Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, masculine stories of sparkling, brilliant logic
Review: "Nightmare at 20.000 Feet" is best proof that good science fiction, perhaps the best science fiction that can be written does not require ornamentation of language, flowery descriptions of mind-numbing length, artificial archaisms and myth rip-off. Snip: (...).
Rating:
Summary: A collection of stories spanning almost half a century!
Review: 'Nightmare at 20,000 feet' intro by Stephen King is a collection of classic weird tales in which King remembers his mentor, Richard Matheson's spine tingling short stories spanning almost half a century.
Rating: 
Summary: richard matters
Review: a great collection. matheson has a way of writing. he shows you how you can express more and be more intense with a simplistic style. it makes it easier to read and more understandable too. what he is real master at is describing how little things just grow to be bigger. like in mad house and legion of plotters. i couldn't really appreciate it. it was so well written that i felt just as irritated as the fictive person. strange this, i almost never feel with the characters in a story. a great haunted house story, a great.... Well, just buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Good collection
Review: After having quite a Richard Matheson drought for many years, there are finally 4 of his short story/novella collections in print, and this is good news. With the horror shelves packed full of splatterpunk and vampirephile garbage, it's time to get back to the subtle horror writers; the ones who didn't need to incorporate buckets of blood, piles of entrails, sex, sex, and more sex in order to tell a story. Matheson is one of those subtle writers - not the best, but definitely up there. He writes like a darker Ray Bradbury, using a very straightforward style, a sense of innocence and mystery, and just a hint of evil, requiring you to fill in the details. Think of Bradbury's early horror stories (like the stuff adapted in EC Comics), and you'll get the idea. The title story of this collection will surely get the most recognition, but it's by no means the best here. I rank "Long Distance Call" as my favorite, followed by "The Distributor". It also contains "Prey", famously adapted in the movie Trilogy Of Terror. Don't get me wrong - there are a few turkeys here that will make you question their inclusion, but that shouldn't ruin your appreciation of a true master of the horror genre. Finally, for those who have never read Matheson before, beware: the introduction by Stephen King, who frequently names Matheson as an influence, is surprisingly lackluster. Don't let his intro affect your decision to read the book!
Rating:
Summary: Most good, some bad
Review: After reading Matheson's "I Am Legend", I picked this book up considering the awe I felt with "I Am Legend". "Nightmare" is a collection of short stories. Most of them are intriguing. Some, like "Disappearing Act" made me close the book and let my mind scream "Whoa!" due to its intensity. One or two of the stories made me wonder what the point was. Maybe some other people got something out of them, but I didn't. All in all, I recommend this book to any Matheson, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, etc., fan. Some stories are somewhat boring. Most of the stories will get a rise out of you, and some will absolutely thrill you and leave you wanting more (in a good way).
Rating:
Summary: Most good, some bad
Review: After reading Matheson's "I Am Legend", I picked this book up considering the awe I felt with "I Am Legend". "Nightmare" is a collection of short stories. Most of them are intriguing. Some, like "Disappearing Act" made me close the book and let my mind scream "Whoa!" due to its intensity. One or two of the stories made me wonder what the point was. Maybe some other people got something out of them, but I didn't. All in all, I recommend this book to any Matheson, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, etc., fan. Some stories are somewhat boring. Most of the stories will get a rise out of you, and some will absolutely thrill you and leave you wanting more (in a good way).
Rating:
Summary: There are some true classics of horror here
Review: As I child I was a huge fan of anything scary. Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, and the "movie of the week" were my childhood thrills. Like many others I have never forgotten the vision of Karen Black being chased around by a possessed Zuni doll, in Trilogy of Terror. I now know where that story comes from (The Prey), along with several other thrillers from years past. This is a solid collection, yes there are a few clunkers, but overall the stories are excellent. My personal favorite was "Disappearing Act", a truly unnerving reading experience. This collection has stood the test of time for good reason. 4.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: There are some true classics of horror here
Review: As I child I was a huge fan of anything scary. Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, and the "movie of the week" were my childhood thrills. Like many others I have never forgotten the vision of Karen Black being chased around by a possessed Zuni doll, in Trilogy of Terror. I now know where that story comes from (The Prey), along with several other thrillers from years past. This is a solid collection, yes there are a few clunkers, but overall the stories are excellent. My personal favorite was "Disappearing Act", a truly unnerving reading experience. This collection has stood the test of time for good reason. 4.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Twenty Horrific Hauntings
Review: Each of the twenty Matheson short story/novella gems in this collection represents a separate haunting, of sorts. There are traditional haunted houses, haunted psyches, and beings from elsewhere who haunt and bedevil unsuspecting souls in strange places. Unlike most horror authors, Matheson excels both in the writing of novels and the writing of short stories, and each of these little nightmares are quite well-crafted. The two showpieces, beginning and ending the book, are among the author's most famous stories. The former is the title of the book, in which a fearful flyer becomes engaged in a private little war with a gremlin that is dismantling the engine of the plane in which he is riding. This story was the concluding one of the Twilight Zone movie, and was probably the best known (or at least best remembered) of the original series. The latter, "Prey," was adapted into the central piece of two Dan Curtis T.V. movies, Trilogy of Terror and Trilogy of Terror II. "Prey" revolves around a Zuni fetish doll called "He Who Kills," who - needless to say - lives up to his name. These two stories alone are worth the price of admission, but Matheson has included eighteen more from his early 1950s to late 1960s period, when he was at his peak. Among them are found psychopathic interlopers, men driven mad with their own rage or paranoid obsessions, psychotics, ghosts, vampires, unearthly predators...something for everyone. I am a lifelong Matheson fan, and was surprised at the number of stories in this collection I had never seen before. I meant to savor them over at least a week, but found myself reading the whole lot from start to finish in a single sitting - without even going to the bathroom! Highly recommended for all fans of horror stories, and lovers of short stories in general. Matheson is a genuine master.
Rating:
Summary: Twenty Horrific Hauntings
Review: Each of the twenty Matheson short story/novella gems in this collection represents a separate haunting, of sorts. There are traditional haunted houses, haunted psyches, and beings from elsewhere who haunt and bedevil unsuspecting souls in strange places. Unlike most horror authors, Matheson excels both in the writing of novels and the writing of short stories, and each of these little nightmares are quite well-crafted. The two showpieces, beginning and ending the book, are among the author's most famous stories. The former is the title of the book, in which a fearful flyer becomes engaged in a private little war with a gremlin that is dismantling the engine of the plane in which he is riding. This story was the concluding one of the Twilight Zone movie, and was probably the best known (or at least best remembered) of the original series. The latter, "Prey," was adapted into the central piece of two Dan Curtis T.V. movies, Trilogy of Terror and Trilogy of Terror II. "Prey" revolves around a Zuni fetish doll called "He Who Kills," who - needless to say - lives up to his name. These two stories alone are worth the price of admission, but Matheson has included eighteen more from his early 1950s to late 1960s period, when he was at his peak. Among them are found psychopathic interlopers, men driven mad with their own rage or paranoid obsessions, psychotics, ghosts, vampires, unearthly predators...something for everyone. I am a lifelong Matheson fan, and was surprised at the number of stories in this collection I had never seen before. I meant to savor them over at least a week, but found myself reading the whole lot from start to finish in a single sitting - without even going to the bathroom! Highly recommended for all fans of horror stories, and lovers of short stories in general. Matheson is a genuine master.
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