Last week, we watched The Twilight Zone not to learn answers or to receive moral lessons. Instead, Rod Serling unsettled us with the fear of the unknown, the situation that has no answer. This week, in the most classic of the episodes we watched, Serling shows us that he can scare us and explain it all away. Instead of … Continue reading THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 6: Other Dimensions Are Where You Find Them
Author: Brad
DATELINE MEETS “THE OMEN”: The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
The laudatory editorial comments that appear on the front and back covers and fill four pages of Janice Hallett’s latest novel do her no favors. “Agatha Christie has found her heir . . . “ “The Queen of tricksy crime . . . “ “Agatha Christie for the 21st century . . . “ “A new Agatha Christie … Continue reading DATELINE MEETS “THE OMEN”: The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 5: Stretching the Boundaries of Imagination
When I was in eighth grade, I had this wonderful English teacher who loved to make us write stories. I want to say for the record that the tales I produced – none of which I can remember – were wholly original, but they were clearly influenced by The Twilight Zone. Fortunately, my teacher enjoyed my … Continue reading THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 5: Stretching the Boundaries of Imagination
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART FOUR: Classic Chills
There’s a moment early in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) when a car driver (Albert Brooks) and a hitchhiker (Dan Ackroyd) are discussing which TZ television episode was the scariest. It’s a great intro to the movie, and it ends with Ackroyd saying to Brooks, “Do you want to see something really scary?” He then turns away from the … Continue reading THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART FOUR: Classic Chills
FOR MY DAD
Today I sit beside my father as he lies in hospice, and I think about baseball. In the spring of 1964, we lived in Phoenix where my dad was trying to earn a living on a real estate boom that didn’t really boom until after we had returned to California a year later. At school, … Continue reading FOR MY DAD
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 3: The Evil That Men Do
Rod Serling’s moralism ran high in the many parables he wrote to illustrate how rotten mankind can be. Sometimes, frankly, it could be unwatchable, like his 1964 TV-movie, A Carol for Another Christmas, a modern retelling of Dicken’s classic tale. Commissioned to promote the United Nations. Serling replaces the heart and charm of the original with … Continue reading THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 3: The Evil That Men Do
BOOK CLUB TURNS IMPIOUS: Villainy at Vespers
I’ve only just finished re-reading The Murder at the Vicarage, and – wouldn’t you know it? – now I want every village to be just like St. Mary Mead. But that’s not what we get in Trevelley, the not-so-bucolic den of iniquity nestled on the coast of Cornwall, in Joan Cockin’s Villainy at Vespers (1949). This is the second of … Continue reading BOOK CLUB TURNS IMPIOUS: Villainy at Vespers
THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 2: “A Land of Things and Ideas”
Audiences could relate to The Twilight Zone because it was essentially about the search for happiness. Granted, these searches were highly unusual, and the results were mixed. TZ is a highly moral show, and those who achieve a happy ending are people who earn it, through their general decency and kindness. I argued last week that Mr. … Continue reading THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PART 2: “A Land of Things and Ideas”
RANKING MARPLE #1: The Murder at the Vicarage
“Murder at the Vicarage was published in 1930, but I cannot remember where, when or how I wrote it, why I came to write it, or even what suggested to me that I should select a new character – Miss Marple – to act as the sleuth in the story. Certainly at the time I had … Continue reading RANKING MARPLE #1: The Murder at the Vicarage
RE-BRANDING (ENTR’ACTE): The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries
Welcome back to our revisit of the glorious and all-too-brief canon of mysteries by the wonderful Christianna Brand. Last year, we covered the first five novels, and in 2023, we will tackle the final five – including the one novel I have never read and another I have absolutely no memory of whatsoever. All in … Continue reading RE-BRANDING (ENTR’ACTE): The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries
Ah Sweet Mystery! 