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Button, Button: Uncanny Stories
This collection of stories features "Button, Button," the basis for the motion picture, "The Box," starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. Button, Uncanny Stories contains a number of tales that were also adapted for television, as well as a new introduction by Richard Matheson himself. What if every time you pushed a button you received $50,000...but someone you didn't know died? Would you still push the button? How many times?"Button, Button", which inspired a memorable Twilight Zone episode, is just one of a dozen unforgettable tales in this collection by Richard Matheson, the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
271 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 1970
107 people are currently reading
2880 people want to read
About the author
Richard Matheson
739 books4,700 followersBorn in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of whom (Chris, Richard Christian, and Ali Matheson) are writers of fiction and screenplays.
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. 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. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
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. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. 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. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
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. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 519 reviews
February 26, 2021
This is a great little book. Matheson is one of my favorites especially I Am Legend. I first watched I Am Legend, in Omega Man with Charlton Heston. The story had a genuine impact on my life, so Matheson has a special place in my reading experience. Button Button is a group of short stories by Matheson published from 1950 through 1970 in different short story publications. Like all short story compilations there are some good ones and a couple so, so stories. I found two of them to be real gems and well worth the read.
David Putnam Author of The Bruno Johnson series.
David Putnam Author of The Bruno Johnson series.
September 26, 2016
3.5 stars!
Richard Matheson is a legend in my eyes, (see what I did there, bibliophiles?) so when I saw this audio available from the library I immediately checked it out.
Any collection has hit or misses for me. Here, I'll focus on the hits:
Button, Button (I believe this is the story the movie The Box was based on.) If someone came to your door, handed you a box and said: "If you press this button, someone you do not know will die, but you will receive $50,000.", would you press the button?
Dying Room Only had a very cool Twilight Zone feel to it. Picture this: A man and a woman are taking a drive through the desert and stop in a little town diner for lunch. The man goes to the men's room and...disappears. Cue the TZ music!
A Flourish of Strumpets This one might be a tad outdated, but it had me laughing my butt off!
It seemed as if the stories in the beginning were more my speed. As I got deeper into the book, the stories began to resonate with me less and less. Still, even middle of the road Matheson stories are good. Since I think Button, Button is a CLASSIC short story that everyone should read, I recommend this collection to fans of horror shorts.
Richard Matheson is a legend in my eyes, (see what I did there, bibliophiles?) so when I saw this audio available from the library I immediately checked it out.
Any collection has hit or misses for me. Here, I'll focus on the hits:
Button, Button (I believe this is the story the movie The Box was based on.) If someone came to your door, handed you a box and said: "If you press this button, someone you do not know will die, but you will receive $50,000.", would you press the button?
Dying Room Only had a very cool Twilight Zone feel to it. Picture this: A man and a woman are taking a drive through the desert and stop in a little town diner for lunch. The man goes to the men's room and...disappears. Cue the TZ music!
A Flourish of Strumpets This one might be a tad outdated, but it had me laughing my butt off!
It seemed as if the stories in the beginning were more my speed. As I got deeper into the book, the stories began to resonate with me less and less. Still, even middle of the road Matheson stories are good. Since I think Button, Button is a CLASSIC short story that everyone should read, I recommend this collection to fans of horror shorts.
December 20, 2019
An Audiobook in Portuguese. I only listen to "Button, button", and I found this short story simply genial. It was different from the movie that I watched.
July 6, 2016
The most unnerving 9 pages I've ever read because they gave me pause, long enough to imagine not whether or not I'd press the button but how many times I wouldn't hesitate, all things considered.
November 28, 2016
It is a great short story to read but it contains crystal clear plot holes which have ruined it a bit. But the moral is excellent and universally well known.
Moral
Greedy is curse.
Moral
Greedy is curse.
January 20, 2019
Concept > Execution
June 26, 2013
I have this vision of Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King and Roald Dahl hanging out. It's like a twisted poker game, all of them huddled over a ratty green felt table, bare bulb hanging overhead, the fug of cigar smoke in the air. And each one of them is taking a turn, trying to come up with the most twisted tale. You know what? Richard might've won. I mean, Bradbury was eloquent, with his fancy-dancy language. And King would've come up with ten ideas by the time anyone else had reached for another shot of whiskey. Dahl would have told the story that stopped the conversation for a while, because nobody could tell if it was true or not. ("That Brit gives me the willies," Bradbury would say. "Who let him in?")
But Matheson - he would have told a story that started out so normal, so clean and perfect that nobody would see it coming when the evil crept in. And that's what made him great - he was the king of the Twilight Zone story. When reality slips off the moorings and starts to... drift.
Miss you, Richard. Hope you're enjoying the party, wherever you are.
But Matheson - he would have told a story that started out so normal, so clean and perfect that nobody would see it coming when the evil crept in. And that's what made him great - he was the king of the Twilight Zone story. When reality slips off the moorings and starts to... drift.
Miss you, Richard. Hope you're enjoying the party, wherever you are.
July 26, 2011
I was wanting to read something easy to get into. I didn't know I was craving short stories, but once I started reading, it just hit the spot. Just right. This was a great collection. Not mind-blowing or life-altering or anything, but it was a great collection of short stories that was thoroughly entertaining, a little bit thought-provoking, and occasionally amusing.
The first (and title story) "Button, Button" started it off good. There's a box. And a man, Mr. Steward, who says that if you push the button, someone, somewhere in the world will die, and you will get $50,000. The only guarantee is it'll be someone you don't know. So the main characters, Norma and Arthur Lewis, are told to think it over. Mr. Steward leaves his card for them to call later if they change their minds. Arthur wants no part of it, it's immoral and just plain wrong. Norma, on the other hand, thinks of all the good that will come with $50k. She wants to go to Europe, and she wants a nicer house and furniture, better clothes. She wants them to finally be able to have a baby and start their family. Arthur still says no. He's quite adamant about it. He says it's murder, and he doesn't want to be a murderer. Norma scoffs at him. She says it won't be murder if you don't know who, or how, or when. They argue about it. Then Arthur leaves for work. Well, Norma still wants that money. She doesn't exactly believe that someone will really die, she figures it's some sort of psychological experiment, so she goes ahead and pushes the button. I won't give away the end, but someone does die, and it was sort of a surprise. At the end, I was like, "what?!" But it was good, and thought-provoking. What would you do?
"Girl of my Dreams" started out sort of mysteriously. The main female character is having a nightmare, and the male character (who starts off as a mean jerk with a nasty inner monologue, and only gets worse) is happy about it. The next day, he forces her to point out a house, presumably the one she saw in her dream. They go in, and tell the lady of the house that her son will die, and that she must pay $10,000 for information to try to prevent it. Turns out the woman's dreams are pre-cognitive, and the man is using her to extort money from people. She dreams about something happening to someone, (in this case, the boy will be run over by a car and die rather gruesomely) and then he tells the people to give him money in exchange for knowing when and where. The mother, obviously distraught, isn't sure whether to believe him or not. The man gives her until the end of the day to make a decision. The man thinks she is his ticket to the good life, that this one will be the big one because the family appears well-to-do. Well, the dreamer, she thinks it's terrible, and doesn't want the child to die, so makes a call to the woman, and tells her the date and time when the accident will happen. This pisses the man off big time, because now he doesn't get his money. He flies into a rage, and it's not a happy ending.
"Dying Room Only" was one I liked a lot. It starts out a couple is driving through a desert. They decide to stop at a small roadside cafe, because they don't know when the next chance to stop will be. They go inside and order lunch, despite the place looking rather dingy, and the few people inside being rather rude. The wife, Jean, goes into the washroom to clean up, and she figures her husband, Bob does the same. Because when she comes out, he's nowhere to be found. She asks a man in a fedora who comes out of the men's room if he saw her husband in there. Fedora says he didn't see anybody in there. Everyone acts like they have no idea where he went. So Jean starts getting upset. She goes outside to see if he's out in the car waiting for her, but the car's empty. So she goes back inside and asks the cook if he could check the men's room for her, and when he opens the door, she sees there's another door in there. The cook swears up and down it's been locked and unused for years, no way he could've got through. Then Fedora comes in and says Bob just took off and left, he saw the car peel out. Jean's nearly hysterical now, she knows he wouldn't just leave her in the middle of nowhere. She manages to call the sheriff's office. He comes out to investigate, and quickly figures out what's going on. It's solved, and in a good way. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending, I thought it was going to turn darker than what it did, and I was glad that it ended well.
"A Flourish of Strumpets" was funny. The premise is that prostitutes are now going door to door, offering their services, known as The Exchange. At first, our main character, Frank (as well as his wife Sylvia), is outraged by this. He calls the police, demanding something be done. But since he doesn't know the woman's name or address, not much can be done. Every night a different woman shows up at the door, and every night, Frank turns them away and calls the police. His good friend and neighbor, Maxwell, tells him to quit fighting it, it's the wave of the future, and all that. He himself uses the services frequently, and sings Frank a snippet of song that starts with "I'm just a poor little door-to-door whore..." It gets stuck in Frank's head (and admittedly mine too), and he can't quit thinking about the women, especially one called Margie who tells him he's only saying no because his wife's around, and gives him her card, in case he wants to get together some other time. Frank tries to fight it, but with Maxwell's advice, he eventually caves in. After that, no more women show up at the door, leading Sylvia to believe the police have taken care of the problem. Then, at the end, the doorbell rings. When Frank opens the door, a man is standing there. He says, "I'm from the Exchange, is your wife home?" I thought it was pretty funny.
"Pattern for Survival" was a little strange. It seemed to be a story about a few people trying to continue on with life after bombs(?) have destroyed their town. It starts off with a writer who has just finished a manuscript. He takes it to a mailbox, and from there a postman picks it up and delivers it to an publishing place. An editor reads it and loves it, and passes it on to a higher up, who also loves it. It goes to print and a man picks it up on the way home from work, and also loves it. Then when he gets home, it turns out all the people were the same one man. He wakes up the next morning and starts all over again. It was a strange little story, but good in a Twilight Zone kinda way.
"Mute" was really good. Maybe one of my favorites in this collection. At first it was sort of puzzling, what was going on, who were the Nielsens and why doesn't their son Paal speak? The parents die in a fire, and the local sheriff and his wife take the boy in. He won't speak, but he seems to understand people and things nonetheless. The parts seen from his p.o.v. were very good, his understandings of things is much different, and it's told very well I thought. The Nielsens received 3 letters every month, each from a different place. So the sheriff sends a letter to each of those places explaining what happened, and about the boy. But unbeknownst to him, his wife destroys the letters, because she wants to keep the boy. Their own son died previously, and this boy reminds her of her son. Time passes with no responses, so the sheriff insists the boy be enrolled in school to 'fix' him. Paal is terrified of school, and rightly so, especially due to the somewhat evil teacher. Eventually, an associate of the Nielsens shows up, and explains about an experiment that four families were doing on psychic communication and heightened perception. That's why Paal (and the children in the other 3 families) was never taught to talk, because everything was all done by mind. But by the time the German man arrives, it's too late for Paal. His teacher understood about his sensitivity, and has broken his mind, chained it down. At the end, Paal finally speaks, but all he can say is "My name is Paal," over an over again. The story was interesting, the theory of higher brain-power and mind-communication was intriguing.
"The Creeping Terror" was another sort of funny one. In it, Los Angeles is taking over the country, spreading like a sort of parasite. Citrus trees start popping up in corn fields, people can't resist the urge to wear shorts and sunglasses, and play tennis. Movie studios and theaters and drive-in restaurants pop up everywhere like a plague. Women everywhere start wearing fur coats and feeling the desperate need to become a star. Everyone wants a convertible. It eventually overtakes the nation, and in the end starts spreading into South America. This story was funny, especially in these celebrity obsessed times, where cars rule the nation and everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame.
"Shock Wave" was good and creepy. It's about an old organ in a church that's starting to show it's age and break down. Nobody wants to get it fixed, they just to take it out and put in a new one. The old man who plays the organ feels dread, like something bad's going to happen. The organ is angry, it doesn't want to be replaced. One Sunday during the hymns and all that, it starts showing a mind of it's own, playing wrong notes, adjusting pitch, and raising volume all on it's own. Things rise to a fever pitch at the end, volume blown way out, walls shaking. With a final blast of notes, the walls collapse, and the church is destroyed. This story sort of reminded me of "The Mangler" by Stephen King, in that a machine comes to life and wants to kill. The words and imagery worked to a good creepiness. Goes to show ya that just because something's old and not quite the way it used to be, doesn't mean it needs to be thrown out and replaced. People, buildings, or things.
"Clothes Make the Man" reminded me of something I'd see on an old Twilight Zone" episode. It's about a man who always wears his suit and gloves and hat. Says he's not a man without 'em. It starts out jokingly, that he can't think without his hat, but it soon becomes true. He shuts down like a dead robot without it. Soon it comes that he can't walk without his shoes, can't move his hands without his gloves, and so on. His wife ends up leaving him. Then one day, his suit gets up and puts itself all together, like an invisible man getting dressed, all the way to the shoes, hat, and gloves. Then it walks out the door, and goes to the man's job. The man is terribly depressed. Then he finds out his wife is dating the suit! The end of the story was a sort of funky little twist, and it's what reminded me of T.Z. so much. An interesting story if a tad strange.
"The Jazz Machine" was very, very good. It was in a poem format, but it was easy to read and understand. The idea is that a white man has invented a machine that can interpret music, jazz especially. It'll take the notes and turn them into the raw emotion that they're borne of. He asks a young black musician to come and play into the machine, and he does, but in the end, he breaks the machine, because jazz is a sort of secret language of pain and injustice. He says the machine being able to interpret it is sort of liking asking to steal his soul. He says (quoted from the book)
"Listen, white man, listen to me good.
Buddy Ghee, it wasn't you
I didn't have no hate for you
Even though it was your kind that put my brother
In his final place
I'll knock it to you why I broke your jazz machine
I broke it 'cause I had to
'Cause it did just what you said it did
And if I let it stand,
It would have robbed us of the only thing we have
That's ours alone
The thing no boot can kick away
Or rope can choke
You cruel us and you kill us
But listen, white man,
These are only needles in our skin
But if I'd let you keep on working your machine
You'd know all our secrets
And you'd steal the last of us
And we'd blow away and never be again
Take everything you want, man
You will, because you have
But don't come scuffing for our souls."
I really, really liked this one a lot, I thought it was great even though I'm not too into poetry.
The last story, "'Tis the Season to be Jelly" was another good one, and sort of funny too. It's about people living in a nuclear wasteland, though it's not directly stated. There's just clues and hints given. People's body parts mutated and falling off, talk of a toadstool cloud, and the like. Despite this, the characters still have vestiges of normalcy. The boy's going off to propose to his girlfriend, the families are having dinner. It was depicted pretty well, if not overly graphic really. The characters were easy to picture. It was also a little sad, just thinking that it could happen, all this nuclear crap, and whatever or whoever remains will try to go on as well as they can. It was an interesting little story though.
All in all, this was a very good collection. I'm glad I found it, and at a bargain price too! I'll most definitely by looking to collect more works by Matheson. He's got an extremely easy to read style for me, and a way with words that just sucks me in and keeps me reading.
The first (and title story) "Button, Button" started it off good. There's a box. And a man, Mr. Steward, who says that if you push the button, someone, somewhere in the world will die, and you will get $50,000. The only guarantee is it'll be someone you don't know. So the main characters, Norma and Arthur Lewis, are told to think it over. Mr. Steward leaves his card for them to call later if they change their minds. Arthur wants no part of it, it's immoral and just plain wrong. Norma, on the other hand, thinks of all the good that will come with $50k. She wants to go to Europe, and she wants a nicer house and furniture, better clothes. She wants them to finally be able to have a baby and start their family. Arthur still says no. He's quite adamant about it. He says it's murder, and he doesn't want to be a murderer. Norma scoffs at him. She says it won't be murder if you don't know who, or how, or when. They argue about it. Then Arthur leaves for work. Well, Norma still wants that money. She doesn't exactly believe that someone will really die, she figures it's some sort of psychological experiment, so she goes ahead and pushes the button. I won't give away the end, but someone does die, and it was sort of a surprise. At the end, I was like, "what?!" But it was good, and thought-provoking. What would you do?
