Author: Richard Matheson, Victor LaValle
Narrator: various narrators, Donald Corren, Peter Berkrot, Richard Powers, Hillary Huber, Traber Burns, Scott Brick, Robertson Dean, Devon Sorvari, Kevin Kenerly
Unabridged: 15 hr 11 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 10/10/2017
Categories: Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Collections & Anthologies, Short Stories, Classic, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy
Richard Matheson (1926–2013) was born in New Jersey and started living and working in California in 1951. In addition to novels in the mystery, science fiction, horror, fantasy, and western fields, he wrote many film and television scripts, including “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” from The Twilight Zone. He also wrote episodes of Have Gun, Will Travel, Night Gallery, and Star Trek. Several of his novels and stories have been made into movies, including The Shrinking Man, I Am Legend, and What Dreams May Come (starring Robin Williams). Over the course of his career he won the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Bram Stoker Award for Life Achievement, the Hugo Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Golden Spur Award, and the Writer’s Guild Award.
Victor LaValle is the award-winning author of The Ecstatic, Big Machine, and Slapboxing with Jesus. Big Machine was the winner of an American Book Award and the Shirley Jackson Award in 2010, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, the Nation, and Publishers Weekly. He teaches writing at Columbia University and lives in New York.
Donald Corren is an audiobook narrator and a New York actor with leading credits on and Off-Broadway, as well as numerous television appearances. On Broadway, he costarred with Judy Kaye in the critically acclaimed production of Souvenir, and replaced Harvey Fierstein in the seminal production of Torch Song Trilogy. His Off-Broadway appearances include The Soap Myth, Dietrich & Chevalier, The Last Sunday in June, Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night, and the original New York production of Tomfoolery. His television credits include eight seasons as forensic tech Medill on NBC’s Law & Order, as well as his current role as Dr. Kurian on Syfy’s Z Nation.
Peter Berkrot, a forty-year veteran of stage and screen, has voiced over 450 audiobook titles, winning Earphones Awards, a 2012 Audie Award nomination, and a 2016 Audie Award.
Richard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory, and Bewilderment was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Hillary Huber is a multiple Audie Award finalist, an Earphones Award winner, and an AudioFile Best Voice. She has recorded over three hundred titles spanning many genres and holds a bachelor's degree in English literature. A voracious reader and listener, she was raised in Connecticut and Hawaii but now splits her time between California and New York.
Traber Burns worked for thirty-five years in regional theater, including the New York, Oregon, and Alabama Shakespeare festivals. He also spent five years in Los Angeles appearing in many television productions and commercials, including Lost, Close to Home, Without a Trace, Boston Legal, Grey’s Anatomy, Cold Case, Gilmore Girls, and others.
Scott Brick, an acclaimed voice artist, screenwriter, and actor, has performed on film, television, and radio. He attended UCLA and spent ten years in a traveling Shakespeare company. Passionate about the spoken word, he has narrated a wide variety of audiobooks. winning won more than fifty AudioFile Earphones Awards and several of the prestigious Audie Awards. He was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and the Voice of Choice for 2016 by Booklist magazine.
Robertson Dean has played leading roles on and off Broadway and at dozens of regional theaters throughout the country. He has a BA from Tufts University and an MFA from Yale. His audiobook narration has garnered ten AudioFile Earphones Awards. He now lives in Los Angeles, where he works in film and television in addition to narrating.
Devon Sorvari is an Earphones Award–winning and Audie Award–nominated narrator. She graduated from NYU’s Circle in the Square program and the Classical Studio. She has nationwide theater credits ranging from Shakespeare to musicals.
Kevin Kenerly, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, earned a BA at Olivet College. A longtime member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he has acted in more than twenty seasons, playing dozens of roles.
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Choosing the “best” of a writer—especially a prolific writer—is by its nature problematic. Once editors get past the obvious classics, their choices inevitably become subjective and thus open to criticism, especially from the writer’s most passionate and well-informed fans. In fact, even the inclusi......more
Ashamed to admit this was first Matheson experience. It won't be my last. A masterful collection of his best short stories. I can see why he's cited as an inspiration for Stephen King and the like. Truly astounding work in here. My faves were Duel, Dance of the Dead, Mute, Now Die in It, The Holiday......more
Matheson's credits include 16 episodes of Twilight Zone, many television movie films. many short stories and novels and was a huge influence on Stephen King. After finishing this book I certainly can see why. He essentially takes normal people and places them in strange events or situations when he......more
“Make[s] a strong case for Richard Matheson as the most influential American writer of ‘fantastika’ between Lovecraft and Stephen King.” Washington Post
“Matheson…was the master of a particular kind of story in which puzzlement turns gradually to acceptance of an impossible-seeming reality and ultimately to full-blown panic…Matheson’s horror is for grown-ups, those who have lost the easy credulity of the very young…He’s an ideal writer to read right now, because—as grown-ups know—we live in unbelievable times.” New York Times Book Review
“[A] welcome, Halloween-timed retrospective collection…Only Matheson could make you believe in these preposterous-seeming stories. And leave you wanting more.” Los Angeles Times
“Tension and scares aplenty…These chilling page-turners still hold up, serving as an excellent starting point for a new generation of readers.” Kirkus Reviews
“Richard Matheson is one of the giants of genre writing, and his talents are on full display…This collection demonstrates the indelible influence he had on speculative literature.” Publishers Weekly