Twilight Zone: Anthology

Being a huge fan of the classic Twilight Zone series, I was really interested to find this book. A collection of new stories celebrating the 50th anniversary? Sounds like a nice tribute idea to me. Of course, even with famous authors at the helm, I had my reservations. Pretty much nothing can ever live up to a classic original, no matter what the fandom is. But I told myself to not judge too harshly on that mindset alone.After a nice introduction from Rod Serling's wife, Carol, we dive into the short stories; all of which contain an opening and closing narration just like the episodes would have (a touch I really liked--sometimes, the best parts of even the worst episodes of the show were Rod's creepily introspective narrations).I'll do my best to leave a short summary and opinion on each story, while holding back on the spoilers ('cause as we all know, Twilight Zone lives for its twist endings).GENESIS: A soldier sees visions of the possible future while on the battlefield. For me, it was pretty easy to guess the twist, but none the less, I still thought it was kind of touching and clever.A HAUNTED HOUSE OF HER OWN: A young, enterprising couple gets more than they bargained for when they move into a supposedly haunted house. This one kind of read like one of those old "Goosebumps" novels (and funny thing is, R.L. Stine is one of the writers in this anthology, but ironically, he didn't pen this one). Still, it gave me some creepy vibes, and arguably had the best twist ending out of all the stories.ON THE ROAD: Two 1960's hippies have flashbacks to when they had a chance encounter with each other, then, by chance or fate, reunite again several years later. This played out more like a Hallmark Channel movie (only with drug use added). Not that I didn't find it interesting, but it's the only story of the collection with absolutely no twist ending.THE ART OF THE MINIATURE: An old man takes revenge on the clumsy gardener who ruined his bonsai trees in the creepiest way possible. This one was just sort of okay. The twist was creepy enough, but as another reviewer said, it takes a huge leap to get there. This one is the shortest story in the collection, and honestly, it probably would've been a bit better if it were longer. It's not terrible; it just feels rushed.BENCHWARMER: An unusual collection of people reminisce about the children they used to take care of. This one was one of my favorites. Proof that not all Twilight Zone stories had to be creepy or scary to be effective. The ending is bitter sweet, but the casual pace in getting there is what sells it. It says just enough; never rushing, nor dragging on too long. A solid read.TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES: An older lady is seemingly pursued by a mysterious hitchhiker. This one, to me, was the worst of the bunch, and not really even from a writing standpoint, but from the fact that this is practically a word for word retread of the classic episode, "The Hitchhiker". Considering this anthology says these are supposed to be 19 ORIGINAL stories, it makes me wonder how this made it into the book. This is the only one I'd say to skip completely. The twist only works if you've never seen the aforementioned episode.PUOWAINA: A Hawaiian lady tells the story of how she, as a little girl, discovered her abilities to talk to ghosts and see the future. Another one of my favorites. If you've seen the movie "The Sixth Sense", you can kind of guess what the ending's going to be, but none the less, I enjoyed it's slow, but steady pace. I really felt for the girl and her dilemma of trying to use her supernatural gifts to help people (despite being seen as a witch or psycho by some). And the explanations of various Hawaiian fairy tales, superstitions, and lore was a nice touch, and made me want to learn more about them. An A+ story for sure.TORN AWAY: A Texas sheriff discovers a shocking secret about the newest suspect/criminal he's locked up. As one reviewer put it, this comes off as a backwater "voodoo"-ish tale. There really isn't much of a twist; just more of a lesson in how you can't cheat or outrun death. Still gave me the heebie-jeebies, though.VAMPIN' DOWN THE AVENUE: A "be careful what you wish for" scenario, in which a famous actor wants to escape the paparazzi, and a mysterious salesman gives him what he wants. This is the only story of the anthology that definitely seems to have been played more for laughs, and as I said earlier, not all TZ episodes had to be scary to be good. Some of them DID have genuinely funny moments, and this is no different. It makes it better if you imagine your own favorite actor in place of the main character