''Twilight Zone'' literature is an umbrella term for the many books and comic books which concern or adapt ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

Comics

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984. History Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when its ...

published a long-running ''Twilight Zone'' comic that featured the likeness of

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter and television producer best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his Anthology series, anthology television series ''The Twilight Zone (1 ...

introducing both original stories and occasional adaptations of episodes. The comic outlived the television series by nearly 20 years and Serling by nearly a decade. A later revival of ''Twilight Zone'' comics was published by

Now Comics NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comic bo ...

, spinning off of the 1980s revival of the show. In 2008, The

Savannah College of Art & Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a Private school, private art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, Vaucluse, Lacoste, France. It was founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not ...

and publisher Walker & Company collaborated to produce a series of graphic novel adaptations of episodes from the series that were written by Rod Serling. Beginning in December 2013, comics publisher Dynamite Entertainment ran a multi-issue series, written by J. Michael Straczynski and with art by Guiu Vilanova.

Guides

Marc Scott Zicree Marc Scott Zicree (born 1955) is an American science fiction author, television writer and screenwriter. Zicree has written for major studios and networks including Paramount, Universal, Disney, Sony/Columbia Tri-Star, MGM, New Line, CBS, NBC, ...

's episode-by-episode guide of the original series, ''The Twilight Zone Companion'' (1982), was published by

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. K ...

. Later editions were updated to include a brief chapter acknowledging the 1985 revival series, although no additions or corrections were made to the previously existing text. Martin Grams Jr.'s volume, ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic'' (2008), covers production information for each episode of the original series in great detail. At 800 pages, it is much longer and more detailed than Zicree's guide, and makes a point of identifying and correcting Zicree's misstatements and errors.

Magazines

Beginning in 1981 and with T. E. D. Klein as editor, ''The Twilight Zone Magazine'' (also known as ''Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine'') featured

horror fiction Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...

and to some extent other forms of

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

and some borderline

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

. ''The TZ Magazine'' reviewed and previewed new movies while publishing articles about ''The Twilight Zone'' original and revival (''

'') television series, among other cultural oddities. ''The Twilight Zone Magazine'' was initially successful; by 1983 it was selling 125,000 issues a month, outselling magazines like ''

Analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

''. Under Klein's editorship, the magazine published several noted writers, including

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

Pamela Sargent Pamela Sargent (born March 20, 1948) is an American feminist, science fiction author, and editor. She has an MA in classical philosophy and has won a Nebula Award. Sargent wrote a trilogy concerning the terraforming of Venus that is sometim ...

, and

Peter Straub Peter Francis Straub (; March 2, 1943 – September 4, 2022) was an American novelist and poet. He had success with several horror and supernatural fiction novels, among them ''Julia'' (1975), ''Ghost Story'' (1979) and ''The Talisman'' (198 ...

. In late 1985, Michael Blaine succeeded Klein as editor. From March 1986 until its last issue of June 1989 the editor was Tappan King, who also edited its "twisted sister" publication, ''Night Cry''. It was the most reliable market for much of the best short horror in that period and appealed to audiences for the likes of ''

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...

'' and ''

Starlog ''Starlog'' was an American monthly science fiction magazine that was created in 1976 and focused primarily on ''Star Trek'' at its inception. Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs were its creators and it was published by Starlog Group, Inc. in Aug ...

'', as well as for ''

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Bouche ...

'' and '' Whispers''. Like ''

Omni Magazine ''Omni'' was a science and science fiction magazine published for domestic American and UK markets. It contained articles on science, parapsychology, and short works of science fiction and fantasy. It was published as a print version between Oct ...

'', which it also somewhat resembled, it was published by a company better-known for "skin" magazines, '' Gallery'''s Montcalm Publishing. The all-fiction

digest-sized Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine, but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately . It is also a and format, similar to the size of a DVD case. These sizes evolved from the printing ...

companion, ''Night Cry'', makes a cameo in ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' 300th episode, " Barting Over". On occasion, the magazine and digest reprinted often-anthologized short stories, introducing a new generation of horror aficionados to classic short stories by veteran writers, such as " The Voice in the Night" by

William Hope Hodgson William Hope Hodgson (15 November 1877 – 19 April 1918) was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror fiction, horror, fantasy, fan ...

, and "The Bookshop" by Nelson Bond.

Novels

Numerous novelizations were published based upon episodes of ''The Twilight Zone.'' In 2003, the first Twilight Zone novel was published, entitled ''The Twilight Zone Book 1: Harvest Moon'', which was written by John J. Miller. Two sequels were later published. The first sequel was entitled ''The Twilight Zone Book 2: A Gathering of Shadows'' which was written by Russell Davis. The second sequel was entitled ''The Twilight Zone Book 3: Deep in the Dark'' written by John Helfers. In 2004, Black Flame released the five novelizations based on 2 episodes each from the 2002 series. Five authors, Jay Russell, Pat Cadigan, Paul Woods, K. C. Winters and Christa Faust, adapted the episodes.

Short story collections

Several volumes of original short stories were published under ''The Twilight Zone'' brand, the first of which was edited by

, himself. * ''From the Twilight Zone'' (1962, Doubleday) * ''Chilling Stories from Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone'' (1965, Grosset & Dunlap) * Rod Serling's Twilight Zone Revisited (1967) * '' Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary'' (2009, Tor Books)

References