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It's a Good Life
What is more idyllic than a small Midwestern agricultural town? Peaksville would sound like a scene right out of a Norman Rockwell painting, except little Anthony is a monster! What happens when a child is omnipotent, and with his mind he can execute his every desire and petulant whim? Tonight, there's a birthday party for Dan Hollis at Anthony's house. It's a party all the townspeople will remember...always!
Voted as one of the greatest stories by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the story was also adapted into a classic Twilight Zone episode.
Voted as one of the greatest stories by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the story was also adapted into a classic Twilight Zone episode.
1 pages, Audible Audio
First published January 1, 1953
3 people are currently reading
446 people want to read
About the author
Jerome Bixby
158books36followersDrexel Jerome Lewis Bixby (January 11, 1923 Los Angeles, California � April 28, 1998 San Bernardino, California) was a American short story writer, editor and scriptwriter, best known for his comparatively small output in science fiction. He also wrote many westerns and used the pseudonyms D. B. Lewis, Harry Neal, Albert Russell, J. Russell, M. St. Vivant, Thornecliff Herrick and Alger Rome (for one collaboration with Algis Budrys).
He was the editor of Planet Stories from Summer 1950 to July 1951; and editor of Two Complete Science Adventure Novels from Winter 1950 to July 1951.
Probably his best-known work is the Star Trek: The Original Series 1967 episode "Mirror, Mirror", which introduced the series' concept of the Mirror Universe, also "Requiem for Methuselah" (Episode 76, Season 3:) about 'Flint' a 6,000 year old man. He also wrote the short story "It's a Good Life" (1953), adapted as a teleplay for The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling and parodied in the Simpsons Halloween episode "Treehouse of Horror II". His 1968 Star Trek episode "Day of the Dove" is also much respected by fans of science fiction. Bixby also conceived and co-wrote the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, later novelized by Isaac Asimov.
Jerome Bixby's last work, a screenplay The Man From Earth, was conceived in the early 1960s and completed on his deathbed in April 1998. In 2007, Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth (as it is now called) was turned into an independent motion picture executive produced by his son Emerson Bixby, directed by Richard Schenkman and starring David Lee Smith, William Katt, Richard Riehle, Tony Todd, Annika Peterson, Alexis Thorpe, Ellen Crawford and John Billingsley.
Bixby wrote the original screenplay for 1958's It! The Terror from Beyond Space, which was the inspiration for 1979's Alien. The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine seventh season (1999) Mirror Universe episode, "The Emperor's New Cloak," is dedicated to Bixby's memory.
He was the editor of Planet Stories from Summer 1950 to July 1951; and editor of Two Complete Science Adventure Novels from Winter 1950 to July 1951.
Probably his best-known work is the Star Trek: The Original Series 1967 episode "Mirror, Mirror", which introduced the series' concept of the Mirror Universe, also "Requiem for Methuselah" (Episode 76, Season 3:) about 'Flint' a 6,000 year old man. He also wrote the short story "It's a Good Life" (1953), adapted as a teleplay for The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling and parodied in the Simpsons Halloween episode "Treehouse of Horror II". His 1968 Star Trek episode "Day of the Dove" is also much respected by fans of science fiction. Bixby also conceived and co-wrote the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, later novelized by Isaac Asimov.
Jerome Bixby's last work, a screenplay The Man From Earth, was conceived in the early 1960s and completed on his deathbed in April 1998. In 2007, Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth (as it is now called) was turned into an independent motion picture executive produced by his son Emerson Bixby, directed by Richard Schenkman and starring David Lee Smith, William Katt, Richard Riehle, Tony Todd, Annika Peterson, Alexis Thorpe, Ellen Crawford and John Billingsley.
Bixby wrote the original screenplay for 1958's It! The Terror from Beyond Space, which was the inspiration for 1979's Alien. The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine seventh season (1999) Mirror Universe episode, "The Emperor's New Cloak," is dedicated to Bixby's memory.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
April 7, 2025
This is a “good� story, despite being horror, a genre I generally avoid. I was captivated by the unsettling fear, most which happens between the lines and in one's head (except for some brief but revolting cruelty to a rat). From the start, there are unsettling turns of phrase: �Anthony thought at it�, and even his own family aren’t safe around this small child with �a bright, wet, purple gaze�.
