Richard Matheson Books in Order

Told as a police questioning, this short horror tale follows a boy trying to explain an impossible attack that seems to come through the television itself. It is brief, strange, and wonderfully nasty.

A failing writer discovers that the people, places, and facts of his life are quietly vanishing from reality. Matheson turns guilt and self-loathing into a surreal nightmare about erasure, loneliness, and the terror of no longer mattering.

In this early paranoia tale, a family home seems to feed on anger and push its occupants toward cruelty. The house itself becomes the threat, making everyday domestic life feel unstable and actively hostile.

A grim short horror piece that takes a familiar setting and lets guilt, cruelty, and physical dread build step by step. Matheson keeps it spare, then lands with a nasty sense of inevitability.

A widower moves into a boarding house after his wife's death and begins having recurring dreams filled with the smell of wet straw. The story slowly turns grief, guilt, and obsession into something horribly physical.

Matheson's breakthrough story takes the form of a child's broken diary entries from a cellar where cruel parents keep something hidden. It is short, shocking, and still one of his most disturbing pieces.

Set in a blasted future, this story follows a young woman drawn to a secret club where the dead are made to perform for the living. It is nasty, bleak, and far ahead of its time in post-apocalyptic horror.

Robert Neville appears to be the last living man in a world overrun by infected, vampiric survivors. Matheson makes the apocalypse intimate, lonely, and surprisingly rational, then turns the idea of monster and man inside out.

As war nears catastrophe, two men secretly plan to flee their dying world with their families. Matheson tells it as a tense escape story, then lands one of his cleanest and most famous twist endings.

An omnibus of early Matheson short fiction, bringing together some of the pieces that established his voice in horror and science fiction. Expect ordinary people, sharp premises, and endings that shift the ground beneath the story.

Scott Carey starts losing height by the inch, and with it his place in marriage, work, and the ordinary world. The story is famous for its science fiction hook, but it hits hardest as a study of fear and identity.

A story collection that leans into Matheson's science fiction side, with ordinary people pushed against strange technologies, alien perspectives, and cosmic unease. Even at his most speculative, the human reactions are what make the stories sting.

After a hypnotism session, Tom Wallace begins hearing thoughts and sensing a murdered woman's presence. His new psychic awareness wrecks the safety of everyday life and turns his suburban home into the center of a ghostly mystery.

A businessman returns from a trip to find his old identity erased and violent strangers closing in. Matheson strips the setup down to pure paranoia as an ordinary man tries to learn who wants him ruined and dead.

Drawn from Matheson's own Army experience, this novel follows very young American soldiers through fear, boredom, comradeship, and combat in Europe. It is blunt, unsentimental war fiction about boys being pushed into adulthood too fast.

A handpicked collection of Matheson horror stories, including the famous airplane nightmare, Duel, and Prey. It is one of the best single-volume introductions to his talent for paranoia, monsters, and ordinary lives going badly wrong.

A collection of thirteen early stories that shows Matheson moving easily between science fiction, horror, crime, and the uncanny. The range is part of the fun, everyday settings, sharp hooks, and endings that rarely leave anyone comfortable.

A young man fixates on a classmate, commits a brutal crime, and learns that Julie may be far less helpless than she seems. It is one of Matheson's darkest stories, mixing sexual menace, revenge, and the supernatural.

This screenplay edition preserves Matheson's gleefully morbid gothic comedy about undertakers, debts, murder, and family chaos. It is lighter than his straight horror, but packed with macabre jokes and escalating bad behavior.

The second Shock collection deepens the mix of eerie science fiction, domestic dread, and dark irony that defined Matheson's short fiction. It is a strong middle volume for readers who want more than just the famous adaptations.

A third gathering of Matheson stories from the 1950s and early 1960s, still restless in genre and mood. Expect monsters, telepathy, warped marriages, and the kind of ending that snaps a quiet tale into something crueler.

The final Shock volume collects more of Matheson's unsettling short fiction, from psychological suspense to full supernatural menace. It is a reminder of how many different fears he could explore without losing his clean, fast style.

A driver on a lonely road is singled out by a faceless trucker and hunted mile after mile for no clear reason. The premise is simple, but Matheson turns it into pure, grinding terror.

A dying millionaire sends a physicist and two mediums to the Belasco House, a mansion with a terrible reputation. Their investigation becomes a brutal test of belief, sanity, and survival.

