Duel [Paperback]

Richard Matheson (Author), Ray Bradbury (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2003

Remember that murderous semi chasing Dennis Weaver down a lonely stretch of desert highway?

Duel, Steven Spielberg's acclaimed first film, was adapted by Richard Matheson from his unforgettable story of the same name.

But "Duel" is only one of the classic suspense tales in this outstanding collection of stories by the Grand Master of Horror, which also contains Matheson's legendary first story, "Born of Man and Woman," as well as several stunning shockers that inspired memorable episodes of The Twilight Zone, including "Little Girl Lost," "Steel," and "Third from the Sun."

Like Matheson's previous collection, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, this collection is an indispensable treasure trove of terror from the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Matheson, whose best-known novels include the modern vampire classic I Am Legend (1954), here collects 18 short stories that debuted in various sf magazines in the 1950s. They have just the right blend of sf, chills, and humor. In "Third from the Sun," a man who is certain that Earth will be destroyed by a cataclysmic war prepares to flee to another solar system with his family and neighbors. In "Born of Man and Woman," the monstrous offspring of a normal couple lies chained in the basement, growing ever more resentful. Matheson shows his lighter side in "Srl Ad," in which a young man gets more than he bargained for when he answers an offbeat personal ad from a girl who claims to be from Venus. In "Little Girl Lost," a father must save his young daughter when she slips into another dimension. The title story, about a man menaced by a semi truck, was the source for Stephen Spielberg's film Duel. Wearing their age well, Matheson's stories are snappy and smart. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Richard Matheson is worth our time, attention, and great affection."-from the Appreciation by Ray Bradbury

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (January 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312878265
• ISBN-13: 978-0312878269
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #789,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Matheson was born in 1926. He began publishing SF with his short story 'Born of Man and Woman' in 1950. I Am Legend was published in 1954 and subsequently filmed as The Omega Man (in 1971), starring Charlton Heston, and I Am Legend (in 2007), starring Will Smith. Matheson wrote the script for the film The Incredible Shrinking Man, an adaptation of his second SF novel The Shrinking Man. The film won a Hugo award in 1958. He wrote many screenplays as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone. He continued to write short stories and novels, some of which formed the basis for film scripts, including Duel, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1971. A film of his novel What Dreams May Come was released in 1998, starring Robin Williams. Stephen King has cited Richard Matheson as a creative influence on his work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding collection of terror and science fiction, September 4, 2004

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Duel (Paperback)

"Duel" the title story of this terrific collection of terror, horror and science fiction stories, became the basis for Steven Spielberg's marvelous TV movie of the same name (by the way just released to DVD after a long, long delay by Universal). David Mann becomes involved in an increasingly dangerous game of cat and mouse with a truck driver. Their road rage leads to more and more dangerous confrontations until it's clear that the truck driver wants to kill Mann. A marvelous suspense story, "Duel" is the blueprint for Matheson's script to the movie of the same name.

We also get "Little Girl Lost", "Death Ship", "Steel", "Third from the Sun" and "Born of Man & Woman"(all of which were adapted by Matheson and/or Rod Serling for the classic "Night Gallery" and "Twilight Zone" series) with 12 other stories of terror and science fiction. Like Matheson's novels I Am Legend and The Incredible Shrinking Man, the author likes to mix equal elements of terror, science fiction and intelligent character studies in this collection of classic stories from the 50's ("Duel" is the lone story from the 70's).

You may ask yourself what the difference is between horror and terror? Well Boris Karloff stated that terror is anticipating the monster behind the door while horror is actually seeing it in all its gruesome glory. The former creates considerably more suspense and anxiety while the latter is a shock to the system that doesn't last very long (like the murder scene in "Psycho" as compared to the scene where Cary Grant is being pursued by the crop duster in "North by Northwest"). It also can be reduced to semantics. Either way, this collection will provide interesting thrills and chills. Even if you've seen the films adapted from Matheson's work (or TV programs), you'll still enjoy Matheson's fluid writing style and pacing. There's more here than meet the eye and it's well worth investigating.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars You Can Get Duel in a Better Matheson Anthology Collection called The Incredible Shrinking Man, July 24, 2007

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Duel (Paperback)

My rating of this collection does not reflect the senstational story Duel but that story is also available in another anthology collection called The Incredible Shrinking Man. That collection in my opinion is a much better buy as it also has Matheson's brilliant story The Shrinking Man. You can buy that story on its own as a stand alone story if you have already purchased this book by dropping the word incredible in the Amazon search engine or just clicking on this link The Shrinking Man (Sf Masterworks). The shrinking man is a great story of a normal guy who keeps shrinking and makes the ultimate enemy of a black widow spider.

So buy this collection Duel: Terror Stories if it is cheaper if you just want Duel but the other stories within this anthology to be honest with you are extremely average. If you want two good stories however, buy The Incredible Shrinking Man titled anthology instead!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Duel is the Best, Some Others Good, December 18, 2006

By 

lisatheratgirl "lisatheratgirl" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Duel (Paperback)

I agree with some of the other reviewers here. The story Duel is a work of genius (which could actually happen). I even watched the movie again after reading it. The stories in the collection which were made into Twilight Zone episodes were also good, such as Little Girl Lost (with an original explanation). Most of the other stories, however, were typical 1950s sci-fi tales involving flying saucers, invasions by the Martians, rocket ships and all the other cliches. If these stories were all that Matheson had written, I dont know that he would be considered great. One possible exception is the story Shipshape House, which builds the suspense to a really horrifying ending. I found most of this collection pretty dated, but the good stories made getting the book worthwhile. I do recommend the movie Duel, the first one directed by Steven Spielberg. It is too bad the collection wasnt more uniform in quality; I hesitate to pick up his other books after this. Duel is the only story written after the early 1950s, so you know what to expect.