Steel and Other Stories
Richard Matheson
Tor, Sep 27 2011, $14.99
ISBN 9780765329424
This is a terrific collection that wastes no time getting started with the classic Steel, which became a Twilight Zone episode and will soon be a movie. Another oldie but goody is "The Splendid Source" used as the basis of one of The Family Guy shows. Of the fourteen other short stories, most were written in the 1950s but like Steel and The Splendid Source hold up nicely six decades later. Especially good are “The Traveler” who goes back in time to observe the crucifixion and eerie timely “Descent” as sunsets on Sunset Boulevard will be replaced by artificial sunsets. The two more current entries show Mr. Matheson remains a master as “Dr. Morton’s Folly” is about a vampire needing fang work and “The Window of Time” in which a widower octogenarian leaves his daughter’s Brooklyn home for a retirement home that takes him back to the spring of his life. Mr. Matheson will leave his audience appreciative of his strong wry anthology with works like “A Visit to Santa” by a whining lad and his parents, and “When Day Is Dun” wishing earth a fond but sad goodnight.
Harriet Klausner
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