Something Wicked This Way Comes is a masterpiece of dark fantasy and horror written by Ray Bradbury and published in 1962. Its title is famously drawn from a line spoken by the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” The story takes place in Green Town, Illinois, during a chilly week in late October. It follows two 13-year-old best friends and neighbours born minutes apart. Their lives are upended when a mysterious traveling carnival rolls into town.

It’s All Hallow’s Eve, and Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to town.

Hear the music, see the lights, shrug off life’s worries and enter a place where dreams are not dreams, and wishes can be real.

All this awaits two boys trembling on the brink of manhood. But entering the smoke, mazes and mirrors, they will discover that not all dreams are worth the cost that must be paid . . .