"Girl of my Dreams" started out sort of mysteriously. The main female character is having a nightmare, and the male character (who starts off as a mean jerk with a nasty inner monologue, and only gets worse) is happy about it. The next day, he forces her to point out a house, presumably the one she saw in her dream. They go in, and tell the lady of the house that her son will die, and that she must pay $10,000 for information to try to prevent it. Turns out the woman's dreams are pre-cognitive, and the man is using her to extort money from people. She dreams about something happening to someone, (in this case, the boy will be run over by a car and die rather gruesomely) and then he tells the people to give him money in exchange for knowing when and where. The mother, obviously distraught, isn't sure whether to believe him or not. The man gives her until the end of the day to make a decision. The man thinks she is his ticket to the good life, that this one will be the big one because the family appears well-to-do. Well, the dreamer, she thinks it's terrible, and doesn't want the child to die, so makes a call to the woman, and tells her the date and time when the accident will happen. This pisses the man off big time, because now he doesn't get his money. He flies into a rage, and it's not a happy ending.
"Dying Room Only" was one I liked a lot. It starts out a couple is driving through a desert. They decide to stop at a small roadside cafe, because they don't know when the next chance to stop will be. They go inside and order lunch, despite the place looking rather dingy, and the few people inside being rather rude. The wife, Jean, goes into the washroom to clean up, and she figures her husband, Bob does the same. Because when she comes out, he's nowhere to be found. She asks a man in a fedora who comes out of the men's room if he saw her husband in there. Fedora says he didn't see anybody in there. Everyone acts like they have no idea where he went. So Jean starts getting upset. She goes outside to see if he's out in the car waiting for her, but the car's empty. So she goes back inside and asks the cook if he could check the men's room for her, and when he opens the door, she sees there's another door in there. The cook swears up and down it's been locked and unused for years, no way he could've got through. Then Fedora comes in and says Bob just took off and left, he saw the car peel out. Jean's nearly hysterical now, she knows he wouldn't just leave her in the middle of nowhere. She manages to call the sheriff's office. He comes out to investigate, and quickly figures out what's going on. It's solved, and in a good way. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending, I thought it was going to turn darker than what it did, and I was glad that it ended well.
"A Flourish of Strumpets" was funny. The premise is that prostitutes are now going door to door, offering their services, known as The Exchange. At first, our main character, Frank (as well as his wife Sylvia), is outraged by this. He calls the police, demanding something be done. But since he doesn't know the woman's name or address, not much can be done. Every night a different woman shows up at the door, and every night, Frank turns them away and calls the police. His good friend and neighbor, Maxwell, tells him to quit fighting it, it's the wave of the future, and all that. He himself uses the services frequently, and sings Frank a snippet of song that starts with "I'm just a poor little door-to-door whore..." It gets stuck in Frank's head (and admittedly mine too), and he can't quit thinking about the women, especially one called Margie who tells him he's only saying no because his wife's around, and gives him her card, in case he wants to get together some other time. Frank tries to fight it, but with Maxwell's advice, he eventually caves in. After that, no more women show up at the door, leading Sylvia to believe the police have taken care of the problem. Then, at the end, the doorbell rings. When Frank opens the door, a man is standing there. He says, "I'm from the Exchange, is your wife home?" I thought it was pretty funny.
"Pattern for Survival" was a little strange. It seemed to be a story about a few people trying to continue on with life after bombs(?) have destroyed their town. It starts off with a writer who has just finished a manuscript. He takes it to a mailbox, and from there a postman picks it up and delivers it to an publishing place. An editor reads it and loves it, and passes it on to a higher up, who also loves it. It goes to print and a man picks it up on the way home from work, and also loves it. Then when he gets home, it turns out all the people were the same one man. He wakes up the next morning and starts all over again. It was a strange little story, but good in a Twilight Zone kinda way.
"Mute" was really good. Maybe one of my favorites in this collection. At first it was sort of puzzling, what was going on, who were the Nielsens and why doesn't their son Paal speak? The parents die in a fire, and the local sheriff and his wife take the boy in. He won't speak, but he seems to understand people and things nonetheless. The parts seen from his p.o.v. were very good, his understandings of things is much different, and it's told very well I thought. The Nielsens received 3 letters every month, each from a different place. So the sheriff sends a letter to each of those places explaining what happened, and about the boy. But unbeknownst to him, his wife destroys the letters, because she wants to keep the boy. Their own son died previously, and this boy reminds her of her son. Time passes with no responses, so the sheriff insists the boy be enrolled in school to 'fix' him. Paal is terrified of school, and rightly so, especially due to the somewhat evil teacher. Eventually, an associate of the Nielsens shows up, and explains about an experiment that four families were doing on psychic communication and heightened perception. That's why Paal (and the children in the other 3 families) was never taught to talk, because everything was all done by mind. But by the time the German man arrives, it's too late for Paal. His teacher understood about his sensitivity, and has broken his mind, chained it down. At the end, Paal finally speaks, but all he can say is "My name is Paal," over an over again. The story was interesting, the theory of higher brain-power and mind-communication was intriguing.
"The Creeping Terror" was another sort of funny one. In it, Los Angeles is taking over the country, spreading like a sort of parasite. Citrus trees start popping up in corn fields, people can't resist the urge to wear shorts and sunglasses, and play tennis. Movie studios and theaters and drive-in restaurants pop up everywhere like a plague. Women everywhere start wearing fur coats and feeling the desperate need to become a star. Everyone wants a convertible. It eventually overtakes the nation, and in the end starts spreading into South America. This story was funny, especially in these celebrity obsessed times, where cars rule the nation and everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame.
"Shock Wave" was good and creepy. It's about an old organ in a church that's starting to show it's age and break down. Nobody wants to get it fixed, they just to take it out and put in a new one. The old man who plays the organ feels dread, like something bad's going to happen. The organ is angry, it doesn't want to be replaced. One Sunday during the hymns and all that, it starts showing a mind of it's own, playing wrong notes, adjusting pitch, and raising volume all on it's own. Things rise to a fever pitch at the end, volume blown way out, walls shaking. With a final blast of notes, the walls collapse, and the church is destroyed. This story sort of reminded me of "The Mangler" by Stephen King, in that a machine comes to life and wants to kill. The words and imagery worked to a good creepiness. Goes to show ya that just because something's old and not quite the way it used to be, doesn't mean it needs to be thrown out and replaced. People, buildings, or things.
"Clothes Make the Man" reminded me of something I'd see on an old Twilight Zone" episode. It's about a man who always wears his suit and gloves and hat. Says he's not a man without 'em. It starts out jokingly, that he can't think without his hat, but it soon becomes true. He shuts down like a dead robot without it. Soon it comes that he can't walk without his shoes, can't move his hands without his gloves, and so on. His wife ends up leaving him. Then one day, his suit gets up and puts itself all together, like an invisible man getting dressed, all the way to the shoes, hat, and gloves. Then it walks out the door, and goes to the man's job. The man is terribly depressed. Then he finds out his wife is dating the suit! The end of the story was a sort of funky little twist, and it's what reminded me of T.Z. so much. An interesting story if a tad strange.
"The Jazz Machine" was very, very good. It was in a poem format, but it was easy to read and understand. The idea is that a white man has invented a machine that can interpret music, jazz especially. It'll take the notes and turn them into the raw emotion that they're borne of. He asks a young black musician to come and play into the machine, and he does, but in the end, he breaks the machine, because jazz is a sort of secret language of pain and injustice. He says the machine being able to interpret it is sort of liking asking to steal his soul. He says (quoted from the book)
"Listen, white man, listen to me good.
Buddy Ghee, it wasn't you
I didn't have no hate for you
Even though it was your kind that put my brother
In his final place
I'll knock it to you why I broke your jazz machine
I broke it 'cause I had to
'Cause it did just what you said it did
And if I let it stand,
It would have robbed us of the only thing we have
That's ours alone
The thing no boot can kick away
Or rope can choke
You cruel us and you kill us
But listen, white man,
These are only needles in our skin
But if I'd let you keep on working your machine
You'd know all our secrets
And you'd steal the last of us
And we'd blow away and never be again
Take everything you want, man
You will, because you have
But don't come scuffing for our souls."
I really, really liked this one a lot, I thought it was great even though I'm not too into poetry.
The last story, "'Tis the Season to be Jelly" was another good one, and sort of funny too. It's about people living in a nuclear wasteland, though it's not directly stated. There's just clues and hints given. People's body parts mutated and falling off, talk of a toadstool cloud, and the like. Despite this, the characters still have vestiges of normalcy. The boy's going off to propose to his girlfriend, the families are having dinner. It was depicted pretty well, if not overly graphic really. The characters were easy to picture. It was also a little sad, just thinking that it could happen, all this nuclear crap, and whatever or whoever remains will try to go on as well as they can. It was an interesting little story though.
