Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary

by Carol Serling (Editor)

An original anthology celebrating Rod Serling’s landmark television series When it first aired in 1959, The Twilight Zone was nothing less than groundbreaking television. Freed from much of the censors’ strict oversight because of the show’s classification as “science fiction,” the 156 filmed episodes explored powerful and moving human themes—love, hate, pride, jealousy, terror—in their own unique style.The show has since inspired two revivals, as well as fiction, comic books, and magazines, and even a pinball game and theme park rides. Just as important, it sparked the imaginations of countless writers, filmmakers, and fans around the world, and is considered a seminal show for broadening the horizons of television. This anthology will be an all-new collection of stories written in the vein of the original television show. 2009 is the fiftieth anniversary of The Twilight Zone’s first broadcast year. Edited and featured and introduction by Carol Serling, the anthology will include brand new stories by science fiction and fantasy luminaries such as Whitley Strieber, Loren D. Estleman, Joe Lansdale, R. L. Stine, Timothy Zahn, and Peter S. Beagle, as well as writers from the original series, Earl Hammer and Harlan Ellison®, all in honor of Rod’s incredible vision.

Genres: Short Stories, Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Mystery

448 pages, Hardcover

First published August 12, 2009

About the author

Born in 1929 as Carolyn Kramer. She is an actress. Died in 2020.

Reviews

[Sandi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grew up on Twilight Zone repeats. I have found that almost everything in life can be related to some episode of the series. The stories never get old. I can watch SyFy's annual Twilight Zone marathon and love it even if I've seen each episode dozens of time. Part of the greatness of the series was never knowing what was coming next. Some episodes were poignant, some comedic, some scary. There was a bit of everything in that show.

When I saw Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary in the bookstores last year, I really wanted to read it. So, when I saw it at the library, I immediately checked it out.

I really hate it when a book doesn't live up to my expectations. This anthology truly sucks. The first story was unreadable. Three were good, but not great. The rest just fell flat. It was like each of the authors just tried to get a story in that had a "twilight zone" twist to it. There's nothing here that has the heart of the stories in the original series. I find it notable that there isn't a contribution from Richard Matheson here. As far as I know, he's still writing and he contributed some of the most memorable episodes of the original series.

Although many of the writers contributing to this anthology are fairly well known, these are clearly not their best works. The writing of most of these stories seems quite amateurish and unpolished. It's really quite sad.

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Haunted House of Her Own by Kelley Armstrong ★★★★★
Lulled into complacency by an average Amityville Horror knockoff I was startled by the vicious ending. Nice one Ms. Armstrong, I should have had more faith. This is my second time reading this story and I enjoyed it all the same.

Torn Away by Joe R. Lansdale ★★★★☆
Face changing, witchcraft, immortality, monstrous shadows - this was a fun one. Almost an episode of X-Files, but not as good as their spooky shadow episode - Soft Light.

Vampin’ Down the Avenue by Timothy Zahn ★★★★☆
Just a dab will do you. In the spirit of Death Becomes Her, Timothy Zahn shows how a little vampirism can really come in handy. The rest is a comedy of errors with a twist!

Ants by Tad Williams ★★★★☆
In a moment of rage, a man brutally kills his wife. Their ant infestation, the source of their final argument, actually helps him clean up the crime scene - and indict him.

The Art of the Miniature by Earl Hammer ★★★★☆
Ooh. Never mess with someone’s obsession! I loved it. I especially liked that the protagonist dismissed murder entirely as proper revenge. No, no, the matter was handled with artistic punity.

Benchwarmer by Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn ★★★½☆
An invisible childhood friend waits in loneliness until he is needed again.

Puowaina by Alan Brennert ★★★☆☆
”When I think of my father, I think of fire.”
I enjoyed the peek at turn of the century Hawaiian life. The way the story describes second sight is what I’ve always thought it would be like. Useless if you have heroic aspirations, but if you are clever and secretive, it could be personally divine.

The Street That Time Forgot by Deborah Chester ★★★☆☆
I liked the dog love and the frantic pacing but these conspiracies of little sense are overrated.

The Soldier He Needed To Be by Jim DeFelice ★★★☆☆
A clumsy soldier receives an iPod in the mail that gives him the courage to be his best.

