author
Lyn Venable
Best known for the haunting short story that became a classic episode of The Twilight Zone, this mid-century science fiction writer made a lasting mark with a remarkably small body of work. Her stories are sharp, unsettling, and often centered on ordinary people facing one devastating twist.
3 Audiobooks
About the author
Marilyn "Lynn" Venable was an American writer of science fiction, publishing mainly in the 1950s under the name Lyn or Lynn Venable. She was born in New Jersey on June 3, 1927, and became especially well known for the 1953 story Time Enough at Last, first published in If magazine.
That story went on to inspire the famous 1959 Twilight Zone episode starring Burgess Meredith, which helped keep her name alive for generations of readers and viewers. Although her published output appears to have been small, her work has been repeatedly anthologized and remembered for its dark irony, emotional bite, and love of classic speculative-fiction ideas.
Later in life, Venable lived in California, and she died on March 31, 2025, at age 97. Part of her appeal today is how much she accomplished with just a handful of stories: concise, memorable tales that still feel eerie and human.