Jesse’s Reviews > I Am Legend > Status Update
Jesse
is on page 261 of 320
“Mad House”
This is a melodramatic character study of an asshole whose impotent rage has literally poisoned his house, turning it into a genius loci. Or, well, a “haunted” house. His wife is in the process of leaving him during this story, which is the tipping point for the house’s ability to “express” itself. This story has a lot more meat in it than some of the prior sketches.
— Nov 27, 2025 08:56AM
This is a melodramatic character study of an asshole whose impotent rage has literally poisoned his house, turning it into a genius loci. Or, well, a “haunted” house. His wife is in the process of leaving him during this story, which is the tipping point for the house’s ability to “express” itself. This story has a lot more meat in it than some of the prior sketches.
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Jesse’s Previous Updates
Jesse
is on page 316 of 320
“Person to Person”
David is getting mysterious calls—in his BRAIN—at night. Is it a secret government project that is attempting to use brain to brain communications to limit espionage? An inventor with a device to foster said communication? His abusive father? The devil? Or, as his therapist posits, is it his subconscious? Whatever the origin, these night calls are dangerous for David’s psyche.
— Nov 27, 2025 12:25PM
David is getting mysterious calls—in his BRAIN—at night. Is it a secret government project that is attempting to use brain to brain communications to limit espionage? An inventor with a device to foster said communication? His abusive father? The devil? Or, as his therapist posits, is it his subconscious? Whatever the origin, these night calls are dangerous for David’s psyche.
Jesse
is on page 294 of 320
“From Shadowed Places”
A very sexually and racially charged story where a young man has been cursed by a spirit in service to an African witch doctor and an anthropologist—a young and stunningly beautiful African American who did a field study of the Zulu—is the only one who can save him. It’s complicated by the man’s girlfriend, who is there for the ceremony, and her father, a skeptical doctor.
— Nov 27, 2025 10:45AM
A very sexually and racially charged story where a young man has been cursed by a spirit in service to an African witch doctor and an anthropologist—a young and stunningly beautiful African American who did a field study of the Zulu—is the only one who can save him. It’s complicated by the man’s girlfriend, who is there for the ceremony, and her father, a skeptical doctor.
Jesse
is on page 270 of 320
“The Funeral”
A howler where a funeral parlor is engaged by a vampire to belatedly celebrate his unlife, the attendants being a Transylvanian cast of characters who get a bit unruly toward the end of the service. The twist ending is that the proprietor, Morton, finds himself being engaged by what appears to be a Lovecraftian horror and rising to the occasion for the sake of the money involved.
— Nov 27, 2025 09:19AM
A howler where a funeral parlor is engaged by a vampire to belatedly celebrate his unlife, the attendants being a Transylvanian cast of characters who get a bit unruly toward the end of the service. The twist ending is that the proprietor, Morton, finds himself being engaged by what appears to be a Lovecraftian horror and rising to the occasion for the sake of the money involved.
Jesse
is on page 226 of 320
“Dress of White Silk”
It’s amazing just how little Matheson explicitly shows in these stories, allowing so much space for the imagination to work. It’s like, did this girl somehow devour her mom? And it’s related to her mom’s dress? What the heck?? What the hecccckkkkk????
Mary Jane had it coming
— Nov 26, 2025 04:38PM
It’s amazing just how little Matheson explicitly shows in these stories, allowing so much space for the imagination to work. It’s like, did this girl somehow devour her mom? And it’s related to her mom’s dress? What the heck?? What the hecccckkkkk????
Mary Jane had it coming
Jesse
is on page 220 of 320
“Dance of the Dead”
Four college kids in post-WW3 America demonstrate some bizarre future culture where they drink. They visit a night club whose featured entertainment is a plague zombie whose muscular twitches are treated as a “dance” that the jazz musicians improvise music for. There is something here about Peggy’s conversion from well-intentioned freshman to Matheson-droog.
— Nov 25, 2025 08:23PM
Four college kids in post-WW3 America demonstrate some bizarre future culture where they drink. They visit a night club whose featured entertainment is a plague zombie whose muscular twitches are treated as a “dance” that the jazz musicians improvise music for. There is something here about Peggy’s conversion from well-intentioned freshman to Matheson-droog.
