Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Matheson Uncollected: Volume One

As I've said before, Richard Matheson has probably influenced more writers than any other author alive. Three generations of men and women have borrowed both his singular storytelling skills and the peerless ways he structures his fiction, short and long alike.

Barry Hoffman at Gauntlet Press has created a unique Matheson library of tv and fim scripts, short novels, short stories new and old. Now he's begun Matheson Uncollected: Volume One.

Here we have a range of short stories, all of them excellent plus an aborted novel from the fifties about a married couple aboard a transport rocket ship headed to a moon colony where humans have already set up shop The richnss of ideas and emotions make for an unfinished piece of writing that makes you wish Matheson had finished it.

The Enemy Within was one of the first Star Trek's true standouts. Here you'll find the shooting script for the episode. Tony Albarella's comments throughout the book are exytremely well-done and never more so than when he discusses the history of this script. Gene Rodenberry had an ego, yes he did.

When you take a few steps back to appreciate the astonishing amount of exemplary work that Matheson has done in every field of fiction, you'll see why he is considered the true master and why Gauntlet's Matheson Library is so important.

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