A Bright and Shining World: The Science Fiction of C.J. Henderson

C. J. Henderson’s A Bright and Shining World purports to be science fiction as it was in the golden age of The Twilight Zone. Actually, the description says “… golden ago of the Twilight Zone.” And that hints at the one major flaw in this book—more on that later.

Most importantly, I think Henderson delivers on his promise to share stories that are remindful of Rod Serling’s classic TV show. Several of the 16 stories (there’s one poem, also) in this collection could have easily been adapted for The Twilight Zone. The book begins and ends with paranoia, and along the way journeys through horror, terror, savagery, fantasy, whimsy, and frequently humor, with plenty of twists and turns. Along with The Twilight Zone, some of the show more stories reminded me of Death Race 2000, The Good Place, and Star Trek. One story, Everything’s Better With Monkeys, would be right at home on The Orville.

I greatly enjoyed Henderson’s writing, which ranges from documentary-style to beautifully lyrical, depending on the needs of the story. His vivid descriptions bring his imaginative stories to life. The dialogue is clever, although the copious use of unexplained slang in Dawson Did It made the story hard for me to follow, as if I were reading a foreign language I knew nothing about. Other nits: The Big Thirteen has what I thought is an abrupt and unsatisfying ending, as if the author gave up … or perhaps that was the idea? I thought Thank God It’s Friday would’ve made a great story in 1998, but is outdated for a book published in 2024. And, while there’s a wide variety of human and non-human characters across all the stories, there’s very few female characters.

Most stories are prefaced by a short introduction and a quotation. They didn’t add much of anything to my enjoyment of the stories, plus the intros contained many errors. I think the book would be better off without them.

About the errors … several stories were marred by errors also, some quite glaring and distracting. Since the book’s editor is prominently mentioned, I place the blame for those errors on him, and thus I decided to deduct only one-half a point for them—which rounds up to 5.

Despite the nits and errors, I greatly enjoyed this book, and I believe other sci-fi lovers who appreciate stories in the style of The Twilight Zone will enjoy it also.

NOTE: This book is for Mature readers due to mature subject matter (suicide, sex, and graphic violence). show less

Uneven but undeniably fun, this collection leans into retro sci-fi vibes with a pulpy mix of paranoia, dark humor, and Twilight Zone weirdness. Some stories hit harder than others, but the mood is consistent: strange, moody, and a little unhinged.

I always find it a challenge to review a collection of short stories. In inevitably some of the stories are more enjoyable than others. In this case there were some great entries in the collection but unfortunately for me the one I like least was the last one, "Exit 14" which I found tedious in the extreme. It is a based on a good observation - that we are all puzzled by freeway traffic congestion appearing for no apparent reason then subsequently dispersing when there has been no observable obstacle. The tedium of waiting in a traffic jam is well represented by the tedium of reading the first 90% of this story. The remaining 10% where an explanation of the phenomenon is offered seemed unsatisfactory. This last story left rather a bad show more taste in my mouth but earlier stories were more interesting and more entertaining. The collection is worth reading and I was happy to have discovered it. If only I had known to stop before the last entry then I think I would have been happier still and would certainly have given it the 5th star. show less

Felt like a retro jaunt through older sci-fi, which was kind of a nice change of pace. However, that also means it gets into the same old repetitive storytelling cadence inside each. Not entirely a bad thing, but sometimes it made reading them a little rougher than they needed to be.
Definitely felt like reading old Twilight Zone with a twinge of Black Mirror mixed in - so if you don't mind reading paranoid characters, let it rip

I have always loved the old thrillers…the original Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits etc. As many have mentioned, the style of this book is very reminiscent of these old shows. As with any anthology, some stories stay with you longer than others but I think overall the book is a fun read for any fan of vintage SF.

This kept me great company during a days-long snowstorm. I didn't even notice the weaher because I was so enraptured with the stories.

ARC review:

The stories in this book are ok. Mostly they are kind-of interesting. None are really compelling, and none made me want to skip them. Perhaps the sorcerer and dinosaur stories stood out as more interesting.

The overall style felt a bit antiquated to me, as if these stories could have been written in the 30s or 50s.

The repetitive style (short intro, title quotation, story) grew boring over the book.

There are a couple of things that copy-editing missed that bugged me.

Overall, I don’t think I’ve read any books by this author, and this set of stories doesn’t make me feel like I need to, though I’m sure I wouldn’t mind them if I did.