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Richard Matheson Thrillers: I Am Legend, Someone is Bleeding, Ride the Nightmare, Fury on Sunday
From Richard Matheson, author of I Am Legend , comes a four-book bundle of his best thrillers. Revenge, murder, and horror abound in these stories of speculative fiction as the dark side of humanity is explored.
I Am Legend : Sometimes referred to as the modern world’s first vampire novel, I Am Legend was the original inspiration for the film Night of the Living Dead , which spawned the zombie genre of films and literature. Telling the story of the last surviving man in Manhattan after a deadly pandemic that turned people into blood-sucking zombies, it’s a fascinating introduction to horror, zombie, and vampire genres..
Someone Is Bleeding : Young novelist Dave Newton is instantly smitten when he meets blonde, beautiful Peggy. But Peggy has a past full of abuse and terror—and she’s involved with Jerry, a lawyer with mob connections and an old rival from Dave’s college days. Soon, Dave finds himself caught in a love triangle with Peggy and Jerry, desperate to win her affections. But when corpses begin to pile up in Peggy’s wake, Dave must face the truth that either Jerry is a mass murderer—or Peggy is..
Ride the Nightmare : At 32, Chris Martin lives a conventional life. He’s married with a daughter, runs his own small business, and is working to save up money for a bigger home with his wife, Helen. He is happy and content with this staid but comfortable existence—until a secret from his past threatens to undo everything he has built..
Fury on Sunday : In the early hours of a Sunday morning, lunatic pianist Vincent Radin escapes from an insane asylum and sets out on a revenge-fueled rampage. His aim is to find the two people who have hurt him most—his erstwhile manager and his lover’s new husband—and end their lives.
I Am Legend : Sometimes referred to as the modern world’s first vampire novel, I Am Legend was the original inspiration for the film Night of the Living Dead , which spawned the zombie genre of films and literature. Telling the story of the last surviving man in Manhattan after a deadly pandemic that turned people into blood-sucking zombies, it’s a fascinating introduction to horror, zombie, and vampire genres..
Someone Is Bleeding : Young novelist Dave Newton is instantly smitten when he meets blonde, beautiful Peggy. But Peggy has a past full of abuse and terror—and she’s involved with Jerry, a lawyer with mob connections and an old rival from Dave’s college days. Soon, Dave finds himself caught in a love triangle with Peggy and Jerry, desperate to win her affections. But when corpses begin to pile up in Peggy’s wake, Dave must face the truth that either Jerry is a mass murderer—or Peggy is..
Ride the Nightmare : At 32, Chris Martin lives a conventional life. He’s married with a daughter, runs his own small business, and is working to save up money for a bigger home with his wife, Helen. He is happy and content with this staid but comfortable existence—until a secret from his past threatens to undo everything he has built..
Fury on Sunday : In the early hours of a Sunday morning, lunatic pianist Vincent Radin escapes from an insane asylum and sets out on a revenge-fueled rampage. His aim is to find the two people who have hurt him most—his erstwhile manager and his lover’s new husband—and end their lives.
- GenresHorror
506 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 28, 2017
85 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Richard Matheson
760 books4,768 followersBorn in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of whom (Chris, Richard Christian, and Ali Matheson) are writers of fiction and screenplays.
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 30, 2018
Word crafter extroidinaire
Richard Matheson is a masterful story teller ... I've loved all his books, many of which were also on television. My favorite book is Hunted Past Reason, edge of your seat reading experience.
Richard Matheson is a masterful story teller ... I've loved all his books, many of which were also on television. My favorite book is Hunted Past Reason, edge of your seat reading experience.
June 11, 2023
3.5 stars. There are four novellas in this collection. "I Am Legend" is great. "Someone Is Bleeding" is terrible. "Ride the Nightmare" is good. "Fury on Sunday" is...okay. Note: Matheson's characterization of women has not held up especially well, but these stories are from the 1950s, so (shrug).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews