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Backteria and Other Improbable Tales
An essential collection of rare tales of terror from the multi-award-winning Twilight Zone scripter and I Am Legend author—only available in ebook format.
A researcher encounters an exotic new strain of “Backteria” that causes the infected person to vanish—leading the doctor on a path of discovery deep into a past he should have left buried.
A simple “Haircut” that starts off as a routine trim becomes a dark and terrifying experience when a barber is confronted with a sick customer who seems otherworldly.
A case of mistaken identity leads to a darkly farcical story of marriage, murder, and a love that knows no bounds in “Getting Together.”
Backteria & Other Improbable Tales gathers these and sixteen more uncanny short stories from master storyteller Richard Matheson, “one of the great names in American terror fiction” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
Stories include: “Backteria”, “He Wanted to Live”, “Life Size”, “Man with a Club”, “Professor Fritz and the Runaway House”, “Purge Among Peanuts”, “The Prisoner”, “The Last Blah in the ETC”, “Counterfeit Bills”, “1984 ½”, “Pride”, “Now Die In It”, “Leo Rising”, “Where There’s a Will” (written with Richard Christian Matheson), “Getting Together”, “Person to Person”, “CU: Mannix”, “Haircut”, “An Element Never Forgets”
“The author who influenced me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson.” —Stephen King
“Perhaps no other living author is as responsible for chilling a generation with tantalizing nightmare visions.” —The New York Times
“Matheson’s a writer who just has the special knack, the deft skill to imagine terrifying scenarios on any scale, large and small, and give them chilling possibility.” —Los Angeles Times
A researcher encounters an exotic new strain of “Backteria” that causes the infected person to vanish—leading the doctor on a path of discovery deep into a past he should have left buried.
A simple “Haircut” that starts off as a routine trim becomes a dark and terrifying experience when a barber is confronted with a sick customer who seems otherworldly.
A case of mistaken identity leads to a darkly farcical story of marriage, murder, and a love that knows no bounds in “Getting Together.”
Backteria & Other Improbable Tales gathers these and sixteen more uncanny short stories from master storyteller Richard Matheson, “one of the great names in American terror fiction” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
Stories include: “Backteria”, “He Wanted to Live”, “Life Size”, “Man with a Club”, “Professor Fritz and the Runaway House”, “Purge Among Peanuts”, “The Prisoner”, “The Last Blah in the ETC”, “Counterfeit Bills”, “1984 ½”, “Pride”, “Now Die In It”, “Leo Rising”, “Where There’s a Will” (written with Richard Christian Matheson), “Getting Together”, “Person to Person”, “CU: Mannix”, “Haircut”, “An Element Never Forgets”
“The author who influenced me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson.” —Stephen King
“Perhaps no other living author is as responsible for chilling a generation with tantalizing nightmare visions.” —The New York Times
“Matheson’s a writer who just has the special knack, the deft skill to imagine terrifying scenarios on any scale, large and small, and give them chilling possibility.” —Los Angeles Times
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
97 people are currently reading
265 people want to read
About the author
Richard Matheson
759 books4,776 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 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 27, 2020
I enjoy Richard Matheson - he has had some amazing stories. This was a mixed bag for me. Most good. A few that just didn't do it for me and a few really good ones. My favorite was 'Person to Person' the story of two lovers who would do ANYTHING to be together and the universe's sense of irony. Very funny. THe story he did with his son was really enjoyable as well
August 1, 2022
За разлика от поредицата му с Шокчета и "Кошмар на 20000 фута над земята", този сборник, както предполага и заглавието, е с доста по-неконвенционални истории. 16 кратки разказа със определено странни сюжети, преминаващи от фантастичното и ужасното и стигащи до хумористичното и абсурдното. Мнго напомнят пълп годините на фантастиката. Матисън определено си заслужава, дори... не, особено когато експлоатира привидно невъзможни идеи.
May 25, 2018
Interesting short story collection
Pretty good set of stories, though some of them were just confusingly strange. A good number of them had satisfying twists, which is one of my favorite parts of Matheson's writing. Some of them are a bit outdated, but could easily be updated into episodes of Black Mirror. Would recommend to all Stephen King fans.
Pretty good set of stories, though some of them were just confusingly strange. A good number of them had satisfying twists, which is one of my favorite parts of Matheson's writing. Some of them are a bit outdated, but could easily be updated into episodes of Black Mirror. Would recommend to all Stephen King fans.
July 6, 2019
A throughly delightful collection of humorous, terroristic, psychological, revengeful and macabre short stories! I loved it!
October 1, 2020
A solid meh.
December 1, 2020
Horror + Humor
A masterful mix of horror and humor, as befits the old Twilight Zone scripts. A world on which the commonplace is suspect.
A masterful mix of horror and humor, as befits the old Twilight Zone scripts. A world on which the commonplace is suspect.
July 28, 2025
I normally like the author, but most of the stories were terrible.
Currently reading
February 1, 2020Backteria
He Wanted to Live
Life Size 2/5
Man with a Club 3/5
Professor Fritz and the Runaway House
Purge Among Peanuts
The Prisoner 4/5
The Last Blah in the ETC
Counterfeit Bills 4/5
1984 ½
Pride 4/5
Now Die In It 3/5
Leo Rising
Where There’s a Will 5/5
Getting Together 5/5
Person to Person
CU: Mannix
Haircut 4/5
An Element Never Forgets
He Wanted to Live
Life Size 2/5
Man with a Club 3/5
Professor Fritz and the Runaway House
Purge Among Peanuts
The Prisoner 4/5
The Last Blah in the ETC
Counterfeit Bills 4/5
1984 ½
Pride 4/5
Now Die In It 3/5
Leo Rising
Where There’s a Will 5/5
Getting Together 5/5
Person to Person
CU: Mannix
Haircut 4/5
An Element Never Forgets
December 13, 2015
Excellent Collection
He is truly a master of the short, short story. He creates scenes, characters, and premises out of thin air. If you're looking for excellent short stories to make you think and make your hair stand on end, this is it.
Of course, as in every collection, they are not all created equal. In the some ways, reading the stories one after another highlights the similarity of his style in a few.
But that in no way detracts from the overall impact. The Haircut will stay with me for a long time.
Excellent collection
He is truly a master of the short, short story. He creates scenes, characters, and premises out of thin air. If you're looking for excellent short stories to make you think and make your hair stand on end, this is it.
Of course, as in every collection, they are not all created equal. In the some ways, reading the stories one after another highlights the similarity of his style in a few.
But that in no way detracts from the overall impact. The Haircut will stay with me for a long time.
Excellent collection
November 21, 2015
Richard Matheson has always been a fun read. From books to screenplays he's in a league of his own. This collection of short stories is quite a romp through his imagination. Some weird tales in this mixed bag. Certainly worth the time.
December 30, 2015
I love RM and have read and claimed I Am Legend as one of my all-time favorites. I know he wrote for Star Trek. However this book ... it nearly ended on the "can't finish" like. The stories were silly, pointless, and not fun. This one is not recommended, even if you are bored to tears.
November 18, 2020
2.5 stars. 3rd collection of Richard Matheson and least favorite. 1st story (Backteria) and last (An Element Never Forgets) were memorable plus I skipped a few duplicates. The rest were huh or meh for me.
March 28, 2013
I'm reading the ebook version... I think it's probably the same collection as this one. I'll assume it is, because I'm too lazy to "create" a new edition for this thing on Goodreads. :P
October 26, 2013
A mixed bag. A couple of great short stories and other lesser ones. Not a patch on his I Am Legend but that would be a tough act to follow anyway. Overall, readable.
April 17, 2015
Three or four good stories and the rest were uncollected for good reason. A shame since every other Matheson short story collection I've read has been great.
January 14, 2015
I was expecting stories as good as his full-length books are. However, with the exception of a few that were ok, most of them were silly and tedious. Mostly a waste of time.
March 15, 2015
Richard Matheson, pens a great collection of short stories. Spellbinding and modern in ideas, but language and storytelling of a classic kind. Must read.
June 12, 2015
The equivalent of 'rare and unreleased', there are still some excellent stories here for Matheson fans.
November 4, 2015
A solid collection. I especially enjoyed the title story, Bacteria. Even better was a the whimsical story "Professor Fritz and the Runaway House”.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews