I am Legend and Other Stories by Richard Matheson

Reviewed by Gerti

If you’re like me, you've heard of the movie with Will Smith called “I Am Legend”, but you've never heard of author Richard Matheson. That’s why his collection of short fiction is a delightful discovery. Not only do you find the short novel that was the impetus for the Hollywood blockbuster (although the plots are very different), you will also find another horror classic – the story of the Zuni fetish doll made famous by Karen Black in “Trilogy of Terror”. Yes, that’s Matheson’s story, too.

Spanning from 1951 to 1987, this collection of one short novel and 10 short stories penned by Matheson is a fascinating look at the author’s twisted takes on what it means to be human. Just about every story contains death, often with the main character killing others, but there is also a hint of the paranormal. One story features 7 beautiful teen-aged witches who kill men in horrible but unique ways; another has a witch doctor’s curse which threatens the life of a successful New York City man. Each story contains an extraordinary conflict – my favorite being between an author and his “Mad House”, a home which he has filled with so much anger and frustration that the inanimate objects in it conspire to kill him.

I am bothered that the headlining story “I Am Legend” is actually more like the 1964 Vincent Price film “The Last Man on Earth” and the even campier 1971 movie “The Omega Man” than Will Smith’s movie. Robert Neville in Matheson’s novel is not plagued by fast zombies so much as by a form of infected but evolving humans, and they are angry that he has been killing them, so they send in a “healthy” decoy to kill him. Even though Neville is suspicious of her, he has been alone (and lonely for female company) for so long, that he wants to believe she is human, like him. While she can’t kill him, she instead warns him that the others will come for him, because they are setting up a new society and his very existence threatens their world. I far prefer the unknown Hollywood script writer’s version with Smith where Neville is not a sex-crazed creep, but a charming hero who eventually comes up with an antidote to cure those infected by this disease.

There are psychological depths to the Zuni fetish doll story, “Prey”, which features a female protagonist - Amelia. She has purchased a birthday gift for her boyfriend, Arthur, but her controlling mother wants to spend that Friday evening with her instead. The doll, called “This is He Who Kills” when she takes him out of his wooden coffin, represents her pent-up rage at being treated like a child by her mom, and the gold chains around him are her frustrated struggle for independence. When she is finally possessed by the doll’s warrior spirit before the old lady comes to visit, we are almost pleased that Amelia has found some form of internal strength and a way to fight back.

In all, these short works make worthwhile reading for science fiction fans. While some are sexist and old-fashioned, Matheson has an engaging writing style, and his tales themselves are all uniquely twisted versions of a very strange world.