Richard Matheson

Richard Matheson war ein einflussreicher US-amerikanischer Autor, geboren am 20. Februar 1926 in Allendale, New Jersey. Er war der Sohn norwegischer Einwanderer, Bertolf und Fanny Matheson, die später divorcierten, als er acht Jahre alt war. Aufgewachsen in Brooklyn, New York, bei seiner Mutter, entwickelte Matheson früh ein Interesse am Storytelling, inspiriert durch die Romane von Kenneth Roberts, den Film "Dracula" und ein Gedicht in The Brooklyn Eagle. Mit acht Jahren veröffentlichte er seine erste Geschichte in dieser Publikation.

Nach seinem Abschluss an der Brooklyn Technical High School und seinem Dienst in der United States Army während des Zweiten Weltkriegs erwarb Matheson 1949 einen Bachelor of Arts in Journalismus an der School of Journalism der University of Missouri. Seine Schriftstellerkarriere begann mit der Veröffentlichung seiner ersten Kurzgeschichte, "Born of Man and Woman", in dem Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction im Jahr 1950. Diese Geschichte über ein monströses Kind, das in dem Keller seiner Eltern angekettet ist, erlangte schnell Popularität und etablierte Mathesons Ruf in dem Genre.

Mathesons Werke verschwimmen oft die Grenzen zwischen Science-Fiction, Horror und Fantasy, und viele seiner Romane wurden verfilmt. Einige seiner bekanntesten Werke sind "I Am Legend", "The Shrinking Man", "Hell House", "What Dreams May Come", "Somewhere in Time", "A Stir of Echoes" und "Button, Button". Zusätzlich schrieb er Drehbücher für mehrere Episoden der ikonischen TV-Serie "The Twilight Zone", darunter "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet".

Richard Matheson verstarb am 23. Juni 2013 im Alter von 87 Jahren in Los Angeles, Kalifornien. Er hinterlässt ein bleibendes Erbe in den Bereichen Horror, Science-Fiction und Fantasy. Seine Werke haben nicht nur Leser in ihren Bann gezogen, sondern auch zahlreiche Filmadaptionen und andere Autoren, wie zum Beispiel Stephen King, inspiriert.
Einzelromane
# Titel Jahr
1 Someone is Bleeding 1953
2 Fury on Sunday 1953
3 Woman / Third from the Sun / Born of Man 1954
4 I Am Legend / The Omega Man 1954
5 The Incredible Shrinking Man / The Shrinking Man 1956
6 A Stir of Echoes 1958
7 Ride the Nightmare 1959
8 The Beardless Warriors of World War II 1960
9 Comedy of Terrors 1964
10 Hell House 1971
11 The Night Stalker 1973
12 The Night Strangler 1974
13 Somewhere In Time / Bid Time Return 1975
14 What Dreams May Come 1978
15 Earthbound 1982
16 Journal of the Gun Years 1991
17 The Gun Fight 1993
18 7 Steps to Midnight 1993
19 Shadow on the Sun 1994
20 Now You See It... 1995
21 The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok 1996
22 Passion Play 2000
23 Hunger and Thirst 2000
24 Camp Pleasant 2001
25 Hunted Past Reason 2002
26 Abu and the 7 Marvels (With: William Stout) 2002
27 Abu and the 7 Marvels 2002
28 Come Fygures, Come Shadowes 2003
29 The Link 2006
30 Other Kingdoms 2011
31 Generations 2012
32 Leave Yesterday Alone 2013
Kurzgeschichten/Novellen
# Titel Jahr
1 Through Channels 1951
2 Long Distance Call 1951
3 Pride 2002
4 Dress of White Silk 1951
5 Witch War 1951
6 Blood Son / Drink My Blood / Drink My Red Blood 1951
7 Slaughter House 1953
8 Wet Straw 1953
9 Disappearing Act 1953
10 Legion of Plotters 1953
11 Mad House 1953
12 Dance of the Dead 1954
13 Old Haunts 1957
14 The Children of Noah 1957
15 The Holiday Man 1957
16 The Distributor 1958
17 First Anniversary 1960
18 The Likeness of Julie 1962
19 Pride (With: Richard Christian Matheson) 2002
Kurzgeschichtensammlungen
# Titel Jahr
1 Third from the Sun: Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy 1954
2 Born Of Man And Woman 1954
3 The Shores of Space 1957
4 Third From The Sun: Tales Of Science Fiction And Fantasy 1954
5 The Shores Of Space 1957
6 Nightmare at 20,000 Feet 1961
7 Nightmare At 20,000 Feet 1961
8 Shock!: Thirteen Tales to Thrill and Terrify 1961
9 Shock!: Thirteen Tales To Thrill And Terrify 1961
10 Shock II: Thirteen Tales to Haunt the Imagination 1964
11 Shock Ii: Thirteen Tales To Haunt The Imagination 1964
12 Shock III 1966
13 Shock Iii 1966
14 Shock Waves 1970
15 Duel 1971
16 Collected Stories, Vol. 1 1989
17 By the Gun 1994
18 By The Gun 1994
19 The Twilight Zone Scripts 1998
20 Kolchak Scripts 2003
21 Darker Places 2004
22 Collected Stories, Vol. 2 2005
23 Collected Stories, Vol. 3 2005
24 Unrealized Dreams 2005
25 Bloodlines 2006
26 Visions of Death: Richard Matheson's Edgar Allan Poe Scripts, Vol. 1 2007
27 Button, Button: Uncanny Stories 2007
28 Visions Of Death: Richard Matheson's Edgar Allan Poe Scripts, Vol. 1 2007
29 The Box 2008
30 Richard Matheson Uncollected: Backteria and Other Improbable Tales 2011
31 Visions Deferred 2009
32 Richard Matheson Uncollected: Backteria And Other Improbable Tales 2011
33 Steel and Other Stories 2011
34 Road Rage 2012
35 Steel And Other Stories 2011
36 Road Rage (With: Stephen King, Joe Hill, Chris Ryall) 2012
37 The Best Of Richard Matheson 2017
38 Off Beat: Uncollected Stories 2020
Graphic Novels
# Titel Jahr
1 Completely Doomed 2007
Stücke
# Titel Jahr
1 The Twilight Zone 2017
Sachbücher
# Titel Jahr
1 The Path 1993
2 Mediums Rare 2000
3 A Primer of Reality 2002
4 The Richard Matheson Companion 2007
Foundations of Fear Anthology Books
# Titel Jahr
1 An Exploration of Horror: Foundations of Fear (With: George R.R. Martin, Robert A. Heinlein, David G. Hartwell, Peter Straub, Daphne du Maurier, Clive Barker, Carlos Fuentes, Arthur Machen, Gerald Durrell) 1992
2 Foundations of Fear: Volume I: Shadows of Fear (By: Robert A. Heinlein, David G. Hartwell, Peter Straub, H.P. Lovecraft, Daphne du Maurier, Arthur Machen, Jean Ray, Harriet Prescott Spofford) 1994
3 Foundations of Fear: Volume II: Worlds of Fear (By: George R.R. Martin, David G. Hartwell, Thomas Hardy, Gertrude Atherton, Thomas M. Disch, Elizabeth Engstrom, Carlos Fuentes) 1994
4 Foundations of Fear: Volume III: Visions of Fear (With: David G. Hartwell, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Philip K. Dick, Clive Barker, Octavia E. Butler, Gerald Durrell) 1994
The Dark Descent Books
# Titel Jahr
1 Volume I: The Color of Evil (By: Stephen King, Robert Bloch, Shirley Jackson, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, David G. Hartwell, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, E. Nesbit, Charles L. Grant, H.P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, Nathaniel Hawthorne, M.R. James, Karl Edward Wagner, Manly Wade Wellman, Russell Kirk, John Collier, Robert Aickman, Lucy Clifford, Michael Shea) 1987
2 Volume II: The Medusa In The Shield (With: Stephen King, Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner, Theodore Sturgeon, David G. Hartwell, Tanith Lee, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Michael Bishop, Ramsey Campbell, Henry James, H.P. Lovecraft, Joanna Russ, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, D.H. Lawrence, Dennis Etchison, Thomas M. Disch, Clive Barker, Robert Aickman, Robert Hichens, Edgar Allen Poe) 1990
3 Volume III: A Fabulous, Formless Darkness (By: Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, David G. Hartwell, Algernon Blackwood, Edith Wharton, Thomas M. Disch, Robert Aickman) 1991
Kolchak: The Night Stalker Books
# Titel Jahr
1 Kolchak the Night Stalker Volume 1 2004
Richard Matheson Anthologies
# Titel Jahr
1 The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction March 1953 1953
2 Star Science Fiction Stories No. 3 - F-675 1954
3 Star Science Fiction Stories 3 1955
4 Best of Science Fiction: No. 10 1964
5 If This Goes On 1965
6 Fantastic Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, January 1967 1967
7 Space Suits & Gumshoes 1972
8 Star Science Fiction Stories No. 5 1972
9 The Devil's Generation 1973
10 Great Black Magic Stories 1974
11 Rod Serling's Other Worlds 1978
12 65 Great Spine Chillers 1982
13 Laughing Space: An Anthology of Science Fiction Humor 1982
14 Great Tales of Fantasy and Science Fiction 1985
15 Rod Serling's Night Gallery Reader 1987
16 Volume I: The Color of Evil 1987
17 Duel — Horror Stories of the Road 1987
18 The Monster Book of Monsters 1988
19 The Best Horror Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction 1988
20 Hot Blood Tales of Erotic Horror 1989
21 California Sorcery 1999
22 Second Annual Collection 1989
23 The Year's Best Fantasy 2 / Demons and Dreams 1990
24 Volume II: The Medusa In The Shield 1990
25 Volume III: A Fabulous, Formless Darkness 1991
26 An Exploration of Horror: Foundations of Fear 1992
27 Foundations of Fear: Volume I: Shadows of Fear 1994
28 Foundations of Fear: Volume II: Worlds of Fear 1994
29 Foundations of Fear: Volume III: Visions of Fear 1994
30 Robert Bloch: Appreciations of the Master 1995
31 American Pulp 1997
32 The Young Oxford Book of Nasty Endings 1998
33 Taps and Sighs 2000
34 Stranger: Dark Tales of Eerie Encounters 2002
35 Kiss the Whip 2005
36 Masques V 2006
37 The Best of Cemetery Dance II 2008
38 The Dead That Walk 2009
39 Haunts: Reliquaries of the Dead 2011
40 The Mammoth Book of Body Horror 2012
41 The Time Traveler's Almanac 2013
42 Flight or Fright 2018