Richard Christian Matheson

In the late 80's, when the whole new horror thing was happening in the genre, one of the biggest names was Richard Christian Matheson. He was lumped in with the Splatterpunks, and much of his fiction warranted it. But he was around before that. R.C. Matheson began publishing in what I consider to be the high water mark of horror fiction: In the late 70's, within the pages of Shadows and Whispers. He also appears in the best, most influential and important anthology that had ever been published. I'm talking about Dark Forces, which was edited by Kirby McCauley.

Of course everyone should know that Richard Christian Matheson is the son of the legendary RICHARD MATHESON. I don't think I have to list his accomplishments.

The thing about that is, R.C. Matheson is an outstanding writer, but in most cases his work bears little resemblance to that of his father's. Their styles are totally different from one another. I always thought that was pretty cool.

Richard Christian Matheson became known for writing very short stories. They always were sharp, potent, and haunting. He didn't always spell out the exact details of his stories. I thought that was pretty cool, too.

His collection, Scars and Other Disfiguring Marks, is one of the best I've read. You should definitely seek it out. Scars is available on Kindle and Nook. His later collection, Dystopia, is excellent too, but Scars came first and is dearer to my heart.

Richard Christian Matheson's first-and-only novel, Created By, was published with considerable fanfare in 1993. It is a strong debut that benefits from the author's intimate knowledge of the world of television production. Everyone seemed to like Created By, but it was one of those unhappy incidents in publishing. It seemed like in no time at all copies were lying around in remainder tables everywhere.

A second novel, Leading Man, was talked about, but never happened. I was always disappointed about that.

R.C. Matheson never abandoned publishing fiction, but after that it seemed to take a back seat to his screenwriting work. He had been around the industry for a long time, since he was very young. His credits include work on shows like Hardcastle and McCormick, The A-Team, The Incredible Hulk, B.J. and the Bear, Knight Rider, and even Three's Company. These might not seem like great shows to many of you, but they were amazing accomplishments to a writer of his age.

Matheson Jr. hasn't had the career in publishing that I had hoped he would have, but who can blame him for pursuing the lucrative work in film and television? He didn't stop writing prose fiction, however, and his stories would appear now and then in anthologies. I was always grateful.

Now Richard Matheson has a new book on the horizon. PS Publishing is doing the book, and it is due any time now. It is called The Ritual of Illusion, and while not a full-length novel, it is a novella, which is just as good.

PS is issuing it in an unsigned trade hardcover, and a signed edition. You can also preorder it from Camelot Books and Gifts. Or, if you feel lucky, punk, you can take your chances ordering it from Amazon.

Richard Christian Matheson's name was once one of the biggest and most important in the horror fiction genre. I don't hear his name dropped much from the younger readers these days. Perhaps The Ritual of Illusion will change all of that. I sure hope so. And I hope more books will follow.