In
which we take a closer look at each issue of the magazine. For our capsule
history, go here.
Volume
2, number 1 (April, 1982)
First Anniversary Issue
Cover
art: Kevin Larson
TZ
Publications, Inc.
President
& Chairman: S. Edward Orenstein
Secretary/Treasurer:
Sidney Z. Gellman
Executive
Vice-Presidents: Leon Garry, Eric
Protter
Executive
Publisher: S. Edward Orenstein
Publisher:
Leon Garry
Associate
Publisher/Contributing Editor: Carol
Serling
Editorial
Director: Eric Protter
Editor:
T.E.D. Klein
Managing
Editor: Jane Bayer
Assistant
Editors: Steven Schwartz, Robert
Sabat
Contributing
Editors: Gahan Wilson, Robert
Sheckley
Design
Director: Derek Burton
Art
and Studio Production: Georg the
Design Group
Production
Director: Stephen J. Fallon
Controller:
Thomas Schiff
Administrative
Assistant: Doreen Carrigan
Public
Relations Manager: Jeffrey Nickora
Accounting
Manager: Chris Grossman
Circulation
Director: William D. Smith
Circulation
Manager: Janice Graham
Eastern
Circulation Manager: Hank Rosen
Western
Newsstand Consultant: Harry Sommer
Advertising
Manager: Rachel Britapaja
Advertising
Production Manager: Marina Despotakis
Advertising
Representatives: Barney O’Hara &
Associates, Inc.
Contents:
--Publisher’s Letter by Carol Serling
--In the Twilight Zone: One Year Older
by T.E.D. Klein
--A Reunion in the Twilight Zone
--Other Dimensions: Books by Robert
Sheckley and T.E.D. Klein
--Other Dimensions: Screen by Gahan
Wilson
--Other Dimensions: Music by Jack
Sullivan
--TZ Interview: Rod Serling: The Facts
of Life
--“I’ll Be Seeing You” by W.G. Norris
--“The River Styx Flows Upstream” by Dan
Simmons
--“The Seed” by Joseph Bocchi
--TZ Screen Preview: Cat People by Robert Martin
--“The Thing from the Slush” by George
Alec Effinger
--“Old Fillikin” by Joan Aiken
--The Essential Writers: William Hope
Hodgson by Mike Ashley
--“The Voice in the Night” by William
Hope Hodgson
--“Snakes & Ladders” by Ramsey
Campbell
--“Djinn, No Chaser” by Harlan Ellison
--Show-By-Show Guide: TV’s Twilight
Zone, Part Thirteen by Marc Scott Zicree
--Looking Ahead: In the May TZ
Note: this is the first issue which does
not present a Rod Serling teleplay.
--Publisher’s
Letter by Carol Serling
-Carol
Serling returns to the pages of the magazine with another occasional, informal
editorial. The occasion this time is the magazine’s first annual short story
contest. Serling congratulates the winners, offers encouragement to those who
did not win, and promotes the next short story contest offered by the magazine,
including a few suggestions for stories inspired by then-current headlines.
--In
the Twilight Zone: One Year Older by T.E.D. Klein
-Klein
spends most of his editorial space detailing the logistics of the magazine’s
first annual short story contest, including some photos and a humorous cartoon
by Jason Eckhardt (right) displaying the overwhelming nature of receiving two
thousand plus submissions. Klein gives his thoughts on the winners, including the
reason there was a tie for first place, which apparently resulted from the fact
that the contest judges (Robert Bloch, Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, Peter
Straub, and Carol Serling) were allowed to split their votes (a situation
Ellison described as a technicality in his introduction to Dan Simmons’ short
story collection Prayers to Broken
Stones). Klein spends the remainder of
the editorial space in his usual manner, providing capsule biographies of the
magazine’s contributors alongside thumbnail images.
