Product Description

Light Boxes is about a mysterious town that endures a long, deadly winter. Told in short bursts, the story concerns the war the townspeople bring against February, an oddly real and powerful character.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1170719 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-11
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• 172 pages

Review
Reading LIGHT BOXES made me feel like I was walking through a series of strange, interesting rooms that I'd never been in before. It also made me feel sad, especially at the end when it finished and I wanted to carry on reading. Shane Jones is one of my favorite new writers. --Chris Killen, author of THE BIRD ROOM

Shane Jones is a writer who dares to play make-believe in this tired age when too much fiction is tied to that which is only real. Read this book. Heed its inventive warnings. --Peter Markus, author of BOB, OR MAN ON BOAT

Shane Jones's startlingly imaginative voice is like some winged thing brave, victorious, and solitary. LIGHT BOXES is a beautiful, heartful work. --Deb Olin Unferth, author of VACATION

About the Author
Shane Jones, born 1980, has published stories and poems widely online and in print. This is his first novel. He lives in upstate New York.

Customer Reviews

Light Boxes by Shane Jones
Light Boxes is professionally quirky. Like Wes Anderson. The war against February: did the reader ever not know that the good guy would win? In the world of hipster lit, the good guy always wins but only after a long, dazzling battle. Light Boxes is full of "dazzling" images which never fail to make the reader say awww! Its tender, man. It really makes you feel. With character names like Thaddeus, Bianca and Selah, you know it's gonna get deep. Light Boxes is professionally heart-felt: Jones knows how to make the reader sway with glee; even the evil February has a heart, after all. The way the village bands together, especially the dirt-encrusted children with their adult-like intuition, inspires us all, yeah? Light Boxes is well-crafted. It's even beautiful at times, but overall the book falls flat. And not for not trying. If anything Light Boxes tries.

Startlingly Fresh Debut
Here's a fresh voice/perspective coming out of the indy-press scene. Shane Jones does not disappoint in this new take on a fairy tale/fantasy. This novel is atmospheric. Jones draws you into a cold, flightless, child-filled world where the season never ends, the above-mentioned children drill underground tunnels, and twist the heads of owls, and even the villains are heart-achingly cared-for. This book makes creative use of white space that suggest the snowy planes of its setting. Some of the font play is clever, such as smaller sizes used for characters when they whisper, but probably unnecessary. However, in a Nora Roberts, Denis Johnson (the new, boring, and predictable D.J.), and Stephen King littered literary world, Jones's voice and insight are a welcomed spring from the winter readers have long been subjected to.

An Addictive, Dream-like Little Book
"Light Boxes" is the kind of book that I couldn't put down, but wanted to last forever. I settled for musing my way through it in five or so days, not wanting the visceral pleasure to end, but feeling addicted to the dreamlike place I found myself in every time I picked up this little book.

I think Jones could be one of the great authors of our time. He is either one of the finest wordsmiths (and ideasmiths) I've ever read, or has very good luck with forming words, sentences, and thoughts. Sometimes I would stop and exclaim out loud over the beautiful form a mere two words took on when placed next to one another. Once, a four-word line caused me to put down the book and spend the next hour or so sketching forest animals on the backs of scraps of paper. Until then, I'd never really drawn before.

Jones' story struck me as one foremost about surviving winter, and was a perfect read for early spring. His story is deeply human while at the same time utterly imaginative. It twists and leaps, plays with emotions and logic and fonts, and stands out as one of my favorite books in years.

"Light Boxes" is astoundingly beautiful. Jones is an artist with words. I highly recommend this book.