Are you ready to nosh? Then join me for dinner in Manhattan with the great horror writer and editor T. E. D. Klein, whom I’ve known for longer than (gulp!) a third of a century.

I got to know Ted because he edited The Twilight Zone magazine from 1981 until 1985, and in the middle of his run, he was foolish enough to publish a story by me, “Fifth Dimension,” in the March-April 1983 issue. Which, as it was only my eighth published story, and my highest profile market up until then, changed my life. But his effect on the horror field has been more than merely personal, and more than only as an editor, because as a writer, his impact was just as great, if not greater.

He’s been a seven-time nominee for the World Fantasy Award, starting in 1975 with his first published story, “The Events at Poroth Farm,” and his novella “Nadelman’s God” won the World Fantasy Award in 1986. Stephen King once called his 1984 novel The Ceremonies, “the most exciting novel in the field to come along since Straub’s Ghost Story.” All this and more resulted in Klein being given the World Horror Convention’s Grand Master Award in 2012. 

Our dinner last Thursday night was at a spot he suggested—Fine & Schapiro, an old-school NYC Kosher deli which has been serving pastrami sandwiches on West 72nd Street since 1927. Ninety-one years later, we took our seats in a booth in the back—and saved a seat for you.

We discussed what he hated most about editing The Twilight Zone magazine, how he ended up scripting the screenplay for “the worst movie Dario Argento ever made,” what eldritch action he took after buying a letter written by H. P. Lovecraft, which movie monster gave him the most nightmares, what he’ll likely title his future autobiography, why he feels cheated by most horror movies, the secret origin of the T. E. D. Klein byline, his parents’ friendship with (and the nickname they gave to) Stan Lee and his wife, what he learned (and what he didn’t) when taught by Anthony Burgess, the bittersweet autograph he once obtained from John Updike, whether we’re likely to see his long-awaited novel Nighttown any time soon, and much more.

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Here’s what Ted and I shared that night in NYC—

Stuffed Derma

Pastrami Sandwich

Potato Pancake
missing: the open-faced brisket sandwich which went with it

Dessert Cookies

I hope you’ll join me next episode, when I invade the annual Scares That Care charity telethon with take-out to chat with Mary SanGiovanni, author of the Hollower trilogy, the first volume of which was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. But until then—

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