�Everything had to be good. Had to be fine just as it was, even if it wasn’t Always. Because any change might be worse. So terribly much worse.�
Image: What joy to have a tin of Campbells soup ()
This was written under the shadow of McCarthyism and the Cold War, and the 46 residents of the mysteriously isolated village live in existential dread of forces they don’t fully understand and cannot control. Whether at the mercy of a vengeful god, an authoritarian government, or an ungovernable toddler, positive thinking and appeasement are sometimes the only way to survive - but is the price too high?
Image: "This is fine" meme of a hatted doc happily sitting in a burning building ()
Short story club
I read this in Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic, by Alberto Manguel, from which I’m reading one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 24 March 2025.
You can read this story .
You can join the group here.
�Everything had to be good. Had to be fine just as it was, even if it wasn’t Always. Because any change might be worse. So terribly much worse.�
Image: What joy to have a tin of Campbells soup ()
This was written under the shadow of McCarthyism and the Cold War, and the 46 residents of the mysteriously isolated village live in existential dread of forces they don’t fully understand and cannot control. Whether at the mercy of a vengeful god, an authoritarian government, or an ungovernable toddler, positive thinking and appeasement are sometimes the only way to survive - but is the price too high?
Image: "This is fine" meme of a hatted doc happily sitting in a burning building ()
Short story club
I read this in Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic, by Alberto Manguel, from which I’m reading one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 24 March 2025.
You can read this story .
You can join the group here.
September 6, 2022
Anthony has a very unusual gift. He can control everything with his powerful mind. In this little weird tale you'll learn why everybody is afraid of him and why everything has to be a good thing. Quite a sinister story set in a backward town named Peaksville. Quite an unsettling stunner. Really recommended!
April 18, 2025
5�
“Everything had to be good. Had to be fine just as it was, even if it wasn’t. Always. Because any changes might be worse. So terribly much worse.�
Make no mistake � this is a scary story. Everybody in Peaksville understood the rules and said things were fine and good, even if someone had died. Not only did they have to talk like this, they had to think like this around Anthony.
He’s a strange little boy who hears people’s thoughts � not so much a mind-reader as an unintentional eavesdropper. When he hears about trouble, he feels he needs to fix it, but he’s a kid, so what does he really know.
He’s currently using mind control to make a rat eat itself (blech), but he has his reasons.
“Aunt Amy hated rats, and so he killed a lot of them, because he liked Aunt Amy most of all and sometimes did things that Aunt Amy wanted.�
The operative word there is “sometimes�. When Bill Soames arrives on his bike with the mail, he tries hard to mumble and think mumbled thoughts so he won’t attract Anthony’s attention. He’s anxious to leave, and as he goes out the gate, he makes the mistake of thinking just that.
“As Bill Soames pumped the pedals, he was wishing deep down that he could pump twice as fast, to get away from Anthony all the faster, and away from Aunt Amy, who sometimes just forgot how ‘cڳܱ� you had to be.
. . .
Pedaling with superhuman speed � or rather, appearing to, because in reality the bicycle was pedaling him � Bill Soames vanished down the road in a cloud of dust, his thin, terrified wail drifting back across the heat.�
Anthony had decided to ‘help� him.
As a fan of Twilight Zone and of short stories in general, this one felt appropriately ‘out there�. When the townsfolk gather for a birthday celebration, everyone is tense.
“The next arrivals were the Smiths and the Dunns, who lived right next to each other down the road, only a few yards from the nothingness.�
“The nothingness.� Where IS Peaksville?
I mention Twilight Zone because of the reference in the introduction to the story, which I have added to encourage you to read the story (and others) yourself.
“Jerome Bixby (1923 � 1998) was an American short story and script writer who wrote four Star Trek episodes and helped write the story that became the classic sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage (1966). He is most famous for the “It’s a Good Life� (1953), also made into a Twilight Zone episode and included in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). The Science Fiction Writers of America named “It’s a Good Life� one of the twenty finest science fiction stories ever written. References to the story have appeared in the Cartoon Network’s Johnny Bravo, Fox’s The Simpsons, and a Junot Diaz novel, among others.
You can read it here:
This is another from the Short Story Club, which offers a story every two weeks for discussion. Find out more here � it’s fun!
/group/show/...
“Everything had to be good. Had to be fine just as it was, even if it wasn’t. Always. Because any changes might be worse. So terribly much worse.�
Make no mistake � this is a scary story. Everybody in Peaksville understood the rules and said things were fine and good, even if someone had died. Not only did they have to talk like this, they had to think like this around Anthony.
