A darkly whimsical adventure rooted in Joplin, Missouri
The Midnight Parade
Old Joplin is coming back.
The trouble is getting everyone home.
A citywide Halloween festival awakens vanished landmarks, impossible rooms, and a traveling jubilee that has no intention of ending. To bring her brother and the festivalgoers home, Tess Mercer must learn that no rescue belongs to one person.
Step right up
The city chose Halloween.
Halloween answered.
Joplin has placed its entire annual event grant behind one enormous Halloween night, and Tess intends to make its centerpiece impossible to forget: a lantern-shaped float with the skyline of old Joplin blazing through its walls.
Then Vesper’s Grand Traveling Jubilee arrives. When Tess lights its ancient backstage lantern, the past does more than appear. The Connor Hotel opens its doors. A streetcar rolls down streets with no rails. Skeleton musicians join the band. Beyond the final booth, the festival keeps unfolding into a city that is bigger on the inside.
A living Joplin
Real and vanished local landmarks return in warm light, carrying their history with them.
An impossible night
Ghostly rooms rearrange themselves while the parade keeps marching toward midnight.
A story about belonging
Family, friendship, memory, and the courage to trust the people beside you.
From the author
Enter the parade.
For reader questions, interviews, events, school or library inquiries, and other author correspondence, contact Joshua Shackles.
joshshackles@hotmail.com