SHADOWS A Collection of Broken Dreams and Heartaches Inspired by William Blake's Illuminations, Shadows , a collection of free-form poetry and short stories by author Aren K. Manahan, fuses text and images to go beyond thought and evoke emotion. The focus of this collection is heartache-not only how it affects people, but also how they choose to deal with it. Manahan peels back all superficial layers to focus on the hurt and pain within each of us. Shadows follows various characters as they spiral out of control and try to grasp a sense of reality they once felt. These narratives push you to go beyond the text and feel deeply for these characters-either hatred or pity-as they highlight the hurt that we all feel at times. What becomes apparent is that some are able to cope with the pain, while others are not-and it destroys them. Shadows reminds us that not everyone is fortunate enough to have a happy ending. We have all had shadows pass through our lives at one point in time, and the time has come to confront them and move on with life.