Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Between 19, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of whom ( Chris, Richard Christian, and Ali Matheson) are writers of fiction and screenplays. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. Any nits you pick on this book will be silly and forgivable, and the worst crime this novel has is that it's not long enough.Born in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. There is no nitpicking his Vampire Mythos, as Matheson's is probably the most complete and explained (and entertaining) of the bunch. On the whole though, this is a classic that has to be read to be believed. This is truly intentional and effective, but hard to endure nonetheless. We only know what Bob knows, and what he doesn't know we're frustrated as he is about. Although an odd nit to pick here, there is a sudden lack of explanation on a couple of points toward the end. There's also at least one assumption made by our hero that just doesn't stack up as intelligently as so many of the rest do. Sure this is primarily a One Man Show, but in flashback etceteras you'll see the discrepancy. It doesn't hurt the book at all, however it might not translate well into this different world we're in! Matheson doesn't seem to really write women particularly realistically here. As timeless as this novel really is (though set in the 'Future' of the mid to late seventies, it could just as well be today, tomorrow next week or next year) there are a couple of anomalies that keep I Am Legend from that elusive fifth star! For example, like a number of great works of the age, this novel suffers from a Cold War Paranoia that pre-supposes the temporal proximity of a nuclear exchange.
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