The first anthology of Richard Matheson's terrifying stories selected by award-winning horror author Victor LaValle.
Richard Matheson (1926-2013) is the New York Times bestselling
author of I Am Legend, Hell House, Somewhere in Time, The
Incredible Shrinking Man, A Stir of Echoes, and What Dreams May
Come, among others. He was named a Grand Master of Horror by the
World Horror Convention, and received the Bram Stoker Award for
Lifetime Achievement. He has also won the Edgar, the Spur, and the
Writer's Guild awards. In 2010, he was inducted into the Science
Fiction Hall of Fame. In addition to his novels, Matheson wrote
screenplays, and he wrote for several Twilight Zone episodes,
including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," based on his short story.
Victor LaValle is the award-winning author of four novels, The
Changeling, The Ecstatic, Big Machine, and The Devil in Silver, and
a collection of short stories, Slapboxing with Jesus. Big Machine
was the winner of an American Book Award and the Shirley Jackson
Award in 2010, and was selected as one of the best books of the
year by the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Chicago
Tribune, The Nation, and Publishers Weekly. He teaches writing at
Columbia University.
"[Matheson is] the author who influenced me most as a writer."
-Stephen King
"He was a giant, and YOU KNOW HIS STORIES, even if you think you
don't."-Neil Gaiman
"Richard Matheson's ironic and iconic imagination created seminal
science-fiction stories . . . For me, he is in the same category as
Bradbury and Asimov." -Steven Spielberg
"[I] never met Richard Matheson, but his stories have been life
companions. Books are human souls, in analog form. Go read
his." -Joe Hill
"Perhaps no other author living is as responsible for chilling a
generation with tantalizing nightmare visions." -The New York
Times
"Richard Matheson is one of the great names in American terror
fiction.” -The Philadelphia Inquirer
"[Matheson has] been an inspiration to me and to so many. He is a
legend himself." -Anne Rice
"We're all a lot richer to have Richard Matheson." -Dean Koontz
"[Matheson is] one of the most important writers of
the 20th century." -Ray Bradbury
"Matheson’s horror is for grown-ups, those who have lost the easy
credulity of the very young . . . He’s an ideal writer to read
right now, because — as grown-ups know — we live in unbelievable
times." -Terrence Rafferty, New York Times Book Review
"Indeed, it's very nearly impossible to overstate the importance of
Matheson's contributions to popular culture and our modern
perception of horror . . . The Best of Richard
Matheson is a fine collection of some of the best short works
from one of the great writers of the 20th (or any, really)
century." -Pop Matters
"One of my favorite writers of all time . . . If you love
short stories, he was a master." -Joe R. Lansdale
"Richard Matheson was quite simply one of the greatest genre
writers of all time. Horror, mystery, suspense, western
novels...television, film scripts...He was one for the
ages." -Christopher Golden
"If all we knew Richard Matheson for was his Twilight Zone
episodes, he'd still be a writing legend. But he did so, so much
more...It is impossible to overstate how important Richard Matheson
is to postwar sci fi, fantasy & horror in prose, TV &
film." -Zack Stentz, screenwriter of Thor and X Men: First
Class
"140 characters can't begin cover what [Richard Matheson] has given
the sci fi & horror genre." -Edgar Wright, writer and director of
Baby Driver
"You could make a strong case for Richard Matheson as the most
influential American writer of 'fantastika' between Lovecraft and
Stephen King . . . I thought I knew most of Matheson’s short
fiction . . . and yet editor LaValle has chosen at least
a dozen I can’t remember ever having read." -Michael Dirda,
Washington Post
"Matheson’s stories never shock viewers with gruesome effects or
CGI wondrousness; instead, they worry them at the human level. And
they never let a reader go until they’re finished." -Los Angeles
Times
"Matheson is a master of horror, but moreso a master of incisive
prose and skill." -Tor.com
"Where Matheson shines is in his depictions of ordinary horror, the
way strange goings-on affect everyday people, and his ambiguous
endings leave plenty of room for further thought. . . . These
chilling page-turners still hold up, serving as an excellent
starting point for a new generation of readers.” -Kirkus
Reviews
"[Matheson's] imagination and mastery of the short form cannot be
denied, and this collection demonstrates the indelible influence he
had on speculative literature" -Publishers Weekly
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