--A
Reunion in the Twilight Zone
-This
two-page feature is a photographic record of a party given at the home of
author Marc Scott Zicree to celebrate the completion of his book The Making of ‘The Twilight Zone,’ which was published by Bantam as The
Twilight Zone Companion later in the
year. Attendees of the party included
such Twilight Zone alumni as
directors Alvin Ganzer and Douglas Heyes, writers Jerry Sohl, Richard Matheson
and John Tomerlin (right), actors John Anderson, Charles Aidman, Nehemiah
Persoff, Murray Matheson, and George Takei. The final image presented is of
Carol Serling and Marc Scott Zicree holding a Twilight Zone cake. This is a wonderful look at a time
when many of the people who made the series were still alive and able to attend
events and give interviews.
--Other
Dimensions: Books by Robert Sheckley and T.E.D. Klein
-Book
review duties are split this issue between Sheckley and Klein. This issue marks
the end of Sheckley’s brief tenure (three issues) as books reviewer, giving way
to Thomas M. Disch with the May, 1982 issue. Here’s a brief look at the books
under review this issue:
Sheckley:
The
Keep by F. Paul Wilson: “It’s a good
tale with plenty of suspense and thrills. My only complaint is with the human
side of the book. The characters are typical rather than individual, and suffer
a loss in believability. I kept on feeling that this well-constructed novel
should have come alive for me more than it did.”
Masques
by Bill Pronzini: “There’s really a
double ending, one the solution to the mysteries Giroux has been going through,
the other a direct outcome of Giroux’s helpless and passive character. The
second ending is even scarier and more true to life than the first.”
Klein:
Creature
Features Movie Guide by John Stanley: Klein gives a long review of this first
of many editions authored by San Francisco-based horror movie host Stanley. Klein
finds fault with much of the production, including the lack of detailed cast
and crew listings, the author’s conservative tastes, the use of puns, and the various
typos and errors in the listings. Klein also manages to pass on one of the
book’s errors, stating that William F. Nolan was the screenwriter on the
exploitation film I Dismember Mama (1972) which was actually written by William
W. Norton. Klein provides a look at artist Kenn Davis’ stylized letters which head each alphabetical chapter, generously quotes from Fritz Leiber’s
introduction to the book, and cautiously recommends the volume for its
exhaustive nature and plethora of startling facts.
--Other
Dimensions: Screen by Gahan Wilson
-The
film on tap this issue is Ghost Story
(1981), adapted by screenwriter Lawrence
D. Cohen from Peter Straub’s 1979
bestseller about an ancient evil which terrorizes a group of old men, The
Chowder Society, who guard a dark secret from their collective past. The film’s
all-star cast includes Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.,
John Houseman, Patricia Neal, Craig Wasson, and Alice Kringe as the evil entity’s
human form, Eva Galli. The film was directed by John Irvin, photographed by
Jack Cardiff, and featured the special makeup effects of Dick Smith. Robert
Sheckley favorably reviewed Straub’s novel in the March, 1981 issue of the
magazine.
-As
usual, Wilson begins his review with a humorous anecdote, this time about the
humors and horrors of advanced film screenings. Of Ghost Story he
writes: “For one thing, Universal, why’d you change the basic idea of the book?
It makes me wonder about you moviemakers sometimes, it really does, why you
spend all that money for a book and then trash its best parts.” Wilson praises
the cast (especially Fred Astaire and Alice Kringe) and the makeup effects of
Dick Smith but faults the film for changes made from the source material,
particularly that of making Eva Galli an actual ghost rather than the
undefined, ancient entity of Straub’s novel. He concludes his review this way: “But
the best thing, Universal, the high point in your movie, is the look Fred
Astaire gives the dying monster – a look unique, I think, in all the long
history of dying monsters in the movies and the looks given them by their
destroyers. Not triumph, this time, not horror, but pity. A long, regretful
look of pity.”
--Other
Dimensions: Music by Jack Sullivan
-Genre
historian Jack Sullivan, author of Elegant
Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood (1978) and editor of The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the
Supernatural (1986), returns with another
installment in his essay series on macabre music. The series will run all the
way through the August, 1981 issue. This continues to be a unique and
impressive series and displays the magazine’s ambitions to be more than a
fiction magazine or a movie review magazine. It is difficult to imagine another
mass-market genre publication at the time which would run this series, much
less at the length Sullivan is allowed in the pages of Twilight Zone. If you have any interest in the dark side of
classical music, I highly recommend consulting this series.
