Full Circle is a sad story about humanity doing awful things to people seen as different. In this case Martians are small creatures that look like marionettes and they are forced into performing for people. But it is a miserable dangerous existence. A reporter finds out about it and wants to write an expose, but… Read more Full Circle – Richard Matheson
Dying Room Only – Richard Matheson
Dying Room Only is one of his few non horror/science fiction stories. It’s a straight suspense story about a couple that stops at an out of the way diner and the husband goes missing. It’s interesting in that everyone is suspicious in the diner but no one really stops her from calling the sheriff. They… Read more Dying Room Only – Richard Matheson
The Disinheritors – Richard Matheson
The Disinheiritors is a telling of Goldilocks and the three bears from a modern perspective and then as he says a tacked on Science Fiction ending so he could sell it. I like how many of his early stories were simply that. He’d make something up and then add, and “robots and aliens” at the… Read more The Disinheritors – Richard Matheson
Disappearing Act – Richard Matheson
Disappearing Act is a story about a man who loses himself. His world around him starts to disappear. People he knew cease to exist, until finally he himself disappears. The story is told in diary for and ends mid sentence which is a nice touch His author’s note is the kind of thing I like… Read more Disappearing Act – Richard Matheson
Shock Wave – Richard Matheson
Shock Wave is a story of things becoming old and obsolete and rebelling against that. It’s also about an organ that gets out of control and blows up a church because it’s mad it’s getting decommissioned. The narrative as the story goes along and the organ gets increasingly out of control until the sounds are… Read more Shock Wave – Richard Matheson
The Jazz Machine – Richard Matheson
Jazz Machine is written as a poem. The only one in the collection to my knowledge. He had originally written it in prose with a lot of lingo from Jazz musicians in it, but it didn’t sound right, so he rewrote it as a kind of beat poem. Has the same feel as Howl, although,… Read more The Jazz Machine – Richard Matheson
Girl Of My Dreams – Richard Matheson
Girl Of My Dreams is a bit different in that the main character is also the bad guy. They aren’t always good, but they’re rarely this bad. The story follows a man who’s girlfriend has nightmares that pre-cog people’s deaths and accidents. And he uses that knowledge to extort money from people. He’s greedy and… Read more Girl Of My Dreams – Richard Matheson
Deus Ex Michina – Richard Matheson
Deus Ex Machina, is a bought a man who cuts himself shaving and bangs his head and then thinks that he’s a robot. It seems clear that he is suffering from head trauma, but the story never makes that explicit, even in his author’s note. I think it works best as the horror of madness… Read more Deus Ex Michina – Richard Matheson
Mute – Richard Matheson
Mute is a sad story of hubris and ignorance. As the main character says there isn’t any bad guy, but still there is harm done. I’m not sure where I fell about this, except that the child doesn’t deserve any of it.It ends on a note that he has a loving mother at last, but… Read more Mute – Richard Matheson
The Likeness of Julie – Richard Matheson
The Likeness of Julie starts out as a case study in a typical college student that likes girls and then starts getting dark. It becomes the tale of a burgeoning psychopath that eventually leads to a rape and murder. But then it turns out that the victim is actually a demon of some kind that… Read more The Likeness of Julie – Richard Matheson