here.A CHANCE OF A GHOST: An old lady comes into possession of a haunted cane. This one, I'm kind of on the fence about. On the one hand, the fact that the lady figures out right away that the cane has a ghost inside it, and actually LIKES it and respects it, was an interesting change of pace that made me laugh and go "aww" at the same time. On the other hand, the super weird twist at the end kind of ruined all the previous build up for me.THE STREET THAT FORGOT TIME: A businessman moves into a seemingly pleasant gated community, only to discover there's something devious going on beneath the surface. Another one for my favorites list. As other reviewers have pointed out, the twist DOES kind of lack a bit of explanation. But personally, I could forgive it, as the real, true point of the whole story was to show how we, as a society, seem to have become distracted and hypnotized by computers, Iphones, TV, and other technology. The atmosphere really builds as time goes on, at a steady pace that doesn't go too fast, nor drags on for too long. And being an animal lover, and having owned plenty of dogs, the fact that a dog plays a critical role in the story just amped up the suspense even more for me, to the point I was seriously praying that the guy and his dog friend would make it out safely. If a story manages to make me sit up straight in bed and actually become worried for fictional characters, it's doing something right. Definitely a MUST read.THE WRONG ROOM: A businessman checks into a hotel for a typical meeting, but then strange things start to happen. This one was just sort of a "take it or leave it" vibe. Not good, but not bad either. The twist on top of another twist was a neat touch, though.GHOSTWRITER: The President of the U.S. and his speech writer debate on what to say in his latest address to the nation. A short, but pretty effective twist at the end that goes to show that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.THE SOLDIER HE NEEDED TO BE: A U.S. soldier fighting in Afghanistan is one of the worst fighters in his unit, until he comes into possession of a seemingly lucky magic I-pod. Simply put, it's the story of Dumbo's magic feather, that seemingly gives the bearer amazing skills. This wouldn't have been so bad, save for the fact that the exposition drags on in parts, the action gets a bit tedious, and the twist kind of soured all the build up for me. I can't really explain more without spoiling the ending, but bottom line, if you want the lesson of believing in yourself done better, just watch "Dumbo".ANTS: A man murders his wife, then tries to hide the evidence from the cops. Pretty solid story, although be warned; there is ALOT of graphic scenes described in this, as well as extremely bad language. Definitely NOT for the squeamish.YOUR LAST BREATH: A mysterious new business opens up in town, and a nosy reporter tries to get to the bottom of it. Much like "Truth or Consequences", this is basically a retread of the classic episode, "What you Need", only not as good. The twist gives next to no explanation of what's going on, leaving me just as confused as the main characterFAMILY MAN: A brown-nosing middle manager finally gets his comeuppance. I think this story was supposed to teach the lesson of caring more for your family than your job, but that moral kind of got muddled up in the twist that was more weird than anything else.THE GOOD NEIGHBOR: A racist man tries to get rid of his "out of this world" next door neighbors. Much like "Chance of a Ghost", this one started off great, and built to an exciting climax....only for the twist to sour everything and make me put the book down and actually say out loud, "what the f**k???" A great story that gets ruined by an ending that literally comes out of no where.And finally, EL MOE: An episode script by Rod Serling that never made it to air, about an unlikely Mexican freedom fighter. Rather than having someone rewrite it into a story format, the writing is just a quick summary of what would've happened in the episode, as if this were a pitch being mailed in to some executives. The idea sounded promising (basically, it's the plot of "The Three Amigos", but done seriously), but I think it would've been better to actually write it in a novel format with character development and dialogue and stuff, rather than just skimming through what sounds like a summary on Wikipedia.Ultimately, I give the entire book as a whole three stars. Some stories were better than others, with one or two diamonds, as well as one or two serious duds. But overall, if you're a fan of any incarnation of the Twilight Zone, definitely check this anthology out. It's worth at least one read through.