-This
installment finds Sullivan looking at macabre music from composers not
generally known for such work. Here is a quick list of the music Sullivan
covers:
The
Libation Bearers by Darius Milhaud
Fourth
and Sixth Symphonies of Ralph Vaughn Williams
Riders
to the Sea by Ralph Vaughn Williams
“Four
Sea Interludes” by Benjamin Britten
The
Planets by Gustav Holst
Fourth
Symphony of Jean Sibelius
Mathis
der Maler by Paul Hindemith
Concert
Music for Strings and Brass by Paul Hindemith
String
Quartet by Ruth Crawford Seeger
Early
Symphonies of Prokofiev
Sixth
and Seventh Symphonies of Mahler
-Sullivan
also suggests recordings for each selection. Next issue he moves closer to the
contemporary by focusing on the eerie composers of the postwar period.
--TZ
Interview: Rod Serling: The Facts of Life by Linda Brevelle
-This
final interview of Rod Serling was conducted a mere four months before the
writer’s untimely death on June 28, 1975. It first appeared in different form
in Writer’s Digest Magazine (1976) and was included in the 1977 Writer’s
Digest Yearbook. It was further reprinted
in the Writer’s Digest book On
Being a Writer (1989). The interview can
be read in full at the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation.
-This
is Rod Serling’s most famous interview as it has been quoted from endlessly in
books, documentaries, blogs, podcasts, and on social media. Reading it again it
struck me is how terribly tired and depressed Serling sounded. Here was a
beloved writer, a genuine American icon, who appeared to have little
perspective on his cultural value as he is repeatedly self-effacing and humble
to a fault. I think this quality of the interview will pain those who admire
Serling as one would like to believe he left this mortal coil fully aware of
how beloved a figure he was. Nevertheless, the interview does contain many memorable
candid moments from Serling, who gives his thoughts on everything from his
genesis as a writer, his favorites among his works, the key to working with
producers, awards, the ways in which television has changed since the days of
live performance, as well as a number of other topics. Sadly, The Twilight Zone is
little discussed, only garnering a mention in the context of television
censorship. Though it may be painful to read Serling’s self-deprecating
thoughts on his works, this is essential reading for fans.
--“I’ll
Be Seeing You” by W.G. Norris (Tie-first
place short story contest)
Illustrated by Bruce Waldman
“The past was almost close enough to
touch, hidden from him by the thickness of a sheet of paper”
-A
grieving widower discovers a portal to his past in the panels of a newspaper
comic.
-This
meditation on grief and the past is quite effective though too ambiguous to be
entirely successful. The supernatural aspect is never explained even though a
large portion of the story is given over to the main character’s attempt to
unravel the mystery. The ending comes like a swift punch and concludes the
story on a note which can alternately be interpreted as hopeful or horrible. It
appears as though W.G. Norris never published another story, though “I’ll Be
Seeing You” was reprinted in the annual volume Great Stories from Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone
Magazine (1982). T.E.D. Klein describes
Norris this way: “A native of Boston, where his story is set, he’s studied at
Bates and the University of Hamburg, has lived in Geneva, Paris, Washington,
and (for five years) Nigeria, and speaks six foreign languages including
Persian, Arabic, Hausa, and Fulani, Today he teaches African, Asian, and
European cultural studies at a high school in Suffolk County, Long Island.”
--“The River Styx Runs Upstream” by Dan
Simmons (Tie-first place short story
contest)
Illustrated by Frances Jetter
“It was good to have mother home again,
at first. You could almost make believe she wasn’t dead.”
-In
a society where the dead can be returned to life, a family struggles to adjust
to the return of the mother, who returns missing her essential humanity.
-This
was my third time reading this short story and it loses none of its power with
repeat readings. The strength lies in Simmons’ writing, as the story is heavy
on suggestion, peppered with small, devastating statements which illustrate the
insidious effects of the mother’s return. Many of the most unsettling moments
of the story are Simmons’ suggestions that the mother may be responsible for
various “accidental” deaths which occur in the town, as well as the deaths
within the family which occur in the wake of her return. Fans of Stephen King’s
Pet Sematary will especially enjoy this one.
-Simmons
(b. 1948) first presented the story at the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1981 and
was encouraged by Harlan Ellison and Edward Bryant to revise it and submit it
for publication. It launched Simmons’ highly successful career as a writer of
horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and historical fiction. Simmons has
won a shelfful of awards and has recently been flush with the success of the
AMC adaptation of his 2007 novel The
Terror. Although I enjoyed “I’ll Be
Seeing You” by W.G. Norris it is easy to see why the tie between that story and
Simmons’ obviously superior piece of fiction baffled so many. For those
interested, both Harlan Ellison and Simmons discuss the genesis of the story in
Simmons’ 1991 short fiction collection Prayers to Broken Stones.
-“The
River Styx Runs Upstream” has been reprinted several times. It appeared in the
annual volume Great Stories from Rod
Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine (1982)
as well as the premier issue of the magazine’s sister publication Night
Cry. It has been reprinted in such
anthologies as Midnight Graffiti (1992)
and Angels of Darkness (1995).
--“The
Seed” by Joseph Bocchi (Second place
short story contest)
Illustrated by Ahmet Gorgun
“It was planting time – and the midget
knew that Sally was the most fertile ground of all”
-A
midget is offered room and board at a couple’s boarding house in exchange for
work but quickly comes to disturb the wife to the point of obsession and
terror.
-This
strange story, which is graced with perhaps the most suggestive tagline of any
story in the magazine, is quite an effective tale of a terror and obsession. Largely
written in a David Lynchian style of suggestive and disordered prose, it
contains a number of disturbing and disorienting scenes, including an ending
which would feel at home in the early horror fiction of Ray Bradbury or EC
Comics. The highlight of the tale is an extended dream sequence with perfectly
captures the feeling of a nightmare. Bocchi even changes the tense of the prose
from third person to first person in order to make the dream sequence more
intimate and frightening. Despite being essentially a mood piece with a
ghoulish ending I can see how this was awarded the second place prize in the
magazine’s short story contest as it has a way of staying in the reader’s head
well after it has been read. Unfortunately, the story appears never to have
been reprinted and Bocchi never to have written another story. It’s a shame
since this story displayed a unique imagination and a skill with the atmosphere
of terror.
--TZ
Screen Preview: Cat People by Robert
Martin
-Martin
talks to screenwriter Alan Ormsby about teaming with director Paul Schrader to
reimagine the 1942 film Cat People, directed by Jacques Tourneur (director of
Richard Matheson’s fifth season episode “Night Call”) and produced by Val
Lewton. Ormsby, also known for his makeup effects work on such films as Deathdream
(1974) and Deranged (1974), discusses the challenges of updating
the story for a modern audience who, he feels, would reject the deliberate
pacing and suggestive horrors of the earlier film. Ormsby discusses the writing
process, location scouting, makeup effects, and casting. Makeup artist Tom Burman
is also briefly interviewed. The film stars Nastassja Kinski (pictured) and Malcolm
McDowell.
--“The
Thing from the Slush” by George Alec Effinger
Illustrated by Randy Jones
“This story’s totally ridiculous, of
course, and we were going to reject it out of hand. But then we figured: ‘Why
take chances?’”
-A
first reader at a genre fiction magazine discovers ominous patterns in the
stories submitted for publication.
-Effinger
(1947-2002) presents us with a tale of the slush pile, that ever-increasing
pile of manuscripts submitted by amateur writers to professional publications.
From this he spins an unnerving tale of the strangeness of knowing someone only
through reading their repeated efforts to find publication. Although the twist
in the tale has been done many times before (L.P. Hartley’s “W.S.” comes to
mind) it has a satisfying ring a familiarity to it. The story is one of a
number to feature the character of Sandor Courane, a series which began with “Strange
Ragged Saintliness” (1978) and ran another ten stories through “The Wicked Old
Witch” (1993). “The Thing from the Slush” was reprinted in the second issue of Night Cry and
collected in The Old Funny Stuff (1989).
--“Old
Fillikin” by Joan Aiken
Illustrated by Annie Alleman
“Surely teacher was right, and Grandma
was wrong. Surely numbers never lied, and folk tales were for children. And surely
there was nothing in the well like .
. .”
-A
young boy struggling with his school work accidentally summons a destructive
creature of legend.
-This
tale is classic Joan Aiken (1924-2004): exploring the world through the fearful
lens of childhood and examining the ways in which myths and legends shape the
way we see and think about the world around us. Aiken juxtaposes the ordered
world of mathematics with the disordered world of legends and folk stories. The
story is filled with pleasantly familiar characters: the struggling young boy,
the strict teacher, the wise, eccentric grandmother, and, of course, the
monstrous Old Fillikin, a small but terribly destructive creature which dwells
at the bottom of water wells. Once Old Fillikin has been inadvertently freed
and caused a terrible death, the story ends on a pleasingly dreadful note: “Where
– he could not help wondering – was Old Fillikin now?”
-“Old
Fillikin” was first published in Ghostly
Encounters in 1981 and collected in A
Whisper in the Night (1982). Aiken was a
prolific author best remembered for her works for children (The Wolves of
Willoughby Chase, etc.) but also wrote
many tales for adults. The majority of her fiction was cast in a Gothic or
fantastic mode. Her 1958 story “Marmalade Wine” was adapted for the second
season of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery by
writer/director Jerrold Freeman. Aiken was the daughter of the American poet
and story writer Conrad Aiken (1889-1973), who’s 1932 tale “Silent Snow, Secret
Snow” was also memorably adapted for Night Gallery by writer/director Gene Kearney, featuring Orson Welles.
--The
Essential Writers: William Hope Hodgson by Mike Ashley
Illustrated by Stephen E. Fabian
-This
excellent series of essays and story selections from the classic masters of the
supernatural tale continues with Mike Ashley’s informative essay on William Hope
Hodgson (1877-1918), examining Hodgson’s upbringing, his years upon the sea,
his pioneering efforts in physical culture and body building, and his tales of
nautical terror and the psychic detective Carnacki. This is an excellent primer
for those unfamiliar with Hodgson’s work and surely contains a nugget or two of
unknown information for the aficionado. Ashley discusses Hodgson’s contentious
meeting with Harry Houdini, his early experiments with fiction, his unrivaled
tales of terror on the sea, and his strange and tragic death at age 40 on the
battlefields of WWI. Ashley selects Hodgson’s 1907 tale “The Voice in the Night”
to represent the author at the height of his powers. In 1981 Ashley published William Hope Hodgson: A Working Bibliography and also wrote the introduction to the 2008
Dover reprint edition of arguably Hodgson’s greatest work, The House on the
Borderland (1908).
--“The
Voice in the Night” by William Hope Hodgson
Illustrated by D.W. Miller
“Required Reading: The classic tale of
terror on the sea”
-On
a dark, foggy night in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, two members of a small
vessel are accosted by an unseen figure in small craft. The figure in the boat
asks for supplies and relates the harrowing tale of what befell him and his fiancé.
-I
am reluctant to give many details even on a story which is over a hundred years
old due to the fact that “The Voice in the Night” is one of those great tales
which is best experienced as blindly as possible. The power of the story lies
in what is suggested rather than what is explicitly shown, and also in Hodgson’s
remarkable ability to suggest the strange, unknown terrors of the vast
waterways of the world. The story was loosely adapted as the controversial
Japanese film Matango (1963), alternately known by the more
exploitative title Attack of the Mushroom People. It was first published in the November, 1907 issue of Blue Book magazine and collected in Men of the
Deep Waters (1914). It has been reprinted
many times, including in Alfred Hitchcock’s Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do
on TV (1957). “The Voice in the Night” is
among my favorite tales of terror and I have collected illustrations of the
tale, a couple of which I will share at the bottom of this post.
