Richard Matheson’s name may not be as familiar to readers as those of King, Straub and Preston, but you’re probably already familiar with many film adaptations of his work. Matheson is a horror author other horror authors admire.
Nightmare At 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories By Richard Matheson (4/5 stars, currently priced at $7.99)
Remember that monster on the wing of the airplane? William Shatner saw it on The Twilight Zone, John Lithgow saw it in the movie-even Bart Simpson saw it. “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” is just one of many classic horror stories by Richard Matheson that have insinuated themselves into our collective imagination.
Here are more than twenty of Matheson’s most memorable tales of fear and paranoia, including:
“Duel,” the nail-biting tale of man versus machines that inspired Steven Spielberg’s first film;
“Prey,” in which a terrified woman is stalked by a malevolent Tiki doll, as chillingly captured in yet another legendary TV moment;
“Blood Son,” a disturbing portrait of a strange little boy who dreams of being a vampire;
“Dress of White Silk,” a seductively sinister tale of evil and innocence.
Personally selected by Richard Matheson, the bestselling author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come, these and many other stories more than demonstrate why he is rightfully regarded as one of the finest and most influential horror writers of our generation.
At the publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
Hell House (4/5 stars, currently priced at $9.99)
“Hell House is the scariest haunted house novel ever written. It looms over the rest the way the mountains loom over the foothills.” –Stephen King
Rolf Rudolph Deutsch is going die. But when Deutsch, a wealthy magazine and newpaper publisher, starts thinking seriously about his impending death, he offers to pay a physicist and two mediums, one physical and one mental, $100,000 each to establish the facts of life after death.
Dr. Lionel Barrett, the physicist, accompanied by the mediums, travel to the Belasco House in Maine, which has been abandoned and sealed since 1949 after a decade of drug addiction, alcoholism, and debauchery. For one night, Barrett and his colleagues investigate the Belasco House and learn exactly why the townfolks refer to it as the Hell House.
At the publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
Duel: Terror Stories by Richard Matheson (4/5 stars, currently priced at $5.99)
Remember that murderous semi chasing Dennis Weaver down a lonely stretch of desert highway?
Duel, Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed first film, was adapted by Richard Matheson from his unforgettable story of the same name.
But “Duel” is only one of the classic suspense tales in this outstanding collection of stories by the Grand Master of Horror, which also contains Matheson’s legendary first story, “Born of Man and Woman,” as well as several stunning shockers that inspired memorable episodes of The Twilight Zone, including “Little Girl Lost,” “Steel,” and “Third from the Sun.”
Like Matheson’s previous collection, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, this collection is an indispensable treasure trove of terror from the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come.
At the publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
A Stir of Echoes (4/5 stars, currently priced at $7.99)
Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life, until a chance event awakened psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now he’s hearing the private thoughts of the people around him-and learning shocking secrets he never wanted to know.
But as Tom’s existence becomes a waking nightmare, even greater jolts are in store as he becomes the unwilling recipient of a compelling message from beyond the grave!
This eerie ghost story, by award-winning author of Hell House and I Am Legend, inspired the acclaimed 1999 film starring Kevin Bacon.
At the publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
Backteria and Other Improbable Tales (Richard Matheson Series Book 3) (4/5 stars, currently priced at $5.99)
Available only in e-book format, Backteria and Other Improbable Tales is a brand new collection of short tales of terror and the unknown from master storyteller Richard Matheson. In the title story, published here for the first time, a researcher encounters an exotic new strain of virus that causes the infected person to disappear. Curiosity leads the doctor on a path of discovery which takes him deep into his own personal history and suggests the age-old warning: Be careful what you wish for.
In “Getting Together”, a case of mistaken identity leads to a darkly farcical story of marriage, murder, and a love that knows no bounds. The quietly threatening “Haircut” shows how a routine trim becomes a dark and terrifying experience when a barber is confronted with a sick customer who seems to him otherworldly.
In this collection of stories Matheson clearly demonstrates once again why Ray Bradbury called him “one of the most important writers of the twentieth century” and Stephen King named him as “the author who influenced me most as a writer.”
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