aside from serling himself, who wrote nearly two-thirds of the series' total episodes, writers for "the twilight zone" included authors such as charles beaumont, richard matheson, jerry sohl, george clayton johnson, earl hamner, jr., reginald rose, harlan ellison and ray bradbury. many episodes also featured adaptations of classic stories by such writers as ambrose bierce, lewis padgett, jerome bixby and damon knight.