Richard Matheson Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Standalone Novels
Someone is Bleeding | (1953) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Fury on Sunday | (1953) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Woman / Third from the Sun / Born of Man | (1954) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
I Am Legend / The Omega Man | (1954) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Incredible Shrinking Man / The Shrinking Man | (1956) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
A Stir of Echoes | (1958) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Ride the Nightmare | (1959) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Beardless Warriors of World War II | (1960) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Comedy of Terrors | (1964) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Hell House | (1971) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Night Stalker | (1973) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Night Strangler | (1974) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Somewhere In Time / Bid Time Return | (1975) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
What Dreams May Come | (1978) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Earthbound | (1982) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Journal of the Gun Years | (1991) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Gun Fight | (1993) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
7 Steps to Midnight | (1993) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Shadow on the Sun | (1994) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Now You See It... | (1995) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok | (1996) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Passion Play | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Hunger and Thirst | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Camp Pleasant | (2001) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Hunted Past Reason | (2002) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Abu and the 7 Marvels | (2002) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Come Fygures, Come Shadowes | (2003) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Link | (2006) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Other Kingdoms | (2011) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Generations | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Leave Yesterday Alone | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas
Publication Order of Short Story Collections
Third from the Sun: Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy | (1954) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Shores of Space | (1957) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet | (1961) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Shock!: Thirteen Tales to Thrill and Terrify | (1961) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Shock II: Thirteen Tales to Haunt the Imagination | (1964) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Shock III | (1966) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Shock Waves | (1970) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Duel | (1971) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Collected Stories, Vol. 1 | (1989) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
By the Gun | (1994) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Twilight Zone Scripts | (1998) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Kolchak Scripts | (2003) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Darker Places | (2004) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Collected Stories, Vol. 2 | (2005) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Collected Stories, Vol. 3 | (2005) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Unrealized Dreams | (2005) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Bloodlines | (2006) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Button, Button: Uncanny Stories | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Visions of Death: Richard Matheson's Edgar Allan Poe Scripts, Vol. 1 | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Box | (2008) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Visions Deferred | (2009) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Richard Matheson Uncollected: Backteria and Other Improbable Tales | (2011) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Steel and Other Stories | (2011) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Road Rage | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Off Beat: Uncollected Stories | (2020) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Graphic Novels
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
The Path | (1993) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mediums Rare | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
A Primer of Reality | (2002) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Richard Matheson Companion | (2007) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Star Science Fiction Books
Publication Order of Anthologies
Star Science Fiction Stories 3 | (1955) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Best of Science Fiction: No. 10 | (1964) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
If This Goes On | (1965) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Star Science Fiction Stories No. 5 | (1972) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Devil's Generation | (1973) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Great Black Magic Stories | (1974) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Rod Serling's Other Worlds | (1978) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
65 Great Spine Chillers | (1982) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Laughing Space: An Anthology of Science Fiction Humor | (1982) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Great Tales of Fantasy and Science Fiction | (1985) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Rod Serling's Night Gallery Reader | (1987) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Monster Book of Monsters | (1988) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best Horror Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction | (1988) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Hot Blood Tales of Erotic Horror | (1989) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Second Annual Collection | (1989) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Year's Best Fantasy 2 / Demons and Dreams | (1990) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Robert Bloch: Appreciations of the Master | (1995) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
American Pulp | (1997) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Young Oxford Book of Nasty Endings | (1998) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
California Sorcery | (1999) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Taps and Sighs | (2000) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Stranger: Dark Tales of Eerie Encounters | (2002) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Kiss the Whip | (2005) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Masques V | (2006) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Best of Cemetery Dance II | (2008) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Dead That Walk | (2009) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Haunts: Reliquaries of the Dead | (2011) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Mammoth Book of Body Horror | (2012) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Time Traveler's Almanac | (2013) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Flight or Fright | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Author Richard Burton Matheson was born in Allendale, New Jersey on February 20, 1926. His parents were Norwegian immigrants (who were named Bertolf and Fanny) and they divorced when Richard was only eight years old. He was later raised, by his mom, in Brooklyn, New York. Some of his early influences included Kenneth Roberts’ novels, the film “Dracula”, and a poem that was in The Brooklyn Eagle. When he was only eight, he would get his first story published in this publication. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and served as part of the United States Army during World War II in Europe. This experience would later form the basis of “The Beardless Warriors”. When he came back home, he went to the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism and got his Bachelor of Arts in the year 1949. He died in Los Angeles, California on June 23, 2013 at the age of 87.
He married Ruth Ann Woodson in the year 1952. The couple had four kids together; three of them, Ali, Chris, and Richard Christian became fiction and screenplay writers. Only Bettina Mayberry did not pursue a career in writing.
He won lifetime Achievement awards from World Fantasy Award (in 1984) and from Bram Stoker Awards (in 1991). He won two judged awards from World Fantasy Awards, one for “Bid Time Return” (best novel of 1975) and “Richard Matheson: Collected Stories” won for the best collection of the year in 1989. He won an Edgar in 1973 for “The Night Stalker”, one of two that he wrote and Dan Curtis directed. Richard passed away a few days before he was supposed to receive the Visionary award from Saturn Awards. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall Fame in the year 2010.
The first novel that he ever wrote, called “Hunger and Thirst”, was long ignored by a lot of publishers. It was later published in the year 2010; a lot of his later work were books that he had written long before, but were published much later in his career. His debut novel was published in the year 1953 and was called “Someone Is Bleeding”. When he was 24 years old, he had his first story published, it was called “Born of Man and Woman”. His work blends horror, science fiction, and fantasy, and he has even written a romance novel.
It is said that the inspiration for “Duel” came from an incident that happened to him and a friend (Jerry Sohl) when they were dangerously tailgated by a huge truck. It is said to have happened on the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Besides writing fiction, he also wrote for television series. Richard wrote the screenplays for five of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe series. He wrote for “Star Trek” (the episode from season one called “The Enemy Within”). Mainly, he was closely associated with “The Twilight Zone”, a show that he wrote over a dozen episodes of; including all of the opening and closing statements that Rod Serling spoke. Other shows he wrote for include the western series: “Have Gun—Will Travel”, “Lawman”, and “Cheyenne”.
Many of Matheson’s works have been adapted into movies. “Steel”, a short story, was turned into a movie called “Real Steel”. His
novel “I Am Legend” was made into a movie multiple times. In one of these adaptations, Will Smith starred. “Duel”, one of his
short stories, was adapted for television, by director Steven Spielberg off a screenplay that Richard Matheson wrote.
“A Stir of Echoes” is a stand alone novel and was released in the year 1958. Tom Wallace was living quite an ordinary life, until a freak incident woke up psychic abilities that he did not know he had. He is hearing people’s private thoughts and learning some shocking things that he did not want to know.
Tom’s life turns into a waking nightmare, there are much bigger things that are waiting for him. He starts being the receiver of a compelling message from someone beyond the grave.
Some see why Stephen King says that Matheson is his biggest influence on his work; his saying this is one reason that they decided to pick up his work. Fans of the novel found this to pack a lot of punch; it allows you to see the psychology of someone from the fifties. There is a ghost story and a mystery, and it was interesting to read how spouses interact with one another. It is quite obvious that Matheson is writing from before the period of Women’s Lib.
“I Am Legend” is a stand alone novel and was released in the year 1954. Robert Neville is the only living human on planet Earth, but he is not at all alone. All the other men, children, and women have become a vampire. They yearn for Robert’s blood.
He is a hunter, by day and goes looking for undead throughout what used to be mankind’s civilization. During the night, he hides in his home and hopes it is dawn soon.
How long can a single man live like Robert has been?
The adaptations do not capture Matheson’s intended message of the novel. The novel has a strong impact, and is a story where a happy ending is not at all possible. Fans of the novel like how this book takes the road less traveled to give both the hero and the reader a new perspective to make them see things in a new way.
“Bid Time Return” is a stand alone novel and was released in the year 1975. A man from modern times loves a woman that he has yet to meet. Richard Collier is thirty-six and it might be to late to meet this woman. This is because he has a brain tumor that will soon kill him. He is a screenwriter that should realize how dreams can be created from nothing.
It takes him back in time to a swanky hotel located in San Diego in 1896, and locates his soul mate that is a celebrated actress from the last century.
Fans of the novel find that the unique way this book is written will draw readers right in and keep them hooked. Some liked the way that a horror and fantasy author tries his hand at romance. From another author, this book might feel like some weirdo is following a nice and innocent young woman around. By Richard Matheson, it is something that is full of passion and melancholy and just a thing of beauty.
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