Both this and the second book in the set are masterful collections that I believe Rod would have endorsed whole-heartedly. While I don't love every single story, I think there was a greater percentage in this anthology that I enjoyed than in most others. The stories run from funny, to dark and suspenseful, to offbeat, to morality plays, to straight sci-fi, and so on. There really is something for everyone. I highly recommend both books in this set to anyone who was a fan of the Twilight Zone. Each story has a little written intro, and if you try just a little, you can hear Rod Serling reading them to you. Don't forget to get both books for the full experience.

I bought this book because I am a major TZ fan. Obviously I have not only the original series on DVD but the 80s version and the 2000 version (All which I have reviewed). I also will purchase any reasonably priced books that come out called 'The Twilight Zone'. I have to say right away that I have great respect for Carol Serling. She has been a part of keeping this series alive many years after its original cancellation. However, I also must say right away that I truly do not agree with many of her decisions on what makes a story a 'Twilight Zone' story. Just because a story may have an ending you may not have seen coming does not necessarily make it a TZ story. Cases in point: 'Ants' is a good story with an interesting ending. But it is MUCH more an 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' story than TZ. 'A Haunted House of her Own', 'Vampin' Down the Avenue' and 'The Art of the Miniature' seem to fit 'Night Gallery'. I have no idea why she even bothered to include 'On the Road'. It makes no sense at all and isn't even very interesting to me. "Truth or Consequences' seems to read way too much like another TZ television episode "The Hitchhiker". I would say ' The Wrong Room' was the closest she came to a real TZ story as well as 'The Soldier He Needed to Be'. The story 'Benchwarmer', 'Puowaina', The Street that Forgot Time' and 'A Chance of a Ghost' are teetering on TZ or not so I'm okay with them. I also believe that it was appropriate to begin the series of stories with 'Genesis' and end it with a Rod Serling story 'El Moe'. I could go on with the other stories but it would be too redundant. Please realize that I am not trashing the book at all. I read it in one day so, for me, it says a lot. I just do not see many of them as TZ material. But you can judge that for yourself. I will be purchasing the sequel of stories 'More Stories from the TZ' as well to see how well they fit the fifth dimension of the TZ also. I'll wait and see for myself. In the meantime, it's a fun book to read overall and I enjoyed reading most of these 19 short stories.

The mind finds ways to go places that the body can'tLeave your doubts at the door of THE TWILIGHT ZONE

These short stories were wonderful, one really gave me the creeps well worth the read, so sorry rod sterling isn't around anymore

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!

Enjoyed this walk back through time. Always loved the Twilight Zone.

I have to say I was pretty disappointed by this anthology of stories, it read like a very distinctly mixed bag.19 original stories on the 50th Anniversary of The Twilight Zone, prefaced by an introductory note and followed by closing statement, similar to Rod Serling's narration at the beginning and end of each of the classic black and white episodes. Carol Serling has written an introduction and there are notes on both the authors and Carol Serling, editor, also.My favourite stories include, Genesis by David Hagberg, which actually situates the Twilight Zone itself within The Twilight Zone, if that makes sense, its a great story, The Art of the Miniature by Earl Hamner, which of all the stories I felt read most like a classic episode of The Twilight Zone (or proposal/plan for one at least) and The Wrong Room by R. L. Stine but really just because I thought this was a good R. L. Stine story. That the closing story is one by Rod Serling was a really nice touch.The authors are writing stories in tribute to The Twilight Zone obviously and so are probably affecting a certain style of writing and story telling etc. sometimes this works fine and sometimes it does not, some of the stories I did not like much and felt like skipping through but finished them for the sake of completeness. There are still available Rod Serling anthologies and Twilight Zone related novels/novelisations for sale on Amazon. I would recommend them in the first instance, if you have read them you may want to read this one but I think they are better.

