Details from Goodreads:
He Is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson
Christopher Conlon (Editor), Stephen King, Mick Garris
An anthology of original stories paying tribute to acclaimed short stories and novels of Richard Matheson. Includes the first collaboration between father/son Stephen King and Joe Hill. Also includes work by Whitley Strieber, F. Paul Wilson, Joe Lansdale, John Shirley as well as a collaboration between Matheson and the late Charles Beaumont (“Conjure Wife”).
Initial Thoughts:
This is going to be a strange/perhaps not as good review as this book took me an incredibly long time to finish, over 10 years in fact. It’s not complicated, it’s just that I’ve come to prefer audio books and this is a paperback, that and I completely forgot about it, so much that I had to wipe the dust off a few weeks ago. To be more on point, this was a thoughtful gift on either my birthday or Xmas, I really enjoy Richard Matheson and this anthology is a tribute to him and his writing, so I’m really glad I got it as a gift and I finally finished it. I honestly can’t say why I finally picked it up again a few weeks ago but I’m happy I did.
Main Points:
As I mentioned normally I would talk a lot more about the short stories I enjoyed, and this could be a really long review but instead, and perhaps beneficially for the reader, I’m only going to talk about a few that really stood out. “I am Legend, Too” is a prequel to one of my all-time favorite books and I loved it. Mick Garris did a wonderful job. I also loved “Somewhere in Time” and quite enjoyed “Two Shots from Fly’s Photo Gallery”. The idea of travelling in time by sheer force of will/self-hypnosis is a really cool idea and one of the reasons I love Matheson, you can see in his best stories how creative he was and how his ideas were so different from the rest of his time, only visionaries are like that.
Joe Hill, whom I met at a convention in Ireland, and Stephen King team up to write a possible (they say inspired but I think my term is better) sequel to “Duel”. Such a great, simple idea for a horror story. Getting stuck behind a massive transport truck that wants to kill you/drive you off the road, and it’s the middle of nowhere and cell phones don’t exist, all that gets to some genuine terror in a very believable story. Joe Hill and Stephen King do a great job with “Throttle “and at 39 pages it’s just enough time to let a short story cook.
The most creepy story of the whole collection for me was “Return to Hell House” by Nancy A. Collins. “Hell House” by Matheson is an amazing horror book, again he does such a cool idea with the tech/spirit/evil ghost in the story that I was excited and really rooting for the characters in the story. This one is a prequel and it reminds me of a scenario I’d run in “Call of Cthulhu” (a horror RPG you should try if you like that sort of thing). There are parts that I found really disturbing, not for the gore or shock value but just the concept of people becoming such pure beings of evil and malice. Exceptionally written, Matheson would have loved this one.
Finally I did quite enjoy the last one, “Cloud Rider” by Whitley Strieber, though at 51 pages I think it could have used a little trimming. Overall though this story had some great ideas, awesome action scenes and good example of likable characters and a despicable villain.
Final Thoughts:
As I mentioned my reviews normally happen a few days after I read a book in a reasonable amount of time, 10+ years is a bonkers amount of time to read a collection of short stories, so certainly you might enjoy this more (or less) than me. I give this a solid 8 out of 10, I love Richard Matheson and I think most of these stories do a wonderful job paying homage and tribute to the man and his body of work. It’s important to recognize those who truly shine/do something unusual/special as authors and I think its wonderful this collection was made. Thank you to Shannon Green for giving this to me, I really enjoyed it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys Matheson/horror short stories. Some stories have a lot of adult content, sex, violence, gore, language, disturbing content, coarse language, it’s all there as it should be. So ages 18+, please don’t let your kids read this. Check this one out and then go read some Richard Matheson, you’ll be glad you did.