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HE IS LEGEND:
An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson, ed. by Christopher Conlon.
Gauntlet Publications, 2009, 525 pp., $60.00.
ISBN 13: 978-1-887368-10-0
We all grew up watching and admiring the work of Richard Matheson.
If it wasn’t early on with the success of his teleplays for TV’s “Twilight Zone” of the 1960s, or the movie about the shrinking man battling the huge spider, or Charlton Heston trying to figure why he was all alone – then it was the button that, if you push it, you’ll get rich, but somebody you don’t know will die . . .
Those tales are the magnificent handiwork of Matheson.
An homage was past due. Fortunately, we have the work of the good folks at Gauntlet Press with this collection of original stories that pay homage to the great storyteller.
I especially enjoyed the following tales by authors who work on a variation of one or another of Matheson’s classic stories and novels:
- In “Recalled” by F. Paul Wilson, a sequel to Matheson’s “The Distributor,” a drifter named Theodore Gordon (also known as Clay Evanson in a previous life) comes to town, known only to himself as the Distributor. His mission is simple: create havoc with people’s lives, set them up for personal destruction. That is, until he meets his match – someone hires a character to track Gordon, someone (if you are familiar with the work of Wilson) who could be Repairman Jack.
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- “I Am Legend, Too” by Mick Garris is a prequel to the novel I AM LEGEND, charting the beginning of what becomes Ben Cortman’s world, revealed in startling ways.
- “The Diary of Louise Carey” by Thomas F. Monteleone. THE SHRINKING MAN-based story points to the feelings that the wife of Scott, who shrinks an inch a day, has for what’s going on. What does Louise endure as she watches her husband literally descend into oblivion?
- “Everything of Beauty Taken From You In This Life Remains Forever” by Gary A. Braunbeck. The 1970s story “Button, Button” is brought to life when the person killed as the result of the button being pushed is not ALWAYS someone unknown.
- “An Island Unto Himself” by Barry Hoffman. This variation of “Disappearing Act” is a Benjamin-Button type story in which a man endures those he knows literally disappearing around him – until he becomes almost, literally, nobody himself – aging backward to oblivion.
- “Quarry” by Joe R. Lansdale, a sequel to Matheson’s “Prey,” involves Jeff, a wealthy author who endures a painful divorce. Jeff visits an antique shop, Old Stuff and Odd Stuff, where the proprietors, Jason and Kevin, sell him a Zuni fetish doll called “He Who Kills.” The doll has a scroll that reads “He is deadly and ever persistent.” This is another horror tale of someone who refuses to take that advice and, like in “Prey,” will have to fend for his life.
- “Venturi” by Richard’s son, Richard Christian Matheson, is a variation of “Legion of Plotters” and looks at the evil of California wildfires.
- “Return to Hell House” by Nancy A. Collins is a prequel to the 1971 Matheson novel, HELL HOUSE. The story examines the first encounter by Benjamin Fischer of the denizens of Emeric Belasco’s “private Xanadu” north in Maine, near the Canadian border.
- “Cloud Rider” by Whitley Strieber is a tribute to the tales of Matheson’s collected stories.
- Rounding out the anthology is a screen adaptation of CONJURE WIFE by Fritz Leiber by Matheson with Charles Beaumont.
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A Sample Of Our Upcoming Reviews...
AN IRISH COUNTRY CHRISTMAS: by Patrick Taylor. Tor/Forge, 495 pp., $14.99.
ISBN 978-0-7653-2072-8
THE FANTASY WRITER’S ASSISTANT, And Other Stories, by Jeffrey Ford. Golden Gryphon, 2002, 2009, 253 pp., $14.95.
ISBN 1-930846-57-6
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS: by Andrew M. Greeley. Tor/Forge, 191 pp., $14.99.
ISBN 978-0-7653-2250-0
AMELIA EARHART: The Sky’s No Limit, by Lori Van Pelt. Tor/Forge, 240 pp., $12.99.
ISBN 978-0-7653-2483-2
DINNER AT MR. JEFFERSON’S, by Charles A. Cerami. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008, 272 pp., $25.95.
ISBN 978-0-470-08306-2
A SIMPLE CHRISTMAS: by Mick Huckabee. Penguin/Sentinel, 176 pp., $19.95.
ISBN 978-1595230621
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