All in all, this was a very good collection. I'm glad I found it, and at a bargain price too! I'll most definitely by looking to collect more works by Matheson. He's got an extremely easy to read style for me, and a way with words that just sucks me in and keeps me reading.
September 6, 2009
I've been reading a lot of Matheson lately, and this one wasn't much different -- clever premise after clever premise, but nothing really goes anywhere and don't expect any kind of meaningful ending.
That having been said, I enjoy reading Matheson, but he's kinda like bingeing on junk food -- strictly empty calories.
The first half of the book is kind of "light," in the damning aspect of that term. The title story has an interesting premise, but the ending is cheap. For a better version of a related theme, try Stephen King's short story "Quitters Inc." -- yes, King was an avid reader & student of Matheson, and Matheson's influence is all over King's work, but I think King "does Matheson" way better than Matheson himself does! "Girl of My Dreams" is another interesting premise, but the narrator's anger is off-putting and the end is, once again, kind of easy and cheap. The story about the elderly writer was fun, but I saw the payoff coming a mile away, and I'm not even sure I wasn't supposed to, so what's the point?
I thought the stories in the second half of this collection were the strongest. The humorous piece about Los Angeles being "alive" was dry, subtle, and a hoot. The story about the old church organ had a good buildup and an appropriate payoff. Loved "The Clothes Make the Man" -- very clever right up to the end. And "Tis the Season to be Jelly," while little more than a sketch, was certainly fun to read.
That having been said, I enjoy reading Matheson, but he's kinda like bingeing on junk food -- strictly empty calories.
The first half of the book is kind of "light," in the damning aspect of that term. The title story has an interesting premise, but the ending is cheap. For a better version of a related theme, try Stephen King's short story "Quitters Inc." -- yes, King was an avid reader & student of Matheson, and Matheson's influence is all over King's work, but I think King "does Matheson" way better than Matheson himself does! "Girl of My Dreams" is another interesting premise, but the narrator's anger is off-putting and the end is, once again, kind of easy and cheap. The story about the elderly writer was fun, but I saw the payoff coming a mile away, and I'm not even sure I wasn't supposed to, so what's the point?
I thought the stories in the second half of this collection were the strongest. The humorous piece about Los Angeles being "alive" was dry, subtle, and a hoot. The story about the old church organ had a good buildup and an appropriate payoff. Loved "The Clothes Make the Man" -- very clever right up to the end. And "Tis the Season to be Jelly," while little more than a sketch, was certainly fun to read.
July 12, 2018
Valutazione per singolo racconto:
The Box: ☆☆☆☆ 1\2
Una ragazza da sogno: ☆☆☆☆ 1\2
Una stanza per morire: ☆☆
Scambi indecenti: ☆☆☆ 1\2
Nulla è come un vampiro: ☆☆☆
Paradigma di sopravvivenza: ☆
Muto: ☆☆☆☆
Il terrore strisciante: ☆☆
Onda d'urto: ☆☆☆ 1\2
L'abito fa il monaco: ☆☆
La macchina da jazz: ☆☆☆☆
L'amore ai tempi del finimondo: ☆☆
The Box: ☆☆☆☆ 1\2
Una ragazza da sogno: ☆☆☆☆ 1\2
Una stanza per morire: ☆☆
Scambi indecenti: ☆☆☆ 1\2
Nulla è come un vampiro: ☆☆☆
Paradigma di sopravvivenza: ☆
Muto: ☆☆☆☆
Il terrore strisciante: ☆☆
Onda d'urto: ☆☆☆ 1\2
L'abito fa il monaco: ☆☆
La macchina da jazz: ☆☆☆☆
L'amore ai tempi del finimondo: ☆☆
October 1, 2019
Meh. Every story in this book disappointed me. Some of them had interesting concepts but they were executed poorly. I haven't seen the movie The Box but I hope they changed the ending. The whole book just felt pretty lazy.
December 24, 2013
I love Richard Matheson's short story collections. His style just fits so perfectly in a shorter fiction model, and I love that he knew it, because it means that there's a lot of it to enjoy.
This collection contained a couple stories that I'd read before (maybe this was compiled from other collections? Not sure.) but I enjoyed it all the same for that.
There were a few standout stories in this one, like "The Box", "There's No Such Thing As Vampires", and "Mute". These stories all had a human element that made it rise above the rest. I won't go into details, because the journey is as much a part of the experience as the destination, and I don't want to give anything away, but these were definitely my favorites of the collection.
I highly recommend these stories, and, well, all of Matheson's stories.
This collection contained a couple stories that I'd read before (maybe this was compiled from other collections? Not sure.) but I enjoyed it all the same for that.
There were a few standout stories in this one, like "The Box", "There's No Such Thing As Vampires", and "Mute". These stories all had a human element that made it rise above the rest. I won't go into details, because the journey is as much a part of the experience as the destination, and I don't want to give anything away, but these were definitely my favorites of the collection.
I highly recommend these stories, and, well, all of Matheson's stories.
June 27, 2015
Five stars means I'll probably read it again. The stories are hit and miss, really, but even a Matheson miss is entertaining.
September 2, 2020
Published in 2008, “Button, Button: Uncanny Stories” is a short story collection comprising of twelve different stories, written by the Richard Matheson. The stories range in length, but can each be read in a single reading session with time to spare. They are all easy reads and mostly supernatural / science-fiction.
As with all my short story collection reviews, I rate each story individually and then calculate the average rating as the total rating for the book. But, I warn you…. Some of the reviews of each individual story includes a brief synopsis, which may or may not include a SPOILER. I write my short story reviews this way for future reference to remind me of which ones are worth the time re-reading and which ones are not. Although I do not ruin a good story by announcing any significant spoiler….. If you happen to come across one, it will be in a story that I hated and never intend on reading again. But, you can avoid potentially stumbling across a spoiler by skipping to the very bottom of the review, where it says “FINAL VERDICT”. That is where my overall review for “Button, Button: Uncanny Stories” is listed. The stories within the collection include;
BUTTON, BUTTON – This story was adapted into a film and is an amazing short story…. Author and Norma Lewis, a typical married couple, receive a small box by a peculiar gentlemen known as Mr. Steward. The box contains a push button that mysteriously delivers fortune when pressed. The fortune is a sum of cash in the amount of $50,000.00, which is presented every time the button is pressed. However, this money does not come without consequence and the couple have to decide if these consequences are, in fact, worth it…. This was a brilliant story and classic Matheson. If you don’t love the ending of this story, there is something wrong with you. Seek psychiatric help…. Fast.
GIRL OF DREAMS – Carrie has the gift of sight and can see future events, more specifically death. Her demented husband, Greg, capitalizes on that gift and uses it to extract money for information out of the victim’s families. This was an interesting story that is worth a second read.
DYING ROOM ONLY – Jean’s husband, Bob, makes a pitstop at a lone diner out in the desert to grab a bite to eat…. They are not impressed with the dining establishment but are starving from being on the road so long, so they decide to give it a try. After ordering their meals, Bob runs to the restroom to take a dump and never comes back out…. Feeling bewildered and disturbed by the possibilities, Jean scours everywhere for him but cannot discover evidence of his whereabouts. After searching the entire premises, inside and out, she notices that their vehicle is missing as well and then the panic REALLY hits her. This was another fun read and one of the better stories in the collection. It was adaptation into a made-for-television film in 1997.
A FLOURISH OF STRUMPETS – Frank and Sylvia Gussett are visited, every evening, by different women who represent “The Exchange”. It is an experimental program taking place in their neighborhood, which offers a “venerable” service…. For whatever reason, Frank is uninterested and keeps turning these little hotties down. Naturally, Sylvia has grown tired of all the visits and eventually so has Frank. How do you make someone go away who won’t leave is the question…. This story was very interesting and filled with curiosity. Obviously, the experimental program was tracking the data of their visits and seeing what works and what doesn’t, but you can’t help but wonder if there was a different result they were looking for. Although I enjoyed the story and was very excited to hear how Matheson was going to end it, the stories ending was not as satisfying as I thought it would be. I expected something a little more imaginative. Still good, though.