Family Man by Laura Lippman ★★★☆☆
An asshole family man discovers that even without the family he would still be an asshole.

The Good Neighbor by Whitley Strieber ★★★☆☆
I don’t know what to say about that. At first, it was a story about a greedy bank crushing a neighborhood, then alien racism, then revenge, then it got properly weird. Strieber is good with haunting imagery, too good really. I wish I had not read The Hunger and there is only one other book I can say that about.

The Wrong Room by R. L. Stein ★★½☆☆
Cruel and sad. Death of a salesman.

Ghost Writer by Robert J. Sterling ★★☆☆☆
It added a little something to realize it was Abraham Lincoln, but still a nothing little story.

On the Road by William F. Wu ★★☆☆☆
Awe… wait what?!?! You can’t give me a whole story about desire and destiny then end it with pragmatism!

Your Last Breath, Inc. by John Miller ★★☆☆☆
A cat selling stolen last breaths through exotic models squatting. Yes, it does sound more like an SNL skit than The Twilight Zone. But it reminded me a little of Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye (1985).

Truth or Consequences by Carole Nelson Douglas ★★☆☆☆
I should have DNF’d. The story dragged but I thought something shocking would occur. Nothing.

A Chance of a Ghost by Lucia St. Clair Robson ★★☆☆☆
Twilight Zone romances are unsatisfying.

El Moe by Rod Sterling ★½☆☆☆
That was just the rough draft of a story and should not have been published.

Genesis by David Hagberg DNF
That was an unsuccessful patchwork of a story.

I finished 18/19 stories averaging 2.97 stars. That is a low three on anthology I was certain would be better.

[Sassy Sarah Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars! I really enjoyed this collection and I'm so pleased with a majority of the stories. Review to come!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's difficult to recapture the spirit of something that was so much of its own time. It could be done, I think...Forward-thinking yet haunted by the (show's) past. Kinda weird, kinda meta. Of course aliens and of course robots. Something like Black Mirror, maybe...

These stories were painfully predictable, set (mostly) in modern day, and unified by the kitschy device of emulating Serling's voice at the opening and closing of each story. At one point, I got irrationally angry because I was reading the book on a dark and stormy night and yet none of the stories were living up to that mood. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

[Cathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could hear Mr. Serling's voice, I could see the stories on my little black and white tv. It was just like watching one of my favorite shows, The Twilight Zone.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved The Twilight Zone when I was a kid and was ecstatic when I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway...

And that's pretty much where my excitement ended. You know how some things should be experienced visually rather than written? This is one of those times. Each story seems even more trite, more forced, and more forgettable than the preceding one. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure a lot of the current plot lines were already used in the original series.

With so many talented up and coming writers as well as the prolific, seasoned ones, you would have thought Ms. Serling would have been a little more open with her submissions and a lot more selective with her contributors.

In fact, out of the total 19 stories, there was only three that I didn't roll me eyes at, verbally abuse, or seriously consider writing the author and asking them to please, stop. So, thank you Mr. Stine, Mr. Wu and Ms.Chester for making this book sufferable. That being said, since I love my sanity more than I like to be thorough, I am not going to go through each and every story and dissect it. Life is just far too short.

[Evans Light]

My son spotted this book in his middle school library and thought his old man would be interested.
He was right.

I'll be reviewing these stories as I work my way through the book, not necessarily in order.

Star rating for each story is on a scale of one to five.

** The Wrong Room, by RL Stine

A salesman checks into a hotel for a convention and things seem strange.
I decided to start this book off with this story simply because I've never read anything by RL Stine before. I was too old for Goosebumps when they were released, and the few times I glanced at them when my kids brought them home left me unimpressed by the writing I witnessed inside.
But perhaps I shouldn't judge this author on books written for kids?
Sad to say, this story wasn't much better. Spartan vocabulary, the most threadbare of plots, and implausibility level set to eleven is what you'll get with his contribution to this anthology.
Maybe first impressions are sometimes correct. I doubt I'll give his works another glance in the future.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 with the American public when discussing a certain controversial war 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 times. 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 they 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 (they have 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 to 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 by you. Their works are much easier to come by now with the advent of services such as Kindle and iTunes. Check those out and avoid this one.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of The Twilight Zone TV series, so I was pretty excited to read this book. Unfortunately, I found the collection of stories to be a bit uneven. I really enjoyed A Haunted House of Her Own, Benchwarmer, Puowaina, The Street That Time Forgot, The Wrong Room and The Soldier He Needed to Be. However, the rest of the stories were pretty forgettable and quite a few of them seemed a little forced.