He’s a strange little boy who hears people’s thoughts � not so much a mind-reader as an unintentional eavesdropper. When he hears about trouble, he feels he needs to fix it, but he’s a kid, so what does he really know.
He’s currently using mind control to make a rat eat itself (blech), but he has his reasons.
“Aunt Amy hated rats, and so he killed a lot of them, because he liked Aunt Amy most of all and sometimes did things that Aunt Amy wanted.�
The operative word there is “sometimes�. When Bill Soames arrives on his bike with the mail, he tries hard to mumble and think mumbled thoughts so he won’t attract Anthony’s attention. He’s anxious to leave, and as he goes out the gate, he makes the mistake of thinking just that.
“As Bill Soames pumped the pedals, he was wishing deep down that he could pump twice as fast, to get away from Anthony all the faster, and away from Aunt Amy, who sometimes just forgot how ‘cڳܱ� you had to be.
. . .
Pedaling with superhuman speed � or rather, appearing to, because in reality the bicycle was pedaling him � Bill Soames vanished down the road in a cloud of dust, his thin, terrified wail drifting back across the heat.�
Anthony had decided to ‘help� him.
As a fan of Twilight Zone and of short stories in general, this one felt appropriately ‘out there�. When the townsfolk gather for a birthday celebration, everyone is tense.
“The next arrivals were the Smiths and the Dunns, who lived right next to each other down the road, only a few yards from the nothingness.�
“The nothingness.� Where IS Peaksville?
I mention Twilight Zone because of the reference in the introduction to the story, which I have added to encourage you to read the story (and others) yourself.
“Jerome Bixby (1923 � 1998) was an American short story and script writer who wrote four Star Trek episodes and helped write the story that became the classic sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage (1966). He is most famous for the “It’s a Good Life� (1953), also made into a Twilight Zone episode and included in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). The Science Fiction Writers of America named “It’s a Good Life� one of the twenty finest science fiction stories ever written. References to the story have appeared in the Cartoon Network’s Johnny Bravo, Fox’s The Simpsons, and a Junot Diaz novel, among others.
You can read it here:
This is another from the Short Story Club, which offers a story every two weeks for discussion. Find out more here � it’s fun!
/group/show/...
July 14, 2020
This one got under my skin when I was a teenager and I never forgot it.
I read it in an anthology of science fiction stories long before I ever saw the Twilight Zone episode.
Creepy and disturbing as all get out. This is truly a classic.
I read it in an anthology of science fiction stories long before I ever saw the Twilight Zone episode.
Creepy and disturbing as all get out. This is truly a classic.
March 7, 2023
I remember the Twilight Zone episode of this short story fondly, and now I'm glad to have read the original by Jerome Bixby. "It's a Good Life" centers around a psychic child in Peaksville, Ohio, whose thoughts are instantly made real, to the detriment of his family and the small community around him. I remember being freaked out as a kid watching this episode, much more than any of the aliens or monsters that were depicted in other episodes. The story is a true classic.
April 8, 2025
I must have seen The Twilight Zone episode based on this 1950s short story, but I don't recall.
This is a horror story, depicting the horrors of being unable to express contrary views or thoughts, for fear of repercussions. One thinks of "McCarthyism" or indeed more contemporary authoritarian cult-like regimes.
Chilling.
This is a horror story, depicting the horrors of being unable to express contrary views or thoughts, for fear of repercussions. One thinks of "McCarthyism" or indeed more contemporary authoritarian cult-like regimes.
Chilling.
March 30, 2025
"It's a Good Life" is a horror story about three-year-old Anthony Fremont who has omnipotent superpowers. People in town have to pretend that everything is "good" all the time because Anthony might change things with worse results. As the story moves on, the reader becomes more and more aware of the full extent of Anthony's powers.
The town is like a totalitarian regime--with a creepy little child making all the decisions, and people pretending that everything is wonderful in order to survive. This short story was adapted into an episode of "The Twilight Zone" in 1961.
"It's a Good Life" is in the collection "Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic" which I'm reading with the Short Story Club.
The town is like a totalitarian regime--with a creepy little child making all the decisions, and people pretending that everything is wonderful in order to survive. This short story was adapted into an episode of "The Twilight Zone" in 1961.
"It's a Good Life" is in the collection "Black Water 2: More Tales of the Fantastic" which I'm reading with the Short Story Club.
