Rod Serling's Night Gallery Reader

Rod Serling's Night Gallery

by Carol Serling, Charles G. Waugh, Martin H. Greenberg

Book by Serling, Carol, Waugh, Charles G.

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

326 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1987

About the author

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

Reviews

[Kevin Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

The crown jewel of this collection is Rod Serling's tortured novella "The Escape Route," in which a fugitive Nazi war criminal meets his supernatural fate. I've always felt that Serling is at his most eloquent and impassioned when he's tackling the moral dimensions of war and the spiritual toll it takes on everyone involved. While always a keen observer of human nature and a master of suspense in any genre, his gift for poetic phrasing and visceral description makes me wish he had written more novels. The other stories collected here pale in comparison, but include "Pickman's Model" and "Cool Air" by H.P. Lovecraft, plus two from Cthulhu collaborator August Derleth and a light-hearted scare from the incomparable Richard Matheson.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never seen Night Gallery but I am a fan of Twilight Zone. I noticed in the latter series that a lot of episodes were adapted from short stories. Looks like Rod Serling did the same thing for Night Gallery only with a more macabre bent. How macabre? There's not just one but TWO stories by H. P. Lovecraft, one of the Masters of Disaster and Kings of Pain. He's the guy who came up with the idea of the Necrocomicon (which shows up in another story in this collection, not written by Lovecraft.)



Stories vary in length from the first novella by Serling himself to one less than five pages that was over before it even began to get rolling. Most fall in between. It's been a little while since I read this, but if my memory is right, my favorite story was one I read before in science fiction anthologies called "The Little Black Bag" by C. M. Kornbluth.

I'd recommend not reading more than one story a day since they get a bit "same-y" after a while. Still, a nice, varied anthology of weird fiction. Also an introduction by Serling's widow, since this was first published after Serling's death.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its really great being able to read the stories that were filmed for the episodes of Night Gallery. I loved that show, and will watch the episodes again whenever they re-air the show in syndication. What is amazing is the level of talent that Rod Serling had at his fingertips, writing for his show, and that includes himself. Great stories! It was easy to see each episode in your mind's eye as you were reading along. Excellent!

[Caesar Warrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Featured here are the original stories later adapted as screenplays for the early 1970's TV-series, including Rod Serling's own excellent novella, The Escape Route. If you are a fan Night Gallery or weird fiction in general, this is a very good collection.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its really great being able to read the stories that were filmed for the episodes of Night Gallery.
Great stories! It was easy to see each episode in your mind's eye as you were reading along. Excellent!

[Tabitha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This group of stories is exactly as terrible as the TV show associated with it. This is a collection of novelazations of TV teleplays that were based on short stories. That enough sieves and filters for you? Blech. Not good, not enjoyable, glad I was given it for free. (Though that makes me question the taste of the gift-giver a little.)

[SFReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.a...

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading.