New Releases by Richard Matheson

"Hell House is the scariest haunted house novel ever written. It looms over the rest the way a mountain looms over foothills." --Stephen King

Black Cat Weekly presents another selection of not-to-be-missed mystery and science fiction novels and short stories. With a great lineup of modern and classic fiction, here are— NOT DONE WITH THE NIGHT by Jay Brandon [mystery short, Barb Goffman Presents] ROAD TO SAMARRA by Jane Roth [mystery short] HEIRS AND HOUNDS, by Hal Charles [solve it yourself mystery] THE SQUARED TRIANGLE, by Frank Lovell Nelson [mystery short] ONE HOUR LATE, by William O’Farrell [short mystery novel] TRANSIENTS, by Darrell Schweitzer [science fiction short] FROM THE WALLS OF IREZUMI by A.R. Morlan [science fiction short] THE MAN WHO MADE THE WORLD by Richard Matheson [science fiction short] SLAVES TO THE METAL HORDE, by Stephen Marlowe [short science fiction novel]

Ordinary people face hair-raising dangers in these four early suspense novels by the celebrated author of I Am Legend. The Shrinking Man In this sci-fi suspense classic adapted into multiple films, a man exposed to radiation begins to shrink at an alarming rate. As his life crumbles, he must survive menacing attacks from house cats and spiders. Camp Pleasant An idyllic summer camp turns horrifying when a young counselor is the witness to the murder of the new camp director. The mystery unfolds in a “simple style that recalls Hemingway” (Publishers Weekly). Hunger and Thirst In this previously unpublished early novel, a man is shot during a robbery gone wrong and wakes up to find himself paralyzed. Lying in his hospital bed, he flashes back to his difficult life and hopes for redemption. 7 Steps to Midnight At the end of an ordinary workday, mathematician Chris Barton finds a stranger living in his house, claiming to be him. Thrust into a surreal world of violence and mystery, Chris must go on the run and follow a series of cryptic clues to regain his life.

Four classic novels of murder, madness, revenge, and survival by “one of the great names in American terror fiction” (Philadelphia Inquirer). I Am Legend Named the best vampire novel of the century by the Bram Stoker Estate, I Am Legend is the story of the last man to survive a pandemic that turned the rest of humanity into blood-sucking monsters. Someone Is Bleeding In Matheson’s debut novel, a young novelist falls for a beautiful woman who is involved with a shady lawyer. But the love triangle turns dangerous when corpses begin to pile up in the woman’s wake. Ride the Nightmare A family man saving up for larger home, Chris Martin lives a conventional life—until a secret from his past invades his home, threatening everything he has built. Fury on Sunday A lunatic pianist escapes from an insane asylum one Sunday morning and spends the next four hours on a revenge-fueled rampage to find his erstwhile manager and his lover’s new husband.

"The best original anthology of the 1980s." --The Scream Factory Cimarron Street Books is please to bring SILVER SCREAM back into print for the first time in over 30 years! Please take your seat for the midnight show ... They''re all here from the heyday of splatterpunk, in the first and best anthology of cinema horror--the ultimate haunted theatre of the imagination, showcasing grindhouses, 3-for-1 fleapits, porn castles, werewolf-circuit drive-ins, snuff movies, peep shows, fly-by-night video rental shacks, has-been actors, never-was ingenues, Tinseltown burnouts, film cults, immortal stars, film school dorks, media mutants, and even that bastard little brother, television ... Edited by David J. Schow, with a Special Introduction by Tobe Hooper (Director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and featuring stories by: Mark Alan Arnold, Clive Barker, Robert Bloch, Steven R. Boyett, Edward Bryant, Ramsey Campbell, John M. Ford, Mick Garris, Ray Garton, Joe R. Lansdale, Richard Christian Matheson, Robert R. McCammon, Jay Sheckley, John Skipp, Craig Spector, Karl Edward Wagner, Chet Williamson, F. Paul Wilson and Douglas E. Winter! Here''s what reviewers are saying about SILVER SCREAM: "Schow has assembled an exceptional anthology--exceptional, excellent, clever, tense and well done. Among the very best!" --Publisher''s Weekly "It''s one of the most entertaining, stimulating and absolutely justified theme anthologies in years." --Locus "Bound to fulfill you no matter what your leanings. Not a lame (story) in the bunch, demonstrating Schow''s editorial eye is as sharp as his prose." --The Horror Show "Easily one of the best anthologies to come along in years." --Mystery Scene "This collection of movie-industry-related horror stories falls into the category of Things That, If They Did Not Exist, It Would Be Necessary to Invent ... if you''re tired of the same old creaking-straircase horror fiction, and want some stories with some meat in them (and I use that term unhesitantly), this is the anthology for you." --Midnight Grafitti "A fine mixture of 20 stories put together in such a way that the entire book reads like an anthology film, right from the introduction by director Tobe Hooper to the end credits and final dedication. For his first time out as an editor, award-winning short story writer and novelist David J. Schow scores a direct bull''s-eye with SILVER SCREAM." --Fangoria "One of the year''s best anthologies." --Castle Rock

An anthology about all the things that can go horribly wrong when suspended six miles in the air, hurtling through space at more than 500 mph and sealed up in a metal tube with hundreds of strangers. All the ways a trip into the friendly skies can turn into a nightmare, including some never thought of before. Featuring brand new stories by Joe Hill and Stephen King, as well as fourteen classic tales and one poem from the likes of Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, and Dan Simmons.

The definitive collection of terrifying stories by "one of the greatest writers of the 20th century" (Ray Bradbury), edited by award-winning author Victor LaValle Among the greats of 20th-century horror and fantasy, few names stand above Richard Matheson. Though known by many for novels like I Am Legend and his sixteen Twilight Zone episodes, Matheson truly shines in his chilling, masterful short stories. Since his first story appeared in 1950, virtually every major writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy has fallen under his influence, including Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, and Joe Hill, as well as filmmakers like Stephen Spielberg and J.J. Abrams. Matheson revolutionized horror by taking it out of Gothic castles and strange cosmos and setting it in the darkened streets and suburbs we recognize as our own. He infused tales of the fantastic and supernormal with dark explorations of human nature, delving deep into the universal dread of feeling alone and threatened in a dangerous world. The Best of Richard Matheson brings together his greatest hits as chosen by Victor LaValle, an expert on horror fiction and one of its brightest talents, marking the first major overview of Matheson''s legendary career. "[Matheson is] the author who influenced me most as a writer." -Stephen King "Richard Matheson''s ironic and iconic imagination created seminal science-fiction stories . . . For me, he is in the same category as Bradbury and Asimov." -Steven Spielberg "He was a giant, and YOU KNOW HIS STORIES, even if you think you don''t." -Neil Gaiman For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Two great Western novels at one low price from the New York Times bestselling author, Richard Matheson The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok Gunfighter. US Marshall. Legend. James Butler Hickok was a celebrity before there was a Hollywood...and he was dead before he was forty. Spur Award-winning author Richard Matheson delves into the life and times of the man behind the myth. The cruelty that turned him violent. The fears that drove him. And the unforgettable events that cause his name to live on more than a century later. Shadow on the Sun Southwest Arizona. An uneasy truce exists between the remote frontier town of Picture City and the neighboring Apaches. That delicate peace is threatened when the mutilated bodies of two white men are found. The angry townspeople are certain the “savages” have broken the treaty, Billjohn Finley, the local Indian agent, but has another suspect in mind. There’s a tall, dark stranger in town, and he rode in wearing the dead men’s clothes.... At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Journal of the Gun Years and The Gun Fight -- two great novels from New York Times bestselling author, Richard Matheson. Journal of the Gun Years A callow youth in search of excitement, Clay Halser travels the raucous frontier towns where a steady nerve and ready trigger finger soon mark him as a gunfighter to be reckoned with. As both an outlaw and lawman, he carves out a legendary career. But fame proves to be the one enemy he can’t outdraw.... The Gun Fight John Benton was one of the toughest men ever to wear a Texas Ranger badge. But eight years ago, he hung up his guns for good. Or so he hoped. When young Robby Coles challenges John to a fight over an imagined slight, Benton tries to laugh off the affair. But rumors and gossip spread like wildfire through their dusty town and soon enough the entire community seems to be pushing both men towards a confrontation neither truly wants. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

There''s nothing like exciting fantasy to escape boredom. The problem is to know whether it''s actually a fantasy. Dipping low and weaving in and out among the glittering towers, one might see the moving walks, the studied revolution of the giant street ventilators, hot in the winter and cool in summer, the tiny doors opening and closing, the park fountains shooting their methodical columns of water into the air. Farther along, one would flit across the great open field on which the glossy spaceships stood lined before their hangars. Farther yet, one would catch sight of the river, the metal ships resting along shore, delicate froth streaming from their sterns caused by the never-ending operation of their vents. Again, one would glide over the city proper, seeking some sign of life in the broad avenues, the network of streets, the painstaking pattern of dwellings in the living area, the metal fastness of the commercial section. The search would be fruitless.

Armchair Fiction presents classic mystery-crime double novels. The first novel is "Fury on Sunday" by Richard Matheson. It was an orgy of blood. He drove the jagged glass into Harry''s eyes. And he ran. He hadn''t wanted to kill Harry. But Harry was in his way. And nobody must be in his way. Not until he had got to Ruth, his Ruth. But before he found Ruth, there was the subway guard, and suddenly there was blood on both of them, and the guard was dead. He hadn''t wanted to kill the guard, but... But he had to kill them all. All the damnable interfering slime who kept pushing at him and telling him what to do and making him so confused and so mad. And then he had Ruth in front of him, in the bedroom, and he knew what he wanted, but they wouldn''t let him, they wouldn''t let him. And he had to kill again... The second novel is "The Agony Column" by Earl Derr Biggers. In this classic thriller by the man who gave us Charlie Chan, a young American visiting London, Geoffrey West, comes to a posh London hotel for breakfast. During his meal, West checks the personal ads in the London Daily Mail''s "Agony Column," which feature all sorts of over-the-top romantic correspondences. His breakfast is interrupted by the arrival of a beautiful American girl who is seated a few feet away from his table. He notices that the girl is also engrossed in the same column. Soon West has written a letter to the beautiful American, to be posted in the Agony Column in the hope of catching her eye and serving as the medium for their introduction. As luck will have it, she reads the letter and responds. A series of letters then commence between the two and before long a maze of perplexing circumstances arise, and soon interwoven into their writings is an all too real murder mystery.

In this pulp noir thriller for fans of Cornell Woolrich, a man’s past invades his serene family life, and it’s not going away quietly. 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 late weeknight phone call turns everything upside down. Chris hasn’t always been the model family man he appears to be. And when his past catches up to him, the terror comes into his home—just where he thought he was safest. As Chris finds all that he loves under attack, he must go to heroic lengths to keep his family and his life together. Inspired the 1970 Charles Bronson film Cold Sweat. Praise for Richard Matheson “The author who influenced me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson.”—Stephen King “One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.”—Ray Bradbury

A simple crush could lead to an early grave in this pulp noir thriller for fans of Cornell Woolrich. 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. Praise for Richard Matheson “The author who influenced me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson.”—Stephen King “One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.”—Ray Bradbury

An early pulse-pounding thriller from the Twilight Zone scribe and multi-award-winning author of I Am Legend. Vincent was a brilliant pianist, but a disturbed personality. The asylum he was committed to could not hold him. He escaped on an early Sunday morning, bent on revenge against those who betrayed him—his manager and the man who married his lover, Ruth. With his temper spiraling out of control, Vincent pursued his prey without mercy, brutally slaughtering anyone who got in his way. For four hours he would terrorize a community. His rage would not be sated no matter how much blood he spilled. And he refused to let anyone keep him from Ruth ever again . . . Richard Matheson, “one of the great names in American terror fiction,” unleashes a relentless novel of chilling suspense in Fury on Sunday (The Philadelphia Inquirer). “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

The author of I Am Legend transforms a lonely mansion into a madhouse where a group must face grisly tricks, shocking twists, and the mind of a killer. In Now You See It, the prolific master of suspense and horror delivers a knock-out tale the likes of which have not been seen since Henry Clouzot’s devilish thriller Diabolique. Some years ago, the Great Delacorte, a famed stage magician, came down with a stroke that left him in a vegetative state, able to move only his eyes. The entire action of the novel is witnessed through these eyes as Delacorte sits in the Magic Room of his country estate, a room custom-tailored to display stage illusions. Delacorte’s son, Max, has taken his name and place as an illusionist in every effort to replace his father. Max is supported by his wife Cassandra and her amazingly identical lookalike younger brother Brian. But for the past year, Cassandra has been poisoning Max’s food with arsenic and a sleeping pill. She wants the act all for herself—but Max has his own ideas, and his revenge is the big dish that Matheson sets before us in this dazzler that offers top-flight fun! Praise for Now You See It “One of his strongest efforts…. We’re all a lot richer to have Richard Matheson among us.”―Dean Koontz “A fascinating variation on the locked-room mystery…with more hairpin turns than a mountain road. Now You See It…is absorbing.”―The Washington Post Book World “There are as many twists and turns as a medieval catacomb in one of the most fun novels of the year.”―Rocky Mountain News “Matheson’s prose is extremely smooth and the pacing frantic.”―The Philadelphia Inquirer

As the Army and the Apache experience an uneasy peace, the discovery of the body of a man who had been brutally murdered and mutilated threatens to ignite all-out war, and it is up to Indian Agent Billjohn Finley to prevent it.

Richard Matheson''s censor and unproduced script for his classic novel I AM LEGEND.

Acclaimed novelist/Eisner-winning graphic novelist Joe Hill collaborated with his father, Stephen King, in Throttle, for the first time on a tale that paid tribute to Richard Matheson''s classic tale, Duel. Now, IDW is proud to present comic-book tellings of both stories in Road Rage. Adapted by Chris Ryall with art by Nelson Daniel and Rafa Garres.

A new collection featuring the story that inspired Real Steel, a major motion picture starring Hugh Jackman.

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

The visionary first novel by the author of What Dreams May Come in which a man paralyzed by a gunshot reflects on his sordid past and hopes for redemption. Hunger and Thirst is Richard Matheson’s first and until now previously unpublished novel, written fifty-plus years ago when Matheson was only twenty-three-years-old. Matheson’s agent told him it was unpublishable due to its length and so to that end, Matheson put the manuscript in a drawer and left for California where his writing career changed dramatically. Hunger and Thirst centers around Erick, who lies paralyzed on his hospital bed after being shot during a botched bank robbery. Erick contemplates how his life became such a mess—from his childhood, to his service in the war, his romantic life, and now—and holds out hope to be saved… Perfect for fans of Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game Praise for Richard Matheson “One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.”—Ray Bradbury “The author who influenced me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson.”—Stephen King

From the iconic author of I Am Legend: The fascinating, unfinished teleplay of a saga encompassing the Titanic, Jack the Ripper, and the paranormal. Richard Matheson, the celebrated Twilight Zone scripter, explored his interests in metaphysics, spiritualism, and parapsychology in such stories as Hell House, Somewhere in Time, and What Dreams May Come. In the early 1980s, he approached the ABC television network with a twenty-hour mini-series about such phenomena in contemporary times—and included two in-depth historical accounts of the psychic events related to the Jack the Ripper murders and in the Titanic disaster. Titled The Link, Matheson turned in a 557-page outline that ABC executives requested he condense into seven hour-long episodes. Unable to realize his original vision under such restrictions, Matheson abandoned the television project and attempted to novelize the outline. After writing 800 pages that only comprised the first part of the novel, he decided it was too unwieldy and moved on to other stories. Now, Matheson’s fans can discover what might have been with this publication of The Link, which includes the entire original outline as well as part of the teleplay. The story follows Robert Allright, a writer working with paranormal investigator Cathy Graves to decipher a mystery unearthed by his father in an Arizona archeological dig. Allright’s only clue is the mystifying crystal that his father believes is the key to a great discovery. “The author who influenced me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson.” —Stephen King “Matheson peppers [The Link] with innumerable historical incidents of supposed paranormal activity that make fascinating reading.” —Publishers Weekly

The legendary novel of science-fiction horror: “The author who influenced me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson” (Stephen King). After he is exposed to a radioactive cloud, Scott Carey finds himself shrinking, slowly, day-by-day, inch-by-inch. Scott once had a normal, everyday existence as a husband and father, but as time passes, he becomes a national spectacle, something worthy of newspaper headlines. As Carey shrinks, smaller and smaller, his family become giants, more and more unreachable, and even the family cat becomes a predatory menace. In this world of disproportion, increasingly perilous with each passing day, Scott struggles to survive—and is pushed to the very limits of fear and existence . . . Adapted into the Hugo Award–winning film The Incredible Shrinking Man, this is a classic by the author of I Am Legend and other renowned works—a master of imagination whom Ray Bradbury called “one of the most important writers of the twentieth century.” “A classic of suspense as poignant as it is frightening—a mix that only Richard Matheson could pull off.” —Dean Koontz

This tale of summer camp horror and mystery by the author of I Am Legend is “a deeply engaging story with a clear writing style that is a pleasure to read” (Publishers Weekly). Camp Pleasant is a place of natural beauty and campfire singalongs. But when Matt Harper arrives there to work as a counselor, he discovers it is also a place of unrelenting abuse and brutality. The new camp director “Big Ed” Nolan is such a bully that the bucolic paradise feels more like a miniature Third Reich . . . until someone finally has enough and kills Big Ed. The suspects include a troubled young camper, a counselor who quit in the face of homophobic humiliation, and Big Ed’s own wife, Ellen. “[This] minimalist plot would be inadequate in other hands, but Matheson—author of Somewhere in Time and Hell House as well as classic Twilight Zone teleplays—has such a command of his craft that this book is a pure pleasure . . .The simple style recalls Hemingway” (Publishers Weekly).

“Devastating . . . a masterly fable, told with insight, wit, and welcome venom . . . this is Hollywood Hell.”—Clive Barker Alan White is a hot young writer-producer looking for the one megahit every Hollywood writer dreams about. He thinks he’s found it with a new TV show called The Mercenary. The network has never seen anything like it. Sex. Violence. Nudity. This time they’re taking it to the max and the Nielsen ratings are shooting through the roof. Alan couldn’t be happier. Until the morning’s headlines start to read like a rerun of last night’s episode. Until The Mercenary begins to take on a terrifying life of its own. Until it becomes chillingly clear that Alan must cancel his creation—before it cancels him. “[Created By] gets the reader into a wrestler’s grip and will not let him go.”—Peter Straub

Arriving in a pastoral English village to recover from his experiences in World War I, a young American soldier ignores rumors about malevolent spirits in a nearby wood until a frightening encounter leads him into the arms of an alluring red-haired woman believed to be a witch. By the award-winning author of I Am Legend. 50,000 first printing.

Richard Matheson, the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Legend, has inspired a generation of storytellers. Now, an outstanding cast of top writers pays tribute to his legacy with an all-new collection of original stories set in Matheson''s own fictional universes, including sequels, prequels, and companion stories to I Am Legend, Hell House, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Somewhere in Time, "Duel," and "Button, Button." Among the highlights of this one-of-a-kind anthology is the first ever collaboration between Stephen King and his son, bestselling horror writer Joe Hill. Other notable contributors include Nancy A. Collins, Joe R. Lansdale, William F. Nolan, Whitley Strieber, F. Paul Wilson, and Matheson''s son, Richard Christian Matheson. Previously published as a limited edition by Gauntlet Press in 2009, He Is Legend is now available to Matheson''s many fans, as well as all lovers of gripping horror and suspense.

Together in one volume, the epic stories of two legendary gunfighters! Journal of the Gun Years Winner of the Spur Award for Best Western Novel Back East, they told tall tales of Marshal Clay Hauser, the steely-eyed Civil War veteran who became known as the "Hero of the Plains" for his daring exploits in the raucous cow towns of the frontier. But fame proves to be the one enemy he can never outdraw–and a curse that haunts him to his violent end . . . . The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok James Butler Hickok was a celebrity before there was a Hollywood. As a gunfighter and U.S. marshal, he carved out a legend greater than any fictional hero. Now read the unforgettable story of the man behind the myth. "Matheson excels at the depiction of one man alone, locked in a desperate struggle against a force or forces greater than himself." --Stephen King At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The bestselling author of such classic novels as I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come, Richard Matheson is one of the twentieth century''s acknowledged masters of suspense. Hunted Past Reason is a major literary event: Matheson''s first new novel in seven years-and a gripping tale of madness, paranoia, and murder. It''s supposed to be just an ordinary camping trip, two old acquaintances hiking through the wilderness toward a remote cabin in the woods of northern California. Bob Hansen, a middle-aged family man and author, isn''t anticipating anything worse than sore muscles and maybe a few chilly nights. But the enforced isolation of the hike soon exposes long-hidden rivalries and resentments between Bob and his guide through the forest, a fading TV actor whom Bob has known for several years. The deeper they get into the primeval wilderness and the farther from civilization, the greater the tension between the two men becomes-until the simmering hostility erupts into a terrifying life-or-death struggle for survival. Two men entered the woods, but only one may emerge alive. Hunted Past Reason is a nail-biting thriller in the classic Matheson tradition. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.