Charles Beaumont: Selected Stories

In his brief career, Charles Beaumont (1929-1967) turned out several score of stories in a variety of moods, styles and genres. Most of the 30 selections collected herefive never before publishedare introduced by one or another of Beaumont's friends and colleagues, including Ray Bradbury (Beaumont's writing teacher, whose influence is easily detected), Richard Matheson (who, like Beaumont, scripted many Twilight Zone episodes), Ray Russell, Harlan Ellison, Robert Bloch and filmmaker Roger Corman. The stories are varied and wonderful; ``Miss Gentilbelle,'' a woman who thinks men are beasts, is raising her son as a girl; ``The Vanishing American'' features a man who is saved from his meaningless life by an act of whimsy; ``Free Dirt'' is a cautionary little chiller about uncontrolled greed; and ``Black Country'' is an evocative, weird tale of life in the jazz world. Editor Anker has contributed an excellent biographical introduction. (Oct.)