The Best of Richard Matheson
About this audiobook
The first career retrospective of terrifying stories by “one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century” (Ray Bradbury), as selected by award-winning author Victor LaValle
Among the greats of twentieth-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 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 into 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.
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About the author
Richard Matheson (1926-2013) is the author of many classic novels and short stories. He wrote in a variety of genres including terror, fantasy, horror, paranormal, suspense, science fiction and western. In addition to books, he wrote prolifically for television (including The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Star Trek) and numerous feature films. Many of Matheson’s novels and stories have been made into movies including I Am Legend, Somewhere in Time, and Shrinking Man. His many awards include the World Fantasy and Bram Stoker Awards for Lifetime Achievement, the Hugo Award, Edgar Award, Spur Award for Best Western Novel, Writer’s Guild awards, and in 2010 he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
Victor LaValle's novels have been included in best-of-the-year lists by the New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, the Nation, and Publishers Weekly, among others. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Key to Southeast Queens. He lives in New York City with his wife and kids and teaches at Columbia University.
Donald Corren received his education at Juilliard. He has acted on and off Broadway, played a recurring role for nine seasons on NBC's Law & Order, as well as other television parts. Corren has also written for TV and corporate clients, including the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has narrated several audiobooks.
Peter Berkrot is a veteran of both stage and screen, having appeared in Caddyshack, Brotherhood, Unsolved Mysteries, and more. A prominent acting coach and a regular contributor to the award-winning news program Frontline, he was the director of narration for the Emmy-nominated The Truth About Cancer. His voice can be heard on television, radio, video games, documentaries, and industrials. An Audie Award nominee and the winner of multiple Earphones Awards, he has recorded over 170 audiobooks.
Richard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. His book, The Overstory, won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
Hillary Huber is a multiple Audie Award finalist, an Earphones Award winner, and an AudioFile Best Voice. She has recorded over six 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.
Read by Traber Burns, Erica Sullivan, William Hughes, Alex Boyles, Kevin Kenerly, Kate Mulligan, and Caroline Shaffer
Scott Brick first began narrating audiobooks in 2000, and after recording almost 400 titles in five years, AudioFile magazine named Brick a Golden Voice and “one of the fastest-rising stars in the audiobook galaxy.” He has read a number of titles in Frank Herbert’s bestselling Dune series, and he won the 2003 Science Fiction Audie Award for Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. Brick has narrated for many popular authors, including Michael Pollan, Joseph Finder, Tom Clancy, and Ayn Rand. He has also won over 40 AudioFile Earphones Awards and the AudioFile award for Best Voice in Mystery and Suspense 2011. In 2007, Brick was named Publishers Weekly’s Narrator of the Year. Brick has performed on film, television and radio. He appeared on stage throughout the United States in productions of Cyrano, Hamlet, Macbeth and other plays. In addition to his acting work, Brick choreographs fight sequences, and was a combatant in films including Romeo and Juliet, The Fantasticks and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. He has also been hired by Morgan Freeman to write the screenplay adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama.
Robertson Dean has acted on- and off-Broadway, and in many leading roles at regional theaters throughout the United States. His film work includes Star Trek®: Nemesis and Vanilla Sky.
A graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Devon Sorvari has traveled extensively across the country, performing in everything from Shakespeare and musical theater to Gilmore Girls and a Hellraiser movie. Her audiobooks have earned multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards and an Audie Award nomination. With over sixty titles to her name, she specializes in fiction-particularly young adult-and has a passion for conveying the raw emotional pitfalls and triumphs of each character.
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.