August 5, 2020
Everyone is happy in the small, idyllic town of Peaksville, Ohio. Life is� good! The people of Peaksville cannot merely play-act this way: they must believe it, at all times. And if their Norman Rockwell smiles crack, well� Anthony will know. You see, the people of Peaksville live under the capricious rule of a near-omnipotent three-year old boy named Anthony: a telepath of near limitless power. Anthony isn’t exactly evil. He’s a toddler, with a toddler’s capricious mind, and the power of a god. The citizens of Peaksville do what they can: they try to raise their own crops, they make do in their community cut off from the rest of the world, unsure what (if anything) lies outside their town. They try to keep Anthony happy and satisfied, to avoid the sudden turn of his wrath, and they keep their smiles on, their thoughts positive. Whatever they do, they try not to think about the ones Anthony has “thought� into the cornfield.
It’s a Good Life is a deeply unnerving tale, easily among the best short stories I’ve read and arguably one of the single most effective horror and sci-fi shorts written in the 20th Century. In 1961, it was adapted into an episode of the Twilight Zone. If you’re looking for a terrifying supernatural dystopia of Middle-America, you know, if you don’t feel like you live in the grip of a demented child king enough already, this is the story for you.
It’s a Good Life is a deeply unnerving tale, easily among the best short stories I’ve read and arguably one of the single most effective horror and sci-fi shorts written in the 20th Century. In 1961, it was adapted into an episode of the Twilight Zone. If you’re looking for a terrifying supernatural dystopia of Middle-America, you know, if you don’t feel like you live in the grip of a demented child king enough already, this is the story for you.
June 22, 2021
-Read in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One-
Terrifying story that riffs off how unready humans are for telepathy. Successfully builds suspense and really creeps you out. I can definitely see why they made a Twilight Zone episode based on this story.
Terrifying story that riffs off how unready humans are for telepathy. Successfully builds suspense and really creeps you out. I can definitely see why they made a Twilight Zone episode based on this story.
March 30, 2025
What a sinister story. But it was just swell don’t you know.
This was a short story that I read for The Short Story group that I am a member of here on goodreads. It was also featured as a Twilight Zone episode somehow I just can’t stop thinking about this. I did find the episode to stream. And while it went religiously parallel to the painted story, it didn’t have nearly the impact.
If you like short stories fantastic and sinister in nature, check out Blackwater 2, compiled and edited by Alberto Manuel.
This was a short story that I read for The Short Story group that I am a member of here on goodreads. It was also featured as a Twilight Zone episode somehow I just can’t stop thinking about this. I did find the episode to stream. And while it went religiously parallel to the painted story, it didn’t have nearly the impact.
If you like short stories fantastic and sinister in nature, check out Blackwater 2, compiled and edited by Alberto Manuel.
March 30, 2025
Yikes, almost as scary as if an incompetent, self-centered rube were to act out as leader of the free world, oh wait
Read
June 11, 2021I read this story 50 years ago, while on a vacation with my grandfather at my aunt's house in Virginia. (We flew home; my first time on an airplane.) All I remembered were the scrambled thoughts on the sidewalk outside the mind-reading boy's house, the terror of the villagers, and the destruction of the world beyond, yet the story somehow managed to haunt me. So glad my vague recollections led me to the story this afternoon. And how did I manage to miss the Twilight Zone episode based on this?
October 14, 2020
Chilling. Much better than the Twilight Zone episode, in my opinion, especially the scene with Dan.
April 19, 2024
A great short story. A horror story with a capitol H.
May 25, 2025
Very creepy story by Jerome Bixby who I'd only come across as a writer on the original Star Trek previously.
It can be read for free at
5 stars
It can be read for free at
5 stars
September 28, 2024
Wholly unnerving and wonderfully frightening.
December 21, 2024
read this in september i think i wrote about it for every single horror assignment must watch the twilight zone episode at some point
February 16, 2025
Whilst it was a good story, I had hoped for a different ending.
October 22, 2020
I think that “It’s a Good Life� is written very well and would appeal to people who love a very similar book, “The Veldt.� “It’s a Good Life� deliver a very powerful message - that we NEED healthy relationships with the people around us. Without them, life can be dangerous and we would have so much more pressure and stress over the smallest things. Overall, I think that this is a great story and that Jerome Bixby is a gifted writer.
