Why Read This? - Shirley Jackson - The Bus

In episode four of Strange Reads 'Why Read This?' series we look at Shirley Jackson's, The Bus.
What a delight to look into Shirley Jackson's life and one of her lesser talked about stories. The Bus might hint at Shirley Jackson's feelings in her later years; a sense of alienation, physically restricted, and not being respected for her true worth. It could also just be a spooky tale about an old lady getting out of her depth.
For more great speculative fiction tales, please subscribe: th-cam.com/users/strangeread...
The story, in its entirety, can be read here:
www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2...
Thanks to:
Fiona Blakeley - as our own Shirley Jackson
Fiona Wildsmith - as Old Miss Harper (voice)
Music
----------
Glacier - Patrick Patrikios - TH-cam Studio
Familiar Things - The Whole Other - TH-cam Studio
Searching for the Alchemist - www.bothworldsmusic.com.au
Beyond the Lows - The Whole Other - TH-cam Studio
Opus One by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Artist: audionautix.com/
Voices - Patrick Patrikios - TH-cam Studio
Video Excerpts
------------------------
Shirley (2020) Neon
The Trip to Bountiful (1985) Island Pictures
The Haunting (1963) MGM
Crossroads (1986) Columbia Pictures
Deliverance (1972) Warner Bros.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) Fox Searchlight Pictures
The Wizard of Oz (1939) MGM
The Visit (2015) Universal Pictures
My Links to Follow:
-------------------------------
TH-cam - / strangereads
Instagram - / david_wildsmith
Chapter Settings
---------------------------
0:00 Introduction
0:32 Author Biography
4:25 Brief Plot Summary
10:09 Story Analysis/Inspiration
13:20 We give Shirley her house back
#strangereads #ShirleyJackson #spooky #authors #books #authors #fiction #shortstory #jackson #speculativefiction #writing #writer #ghost #biography

[@georgesherrill3371]

The Possibility of Evil is my favorite Shirley Jackson story.

[@StrangeReads]

Thanks, George - we really want this channel to become a valued resource for exciting story tips - you have helped immensely. I hope you find something new to read among our videos and comments.

[@zacharyshilvock5485]

Great Job David! I found this informative and far from boring. I've subscribed!
I think a lot of it was a metaphor for her aging body. Maybe the repeating of some of the lines is another way of Jackson showing us the characters age, the idea that these younger people feel that things need to be repeated to her multiple times for her to understand because she is old.

[@StrangeReads]

I feel the same way, Zachary. When we can see how isolated she must have felt, along with her ailing health, The Bus really conveys her concerns. I like your take on the repeated lines, too. As we grow older there are those creeping thoughts of, am I making sense here?

[@DarcySteele]

You deserve more followers and views! This was well done. Thank you

[@StrangeReads]

Thanks for the lovely comment, Steeled! If you could share the channel to any friends who may enjoy the content we'll love you twice as much...maybe three times 🤩🤩🤩

[@TheMikester307]

As for strange stories you could cover; Robert Arthur wrote some oddball stuff. Like "The Haunted Trailer," "The Believers," "Footsteps Invisible" and "Don't Be A Goose." Those can be found in his collection "Ghosts And More Ghosts."

[@StrangeReads]

Ok, these are officially on my list of stories to check out - thank you, I love discovering new authors!

[@TheMikester307]

Wonderful! When I was trying to teach myself how to write short-stories I got a copy of "Come Along With Me" and read her essay "Notes For A Young Writer." I'd go with "Charles" as my favorite of her stories. And I love your videos!

[@StrangeReads]

I have Dark Tales, and I don’t think that collection includes ‘Charles.’ Exciting stuff, I love Shirley’s stories.
Thank you for the lovely compliment. It’s been a while since I did a long form video. At the moment I’m doing shorts as I’m focussed on finishing my latest novel and time is precious…but I love doing it all 😊

[@robtaylor2434]

Liked and Subscribed! What a great channel, very entertaining and well put together production wise. Do MORE books! Do you take requests? :)

[@StrangeReads]

Thank you and welcome! We definitely take requests. At the moment it takes about 2 weeks to produce one episode and I want to keep each episode around 10 minutes long - so whole books are difficult to do justice to. Short stories of around 3000-4000 words seem perfect...know of a good one?