Customer Reviews

Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary

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It's hard to believe that it is 50 years since the Twilight Zone debuted on TV. I do confess that I was not there when it appeared in September of 1959, but I do have memories of watching the series in the various incarnations. In black and white, the fantastic worlds seemingly ruled over by a sentient being with a sense of the ironic were often frightening, and always thought provoking.

With the death of Sterling in 1975, his wife Carol has maintained the Twilight Zone as a viable, contemplative property. Now, she and 18 authors have combined to present a veritable feast of the fantastic, a smorgasbord of the sensational, and a collection of the eclectic that capture the spirit of the series. Authors Whitley Strieber, Kelly Armstrong, R L Stine, Timothy Zahn, Tad Williams, Carole Nelson Douglas, Mike Resnick, Lezli Robyn, Earl Hammer, Joe R Lansdale, Allan Brennert and a host of others lead us by the proverbial hand into the zone. There is no art, just a literary collection that opens the theatre of the mind.

Right from the start, we enter the Twilight Zone for an adventuresome read. "Genesis" by David Hagberg tells the story of a young Rod Serling in a 1944 wartime experience that truly is a Genesis, a beginning. "A Haunted House of Her Own" takes us into a world of self destination. "On the Road" is so very cool that you have to travel your own life to understand it. "Benchwarmer" is charming. "Truth Or Consequences" is twisted, yet it keeps you going right until the very end. My favorite story is "Puowaina" by Brennert. It is sensitive, and far seeing. Given a new TV production, this would be a spectacular episode ready for an Emmy. The rest of the book is tantalizing, and ends with "El Moe" by Rod Serling himself. How else could you end such a collection?

I highly recommend this collection of TZ tales. 50 years is a long time, and still Serling inspires.

Tim Lasiuta

"The Twilight Zone" is in many ways a time capsule, a fly preserved in amber, of the specific politics and cultural touchstones of the late '50s and early '60s. However, it remains timeless, and still culturally relevant today on the eve of its 50th anniversary. Even now, with much of its audience born after the original series was taken off the air, everyone remembers "that one with...". Although many episodes from the original series no longer withstand modern scrutiny (due to subpar writing, or a story/theme that's fallen out of date), the bulk of the stories remains vivid and compelling.

Enter this anniversary anthology of 19 stories written in the style of the "Zone", published under the Serling family banner; Rod and his brother Robert account for two stories, and Rod's widow is listed as editor. Here, then, is an episode-guide's eye view of what to expect from this collection:

GENESIS by David Hagberg: An unfortunate opening act; the "twist" is obvious from the 3rd page and the story really amounts to no more than hero worship.

A HAUNTED HOUSE OF HER OWN by Kelley Armstrong: More of a YA short story than something genuinely scary, but the last three sentences may be the best "sting" to any story in this collection.

THE ART OF THE MINIATURE by Earl Hamner: Hamner wrote several episodes of the original "Zone" and also created "The Waltons". Ends on a shocking image but the story employs no logic to get there.

BENCHWARMER by Mike Resnick & Lezli Robyn: TZ wasn't all scares and chills; it also produced several moving, bittersweet human dramas. This tale of imaginary childhood friends adds to that latter tradition.

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES by Carol Nelson Douglas: Seems to be a rote rewrite of "The Hitchhiker" from the original TZ (itself a remake). The closing narration here alludes to W. Somerset Maugham and the Talmud, but that's not enough to distinguish the story from its predecessor.

PUOWAINA by Alan Brennert: A bittersweet ghost story from a well-regarded contributor to the '80s TZ revival.

TORN AWAY by Joe R. Lansdale: A voodoo tale with a "Lights Out"-inspired shadowy ending, interestingly set in East Texas and told from the POV of a rural sheriff.

A CHANCE OF A GHOST by Lucia St. Clair Robson: Reminiscent of the 1980s "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" revival, this is a love story of a retiree and her haunted cane. The cane goes to interesting lengths to protect its new owner.

THE STREET THAT FORGOT TIME by Deborah Chester: The closing twist lacks any sort of logic. Perhaps an explanation of why this gated community from Hell would want to turn its inhabitants into zombies might have made the last page more memorable.

THE WRONG ROOM by R.L. Stine: Again, the twist isn't very logical, but it's a great Stephen King style haunted-hotel setup.

GHOST WRITER by Robert J. Serling: This isn't so much of a twist as a bit of historical irony, as told from the perspective of a short-sighted speechwriter.

THE SOLDIER HE NEEDED TO BE by Jim DiFelice: A "Dumbo's Magic Feather" story about an unlucky U.S. soldier fighting in Afghanistan. Pretty solid.

ANTS by Tad Williams: A Hitchcockian tale about a murderous spouse trying to fool the cops, with a great "gotcha!" last paragraph.

YOUR LAST BREATH, Inc., by John Miller: A pale rewrite of the short story "What You Need" (later adapted for the original TZ series), in which a reporter investigates an exclusive business.

FAMILY MAN by Laura Lippman: TZ meets "The Office", when fate plays several tricks at once on a smarmy middle manager.