NO SUCH THING AS A VAMPIRE – Alexis Gheria has become the nightly prey of what is believed to be a vampire in the village of Solta. Every morning she awakens with dried blood all over her neck and chest and is terrified of dying. Alexis’ husband, Dr. Petre Gheria, is overseeing Alexis and acts as if her safety is top priority. This was a fun story from start to finish and easy to follow.
PATTERN FOR SURVIVAL – Richard Allen Shaggley has finished writing his manuscript and that is all you need to know. This was a pointless story to me. I just didn’t get it and will not be reading it again in this lifetime…. Or the next.
MUTE – Paal Nielsen, a seven-year-old boy, is a mute who has survived a house fire in his families home. After his parents were charred in the fire, he was adopted by a couple named Harry and Cora Wheeler. Cora grows a special attachment to Paal after taking him in, which ultimately turns to love, and when a professor from Germany makes his way to the Wheelers house, after not hearing from Paal or his parents for some time, Cora believes he is a relative who has come to take Paal away from them. Instead, the professor reveals some interesting news and reasoning behind Paal’s unusual behavior. This was the longest story in the collection and if I was the editor, it would have been the last story in the book. I think it would’ve ended the collection on a high note.
THE CREEPING TERROR – Doctor Grimsby has discovered that Los Angeles is alive and the disease it has been named is spreading across the world like wild fire. This one went from amusing to annoying REAL quick. The biggest issue I had with it is the story length. I think that the content was just too dry for a story this long. I also felt like I should have paid more attention in school the entire time I was reading it….
SHOCK WAVE – I think Richard Matheson must have been a music lover…. This was another one based around a musician and his instrument. It’s about an old church organist named Mr. Moffat, who is experiencing strong indications that his eight-year-old organ is a supernatural entity or alive in SOME way. Of course, his cousin Wendell thinks the dudes insane and tells him it’s all in his head. As Mr. Moffat plays the organ during the church service, he realizes that it’s not really him playing and tries to prove it to Wendell. Mr. Moffat insists the organ has taken over…. This was a strange story full of misdirection. I had a feeling I knew how the story was going to pan out, but was way off base. The story went by pretty fast, so I must have liked it…. It has its place in the collection, but it’s not a mind-blowing story, so don’t raise the bar TOO high.
CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN – A comical story with a twisted ending. A man named Charlie is dead…. At least without his suit, hat, shoes, and gloves. The narrator is the Charlie’s brother, who’s telling Charlie’s story with warning to a man who seemingly couldn’t care less, probably because he doesn’t believe it. This was the perfect spot for the collection and the perfect length. No fillers…. That’s what I like to see (or read).
THE JAZZ MACHINE – Strange story about how instruments played with emotion, tell a story…. A black fella has an interesting story that only his jazz trumpet can reveal. This one was very short and you could say forgettable. I understand where Matheson was trying to go here and it was written well for what it was, but it just didn’t do it for me.
‘TIS THE SEASON TO BE JELLY – This one was the most annoying and worst Matheson story that I’ve ever read. I honestly couldn’t even tell you what it was really about. The ongoing dialect made it just too difficult to understand. A family whose bodies easily fall apart like clay, possibly due to surviving a nuclear war, have a son who’s getting married is all I got out of it. The ending was very humorous and also happened to be the only part of the story that I enjoyed…. Aside from the story being one of my least favorites in the book, it was also poorly placed in the collection in my opinion. Especially after following “The Jazz Machine”…. Both of those stories back-to-back was a real disappointment and significantly affected my overall rating for the book.
FINAL VERDICT: I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. Although there are a few clunkers in this collection, the majority of them are great reads that any “Twilight Zone” fan will enjoy. A few of these stories are really short too, which is perfect for those Waiting Room visits at the ER….
As with all my short story collection reviews, I rate each story individually and then calculate the average rating as the total rating for the book. But, I warn you…. Some of the reviews of each individual story includes a brief synopsis, which may or may not include a SPOILER. I write my short story reviews this way for future reference to remind me of which ones are worth the time re-reading and which ones are not. Although I do not ruin a good story by announcing any significant spoiler….. If you happen to come across one, it will be in a story that I hated and never intend on reading again. But, you can avoid potentially stumbling across a spoiler by skipping to the very bottom of the review, where it says “FINAL VERDICT”. That is where my overall review for “Button, Button: Uncanny Stories” is listed. The stories within the collection include;
BUTTON, BUTTON – This story was adapted into a film and is an amazing short story…. Author and Norma Lewis, a typical married couple, receive a small box by a peculiar gentlemen known as Mr. Steward. The box contains a push button that mysteriously delivers fortune when pressed. The fortune is a sum of cash in the amount of $50,000.00, which is presented every time the button is pressed. However, this money does not come without consequence and the couple have to decide if these consequences are, in fact, worth it…. This was a brilliant story and classic Matheson. If you don’t love the ending of this story, there is something wrong with you. Seek psychiatric help…. Fast.
GIRL OF DREAMS – Carrie has the gift of sight and can see future events, more specifically death. Her demented husband, Greg, capitalizes on that gift and uses it to extract money for information out of the victim’s families. This was an interesting story that is worth a second read.
DYING ROOM ONLY – Jean’s husband, Bob, makes a pitstop at a lone diner out in the desert to grab a bite to eat…. They are not impressed with the dining establishment but are starving from being on the road so long, so they decide to give it a try. After ordering their meals, Bob runs to the restroom to take a dump and never comes back out…. Feeling bewildered and disturbed by the possibilities, Jean scours everywhere for him but cannot discover evidence of his whereabouts. After searching the entire premises, inside and out, she notices that their vehicle is missing as well and then the panic REALLY hits her. This was another fun read and one of the better stories in the collection. It was adaptation into a made-for-television film in 1997.
A FLOURISH OF STRUMPETS – Frank and Sylvia Gussett are visited, every evening, by different women who represent “The Exchange”. It is an experimental program taking place in their neighborhood, which offers a “venerable” service…. For whatever reason, Frank is uninterested and keeps turning these little hotties down. Naturally, Sylvia has grown tired of all the visits and eventually so has Frank. How do you make someone go away who won’t leave is the question…. This story was very interesting and filled with curiosity. Obviously, the experimental program was tracking the data of their visits and seeing what works and what doesn’t, but you can’t help but wonder if there was a different result they were looking for. Although I enjoyed the story and was very excited to hear how Matheson was going to end it, the stories ending was not as satisfying as I thought it would be. I expected something a little more imaginative. Still good, though.
NO SUCH THING AS A VAMPIRE – Alexis Gheria has become the nightly prey of what is believed to be a vampire in the village of Solta. Every morning she awakens with dried blood all over her neck and chest and is terrified of dying. Alexis’ husband, Dr. Petre Gheria, is overseeing Alexis and acts as if her safety is top priority. This was a fun story from start to finish and easy to follow.
PATTERN FOR SURVIVAL – Richard Allen Shaggley has finished writing his manuscript and that is all you need to know. This was a pointless story to me. I just didn’t get it and will not be reading it again in this lifetime…. Or the next.
MUTE – Paal Nielsen, a seven-year-old boy, is a mute who has survived a house fire in his families home. After his parents were charred in the fire, he was adopted by a couple named Harry and Cora Wheeler. Cora grows a special attachment to Paal after taking him in, which ultimately turns to love, and when a professor from Germany makes his way to the Wheelers house, after not hearing from Paal or his parents for some time, Cora believes he is a relative who has come to take Paal away from them. Instead, the professor reveals some interesting news and reasoning behind Paal’s unusual behavior. This was the longest story in the collection and if I was the editor, it would have been the last story in the book. I think it would’ve ended the collection on a high note.
THE CREEPING TERROR – Doctor Grimsby has discovered that Los Angeles is alive and the disease it has been named is spreading across the world like wild fire. This one went from amusing to annoying REAL quick. The biggest issue I had with it is the story length. I think that the content was just too dry for a story this long. I also felt like I should have paid more attention in school the entire time I was reading it….
SHOCK WAVE – I think Richard Matheson must have been a music lover…. This was another one based around a musician and his instrument. It’s about an old church organist named Mr. Moffat, who is experiencing strong indications that his eight-year-old organ is a supernatural entity or alive in SOME way. Of course, his cousin Wendell thinks the dudes insane and tells him it’s all in his head. As Mr. Moffat plays the organ during the church service, he realizes that it’s not really him playing and tries to prove it to Wendell. Mr. Moffat insists the organ has taken over…. This was a strange story full of misdirection. I had a feeling I knew how the story was going to pan out, but was way off base. The story went by pretty fast, so I must have liked it…. It has its place in the collection, but it’s not a mind-blowing story, so don’t raise the bar TOO high.
CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN – A comical story with a twisted ending. A man named Charlie is dead…. At least without his suit, hat, shoes, and gloves. The narrator is the Charlie’s brother, who’s telling Charlie’s story with warning to a man who seemingly couldn’t care less, probably because he doesn’t believe it. This was the perfect spot for the collection and the perfect length. No fillers…. That’s what I like to see (or read).
THE JAZZ MACHINE – Strange story about how instruments played with emotion, tell a story…. A black fella has an interesting story that only his jazz trumpet can reveal. This one was very short and you could say forgettable. I understand where Matheson was trying to go here and it was written well for what it was, but it just didn’t do it for me.
‘TIS THE SEASON TO BE JELLY – This one was the most annoying and worst Matheson story that I’ve ever read. I honestly couldn’t even tell you what it was really about. The ongoing dialect made it just too difficult to understand. A family whose bodies easily fall apart like clay, possibly due to surviving a nuclear war, have a son who’s getting married is all I got out of it. The ending was very humorous and also happened to be the only part of the story that I enjoyed…. Aside from the story being one of my least favorites in the book, it was also poorly placed in the collection in my opinion. Especially after following “The Jazz Machine”…. Both of those stories back-to-back was a real disappointment and significantly affected my overall rating for the book.
FINAL VERDICT: I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. Although there are a few clunkers in this collection, the majority of them are great reads that any “Twilight Zone” fan will enjoy. A few of these stories are really short too, which is perfect for those Waiting Room visits at the ER….
September 30, 2008
Richard Matheson wrote some of the most iconic Twilight Zone episodes, so when I saw this short story collection at the library, I figured it had to be great.
Unfortunately, only the title story really packed the sort of punch that I was expecting. The other stories range from clever to mediocre, with more falling on the latter side. The TZ episode "Mute" was never one of my favorites, and the short story that inspired it went on for far too long and wasn't any better than the television episode.
On the bright side, it was a very quick read so I was able to enjoy the better stories without spending too much time on the clunkers.
Unfortunately, only the title story really packed the sort of punch that I was expecting. The other stories range from clever to mediocre, with more falling on the latter side. The TZ episode "Mute" was never one of my favorites, and the short story that inspired it went on for far too long and wasn't any better than the television episode.
On the bright side, it was a very quick read so I was able to enjoy the better stories without spending too much time on the clunkers.
March 19, 2025
Operazione Ripescaggio
“Davvero pensava di conoscere suo marito?”
Una raccolta edita dalla Fanucci per cavalcare l'onda del film presente in copertina - il quale, mi dicono dalla regia, si discosta goffamente dal primo racconto tra complottismi, alieni, la CIA e inseguimenti random.
Trattasi di una raccolta leggibile con qualche guizzo interessante, ma rimane piuttosto lontana dalle vere potenzialità dello scrittore.
THE BOX ★★★★1/2
Impossibile avere conoscenza totale di se stessi, figuriamoci degli altri.
UNA RAGAZZA DA SOGNO ★★★
Il vero mostro sarà sempre l’uomo, a prescindere dalle creature che l’immaginario, il folclore e il genere horror potranno mai partorire.
UNA STANZA PER MORIRE ★★★
L’ambientazione lercia di un bar alla deriva nel deserto - scorcio da b-movie - fa da cornice a un esercizio di tensione gradevole.
SCAMBI INDECENTI ★★★★
Difficile arginare la tentazione che scorre sotterranea all’educazione, all’etichetta nonché tutte quelle buone norme a cui si deve sottostare nel momento del matrimonio. Simpatia con retrogusto amarognolo.
NULLA E' COME UN VAMPIRO ★★★1/2
Quali le differenze tra l’uomo e il vampiro? Dove il punto d’incontro?
Racconto non così banale, nonostante il beneficio del dubbio racchiuda davvero pochissime soluzioni.
PARADIGMA DI SOPRAVVIVENZA ★★
Niente da dire, racconto perdibile.
MUTO ★★★★
L’interazione con l’altro non deve precludere la consapevolezza che esistono differenti livelli di sensibilità, differenti vie esplorabili che non per forza hanno a che fare con l’esperienza personale; e il plasmare a propria immagine e somiglianza la crescita di altri è semplice esercizio del male con le buone intenzioni a fare da blanda attenuante.
IL TERRORE STRISCIANTE ★★★★
Il progresso moltiplica le occasioni, standardizza i sogni, costringe alla rincorsa del bello - gli aranci a simboleggiare l’eterna estate - o del nuovo oggetto da possedere; alimenta i fondamentalismi, azzera lo spirito critico e spegne l’empatia fra simili.
Quadretto divertente che restituisce una verità amara.
ONDA D'URTO ★★
Non esaltante il soggetto del racconto e piuttosto dimenticabile anche lo scioglimento finale.
L'ABITO FA IL MONACO ★★★
Simpatico divertissement con ribaltamento finale, né più né meno.
LA MACCHINA DA JAZZ S.V.
L'AMORE AL TEMPO DEL FINIMONDO ★★1/2
Focus su una famigliola atipica: interessante in teoria, troppo sbrigativo in concreto.
“Davvero pensava di conoscere suo marito?”
Una raccolta edita dalla Fanucci per cavalcare l'onda del film presente in copertina - il quale, mi dicono dalla regia, si discosta goffamente dal primo racconto tra complottismi, alieni, la CIA e inseguimenti random.
Trattasi di una raccolta leggibile con qualche guizzo interessante, ma rimane piuttosto lontana dalle vere potenzialità dello scrittore.
THE BOX ★★★★1/2
Impossibile avere conoscenza totale di se stessi, figuriamoci degli altri.
UNA RAGAZZA DA SOGNO ★★★
Il vero mostro sarà sempre l’uomo, a prescindere dalle creature che l’immaginario, il folclore e il genere horror potranno mai partorire.
UNA STANZA PER MORIRE ★★★
L’ambientazione lercia di un bar alla deriva nel deserto - scorcio da b-movie - fa da cornice a un esercizio di tensione gradevole.
SCAMBI INDECENTI ★★★★
Difficile arginare la tentazione che scorre sotterranea all’educazione, all’etichetta nonché tutte quelle buone norme a cui si deve sottostare nel momento del matrimonio. Simpatia con retrogusto amarognolo.
NULLA E' COME UN VAMPIRO ★★★1/2
Quali le differenze tra l’uomo e il vampiro? Dove il punto d’incontro?
Racconto non così banale, nonostante il beneficio del dubbio racchiuda davvero pochissime soluzioni.
PARADIGMA DI SOPRAVVIVENZA ★★
Niente da dire, racconto perdibile.
MUTO ★★★★
L’interazione con l’altro non deve precludere la consapevolezza che esistono differenti livelli di sensibilità, differenti vie esplorabili che non per forza hanno a che fare con l’esperienza personale; e il plasmare a propria immagine e somiglianza la crescita di altri è semplice esercizio del male con le buone intenzioni a fare da blanda attenuante.
IL TERRORE STRISCIANTE ★★★★
Il progresso moltiplica le occasioni, standardizza i sogni, costringe alla rincorsa del bello - gli aranci a simboleggiare l’eterna estate - o del nuovo oggetto da possedere; alimenta i fondamentalismi, azzera lo spirito critico e spegne l’empatia fra simili.
Quadretto divertente che restituisce una verità amara.
ONDA D'URTO ★★
Non esaltante il soggetto del racconto e piuttosto dimenticabile anche lo scioglimento finale.
L'ABITO FA IL MONACO ★★★
Simpatico divertissement con ribaltamento finale, né più né meno.
LA MACCHINA DA JAZZ S.V.
L'AMORE AL TEMPO DEL FINIMONDO ★★1/2
Focus su una famigliola atipica: interessante in teoria, troppo sbrigativo in concreto.
December 19, 2010
Matheson is one of the granddaddies of horror, having written a little book called "I Am Legend" that was made into no less than three movies that I know of. He's written numerous books, screenplays, and short stories, and is still with us at the wonderful age of 84. I saw this in our collection and thought it would be worth picking up, plus I remembered that they'd just put out the movie "The Box" not too long ago (not to very good reviews, if memory serves me correctly).