--“Snakes
& Ladders” by Ramsey Campbell
Illustrated by Brad Hamann
“They called it a game – but there weren’t
any winners, and the penalty for losing was death”
-A
skeptical journalist challenges the abilities of a folk healer with dire
consequences.
-Ramsey
Campbell (b. 1946) returns to the pages of the magazine after his appearance
with the harrowing story “Again” in the November, 1981 issue. This time he
presents a sleek tale of terror concerning a skeptical journalist who is forced
to defend himself from the terrifying machinations of a folk healer and those
who have gathered in her service. This story displays all of Campbell’s
remarkable strengths as a horror writer, particularly his uncanny ability to
create an atmosphere of terror and disorientation. Campbell’s stories can often
feel like bad dreams and frequently possess the logic of such. “Snakes &
Ladders” concludes on a particularly ghoulish note, typical of Campbell’s
output, but feels even more paired down and streamlined than his usual style. A
little research uncovered that this story was an early version of Campbell’s
1988 tale “Playing the Game.” Though “Playing the Game” has been reprinted
multiple times following its appearance in Lord John Ten: A Celebration, “Snakes
& Ladders” was not reprinted until the 2008 volume Inconsequential
Tales, a volume which collected many of
Campbell’s fugitive pieces. Still, “Snakes & Ladders” works just fine on
its own as a fast-paced tale of terror which will appeal to fans of
supernatural pursuit in the mold of Charles Beaumont’s “The Jungle” or Rod
Serling’s “Mirror Image.”
--“Djinn,
No Chaser” by Harlan Ellison
Illustrated by Marty Blake
“Ellison launched TZ’s premier issue
with a story about the Holy Grail. Now he returns, in a distinctly lighter
vein, with this tale about a certain magic lamp . . .”
-A
young married couple stumbles upon a magic shop inside of which they purchase a
magical lamp inhabited by a particularly nasty genie.
-I
was surprised to learn that this story won the 1983 Locus Award for Best Novelette,
not because I think it is a bad story but because it is basically a punchline
story in which a genie who has been tormenting the young couple is finally
brought around to being nice by being freed from the lamp by a can opener. It
is Ellison in humorous mode and contains plenty of witty banter and showy
examples of esoteric knowledge. The story was collected in Stalking the Nightmare (1982) and adapted for the first season of Tales from the Darkside by Ellison’s friend, writer Haskell Barkin
(as by Haskell Smith), whose story from the December, 1981 issue of Twilight
Zone, “All A Clone by the Telephone,” was
also adapted for the first season of Darkside. “Djinn, No Chaser” was reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy
Stories: 9 (1983) as well as in Top
of the Volcano: The Award-Winning Stories of Harlan Ellison (2015).
--Show-by-Show
Guide: TV’s Twilight Zone: Part Thirteen
by
Marc Scott Zicree
-Zicree
continues his guide to the original series of The Twilight Zone with
a listing of the cast, crew, opening and closing narrations, and summary of the
following fourth season episodes: “Mute,” “Death Ship,” “Jess-Belle,” and “Miniature,”
all of which we have reviewed here in the Vortex.
--Looking
Ahead: In the May TZ
-Next
month looks like another great issue. We have Thomas M. Disch’s first column as
books reviewer, an interview with director Terry Gilliam, a set visit to George
Romero’s Creepshow, a look at Jim Henson’s Dark Crystal, stories by Peter Straub, Kit Reed, Connie
Willis, Chet Williamson, and George Clayton Johnson’s “All of Us Are Dying,”
which was adapted by Rod Serling for the first season episode “The Four of Us
Are Dying,” the teleplay of which is also presented. Looks like a good one, see
you back next time.
-JP
Bonus
illustrations for William Hope Hodgson’s “The Voice in the Night”:
Illustration by Gordon Laite from More Tales to Tremble By (1968):
Illustration by Diane and Leo Dillon from Great Short Tales of Mystery and Terror (1982):