THE GOOD NEIGHBOR by Whitley Strieber: Like some of the strongest TZ episodes, a thinly veiled racial allegory about a social climber who goes all KKK on his alien neighbors and lives to regret it.

EL MOE by Rod Serling: A leftover Serling script treament about an unlikely Mexican freedom fighter.

It was a clever idea to produce a special book to commemmorate the 50th anniversary of the TV series written
and produced by Rod Serling. The fact that his wife put her name to the project undoubtedly helped attract
stories and a publisher. If the reader anticipated some original scripts from the famous TV series, or other
previously unpublished stories written by the Master himself, the book may be disappointing. It is in fact a collection of stories written specially for this project by other authors, somewhat in the style of Rod Serling.
The quality of the contributions varies. Several of the stories are very clever and offer just the right
degree of suspense, quirky imagination and bizarre happenings to qualify for this sort of effort. Others are less successful, and a few are downright tedious. Fairly good summer beach-time reading in any case. This is a book you can dip into, put down, and go back to, suppressing the occasional yawn and enjoyoing the occasional "frisson" .

I'm a TWILIGHT ZONE fan and seeing this offered on Kindle made me wanna leap! After reading, it didn't strike me as hard as I had hoped, but the stories varied from liked to loved, while keeping the theme alive. Some stories were too long to reach the psycological point, some were so good that I wanted them to go on, and one in particular, (THE ART OF THE MINIATURE, my favorite) covered enough backstory so that the ending made sense and reminded me why THE TWILIGHT ZONE exist. Will get MORE STORIES OF THE TWILIGHT ZONE after awhile, but until then, let's keep the ZONE moving!

I originally purchased this book as a quick shot of 'brain candy' to read in between other more "serious" books. I found myself fully captured and put everything else aside to read it instead. While the quality of the contributors is obviously varied I found the stories to be generally good with a few gems that made the entire experience very enjoyable. I am hesitant to list specific stories that I found of a higher quality but I would highly recommend this book in its complete form to anyone interested in the series or in stories similar to the ones portrayed there.

I guess whether you know it or not you are in the Zone. We all are. And what better to do than read this excellent collection while you're there waiting for your own twist ending. I was really surprised by the quality of the stories. They were for the most part excellent. You could really see them as being top notch episodes for the TZ t.v. series. Everyone has their favorites, mine were:

On The Road
Puowaina
Torn Away
The Soldier He Needed To be
Ants

Buy this book.

I bought this book for one author in particular but found the other stories I read very entertaing as well. A good book very well written story.

As an avid fan of the old series, I grabbed this book as soon as I saw it in the bookstore. The thought of having more stories in the same vein as the series while still being new was a treat. The collection of 19 stories gives you some great stuff by well-known authors (including Rod Serling himself) along with a few lesser-knowns.

As with any short story collection, there are hits and misses. Stories involving a neighborhood that hates dogs (with good reason) and a woman who purchases a ghost on Ebay are good. Others like the story of a man trying to burn out his alien neighbors and the President preparing for a historic speech could have been replaced with better ones. Despite that, there are definitely more winners than losers here.

I don't think any of the stories had been reprinted anywhere else, so this is a completely original collection edited by Serling's wife, Carol. I would love to see another collection offered soon. Even with the bad stories, this collection lives up to the name "Twilight Zone" and it's easy to see just about any of these as one of the episodes that might have been. Highly recommended for fans of the series.

For fans of science fiction and especially for fans of the Twilight Zone; Carol Serling, Rod Serling's wife has collected 19 stories for the 50th anniversary of the Twilight Zone. For those of us old enough to remember watching this series when it was first shown on TV it's a nice visit, for those who aren't old enough it can be an introduction to new stories. Each one is presented with the typical Serling introduction and ending dialogue. All of the stories are new, but remain in the vein of what might be presented on the Twilight Zone. They range from stories of the unexplained, to spirits and a walking stick accompanied by a ghost. They even carry up to today with an out of the ordinary account of a soldier in Afghanistan. The authors include Earl Hammer (of The Waltons fame) to Robert Serling, Rod's brother, a successful author himself and concluding with an unpublished tale by Rod Serling himself
Readers of science fiction and those who are fans of the Twilight zone and the special aura it held would enjoy this collection.

This anthology celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the first airing of the Twilight Zone, which in 1959 was refreshing and creative with its deep look at what his human and its trademark closing twist that accentuated the theme of that particular show. A virtual who's who has contributed to the anthology; this includes a work by the series creator the late Rod Serling. The nineteen contributions are well written and fun to read as they catch the essence of the original series. However ironically (something I believe Mr. Serling would have enjoyed as twisted irony was a trademark of his) the final spin somewhat limits the creativity and in some cases feels forced to achieve. Still this is a fine collection with superior entries like Alan Brennert's WWI Honolulu drama "Puowaina", the "Benchawarmer" by Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn who has waited his turn patiently for almost twenty years, Deborah Chester's "The Street That Time Forgot" as Nick barley misses running over the dog that kept him from barley missing the odd street and the answer man Karl the killing star of "Ants" by Tad Williams. As a fitting final tale is "El Moe" by Rod Serling. Obviously for die hard Zoners, this is a fine anthology in spite of the limitations caused by the required final spin.

Harriet Klausner