Ed here: Charles Beaumont was one of the finest short story writers of all time. His work has all but disappeared in recent decades but this collection from Penguin no less will help win him back the recognition he deserves. The following is from SF Signal.
Coming Soon: PERCHANCE TO DREAM: SELECTED STORIES by Charles Beaumont
Here’s the cover and synopsis for the upcoming Charles Beaumont collection Perchance to Dream: Selected Stories.
Here’s the synopsis:
The profoundly original and wildly entertaining short stories of a legendary Twilight Zone writer, with a foreword by Ray Bradbury and an afterword by William Shatner
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.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classics (October 13, 2015)
- ISBN-10: 0143107658
- ISBN-13: 978-0143107651
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That is good news. I've owned his THE HOWLING MAN collection TOR published a few decades ago a couple times, but I always end up selling it for book money, and then immediately regretting it.
ReplyDeleteMan, dig that cover art too!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely good news, Ed. I'll have to snag a copy of the new edition for the hubster and myself when it's published in October. Looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteAs a major Beaumont fan, I have all his short-story collections -- both original and reprint -- and will certainly add this one to them. Thanks for the heads-up!
ReplyDeleteVery, *very* exciting news, and -- you're right, Ed -- this kind of formal recognition of Beaumont by a publisher like the esteemed Penguin Classics is long overdue.
Great to see this. You all know of the documentary I did about Beaumont, I trust? If not, here is the info on IMDB [CHARLES BEAUMONT: THE LIFE OF TWILIGHT ZONE'S MAGIC MAN]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1531642
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I also did one on Forry Ackerman (Beaumont's first agent, of course), which won the 2014 Rondo Award for Best Documentary. It's called THE ACKERMONSTER CHRONICLES!, and here's the IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2180547
You can get them here (our website), or on Amazon on DVD: http://www.jasunnistore.com/brands/JaSunni-Films.html
I have written extensively about Beaumont, and cover The Group (Matheson, Nolan, Beaumont, Bradbury, Johnson, et al) in my Bram Stoker Award finalist nonfiction book, DISORDERS OF MAGNITUDE. It's on Amazon and at bookstores worldwide.