given a dark urban twist with a raw, honest, sometimes violent edge. The universe is richly detailed, and issues of destiny and sacrifice give the story depth.” Read more...

an auspicious debut

As a result, Dreams and Shadows is a potent introduction to a world where the wondrous is rarely wonderful, the best intentions are guaranteed to roam farthest astray, and the reader is destined to keep turning the pages until the (somewhat) bitter end.

The rich language, world building, and moral questions posed make for fascinating reading. Much of the novel is dark, but hope and redemption form the bedrock of the complex characters. Read more...

Love, fear, jealously , innocence and vengeance permeate the ages of this amazing tale.

Book of the month (Feb. 2013) - Dreams and Shadows is one of my favourite books. It broke my heart. It terrified me. And it’s the kind of story that has stayed with me. I can’t stop talking about this book. Read more...

...To say the characters are fleshed out wonderfully would be to undersell the book. The creatures alone deserve their own bound compendium/appendix à la Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, complete with gorgeous illustrations. The book itself is divided into two parts, aptly labeled Book One and Book Two, and interspersed with the main narrative are supplemental excerpts that flesh out characters and creatures further, creating a tale so vivid, it’s hard to tear yourself away... Read more...