November 10, 2019
The basis of the eponymous Twilight Zone episode.
April 19, 2025
EXCERPT: Bill Soames hurried past Anthony and reached the front steps, mumbling. He always mumbled when he came to the Fremont house, or passed by it, or even thought of it. Everybody did. They thought about silly things, things that didn’t mean very much, like two-and-two-is-four-and-twice-is-eight and so on; they tried to jumble up their thoughts to keep them skipping back and forth, so Anthony couldn’t read their minds. The mumbling helped. Because if Anthony got anything strong out of your thoughts, he might take a notion to do something about it � like curing your wife’s sick headaches or your kid’s mumps, or getting your old milk cow back on schedule, or fixing the privy. And while Anthony mightn’t actually mean any harm, he couldn’t be expected to have much notion of what was the right thing to do in such cases.
That was if he liked you. He might try to help you, in his way. And that could be pretty horrible.
If he didn’t like you� well, that could be worse.
ABOUT 'IT'S A GOOD LIFE': What is more idyllic than a small Midwestern agricultural town? Peaksville would sound like a scene right out of a Norman Rockwell painting, except little Anthony is a monster! What happens when a child is omnipotent, and with his mind he can execute his every desire and petulant whim? Tonight, there's a birthday party for Dan Hollis at Anthony's house. It's a party all the townspeople will remember...always!
MY THOUGHTS: I'm glad I don't live in Peaksville- I have never been good at controlling my thoughts.
A chilling read that takes only 15 minutes, give or take, of your time and one that I thoroughly recommend.
Thank you to PattyMacDotComma for the link.
I enjoyed this so much, I'm passing it on. Go in cold.
⭐⭐⭐⭐�
MEET THE AUTHOR: Jerome Bixby (1923 —�1998) was an American short story and script writer who wrote four Star Trek episodes and helped write the story that became the classic sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage (1966). He is most famous for the “It’s a Good Life� (1953), also made into a Twilight Zone episode and included in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). The Science Fiction Writers of America named “It’s a Good Life� one of the twenty finest science fiction stories ever written. References to the story have appeared in the Cartoon Network’s Johnny Bravo, Fox’s The Simpsons, and a Junot Diaz novel, among others.
That was if he liked you. He might try to help you, in his way. And that could be pretty horrible.
If he didn’t like you� well, that could be worse.
ABOUT 'IT'S A GOOD LIFE': What is more idyllic than a small Midwestern agricultural town? Peaksville would sound like a scene right out of a Norman Rockwell painting, except little Anthony is a monster! What happens when a child is omnipotent, and with his mind he can execute his every desire and petulant whim? Tonight, there's a birthday party for Dan Hollis at Anthony's house. It's a party all the townspeople will remember...always!
MY THOUGHTS: I'm glad I don't live in Peaksville- I have never been good at controlling my thoughts.
A chilling read that takes only 15 minutes, give or take, of your time and one that I thoroughly recommend.
Thank you to PattyMacDotComma for the link.
I enjoyed this so much, I'm passing it on. Go in cold.
⭐⭐⭐⭐�
MEET THE AUTHOR: Jerome Bixby (1923 —�1998) was an American short story and script writer who wrote four Star Trek episodes and helped write the story that became the classic sci-fi movie Fantastic Voyage (1966). He is most famous for the “It’s a Good Life� (1953), also made into a Twilight Zone episode and included in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). The Science Fiction Writers of America named “It’s a Good Life� one of the twenty finest science fiction stories ever written. References to the story have appeared in the Cartoon Network’s Johnny Bravo, Fox’s The Simpsons, and a Junot Diaz novel, among others.
April 19, 2025
Another short story read with The Short Story Club group from the anthology .
I'm giving it 3 stars, but that's really not fair. It's my way of saying, "Yes, the author did a great job at what the story set it out to do, but dang, I really didn't enjoy it!"
So, imagine that a person can read thoughts of people, and animals too.
Then, imagine that person can control the actions of a person or animal via their thoughts.
Now, imagine that person is a child!
Yeah. The story is the horrors of a life under an all powerful child tyrant. Forgive me if at the moment I am especially repulsed by child tyrants, even if they are 78 year old ones. Cruelty and chaos reign to satisfy one immature person's idea of what a good (or, ahem, "GREAT") life is.
The Short Story Club is a GR group that reads one short story per week. It's my favorite group. You can join here: /group/show/...
