What if you were told that you could make a fortune just by pushing a button on a box? But pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world . . . someone you donโt know. Would you still push the button?
โButton, Button," Richard Mathesonโs chilling tale of greed and temptation, is now the basis of The Box , the new film from the director of Donnie Darko. In addition, this outstanding collection also contains many other unforgettable stories by Matheson, the award-winning author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come.
"The inventive plots and spare but convincing portraits of ordinary men and women caught up in forces beyond their control demonstrate why Stephen King has called Matheson his most significant influence.โ
--Publishers Weekly
From Publishers Weekly
Both longtime fans and readers who have never encountered horror and suspense author Matheson (I Am Legend), winner of Stoker and World Fantasy lifetime achievement awards among many others, should enjoy this collection of a dozen stories originally published in the 1950s and 1960s. In the standout title story, later adapted as a Twilight Zone episode, a discontented husband and wife are presented with a device and told they will get $50,000 every time they press its button. The catch is that every push will cause someone else's death. Many of the other tales pack a similar punch. The collection also includes The Creeping Terror, a vicious parody of the author's home state of California. The inventive plots and spare but convincing portraits of the ordinary men and women caught up by forces beyond their control demonstrate why Stephen King has called Matheson his most significant influence. (Apr.)
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Review
โHis stories not only entertain, but touch the mind and heart.โ--Dean KoontzโPerhaps no other author living is as responsible for chilling a generation with tantalizing nightmare visions.โ--The New York Times
โRichard Matheson is one of the great names in American terror fiction.โ--The Philadelphia Inquirer
โMatheson is the master of paranoia--pitting a single man against unknown horrors and examining his every slow twist in the wind.โ--San Jose Mercury News