Jesse
is on page 202 of 320
“Witch War”
This one is one of those sketches that doesn’t really meditate on what it presents: a future where girls with god-like powers fight by using nightmarish conjurations from their imagination. I have a vague feeling that this is something of an analogue for the atomic bomb. The girls treat it as a playful sampling of their power; their “controller” thinks of them as monstrous.
— Nov 25, 2025 07:39PM
This one is one of those sketches that doesn’t really meditate on what it presents: a future where girls with god-like powers fight by using nightmarish conjurations from their imagination. I have a vague feeling that this is something of an analogue for the atomic bomb. The girls treat it as a playful sampling of their power; their “controller” thinks of them as monstrous.
Jesse
is on page 196 of 320
“Prey”
A relatively older young woman (33) buys her boyfriend a weird Native American fetish doll—“He Who Kills”. It has a gold chain that is said to keep its spirit imprisoned and, wouldn’t you know it, the darn thing fell off while Amelia was being emotionally manipulated by her mother into breaking off her bf’s birthday party. The ending isn’t what I expected at all.
— Nov 23, 2025 07:03PM
A relatively older young woman (33) buys her boyfriend a weird Native American fetish doll—“He Who Kills”. It has a gold chain that is said to keep its spirit imprisoned and, wouldn’t you know it, the darn thing fell off while Amelia was being emotionally manipulated by her mother into breaking off her bf’s birthday party. The ending isn’t what I expected at all.
Jesse
is on page 182 of 320
“The Near Departed”
This is more of a horror sketch, a flash fiction bit where a man goes in to a mortician to arrange for the funeral of his wife. He’s old and shows it; she was young and beautiful. This story is leading to the obvious question: when did she die? The answer is about what you’d expect when the story is barely four pages long.
— Nov 23, 2025 06:27PM
This is more of a horror sketch, a flash fiction bit where a man goes in to a mortician to arrange for the funeral of his wife. He’s old and shows it; she was young and beautiful. This story is leading to the obvious question: when did she die? The answer is about what you’d expect when the story is barely four pages long.
Jesse
is starting
“Buried Talents”
A carnival barker is hawking his ping pong ball game and is confronted by an uncharacteristic man who plays his game unerringly and wins every single time. It’s a fun sort of Twilight Zone-paced story; one gets the impression that the mysterious man in the black suit is none other than the grim reaper, and he’s come to collect the overweight barker’s life.
— Nov 23, 2025 03:26PM
A carnival barker is hawking his ping pong ball game and is confronted by an uncharacteristic man who plays his game unerringly and wins every single time. It’s a fun sort of Twilight Zone-paced story; one gets the impression that the mysterious man in the black suit is none other than the grim reaper, and he’s come to collect the overweight barker’s life.
Jesse
is on page 171 of 320
“I am Legend”
FANTASTIC. The amount of themes that Matheson crammed into 170 pages is immense, all centered around one man and his Sisyphean task of living alone during the vampire apocalypse. If you ever thought that King got too expressionistic with his Bradbury stretches of poeticism, Matheson is the underlying framework of Stephen’s taut prose. I’m super-psyched to read more of Matheson’s works, now.
— Nov 23, 2025 08:49AM
FANTASTIC. The amount of themes that Matheson crammed into 170 pages is immense, all centered around one man and his Sisyphean task of living alone during the vampire apocalypse. If you ever thought that King got too expressionistic with his Bradbury stretches of poeticism, Matheson is the underlying framework of Stephen’s taut prose. I’m super-psyched to read more of Matheson’s works, now.
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Nov 27, 2025 08:59AM
It seems melodramatic at first because everything this jerk does ends up with him somehow hurting himself. It turns out it’s because every atom of the house is actually against him. The subtext is that the house is aligned against him because all of Neal’s rage is misdirected at everyone but himself, because of his inability to write and his lack of desire to hold himself accountable. The house does not help this; it is a feedback loop that belies his subconscious hatred of HIMSELF, eventually resulting in his destruction.
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