I'm giving it 3 stars, but that's really not fair. It's my way of saying, "Yes, the author did a great job at what the story set it out to do, but dang, I really didn't enjoy it!"
So, imagine that a person can read thoughts of people, and animals too.
Then, imagine that person can control the actions of a person or animal via their thoughts.
Now, imagine that person is a child!
Yeah. The story is the horrors of a life under an all powerful child tyrant. Forgive me if at the moment I am especially repulsed by child tyrants, even if they are 78 year old ones. Cruelty and chaos reign to satisfy one immature person's idea of what a good (or, ahem, "GREAT") life is.
The Short Story Club is a GR group that reads one short story per week. It's my favorite group. You can join here: /group/show/...
July 28, 2024
Such a horrifying premise.
You and everyone you love are hoplessly trapped in space and time.
In your midst is someone who forces you to bow to their every whim.
Someone whose moods shift unpredictably.
Someone who is completely irrational.
Someone who is a child.
*** Spoiler Alert ***
As many of you other seniors will recall, this story was memorably presented on Twilight Zone. The story, and the episode (featuring Billy Mumy), are unforgettable.
My rating system:
Since ŷ only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals to B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.
You and everyone you love are hoplessly trapped in space and time.
In your midst is someone who forces you to bow to their every whim.
Someone whose moods shift unpredictably.
Someone who is completely irrational.
Someone who is a child.
*** Spoiler Alert ***
As many of you other seniors will recall, this story was memorably presented on Twilight Zone. The story, and the episode (featuring Billy Mumy), are unforgettable.
My rating system:
Since ŷ only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals to B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.
September 18, 2021
"You are my sunshine ... my only sunshine ... you make me happy ... when I am blue ..."
Anthony Fremont is a three-year-old boy with near-godlike powers is terrorizing the residents of his small town by reading their thoughts. This causes everyone to maintain a façade of happiness and cheerful thoughts, when they are actually living in constant fear.Fear because Anthony can transform other people or objects into anything he wishes, think new things into being, teleport himself and others where he wishes, read the minds of people and animals and even revive the dead. All this power in the hands of a child whos perception of good and evil right or wrong was never tempered by the hand of an adult� how could it be.
I loved this story. I imagined it like a childlike Q from Star Trek an omnipotent being who at the click of his fingers could do anything he wished. Its two parts psychological horror and one part science fiction and all of it is so very very good to read.
Anthony Fremont is a three-year-old boy with near-godlike powers is terrorizing the residents of his small town by reading their thoughts. This causes everyone to maintain a façade of happiness and cheerful thoughts, when they are actually living in constant fear.Fear because Anthony can transform other people or objects into anything he wishes, think new things into being, teleport himself and others where he wishes, read the minds of people and animals and even revive the dead. All this power in the hands of a child whos perception of good and evil right or wrong was never tempered by the hand of an adult� how could it be.
I loved this story. I imagined it like a childlike Q from Star Trek an omnipotent being who at the click of his fingers could do anything he wished. Its two parts psychological horror and one part science fiction and all of it is so very very good to read.
January 29, 2025
5 stars!
A deeply disturbing tale is woven within the few pages of this short story. For any fan of The Twilight Zone (like myself), this is a must-read. A perfect blend of science fiction and horror.
Anthony is an all-controlling three-year-old with the ability to bend the world to his whim.
I imagine his powers much like those of an all powerful god.
This god just happens to care just enough about what goes on in the minds of humans that they ahve taken it upon themselves to address humans' worries and grievances.
But, much like any non-human god, Anthony has no real understanding of what would truly be "good" for people, having never lived a human life himself. His misguided sense of "goodness" fuels the horror, leaving a heavy stone in the reader's stomach. I felt the anxieties of the town, trapped under Anthony's terrifying mercy as they attempted to ensure Anthony would not attmept to do more "good" for them.
UHHH, I loved this short story!
A deeply disturbing tale is woven within the few pages of this short story. For any fan of The Twilight Zone (like myself), this is a must-read. A perfect blend of science fiction and horror.
Anthony is an all-controlling three-year-old with the ability to bend the world to his whim.
I imagine his powers much like those of an all powerful god.
This god just happens to care just enough about what goes on in the minds of humans that they ahve taken it upon themselves to address humans' worries and grievances.