When women are found drained of blood in Las Vegas, reporter Carl Kolchak chases a killer the police will not believe in. His investigation turns a newsroom mystery into one of Matheson's best-known vampire thrillers.

Reporter Carl Kolchak follows a string of murders into the tunnels, legends, and hidden history beneath Seattle. Part mystery and part supernatural chase, it keeps one stubborn skeptic facing monsters that refuse to stay folklore.

A dying playwright becomes obsessed with an actress from the 1890s and attempts the impossible, to reach her across time. It is Matheson's great romance novel, tender, melancholy, and built on longing rather than fear.

After dying, Chris Nielsen discovers an afterlife shaped by thought, memory, and love, then risks everything to reach his wife. Matheson turns grief into an imaginative, emotional journey through heaven, hell, and marriage.

A married couple move into a new home and find themselves tangled with a restless, manipulative spirit that will not let go of the living. Matheson mixes domestic strain, occult research, and ghostly obsession into a tense supernatural tale.

The first volume of The Dark Descent anthology maps one branch of horror through classic and modern stories, with Richard Matheson among the featured writers. It is less a novel than a guided tour of what frightens readers across eras.

The first volume of Matheson's major story retrospective gathers early classics and shows how quickly his voice arrived. Horror, science fiction, black humor, and paranoia all meet here in lean, memorable pieces.

The second Dark Descent volume continues the anthology's survey of horror fiction, bringing together major writers and shifting tones of fear. It works best for readers who like seeing different styles and periods speak to one another.

Clay Halser grows from frightened boy to hardened gunman on the violent American frontier, recording the cost of every lesson. The novel works as both coming-of-age western and critique of the myths that build killers.

The concluding Dark Descent volume explores harder-to-name forms of horror, the eerie, the ambiguous, and the half-seen. Like the earlier books, it is an anthology built for readers who want range as much as chills.

A London teacher is suddenly handed a sealed dossier that seems to know every detail of his life, then plunged into a deadly conspiracy. This is Matheson in paranoid thriller mode, fast, clever, and full of escalating questions.

Fifteen years after killing a man in self-defense, a former gunfighter is dragged back toward violence by an old feud. Matheson turns a classic western setup into a tense story about regret, honor, and the trouble that never stays buried.

This spiritual novel follows ordinary people through encounters that point toward a larger view of life, death, and purpose. It is less horror than reflective fiction, shaped by Matheson's personal beliefs about the soul and what comes next.

This western collection shows Matheson working far from vampires and haunted houses, but with the same sharp sense of pressure and consequence. The stories are about gunfighters, drifters, pride, and the sudden cost of violence.

In a dry Arizona town, a young newspaper editor watches fear spread as brutal outlaws ride in and the townspeople falter. It starts like a western, then opens into something stranger and darker.

Confined to a room built for stage illusions, an aging magician watches a labyrinth of family schemes, betrayal, and murder unfold around him. The whole novel works like a locked-room revenge drama built on performance, deception, and control.

Matheson imagines the life of Wild Bill Hickok in the gunfighter's own voice, mixing frontier action with a reflective, older narrator. It is a western about legend-making, memory, and the lonely cost of fame.

A script collection for readers who want Matheson on the page as well as the screen, including the terse, idea-first storytelling that made his episodes last. It is a great look at how he built suspense through rhythm, image, and restraint.

Written early in Matheson's career but published much later, this novel follows a young man wrestling with love, longing, and self-knowledge. It is more intimate and personal than his horror work, with the sting of an autobiographical confession.

A nonfiction volume devoted to séances, spiritualism, and reported psychic phenomena. It shows the research interests behind Matheson's supernatural fiction and his long curiosity about what might wait beyond ordinary experience.

A struggling salesman and would-be artist in 1950s California makes one bad door-to-door call and meets the wrong woman. The result is a lean noir suspense story about desire, bad luck, and a life spinning out of control.

A first-time camp counselor arrives at a boys' summer camp and finds bullying, cruelty, and growing tension beneath the cheerful surface. When murder enters the picture, the setting turns into a small, ugly world ruled by fear.

A nonfiction gathering of quotations and reflections on reincarnation, near-death experiences, karma, and the higher self. It offers a clear window into the spiritual ideas that shaped some of Matheson's later fiction.

In this playful Arabian Nights style adventure, Abu sets out to win a princess by seeking tokens from the seven marvels of the world. Genies, rival suitors, and impossible tasks make it one of Matheson's most family-friendly fantasies.

What should be a routine wilderness hike turns into a savage battle between two men with years of buried resentment between them. Part survival thriller, part psychological duel, it strips friendship down to fear, rage, and endurance.

This unusual collaboration with Richard Christian Matheson follows a divorced mother who remarries a man who wants children of his own. The book also shows the two writers' drafts and shared process, so it doubles as story and workshop.

An unfinished novel fragment centered on a young girl, her mother's spiritualist beliefs, and the first stirrings of sexuality and fear. Even incomplete, it shows Matheson building a dark coming-of-age story around séances, visions, and unease.

These scripts capture Matheson's mix of newsroom banter, occult mystery, and monster-of-the-week dread from the Kolchak world. They are brisk, atmospheric, and a good reminder of how funny his horror could be.

A collection of early horror pieces and an unproduced screenplay, all rooted in the ordinary world turning mean, haunted, or monstrous. It is a good snapshot of Matheson experimenting with different ways to make readers uneasy.

The second volume of the retrospective moves deeper into Matheson's middle period, where his range becomes even clearer. Science fiction, ghost stories, crime, and emotional cruelty all sit beside one another comfortably.

The final volume completes Matheson's big story survey, gathering later work and lesser-known pieces alongside familiar standouts. It is best for readers who want the full breadth of his short fiction, not just the greatest hits.

A collection of unmade projects, screenplays, and story material that never reached the screen in finished form. It gives fans a look at Matheson's creative back room, where even abandoned ideas still feel lively and strange.

A themed collection steeped in dark appetites, corruption, and the thin line between human and monstrous. It is a good fit for readers who like Matheson at his bloodier and more openly macabre.

A rational, bestselling writer becomes involved in a film project about psychic research and finds himself pulled toward hauntings, telepathy, and buried personal pain. This long-unpublished work blends the paranormal with Matheson's interest in belief, science, and memory.

This collection opens with Matheson's famous moral trap, a box, a button, and money at someone else's cost, then keeps going with other uncanny tales. It is compact, clever, and full of ordinary people making terrible choices.

A black-and-white horror comics anthology that includes graphic adaptations of Richard Matheson stories alongside work by other dark-fiction writers. It plays like a pulpy showcase of monsters, dread, and nasty little shocks.

A reference guide to Matheson's fiction, scripts, adaptations, and career, with background material for readers who want the wider picture. It is more companion volume than memoir, useful for fans tracing his work across page and screen.

A collection built around mortality, foreknowledge, and the strange ways the dead or the dying press into the lives of the living. It gathers tales where Matheson treats death as mystery, warning, and intimate terror.

A later edition of the Button, Button collection, renamed after the film adaptation but still centered on Matheson's sharp uncanny stories. It is a strong gateway book if you want his twisty, idea-driven short fiction.

This volume presents Matheson's long-unseen screenplay for I Am Legend, showing how he wanted the story adapted before the later films took it elsewhere. It is essential for readers curious about the road not taken.

After the First World War, a young American veteran travels to rural England and is drawn toward both witchcraft and the fairy world. What begins as longing and escape turns into a dangerous crossing between ordinary life and older, stranger powers.

An archival volume of rare pieces, unfinished novels, short fiction, and unproduced script material. It is best read as a treasure chest for devoted fans who want to see the work beyond the standard reprints.

A selected collection that highlights Matheson's talent for pitting ordinary people against brutal tests, whether futuristic, supernatural, or purely human. The title story alone shows how much emotion he could pack into a stripped-down premise.

Set around the aftermath of a father's funeral, this autobiographical novel lets a sixteen-year-old Richard Matheson dig into family secrets, resentments, and old wounds. It is intimate, raw, and more domestic than supernatural.

Road Rage pairs graphic adaptations of Richard Matheson’s Duel and the father-and-son sequel Throttle by Stephen King and Joe Hill. Two different stories of lone drivers terrorized on the highway become a single, high-octane tribute to vehicular horror.

An aspiring writer drifts through college, love affairs, and self-doubt while pushing away the woman who cares for him most. It's an early, autobiographical Matheson novel about youth, ambition, and fear of commitment.

A generous sampler of Matheson's most enduring short fiction, from horror staples to strange science fiction and black comedy. If you want one collection that shows why so many later writers learned from him, start here.

This volume gathers uncollected stories and lesser-known pieces, showing Matheson in a more eccentric, experimental mood. It is uneven by design, but that is also the appeal, you get corners of his imagination the standard collections miss.