leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (08/24/85)
TWILIGHT ZONE: THE ORIGINAL STORIES edited by Martin H. Greenberg et al
Avon, 1985, $8.95.
A book review by Mark R. Leeper
Rod Serling had an eye for a good short fantasy story. He had to.
Week after week he had to tell the American public a good story, and he
usually succeeded. THE TWILIGHT ZONE was a showcase for the best science
fiction and fantasy writers of the previous decades. Writers like Richard
Matheson, Charles Beaumont, Jerome Bixby, Damon Knight, and Ray Bradbury
were the sources for the better segments of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Thirty of
these source stories have been collected by Martin Greenberg, Richard
Matheson, and Charles Waugh. It seems a bit self-serving that eight of the
stories and the introduction are by Matheson, but then perhaps second only
to Serling himself, Richard Matheson was the strongest creative influence on
the better seasons of the series. The selected stories are spotty and a
little uneven. On one hand, Bixby's "It's a Good Life" is a very fine story
and it is my choice for the best episode of the series. Then there's the
over-rated "To Serve Man." I was eleven when I saw it and even then I knew
the ending didn't make sense. Matheson's "Steel" is a bitter mood piece
which echoes Serling's REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT. Matheson's "Little Girl
Lost" deftly combines science fiction and horror. These are all stories
from more memorable segments and now it is pretty tough to read them without
picturing the TV version. At thirty cents a piece in paperback they are an
expensive souvenir of the series, but it is a collection that has been
needed for years.
Mark R. Leeper
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