But, much like any non-human god, Anthony has no real understanding of what would truly be "good" for people, having never lived a human life himself. His misguided sense of "goodness" fuels the horror, leaving a heavy stone in the reader's stomach. I felt the anxieties of the town, trapped under Anthony's terrifying mercy as they attempted to ensure Anthony would not attmept to do more "good" for them.
UHHH, I loved this short story!
August 19, 2022
Four stars for the sickening dread it must be in Peaksville.
Four stars for the way it crawled under my skin and frightened me.
Four stars for the way it scared me much more than the Twilight Zone did� for the Twilight Zone held something to it. A warmth and something rather quaint about it. Anthony in that show has more of a personality, something double-sided about him. For all intents and purposes he’s just a young kid, but he’s a kid with God-like power. Very frightening.
I personally think that I enjoyed the Twilight Zone more than I did the story, but maybe that’s just because I’m partial to the show, having seen it before I knew the story existed. Or maybe it’s because the story didn’t have any 50’s FEEL to it and had Anthony be less of a person and more of a monster�
But that’s a good thing, a very good thing. Yes, it’s fine!
Four stars for the way it crawled under my skin and frightened me.
Four stars for the way it scared me much more than the Twilight Zone did� for the Twilight Zone held something to it. A warmth and something rather quaint about it. Anthony in that show has more of a personality, something double-sided about him. For all intents and purposes he’s just a young kid, but he’s a kid with God-like power. Very frightening.
I personally think that I enjoyed the Twilight Zone more than I did the story, but maybe that’s just because I’m partial to the show, having seen it before I knew the story existed. Or maybe it’s because the story didn’t have any 50’s FEEL to it and had Anthony be less of a person and more of a monster�
But that’s a good thing, a very good thing. Yes, it’s fine!
March 4, 2025
"The mumbling helped. Because if Anthony got anything strong out of your thoughts, he might take a notion to do something about it"
"If he didn’t like you� well, that could be worse." Ask that poor rat. Or Mrs. Kent. Or Dan Hollis.
Or anyone who Anthony had sent out into the cornfield.
This is a great short story, which I'd seen on both the Twilight Zone television series and in the Twilight Zone movie. This story is much creepier, if that's possible, especially the origin piece. And Anthony's powers are considerably strong than in either of the adaptations.
'It’s good.� Unless, of course, you live in Peaksville. And if you happen by Peaksville, don't forget to mumble. Mumbling is a good thing. A very good thing. A wonderful thing.
"If he didn’t like you� well, that could be worse." Ask that poor rat. Or Mrs. Kent. Or Dan Hollis.
Or anyone who Anthony had sent out into the cornfield.
This is a great short story, which I'd seen on both the Twilight Zone television series and in the Twilight Zone movie. This story is much creepier, if that's possible, especially the origin piece. And Anthony's powers are considerably strong than in either of the adaptations.
'It’s good.� Unless, of course, you live in Peaksville. And if you happen by Peaksville, don't forget to mumble. Mumbling is a good thing. A very good thing. A wonderful thing.
June 12, 2021
Goddamn, that was an exhausting read.
Anthony's character was very striking from the beginning of the story. The further I read, however, the worse I felt: about the villagers, about the kid, about the whole plot. There were also so many unnecessary details, even in a story this short.
Anthony's character was very striking from the beginning of the story. The further I read, however, the worse I felt: about the villagers, about the kid, about the whole plot. There were also so many unnecessary details, even in a story this short.
November 22, 2024
Listened to this on audiobook for my college English course. Discovering gems like this is exactly what I love about English classes, especially because short stories are a hit or miss for me! Incredibly chilling story. I may be looking too deep into it, but the characters pretending that everything is okay to avoid repercussions from Anthony reminds me of what it is like "walking on eggshells" around abusive people.
January 14, 2025
”It did no good to wonder about it. Nothing at all did any good except to live as they must live. Must always, always live, if Anthony would let them.�
A freaky sci-fi horror tale about a small child with a huge psychic ability. Everyone is afraid of little Anthony and what he might do�
This story is the literary manifestation of walking on eggshells. I loved it.
I’ll have to find the Twilight Zone episode they made based off of this.
TW: animal cruelty and death
A freaky sci-fi horror tale about a small child with a huge psychic ability. Everyone is afraid of little Anthony and what he might do�
This story is the literary manifestation of walking on eggshells. I loved it.
I’ll have to find the Twilight Zone episode they made based off of this.
TW: animal cruelty and death
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