[Don Gillette · Rating 3 out of 5]

While nowhere near as good as the original Twilight Zone: Complete Stories by Rod Serling, these stories are definitely worth a look.
As with most anthologies, it's hit-and-miss. Some of the tales hit the mark perfectly and others were just exercises in "lemme see if I can write like Rod."
The selections written by Earl Hamner, Joe R. Lansdale, R.L. Stine, and Deborah Chester were stellar and the rest were... well... just the rest.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it first aired in 1959, The Twilight Zone was nothing less than groundbreaking television. Freed from much of the censors' strict oversight because of the show's classification as "science fiction," the 156 filmed episodes explored powerful and moving human themes—love, hate, pride, jealousy, terror—in their own unique style.The show has since inspired two revivals, as well as fiction, comic books, and magazines, and even a pinball game and theme park rides. Just as important, it sparked the imaginations of countless writers, filmmakers, and fans around the world, and is considered a seminal show for broadening the horizons of television.

This anthology will be an all-new collection of stories written in the vein of the original television show. 2009 is the fiftieth anniversary of The Twilight Zone's first broadcast year. Edited and featured and introduction by Carol Serling, the anthology will include brand new stories by science fiction and fantasy luminaries such as Whitley Strieber, Loren D. Estleman, Joe Lansdale, R. L. Stine, Timothy Zahn, and Peter S. Beagle, as well as writers from the original series, Earl Hammer and Harlan Ellison®, all in honor of Rod's incredible vision.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

======== Het boek krijgt 4 sterren ========
Ik heb dit boek als Engelse luisterboek gehoord. En het is leuk om weer terug te luisteren. De stemmen en de geluiden. Je kan niet bedenken dat het vroeger alleen maar op deze manier ging. Zonder het beeld. Je gebruikt meer je fantasie. Door zijn originaliteit (meerdere stemmen en acties) en de verhalen terugplaatsend in de tijd wanneer het is uitgebracht is dit 4 sterren waard.

Inhoudelijk is het moeilijk te vertellen vooral omdat het om meerdere korte verhalen gaat. Kleine short stories van ongeveer 20-30 minuten. Sommige verhalen zijn moeilijk te volgen. Andere verhalen zijn juist heel makkelijk. De verschillende acteurs maakt het leuk. En hierdoor heb je ook plezier, juist omdat het korte verhalen zijn.

[Diana Iozzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child, I absolutely loved "The Twilight Zone", but I'm only twenty one, so you could imagine it's different than loving the show as I grew up in the insane political and world climate that the show was written in. With the fear of space travel, tales of the Vietnam war, new presidents, and great new technology, "The Twilight Zone" embraced the current fears, tried to reimagine them, and to spook Americans even further. I had completely lost my wi-fi for two days straight, so why not go visit the library and work from there? While I was there, I had noticed this in the science fiction / film section, and had to discover what this was about. This collection was compiled by Rod Serling's wife, Carol, who had found short stories she loved and thought her husband would have loved in his lifetime. We also are treated to a story from their son, Rod's older brother, and an unpublished, never adapted treatment of an episode he never used for any of his shows.

There were some stories that I didn't find as interesting, but that does happen with short story collections. My absolute favorite stories in this collection were: "A Haunted House of Her Own", "Benchwarmer" (which totally broke my heart about three times), "Puowaina", "Vampin' Down the Alley" (the concept is better than the execution, but I still enjoyed it), "The Street that Forgot Time", "The Wrong Room", and "The Soldier He Needed to Be".

These stories were in no way as fantastic as the original series, but I really enjoyed them and enjoyed the typical "Twilight Zone" type twist at the end of most. They felt authentic and they felt reminiscent.

