Richard Matheson: Collected Stories, Vol. 1
by Richard Matheson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Richard MathesonEditor: Stanley Wiater
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-12
ISBN: 1887368620
Number of pages: 408
Publisher: Gauntlet Pr
Book Reviews of Richard Matheson: Collected Stories, Vol. 1
Book Review: One of the all-time greats
Summary: 5 Stars
I always like to describe Richard Matheson as the best writer whose work you know but whose name you don't. Certainly, his name as not been as big as some of the people he's influenced such as Stephen King, but his work is unforgettable. Movies that have been based on his work include the very recent I Am Legend (previously filmed as The Last Man on Earth and the Omega Man), The Incredible Shrinking Man, Somewhere in Time, Stir of Echoes, Hell House and What Dreams May Come. Beyond those are the TV adaptations, including a number of Twilight Zones, Trilogy of Terror and Duel. Then there are his screenplays, most notably his work for Roger Corman with the Poe movies.
Collected Stories, Volume 1 (of 3) has a couple dozen of Matheson's earliest short stories, and while not every story is a classic, there is also not a dud in the bunch. I can't describe them all, but some of the highlights include stories that would later become Twilight Zone episodes: Third From the Sun (about a couple families fleeing into space from a worldwide disaster), Death Ship (about space explorers who come across a crashed spaceship with a disturbing surprise inside), Little Girl Lost (about a young child falling into another dimension) and Long Distance Call (involving an invalid old lady receiving mysterious phone calls).
Those may be the more familiar stories, but there are other gems as well, including Matheson's first story, Born of Man and Woman, a child's story of maltreatment by his parents. Blood Son involves another child, this one whose sole aspiration is to become a vampire; F--, a science fiction story of a future era where food is no longer not consumed, its very mention is considered obscene; Mad House, about a man whose rage eventually poisons his very home; Shipshape Home, about an apartment complex with a strange janitor and stranger things in the basement; and The Disinheritors, a twist on the Goldilocks story. And there are many more stories as well.
Nowadays, when many short stories are artistic slice-of-life stories with more style than substance, Matheson's stories may come off as old-fashioned, but I'll take them there straightforward brilliance any day over more literary efforts. This book is a bag of candy, a whole collection of wonderful treats; and even better, there are two more volumes to go!
Summary of Richard Matheson: Collected Stories, Vol. 1
RICHARD MATHESON: COLLECTED STORIES, VOLUME ONE is an expanded tradepaperback version of the 1989 Dream/Press hardcover limited edition. We will be publishing it in 3 volumes, the first in 2003 and one each year following.RICHARD MATHESON: COLLECTED STORIES is the gathering together of 86 Richard Matheson short stories, beginning with Born of Man and Woman from 1950 and ending with Duel from 1971. The stories were arranged by Matheson himself roughly in chronological order of original publication. There are also several tributes to Richard Matheson throughout the volumes from admirers such as Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, William F. Nolan, and others. Finally, Matheson wrote a deeply revealing Introduction for the collection. As Matheson himself states in this Introduction, "A twenty-year period of creativity reduced to the psychological background of my output of fantasy and science-fiction stories. If this were a thesis, that would be my premise".
For the Volume One, editor Stanley Wiater has included:
> A "bibliophile" at the end of each story containing Matheson's very own commentary on the behind-the-scenes details of each story. Each story is also listed with it's original publication date and place of publication.
> A brand new introduction written expressly for this version of the book
Each subsequent volume of RICHARD MATHESON: COLLECTED STORIES that we publish will include the Matheson bibliophiles with each story.
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