Well, having read "Button, Button", I gotta say I'm not surprised the movie tanked. This is not one of Matheson's best: incredibly short and I saw the "shock" ending coming a mile away. Then again, it was first published back in 1970, and perhaps it was shocking at the time. But there have been too many other similar stories since then for it to hold up.
There were several stories that I read but didn't really feel were all that wonderful. "Girl of my Dreams" had a real nasty husband taking advantage of his wife's visions of the future; the slimeball gets his just desserts."Dying Room Only" was a strange story about a couple stopping at a diner in the middle of nowhere. It reminded me of that movie with Kurt Russell where his wife is kidnapped (think it was called "Breakdown" or something like that...); the ending of "Dying Room" was anticlimatic at best. "A Flourish of Strumpets" asks what would you do if the hookers started coming directly to your door? Gives new meaning to an interesting proposition, I think. "Pattern for Survival" was just odd, and if I read it correctly, there was only one character in the whole thing. I think....
The story I liked the least was probably "The Jazz Machine". It's written in verse form, perhaps trying to catch the feel of the music. In any case, a black musician is approached by a white man (keep in mind this is back in the 40s or 50s); the white man tells him he has a machine that can translate the black man's music into words so that the white man can better understand it. The black man goes along with the idea, until he realizes that the machine actually works - then he destroys it, saying that the "we" need to keep something for ourselves. Obviously supposed to be a commentary on race relations, but still not a story I got into.
I think the best story is also the longest. "Mute" is about a boy who was part of an experiment by four couples trying to raise/nurture their children's skills at telepathy. Paal, the boy, lives in the USA and when he's seven, his parents die horribly in a fire. He's found wandering in the woods with nary a scratch on him and appears to be mute, whether by shock or some medical problem, they don't know. He's taken in by the sheriff and his wife (their own boy drowned in a lake a few years earlier), and they try to figure out why he can't/won't talk. They also finally enroll him in school, something that traumatizes him. Then one of the other parents shows up searching for the reason they haven't heard from the boy's parents in over two years.... A very good story, good character development, etc. This was definitely the jewel of the works.
Overall, I still like Matheson, but boy - the short stories really do show their age.
Well, having read "Button, Button", I gotta say I'm not surprised the movie tanked. This is not one of Matheson's best: incredibly short and I saw the "shock" ending coming a mile away. Then again, it was first published back in 1970, and perhaps it was shocking at the time. But there have been too many other similar stories since then for it to hold up.
There were several stories that I read but didn't really feel were all that wonderful. "Girl of my Dreams" had a real nasty husband taking advantage of his wife's visions of the future; the slimeball gets his just desserts."Dying Room Only" was a strange story about a couple stopping at a diner in the middle of nowhere. It reminded me of that movie with Kurt Russell where his wife is kidnapped (think it was called "Breakdown" or something like that...); the ending of "Dying Room" was anticlimatic at best. "A Flourish of Strumpets" asks what would you do if the hookers started coming directly to your door? Gives new meaning to an interesting proposition, I think. "Pattern for Survival" was just odd, and if I read it correctly, there was only one character in the whole thing. I think....
The story I liked the least was probably "The Jazz Machine". It's written in verse form, perhaps trying to catch the feel of the music. In any case, a black musician is approached by a white man (keep in mind this is back in the 40s or 50s); the white man tells him he has a machine that can translate the black man's music into words so that the white man can better understand it. The black man goes along with the idea, until he realizes that the machine actually works - then he destroys it, saying that the "we" need to keep something for ourselves. Obviously supposed to be a commentary on race relations, but still not a story I got into.
I think the best story is also the longest. "Mute" is about a boy who was part of an experiment by four couples trying to raise/nurture their children's skills at telepathy. Paal, the boy, lives in the USA and when he's seven, his parents die horribly in a fire. He's found wandering in the woods with nary a scratch on him and appears to be mute, whether by shock or some medical problem, they don't know. He's taken in by the sheriff and his wife (their own boy drowned in a lake a few years earlier), and they try to figure out why he can't/won't talk. They also finally enroll him in school, something that traumatizes him. Then one of the other parents shows up searching for the reason they haven't heard from the boy's parents in over two years.... A very good story, good character development, etc. This was definitely the jewel of the works.
Overall, I still like Matheson, but boy - the short stories really do show their age.
June 11, 2015
2.5 stars. A couple of good stories but the rest are mediocre.
January 28, 2021
was that racist, sexist, classist, and ableist comment /really/ necessary
November 3, 2023
I also read this short story with my humanities class and I liked it. The plot was kind of confusing and I didn’t love the storyline but it was interesting and it kept me captivated. It had a good message and my full rating is 3.2 stars. The age rating to read it is 11 and up in my opinion.
May 4, 2020
I only read the "Button, Button", a very effective short story about greed.
November 27, 2015
BLUF: Short stories aren’t my thing, but I enjoyed the twisted humor.
Button, Button: Short and sweet . I would be happy with a full-length novel on this concept. 3 Stars. (Plot: Couple gets a button that, if pushed, would award them a large amount of money in exchange for the death of somebody they do not know.)
The Girl Of My Dreams: Good concept, but only an okay story. I would like a full-length novel based on the woman in this story. 3 Stars. (Plot: About a woman who sees the deaths of others in her dreams and a boyfriend who uses this information maliciously.)
Dying Room Only: It's interesting as you know something is going on, but the end is rather uneventful. 1 Star. (Plot: A woman’s husband disappears at a pit stop. Hysterics ensue.)
A Flourish of Strumpets: Cute, but not very entertaining. 2 Stars. (Plot: About a door-to-door escort type service. Not really sure the proper term lol.)
No Such Thing as a Vampire: Ehh. 2 Stars. (Plot: About a woman who is visited by a vampire during the night.)
Pattern for Survival: Um… okay? 2 Stars. (Plot: Follows a day in the life of the main character.)
Mute: This is one of the longer stories, but very interesting. 2 Stars. (Plot: About a boy whose parents die and who was never taught how to speak.)
The Creeping Terror: Cute, but long winded. 2 Stars. (Plot: About the plague of Los Angeles.)
Shock Wave: I don’t understand the significance of this story. 1 Star. ((Plot: About a church organ that is about to be replaced and the man who has been playing her since the beginning.)
Clothes Make the Man: The story made me LOL. 2 Stars. (Plot: About a man who could not function without his suit.)
The Jazz Machine: The whole poem/jazz writing was hard for me to read. 2 Stars. (Plot: About a bluesman who was approached by another who claimed to understand his song.)
’Tis the Season to Be Jelly: WTF. Another one that was hard for me to read. (Plot: About hillbillies with missing parts.)
Button, Button: Short and sweet . I would be happy with a full-length novel on this concept. 3 Stars. (Plot: Couple gets a button that, if pushed, would award them a large amount of money in exchange for the death of somebody they do not know.)
The Girl Of My Dreams: Good concept, but only an okay story. I would like a full-length novel based on the woman in this story. 3 Stars. (Plot: About a woman who sees the deaths of others in her dreams and a boyfriend who uses this information maliciously.)
Dying Room Only: It's interesting as you know something is going on, but the end is rather uneventful. 1 Star. (Plot: A woman’s husband disappears at a pit stop. Hysterics ensue.)
A Flourish of Strumpets: Cute, but not very entertaining. 2 Stars. (Plot: About a door-to-door escort type service. Not really sure the proper term lol.)
No Such Thing as a Vampire: Ehh. 2 Stars. (Plot: About a woman who is visited by a vampire during the night.)
Pattern for Survival: Um… okay? 2 Stars. (Plot: Follows a day in the life of the main character.)
Mute: This is one of the longer stories, but very interesting. 2 Stars. (Plot: About a boy whose parents die and who was never taught how to speak.)
The Creeping Terror: Cute, but long winded. 2 Stars. (Plot: About the plague of Los Angeles.)
Shock Wave: I don’t understand the significance of this story. 1 Star. ((Plot: About a church organ that is about to be replaced and the man who has been playing her since the beginning.)
Clothes Make the Man: The story made me LOL. 2 Stars. (Plot: About a man who could not function without his suit.)
The Jazz Machine: The whole poem/jazz writing was hard for me to read. 2 Stars. (Plot: About a bluesman who was approached by another who claimed to understand his song.)
’Tis the Season to Be Jelly: WTF. Another one that was hard for me to read. (Plot: About hillbillies with missing parts.)