In the original Twilight Zone TV series, Rod Serling used a pseudo-science-fiction premise as a vehicle to explore controversial ideas. In the more conventional TV drama setting of the time, he wouldn't have been able to present the type of stories about racism, war, totalitarianism, and the dangers of the mob mentality as candidly and as effectively as he did. Twilight Zone was an innovative and groundbreaking show that had the guts to take chances and challenge the mediocrity of mainstream entertainment.Unfortunately over the past five decades, the show has been lumped in with other generic horror/thriller fare, mostly by mainstream audiences who have never seen or understood it. Everyone knows the spooky theme music by Marius Constant and will hum it whenever the power goes out or anytime they are experiencing a moment of déjà vu. This is case-in-point of the average joe's perception of what Twilight Zone was - cute little horror ditties with "just because" twist endings. Most of the contributors to this anthology, put together in honour of the show's 50th Anniversary by Serling's widow Carol Serling, represent that layman's take with boring, inconsequential, and forgettable tales that do nothing to challenge the reader. I would be shocked if some of these writers have even seen a single episode of the show.Thankfully this is not true of every story here. "Puowaina" by Alan Brennert, a frequent contributor to the 1980s version of the Twilight Zone series, is by far the best story in the book. It is a about a young Hawaiian girl in 1918 who can reluctantly foresee the deaths of others. Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn's story, "Benchwarmer", about what becomes of a child's imaginary friend when he's no longer needed is also moving and engaging. Most interestingly, the story is told from the point of view of the imaginary friend.Earl Hamner is the only writer represented here with ties to the original series of which he wrote eight episodes. His contribution, "The Art of the Miniature" has a predictable ending and seems to be driven more out of a passion for bonsai gardening than telling a great story but it is a welcome inclusion to the book nonetheless. Robert J. Serling's "Ghost Writer", a short piece about an exchange between the American President and his speechwriter on what tone they should take when discussing a certain controversial war with the American public is also a pleasant stand-out. This story, written by Rod Serling's older brother features a clever ending and I guarantee that it doesn't go where you think it's going.One story that took me by surprise as being better than I expected is "The Soldier He Needed to Be" by Jim DeFelice. I saved this one until the end because a story about a soldier in Afghanistan whose combat effectiveness is improved when he mysteriously receives a new iPod, sounded kind of goofy to me. It's actually better than it sounds. DeFelice primarily writes military fiction but is probably best known for writing "American Sniper", the biography of Navy SEAL, Chris Kyle.R. L. Stine's "The Wrong Room", "Torn Away" by Joe R. Lansdale, and "Family Man" by Laura Lippman all have intriguing premises and start off strong but they fall apart by their respective third acts. All three writers had really great ideas but seemed kind of stumped on how to resolve them. For example, in "The Wrong Room", a man checks into a hotel and due to a series of odd events, decides that he must have died and gone to hell. Interesting right? The story ends disappointingly. The same goes for the latter two.Other noteworthy contributions here are "On the Road" by William F. Wu, "Vampin' Down the Avenue" by Timothy Zahn, and "The Street that Forgot Time" by Deborah Chester. These too, start off interesting but lose steam after a while.And now for the awful: The remaining stories are dreck, unworthy of the Twilight Zone moniker. Kelley Armstrong's haunted house comedy entitled, "A Haunted House of Her Own" might make great filler for an issue of Woman's World if they should ever decide to do a Halloween issue but it has about as much in common with the Twilight Zone as it does with The Cosby Show. Terrible. "A Chance of a Ghost" by Lucia St. Clair Robson is more chick lit masquerading as speculative fiction. It is about a woman who buys a haunted walking stick off of eBay and develops a personal kinship with the Patrick Swayze-like ghost of the man who owned it. Did I mention he died tragically? St. Clair Robson should have submitted this to Oprah's magazine. Or maybe she did and it was rejected. Both of these stories represent how the Twilight Zone has been misunderstood and misinterpreted in recent memory. 156 episodes of the series and not a single one was about ghosts or haunted houses. "Your Last Breath, Inc." by John Miller is another eye-roller, this one about a cat who may or may not be the owner of an unconventional business. Boring. "Ants", a Tad Williams story about a man who murders his wife with an axe and goes on a cleaning spree afterwards reads like something more suitable for Tales from the Crypt than Twilight Zone.David Hagberg's "Genesis" is a lame attempt to parallel Rod Serling's combat experience with his inspiration for many of Twilight Zone's eventual scripts. The story follows a young Corporal Serling from one firefight to another after which he gets ideas for such Twilight Zone stories as "Five Characters in Search of an Exit." If Hagberg had done his homework he would have realized that Serling didn't come up with the original idea for "Five Characters...", he based it on a short story called "The Depository" by Marvin Petal.Carole Nelson Douglas' "Truth or Consequences" and Whitley Strieber's "The Good Neighbor" are uniquely bad in the sense that tried a little too hard to fit the mould of Serling's show. "Truth or Consequences" is a blatant rewrite of the episode, "The Hitchhiker" from the original series. This story, originally based on an Orson Welles radio play, is about a motorist who keeps seeing the same hitchhiker on the side of the road. No matter how far and how fast she goes, the hitchhiker is always ahead of her. What's odd is that Douglas has passed this story off as her own but has made no attempt to make it original. It even has the same inevitable conclusion as the original story. Am I the only one that noticed this? "The Good Neighbor" is more "alien paranoia" from Strieber that starts off promisingly but becomes laughable. He's obviously using aliens from outer space as a metaphor for different races and cultures like Serling did but in a less interesting and much more blatant fashion.This collection is disappointing. It's unfortunate that Richard Matheson and George Clayton Johnson, both surviving writers from the original series at the time of this book's conception (Matheson has since passed away), did not contribute any material here. Their presence could have raised the creative bar considerably. If you want to devour stories that evoke the essence of the original Twilight Zone series, the best material to read is any short story collection by Richard Matheson or Charles Beaumont. Matheson and Beaumont were senior contributors the show and most of their scripts were based on their own short stories they had published previous to the show's premiere. They have several more stories that would have made amazing episodes had they been produced that are waiting to be discovered. Their works are much easier to come by now with the advent of services such as Kindle and iTunes. Check them out and avoid this one.

Excellent stories. Exactly what fans of Twilight Zone would expect.

bought as a gift