RICHARD MATHESON: COLLECTED STORIES VOL 1

written by Richard Matheson

edited by Stanley Wiater

published by Gauntlet Press

(2003)

ISBN-10: 1887368620

ISBN-13: 978-1887368629

reviewed by Adam Armstrong

7.29.09

One of the best; required reading.

Parents give birth to a monster that becomes aware of itself. A boy dreams of becoming a vampire. A time traveler finds the price of returning home. A girl finds out a secret about her mother and her mother’s dress. A man finds himself truly defined by his clothes. A man finds out that your emotions can affect your home, even rage. A society has alien servants that are ordered around by telepathy, but who is ordering whom. People gather to spend the last day of Earth together before it is destroyed by a meteor. A crippled elderly lady is being harassed by phone calls that aren’t pranks.

These are the early stories from Matheson that were published during the 1950’s. This is a great view of how the master of modern horror started out. Every story is followed by commentary by Matheson on how he came up with each. It is strange to read how he slapped on endings or how he took horror stories and rewrote them as sci-fi pieces in order to sell them better. There are a ton of typos and mistakes by the publisher, but most of which can be overlooked.

A must-read for anyone interested in writing horror: 5 out of 5