[Lou Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this short story collection in the bookshop in Disney's Hollywood Studios at the start of this year. This was instead of the usual stationery and cakes we end up with from The Writer's Stop. The book is a thoroughly enjoyable collection of spooky and strange tales. Of the 19 stories, 11 of them were entertaining whereas the other 8 were a tad dull. Although none were an awful read. My favourites were a good old fashioned ghost story, "A Haunted House of her own". "Benchwarmer" you can imagine a little like a short episode of Toy Story. And probably "The Street that Forgot Time", which I imagined as set in one of the many South London housing estates.
All these tales would have made great Twilight Zone episodes, shame Rod Serling is no longer around to see that through.

[Ashley (Tiny Navajo Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have a craving for the weird, supernatural, unnatural, the zany, or the just plain unexplainable, then The Twilight Zone is for you. And I don't mean the old TV show, those that is good too. What I mean is this book, with 19 new original stories for the terror lover in you.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

rod serling sweetie i am SO sorry

[Khalid Hajeri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given "Twilight Zone", a book edited by Carol Serling, as a birthday present. Not knowing what to expect since I have not watched the television series at the time of this writing, I dove into this assorted collection of short stories with heavy curiosity on my mind. I was intrigued and somewhat spellbound as I read through the stories.

"Twilight Zone" features 19 short stories written by several famous authors such as R.L. Stine, Deborah Chester, and others. Each story centres on the bizarre and the surreal in the seemingly typical lives and professions of people. Whether the focus is on a man moving into a new neighbourhood favouring abnormal routines above all else, a soldier using a compact music player that plays strange songs with noticeable outward effects in battle, or a selfish office boss suddenly finding his family vanishing, the stories are impactful in their weirdness and creativity.

A few of the stories, however, are a little too short and some with rich plots that are not taken to their full potential. Understandably the authors were only writing short stories for this book, but some of the stories deserved more depth in the themes. My guess is the authors of those particular stories meant for certain things to remain mysteries and up to the reader to decide what happens in the end. But this leaves reading craving for an outcome that ties the loose ends of the story. On the other hand, the remaining stories are well written even if they end on a strange note; at least readers are given a chance to read those endings that are dark, quirky, bittersweet, or a combination of all. They fit the overall tone of the book better than the incomplete-feeling stories.

I had fun reading the majority of the stories in "Twilight Zone". Despite the presence of the weaker open-ended stories, the book is fascinatingly readable and great for those night readers looking for a collection of chilling stories that twist the idea of the normal world as we know it to be. A fair warning: Some stories contain strong violence and gore, and strong language which makes this book more suitable for adult readers.

[Katharina Manassis · Rating 4 out of 5]

These 19 tales were commissioned for the 50th Anniversary of the famous television program, and written in its spirit. They certainly capture the eerie, other-worldly aspect of the program that twists reality just enough to keep the reader intrigued. As in most multi-authored works though, some are better than others. The characters are sometimes a bit two-dimensional, as the quirkiness of the story takes centre stage. Still, an enjoyable read for fans of the macabre.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it is fun to read a collection of short stories after a large novel. I enjoyed these some more than others. As a fan of the Twilight Zone show, I felt compelled to hum the theme: do-do-do-do, at the end of each story. An anthology introduces new authors to sample. This was a good read.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of anything Twilight Zone and will binge watch the shows whenever the marathons are on. I spotted this book at my local library and knew I had to check it out. This wasn’t a typical read for me since science fiction and super natural thrillers, and even short stories are usually not my first reading choice. But seeing as how it’s the Twilight Zone, I decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised by most of the stories. My all time favorites being “Benchwarmer” by Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn, and “The Street that Forgot Time” by Deborah Chester. I initially tried reading this in sequential order but found that skipping around was much more enjoyable. All-in-all a fun read.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the stories are fine as far as the Theme goes, after finished reading, i realised that it's been time well-wasted. Probably more impressionable for younger audience or those who are not familiar with the genre.

3 stars for the book contents, 1 star for value - it is like watching Scary Movie, or stand-up comedy, or watching soap - the enjoyment is there while involved in the activity, but soon gone thereafter.


- "A haunted house of her own" by kelly armstrong is good. my first reading by this author and am impressed. it's always a pleasure to discover new authors.

