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Perchance to Dream

Selected Stories

Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks

The profoundly original and wildly entertaining short stories of a legendary Twilight Zone writer

It is only natural that Charles Beaumont would make a name for himself crafting scripts for The Twilight Zone—for his was an imagination so limitless it must have emerged from some other dimension. Perchance to Dream contains a selection of Beaumont's finest stories, including five that he later adapted for Twilight Zone episodes.

Beaumont dreamed up fantasies so vast and varied they burst through the walls of whatever box might contain them. Supernatural, horror, noir, science fiction, fantasy, pulp, and more—all were equally at home in his wondrous mind. These are stories where lions stalk the plains, classic cars rove the streets, and spacecraft hover just overhead. Here roam musicians, magicians, vampires, monsters, toreros, extraterrestrials, androids, and perhaps even the Devil himself. With dizzying feats of master storytelling and joyously eccentric humor, Beaumont transformed his nightmares and reveries into impeccably crafted stories that leave themselves indelibly stamped upon the walls of the mind. In Beaumont's hands, nothing is impossible; it all seems plausible, even likely.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Beaumont's short stories provide fantastic listening--all the more so as told by the skillful variety of narrators in this production. Some of Beaumont's most famous stories were made into "Twilight Zone" episodes, but in this collection, listeners will see a much wider range of works, though all with some element of wonder. Stefan Rudnicki takes the lion's share of the narrations, and, given that he excels at science fiction, he also steals much of the show. Yet every narrator executes his or her story with a strong, spot-on delivery. Taken together, the stories make for a well-curated collection with narrations that listeners will enjoy. L.E. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 24, 2015
      The legacy of prolific author Beaumont (1929–1967) might be better preserved with a less exhaustive collection. The repeated use of unlikable protagonists getting their comeuppance as a core story concept, and the preponderance of nagging, unpleasant women, bury much of the better, more thoughtful work in the collection. The most interesting and touching stories include “The Magic Man,” in which a traveling magician who makes his living selling patent medicine survives on the adoration and love of his audience, and “In His Image,” a story about what a man will do for love when he comes to understand his own true nature. Readers are advised to flip past “The Jungle,” which uncomfortably exoticizes tribal Africans and punishes an unpleasant protagonist by killing his wife, and “Father, Dear Father,” the concluding joke of which has not aged well. Better curation would have saved readers the trouble of skipping around to find the gems. Agent: Susan Ramer, Don Congdon Associates.

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

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