About the Authors
Ray Bradbury (1920–2012), one of the most popular science fiction writers in the world, wrote more than five hundred short stories, novels, plays, and poems. He won many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the PEN Center USA West Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000, he was the recipient of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Robert Silverberg’s first published story appeared in 1954 when he was a sophomore at Columbia University. Since then, he has won the prestigious Nebula Award five times and the Hugo Award five times. He has been nominated for both awards more times than any other writer. In 1999 he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, and in 2004 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America gave him their Grand Master Award for career achievement. He remains one of the most imaginative and versatile writers in science fiction.
Jerry Sohl (1913-2002) was one of the most successful science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writers of his time. A prolific author of novels and films, he is perhaps best-known for his teleplays for The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, The Outer Limits, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Henry Slesar — born Henry Schlosser — was an American author, playwright, and copywriter, who wrote under several pseudonyms including O.H. Leslie and Jay Street. He was famous for his use of irony and twist endings.
Slesar wrote hundreds of scripts for television series and soap operas, leading TV Guide to call him “the writer with the largest audience in America.”
While working as a copywriter, he published hundreds of short stories, including detective stories, science fiction, criminal stories, mysteries and thrillers which appeared in publications such as Playboy and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
Alfred Hitchcock highly appreciated Slesar’s talent and hired him to write a number of the scenarios for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour television series.
He received the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1960 for his first novel, The Gray Flannel Shroud (1958).
Slesar died in 2002, following complication from surgery.
Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was born in Odense, Denmark, the son of a poor shoemaker and a washerwoman. As a young teenager, he became quite well known in Odense as a reciter of drama and as a singer. When he was fourteen, he set off for the capital, Copenhagen, determined to become a national success on the stage. He failed miserably, but made some influential friends in the capital who got him into school to remedy his lack of proper education. In 1829 his first book was published. After that, books came out at regular intervals. His stories began to be translated into English as early as 1846. Since then, numerous editions, and more recently Hollywood songs and Disney cartoons, have helped to ensure the continuing popularity of the stories in the English-speaking world.
About the Narrators
James Langton, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, trained as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and later as a musician at the Guildhall School in London. He has worked in radio, film, and television, also appearing in theater in England and on Broadway. He is also a professional musician who led the internationally renowned Pasadena Roof Orchestra from 1996 to 2002.
Rebecca H. Lee grew up in Washington State, where she graduated from the University of Washington with a double degree in Drama and Music. She has spent much of her adult life traveling abroad and working as a performer in resorts, theme parks, and cruise ships, but now stays mainly at home in Seattle with her loved ones, narrating audiobooks and performing improv and scripted theater on stage.