[Jorge Rosas · Rating 2 out of 5]

19 short histories, it felt longer than it should, most of them felt like chapters from the TV series, some were just plain bizarre, a few impressive and some other boring. A very mixed selection with the supernatural touch that was so characteristic of the Twilight Zone present in most of the tales. Every single tale is completely different from each other, and the final history written and rescued from someone very important for the original show.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's so hard to rate an anthology because some stories will be good and some not so much. Most of these were pretty good. I don't think there were any I really hated. I'd actually give this 3 1/2 stars but I rounded down because the copy editing is pretty bad.

[Diana Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories in reverse order:

El Moe
⭐️⭐
Sounds like the plot of The Three Amigos - although there's no way Rod Serling would have seen this movie since he died in 1975. Maybe THAT is the Twilight Zone twist?!

The Good Neighbor
⭐️⭐️
An old story with an unpredictable, but unsatisfying, ending. Mostly, we have little reason to care about what happens to the main character, Jake.

A Family Man
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Good use of the "be careful what you wish for" theme that comes in many TZ stories. It takes a little background knowledge (of the pop-culture variety) to fully "get" this story's moral/meaning, but I think there's also enough explanation that the uniformed reader will understand.

Your Last Breath, Inc
⭐️⭐️
Eh. Nothing really Twilight Zone-esque about it. Very straightforward. Characters are caricatures- including a wise-guy police officer (in San Francisco?) that seemed out of place.

Ants
⭐️⭐️⭐
Not a fit in the TZ. The twist at the end had nothing TZ about it. A pretty bleak story to boot.

The Soldier He Needed To Be
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Personal taste that this wasn't a story for me (war story of fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan). Story worked although a bit longer than needed.

Ghost Writer
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one works well as a short story, maybe not Twilight Zone material- and it certainly couldn't be a TV episode of TZ. You'll have to read it to see why! (Although, maybe it could… with the right camera blocking.)

The Wrong Room
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Was looking forward to seeing what R.L. Stine would write for this collection, and I was not disappointed. At first, thought I had it figured out… then, in true TZ fashion, learned I was wrong!

The Street That Forgot Time
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Good short story that could be a Twilight Zone, or Black Mirror, episode. Nice twist on what keeps Nick from going under like the others in his neighborhood.

Vampin' Down the Avenue
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
That was a fun one- and a good fit for TZ.

What's holding me off of 5 stars? The treatment of women as disposable, with the MC goal to "score" and get them "under the sheets." Same story could have been told minus those remarks. MC could still be a womanizer... it's more the dated language than the character motivation that bothered me.

Torn Away
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This short story reminds me of another story or tv episode that I can't put my finger on. I thought it was the episode of Jordan Peele's Twilight Zone reboot- A. Traveler- but after rewatching that episode, the only similarity is the involvement of law enforcement.

Puowaina
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm looking for something specific that puts the story in the Twilight Zone universe- this was not it. But, a decent short story.

Truth or Consequences
⭐️⭐
Closer to fitting the TZ world, but lacking in development.

Benchwarmer
⭐️⭐️
Trying too hard to be other-worldly and magical that it doesn't have much charm at all.

The Art of the Minature
⭐️⭐️
Wraps up and presents the TZ twist way too quickly.

On the Road
⭐️⭐️
Eh. Not much of a TZ feel. Had lots of lead-up with very little pay off in the end.

A Haunted House of Her Own
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Perfectly creepy throughout with a good TZ twist at the end.

Genesis
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I see where they're trying to go with this one. The pay off in the end is almost worth muddling through the story to get there. Almost.

[Chuck Neumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Twilight Zone" is a book of short stories in the Twilight Zone mode, edited by Carol Serling (Rod's widow) and included works from R.L. Stine, Earl Hamner, Alan Brennert, Kelley Armstrong, Timothy Zahn and others. Like most such books, some of the stories I liked, some were fair and some I disliked. Only a few would really make good Twilight Zone shows, a few might be better on Alfred Hitchcock Presents or Night Gallery. My favorite story was "Ghost Writer" by Robert Serling (Rod's brother), but it would not make a good episode on the TZ for the twist at the end wouldn't work if you could see the characters. A story by Rod Serling himself, found by Carol, was good but seemed more of an outline of a longer story rather than a finished story. Some others I liked included "A Haunted House of her Own", "Benchwarmer", "Puowaina", "Torn Away" (this would make a TZ episode), "Chance of a Ghost": and "The street that time forgot". A few were a complete waste of time, but at least with short stories it is not that much time. One such story started out as a story of a man who will do anything to get ahead, then discovers his house might be foreclosed and he can't sell it because alien beings that look like black grasshoppers moved into the neighborhood making property values crash. He burns the alien's house, and discovers they are angels and he is reborn as an alien grasshopper. I'm glad it wasn't a longer story. All in all I enjoyed the book and recommend it to people who enjoy fantasy stories.

