Fans of the original TWILIGHT ZONE TV series know Charles Beaumont as one of Rod Serling’s in-house teleplay writers. But Beaumont was also a prolific short story author who, along with friends like Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson, formed “The Southern California Group” of speculative fiction writers who consulted and encouraged each other during their early careers.

Unfortunately, following his untimely death at 38 years old (from a brain disease little known at the time but today thought to be an early form of onset Alzheimer’s), published collections of Beaumont’s superb stories went quickly out of print and are nearly impossible to find.

Now Penguin Classics corrects this sad situation with PERCHANCE TO DREAM, a collection of 23 stories that wonderfully demonstrates Beaumont’s range and creativity in science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

The title story, one of several Beaumont adapted for THE TWILIGHT ZONE, is a haunting tale of a man seeking help from a psychotherapist because his dreams are taking over his fragile life. “Sorcerer’s Moon” follows two ancient sworn enemy warlords who have survived into contemporary time and the very modern ways they try to eliminate each other.

Contemporary themes join a frequent science fiction topic in “Father, Dear Father,” where a scientist builds a time machine for the sole purpose of retuning to the past to kill his abusive father – with only minimal concern as to how the alteration might affect his future and that of the rest of the world.

In “The Howling Man,” one of Beaumont’s best-known stories, an American traveler recovering from an illness in an abbey in a remote corner of Bulgaria is disturbed by the insistent sound of a man howling throughout the night. When pressed, the Head Abbot finally reveals the incredible identity of the imprisoned Howling Man, and why he should never be released.

Ray Bradbury’s foreword, “Beaumont Remembered,” is as relevant today as it was when first published in 1981 in its fond recollection of Beaumont as a friend and enthusiastic fellow author, and the importance and enduring quality of his work as primarily “a writer of Ideas.” The collection ends with a brief afterword by William Shatner, who recalls meeting and working with Beaumont during the filming of THE INTRUDER, the movie adaptation of one of Beaumont’s few novels.

Beaumont’s stories are essential reading for anyone who loves speculative fiction. Like the very finest of the genre, the themes they address resonate far past the entertaining wonderment of their presentation.

And now, thanks to this newly published collection, Beaumont fans can finally retire their dog-eared copy of THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE ORIGINAL STORIES (edited by Martin Harry Greenberg, Richard Matheson, and Charles G. Waugh – the only near collection of Beaumont stories up to this time), and add PERCHANCE TO DREAM to their bookshelf, next to the collections of Beaumont’s contemporaries and the current authors he inspired – which includes Dean Koontz, Harlan Ellison and numerous others.

—Alan Cranis

Get it at Amazon.