Customer Reviews

Richard Matheson: Collected Stories, Vol. 1

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This little delicacy is the first of three collections of Matheson stories picked and arranged chronologically by publication date by Matheson himself. This volume covers 1950-1953 and contains 29 fabulous mind twisting and thought provoking stories from this writing icon. For a special splash of color, these are not just collected famous works, but also lesser known works from Matheson, which gives you a full course of Matheson for your palate.

Included in this book are two introductions (1989 & 2003) from the author. The reason is that the collection was first printed in 1989 as a limited hardcover edition. It wasn't until recent times that the idea of a trade paperback came into fruition. Also included are tributes to Matheson by the following authors: Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, and William F. Nolan.

Matheson has a knack of making you come full circle when reading his stories, and giving you that ending shock factor in a subtle way. The crème de la crème however, is that for the first time, after each of these fabulous stories, there are personal comments to the editor. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book, as you get to hear the story behind the story. Leave it to Matheson to give 110%

Within each story is a different pace, atmosphere, characters, settings, and plots. As stated before, there are 29 different adventures that Matheson takes you through, so to give a general overview of these criteria would not be conducive to this review. I will say however, that in general you get the fill you are craving after reading each story.

This book definitely gets 5 stars from me, Each story gives you an adventure that leaves you wanting more. The price on this baby is quite reasonable, so there is no excuse why you shouldn't run and buy it now. And just for the record, the other two vols. to follow will range through 1971. After you read this book, you will want more! I know I do!

Yeah, some of these stories are undeniably dated and there are a few that are a bit on the silly side, but this has got too many classic stories to give it anything less than 5 stars: There's Matheson's classic first story, 'Born of Man and Woman', about a mutant child, intriguingly written in broken, invented English; 'Blood Son' about another mad child who wants to be a vampire; 'Witch War', about telekinesis and the use of little girls as weapons; 'Through Channels' an unusual, innovative horror story presaging the tech-horror trend of modern times; 'F-' a nominal sci-fi/time-travel tale with a very amusing central conceit which I won't reveal; 'Death Ship', the inspiration for the classic 'Twilight Zone' episode of the same name; 'The Disinheritors' a clever story about slipping from reality into something else, and so on. Beyond all those stories I have two particular favorites, 'Legion of Plotters' and 'The Last Day'. The former is, as Matheson described it, the ultimate in paranoia, as our protagonist slowly determines that all the minor annoyances that come upon him are part of a vast conspiracy against him. 'The Last Day' is probably my very favorite story in the collection, and truly depressing but also kind of touching story about, you guessed it, the end of the world.

Anyway, I could just keep going on and on with specifics as there are still quite a few great stories here that I haven't mentioned, (such as `Lover, When You're Near Me', `Mad House', `Little Girl Lost' etc.) but you get the idea. Very cool stuff, check it out. (The latter two Matheson collections are very good as well, though this one is probably my favorite of the 3. They're all worth getting, definitely)

Richard Matheson -- He Is Legend! For those of us lucky enough to own the Dream Press edition of Matheson's collected stories, waiting for these new editions to come out has been relatively easy, but for everyone else, your dreams have come true. You'll find the source material for some of the most classic episodes of "The Twilight Zone" in these pages, as well as other stories that read as if they were written in the present, rather than forty or fifty years ago. Matheson frequently lives in his own genre, somewhere between horror, fantasy, and science fiction, and his short stories are truly priceless. Treat yourself to this book and relish in Matheson's ability to put normal people in strange and often chaotic situations. For the young writers out there, pull up a chair and study -- you'll learn much of the mechanics of good storytelling from one of the greats. Then check out "I Am Legend" and see a master running at top speed.

I'm only about halfway through Vol. 1 at this point, so this isn't a review (Born of Man and Woman is one of the best things I've read, though), but since many of these stories are available in other Matheson collections I thought it might be helpful to list exactly what stories are included.

Volume 1:

-Born of Man and Woman
-Third From the Sun
-When the Waker Sleeps
-Blood Son
-Clothes Make the Man
-Dress of White Silk
-Return
-The Thing
-Through Channels
-Witch War
-Advance Notice
-Brother to the Machine
-F--
-Lover When You're Near Me
-Mad House
-Shipshape Home
-SRL Ad
-To Fit the Crime
-Death Ship
-Disappearing Act
-The Disinheritors
-Dying Room Only
-Full Circle
-The Last Day
-Lazarus II
-Legion of Plotters
-Little Girl Lost
-Long Distance Call

Before the newly released version of "I am Legend" with Will Smith, i never heard of Richard Matheson. However after seeing the movie and reading a few of his stories i am convinced that the man is a great and compelling writer.

I have never been a fan of reading short stories because i always felt that there was never enough time to get to know the characters that you are reading about. However after reading this authors writing i was blown away at how in just a few lines you can be totally absorbed in the little world that you are currently holding in your hands.

Of course some of his stories are better then others but when you have so many stories collected in one amazing volume (25+!!!)thats bound to happen. One feature that i really enjoyed was that after every story your given a small paragraph by the author giving you some sort of history of the story. For example after reading one story he explains how he originally wrote that story on a single sheet of yellow legal pad paper as he walked down the block, and he sold the story to a magazine company for $ 50. Again just a neat little bit of info.

I also never know that i was already aware of his excellent story telling abilities. Many of the stories written in this volume and in 2 and 3 respectively, have made it to film in the form of "Twilight Zone" TV episodes.

In regards to the reviewer that gave this book a single star for poor grammar and editing, i have to say i failed to notice such mistakes. There are a few stories were it is written from the perspective of a child(or a creature with child like intellect), in these stories the grammar and spelling is made to reflect the persons state of mind and as such is written in a child like sentence structure( poor grammar and obvious spelling errors). Aside from these stories i failed to find any mistakes.

Over all this is a great book by a great author with only one problem: it is very hard to put down!!!

Matheson is one of the all-time greats, but this edition is just terrible. Typos galore, cheap paper, poor quality ink - Matheson deserves a lot better than this! Five-star stories, but a one-star edition. Shame on the editor, press, and publisher!

This book is a compilation of Richard Matheson's earliest short stories. If you are a fan of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone, you will absolutely love this book. There are three volumes in the whole collection; I recommend buying all three at once so you won't have to wait for more when you finish this volume.

5 stars for stories 0 stars for editing

As you all know, Richard Matheson's stories are the cornerstone of what has now become modern horror literature. His simplistic way of injecting the very brunt of terror into the hearts and minds of so many people has solidified his true and unequivocal greatness, and who I believe should be bestowed first class treatment in the compiling of his unparalleled stories into 3 volumes. Yes, great idea, but poor execution. The word edit obviously lost sufficient meaning in the pen headed mind of Stanley Wiater: the dumb moron who apparently didn't edit worth a s**t Matheson's stories. It's misleading and deceptive to print edit upon a book with myriad typos and misspells and, then, put a price tag on it. What a shame...

J. R. Rebuck

Finally a means to own all of Matheson's short stories in three TPB collections without having multiples of the same story. I've held off buying any of the other short story collections because I hate having the same story be in different books. I can't wait to get volumes 2 and 3.

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!