[Jeff Richey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Twilight Zone, 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary, is one of the most fun reads I’ve had in a while. It is hard to touch the quality of a Stephen King anthology, but this one comes close, and maybe surpasses them in the quality and diversity of storytelling.

There are some great ones within. You know there are going to be good stories with names like R.L. Stine, famed for Goosebumps, and three Serling family members in the mix. There are some good, old-fashioned ghost stories, to include a haunted house. The story, “Ants,” by Tad Williams is distantly reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe’s A Tell Tale Heart. I think my favorite was “The Street that Forgot Time” by Deborah Chester. What would you do if everyone in your neighborhood started to disappear, except for a few oddly behaved people and the one new move-in to the neighborhood? I also really liked Family Man by Laura Lippman. A man with hidden aspects of his life wakes up to a life in which those aspects are no longer hidden. He is no longer married. He is no longer a father. He has the what-if life with an affair, corruption at work, desperation. Then, he wakes up again to his old life, but does he? Some of the other life has bled into the old one. I thought this one was the most page-turner of the collection.

If you are a fan of the television series and horror short stories, in general, this one must be on the reading list. Enjoy, with a good cup of coffee.

[Marvin Fender · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of short stories was a real surprise and a welcome addition to the Twilight Zone archive. The better part of these stories were written in the true Serling essence and spirit. They are very good stories and I enjoyed them immensely. I hope Mrs. Serling may continue to bring together more anthologies such as this one. To mention only a few, I really liked "On the Road" by William F. Wu, "Truth or Consequences" by Carole Nelson Douglas, "Ants" by Tad Williams and "Your Last Breath, Inc." by John Miller. Truly in the spirit of The Twilight Zone. Thanks too all the contributors to this book, you brought me a great deal of pleasurable reading.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a 3.5 stars. I do have to say I have only seen a couple of episodes of the old series (they're hard to get nowadays), but the ones I've managed to see have a rather special eerie quality that is hard to reproduce. Most of the stories in the book are actually very good, there's no denying that, but not all of them are eerie enough. Some are truly amazing and very Twilighty, like 'Torn Away' which was probably my favourite, but others while with a good amount of Scifi or suspenseful stories, they were still missing that peculiar touch that was very characteristic of the Twilight Zone.
Regardless, there's probably a story for everyone in this anthology so it's definitely worth a try.

[Caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good miss-match mashup of stories. Most were pretty good. There were a few I wasn't into and a few I really liked. This book definitely has me wanting to see the old tv series now and see what else these brains have cooked up. Interesting, thought-provoking, creepy, out-there and overall a great time. I enjoyed reading this and could hardly put it down at times. Great for anytime and anywhere. Just don't read it in the wee hours at the deserted laundromat. You might start getting some crazy ideas. He he. Totally enjoy!

[Elaine Cline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not a huge fan of short stories, but this book intrigued me. Published as part of the 50th year anniversary of the debut broadcast of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, it's a collection of 19 short stories. The collection was a mixed bag for me-- I liked A Haunted House of Her Own, The Art of the Miniature, Benchwarmer, Torn Away, A Chance of Ghost, and The Wrong Room. These short stories had ambiance, eeriness, or plot twists that fit in nicely with the classic Twilight Zone stories. The rest of the stories range were, for me at least, forgettable.

[Carson Fredriksen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like many anthologies, some stories definitely hit their mark more than others but I still found myself really enjoying the book as a whole

The addition of an opening and closing narration text really makes it feel like you're watching some lost episodes of the show and made this Twilight Zone happy!

While every one will have their thoughts on which is the best story, the ones I personally recommend reading are: A Haunted House of Her Own, The Art of the Miniature, Benchwarmer, Puowaina, The Street that Forgot Time and The Wrong Room.