March 10, 2018
Un'antologia straordinaria. In questi suoi dodici racconti, scritti tra il 1950 e il 1970, Matheson si dimostra ancora una volta un vero maestro del genere fantastico. Ogni racconto si è dimostrato molto valido: dall'horror al thriller, dalla commedia alla fantascienza, l'autore dimostra non solo un talendo narrativo senza pari, capace di avvolgerti e ipnotizzarti, ma una conoscenza della psiche umana incredibile. In questa raccolta, non ho trovato un solo racconto che non mi sia piaciuto: commozione, angoscia, meraviglia. Matheson riesce quasi sempre a regalarti l'inaspettato, l'inusuale. Alcune storie, poi, le ho trovate davvero comiche e divertenti, oltre che davvero interessanti e magnetiche. Il suo è diretto ed essenziale, con poche descrizioni di ambienti e personaggi, dato che l'importante è altro, ovvero la tensione, l'esplorazione della psiche umana e l'essenza stessa della storia. Matheson non teme di sperimentare, mischiare i generi e osare, stravolgere il classico e reinventarlo, il che rende magica la lettura di questa raccolta! Consigliatissima.
THE BOX ★★★★★ [Bellissimo!]
UNA RAGAZZA DA SOGNO ★★★★ [Non c'è peggior mostro dell'uomo.]
UNA STANZA PER MORIRE ★★★ [Tensione.]
SCAMBI INDECENTI ★★★ ["Indecenti" negli anni '50, ma non così lontani dal nostro presente. Sto ancora ridendo!]
NULLA E' COME UN VAMPIRO ★★★ [Il papà di "Io sono leggenda" riscrive ancora una volta la "visione" dei vampiri.]
PARADIGMA DI SOPRAVVIVENZA ★★★★★ [Un racconto molto bizzaro in cui la visione della storia dipende tutta dall'interpretazione che ne fa il lettore stesso.]
MUTO ★★★★★ [Straordinario!]
IL TERRORE STRISCIANTE ★★★★★ [Scritto come un articolo scientifico, scelta sono solo dettata dall'argomento, ma anche per prendersi ironicamente sul serio, è stata una vera orgia di risate!]
ONDA D'URTO ★★★★ [Una tensione crescente, metafora di qualcosa di molto più profondo.]
L'ABITO FA IL MONACO ★★★★ [Ancora sto ridendo!]
LA MACCHINA DA JAZZ ★★★★★ [Questo racconto, dedicato alla musica, è scritto come una canzone, seguendo quindi un sistema metrico preciso. Matheson è un vero "mostro" di bravura!]
L'AMORE AL TEMPO DEL FINIMONDO ★★★★★ [Tutto cade a pazzi, tranne l'amore e il sorriso.]
THE BOX ★★★★★ [Bellissimo!]
UNA RAGAZZA DA SOGNO ★★★★ [Non c'è peggior mostro dell'uomo.]
UNA STANZA PER MORIRE ★★★ [Tensione.]
SCAMBI INDECENTI ★★★ ["Indecenti" negli anni '50, ma non così lontani dal nostro presente. Sto ancora ridendo!]
NULLA E' COME UN VAMPIRO ★★★ [Il papà di "Io sono leggenda" riscrive ancora una volta la "visione" dei vampiri.]
PARADIGMA DI SOPRAVVIVENZA ★★★★★ [Un racconto molto bizzaro in cui la visione della storia dipende tutta dall'interpretazione che ne fa il lettore stesso.]
MUTO ★★★★★ [Straordinario!]
IL TERRORE STRISCIANTE ★★★★★ [Scritto come un articolo scientifico, scelta sono solo dettata dall'argomento, ma anche per prendersi ironicamente sul serio, è stata una vera orgia di risate!]
ONDA D'URTO ★★★★ [Una tensione crescente, metafora di qualcosa di molto più profondo.]
L'ABITO FA IL MONACO ★★★★ [Ancora sto ridendo!]
LA MACCHINA DA JAZZ ★★★★★ [Questo racconto, dedicato alla musica, è scritto come una canzone, seguendo quindi un sistema metrico preciso. Matheson è un vero "mostro" di bravura!]
L'AMORE AL TEMPO DEL FINIMONDO ★★★★★ [Tutto cade a pazzi, tranne l'amore e il sorriso.]
March 31, 2017
I was very impressed by his " I Am Legend". Picked this book up because it said ..."uncanny stories..." .
Liked some stories..others not so hot. Reading short stories requires a lot more concentration since there is not much background info, just snatches of scenario.
But Matheson writes lyrical interesting prose so i enjoyed the styling. Just that the stories were just a bit tad weird it took longer to finish.
My fav tales? "Mute" for its imaginery and also "Dying room only" which puzzled me quite a bit !
Liked some stories..others not so hot. Reading short stories requires a lot more concentration since there is not much background info, just snatches of scenario.
But Matheson writes lyrical interesting prose so i enjoyed the styling. Just that the stories were just a bit tad weird it took longer to finish.
My fav tales? "Mute" for its imaginery and also "Dying room only" which puzzled me quite a bit !
October 26, 2011
Some of the stories were five star but some were 1 star so it received a 3 from me.
June 14, 2023
Oorspronkelijk gepubliceerd in de Playboy.
Hopelijk geloofden de ouders voor één keer dat zoonlief enkel geïnteresseerd was in de verhaaltjes achteraan.
En terecht, want dit verhaal is een absolute knaller.
Dit morele dilemma kent daarbij reeds vele spinoffs. De kans is aldus groot dat als je het verhaal leest, je het gevoel hebt dat je een soortgelijk iets al eens eerder hebt gelezen, gezien of gehoord.
Maar dus… iemand random op aarde sterft in ruil voor 50.000 euro?
Wat zou ik doen, vraag je?
Wel… eindelijk kan ik mijn triggerfinger van mijn minecraft pvp dagen bovenhalen, want die knop zal worden kapotgespamd door mijnentwege.
Neenee mopje. Diezelfde minecraft pvp skills gebruik ik al voldoende op cookieclicker tegenwoordig!
+50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k
Hopelijk geloofden de ouders voor één keer dat zoonlief enkel geïnteresseerd was in de verhaaltjes achteraan.
En terecht, want dit verhaal is een absolute knaller.
Dit morele dilemma kent daarbij reeds vele spinoffs. De kans is aldus groot dat als je het verhaal leest, je het gevoel hebt dat je een soortgelijk iets al eens eerder hebt gelezen, gezien of gehoord.
Maar dus… iemand random op aarde sterft in ruil voor 50.000 euro?
Wat zou ik doen, vraag je?
Wel… eindelijk kan ik mijn triggerfinger van mijn minecraft pvp dagen bovenhalen, want die knop zal worden kapotgespamd door mijnentwege.
Neenee mopje. Diezelfde minecraft pvp skills gebruik ik al voldoende op cookieclicker tegenwoordig!
+50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k +50k
February 9, 2021
this discussion about morality is so cool. people dont usually think how their actions will come back at them before doing something
May 10, 2022
why Norma why
January 30, 2022
Original, great pacing, clear and accessible voice, wonderful imagination. Only problem with these later collections is the constant crossover. Some of these stories I've read three times before in different books.
May 5, 2011
Read Button, Button - Uncanny Stories by Richard Matheson. One of many books I picked up cheap at the co-op in a sale this year (or last).
I really enjoyed I Am Legend before reading this. I think it was a book that touched on a lot of interesting ideas, but had dated a little bit too much (unfortunately) so I couldn't understand or unpick it as much as I'd like.
Button, Button is (unsurprisingly given the title) a huge pile of small stories. Most are pretty standard, being written in the late 50's and 60's, most of the horror 'twists' and plots I've already come across in derivative 'horror' shows like that old 'it happened to a friend of a friend of mine' cartoon* and that old kids Are you afraid of the dark? That's before you get onto Goosebumps etc... all those serial 'horror' books I ate as a child. It's not that the stories are bad, just that they've become a little two successful, so reading a plain tale where the point is nothing more than the story doesn't really have any appeal left.
Not all are like this though. "No Such Thing as a Vampyre" was a lot of fun in a light-hearted way. I wouldn't really call it horror, just an amusing revenge story that ties itself up really neatly IMO.
"Mute" was an amazing story. It doesn't really deal with it in a particularly deep or scientific way, but its horror is in language and it's effects on the brain... and I guess, as a person who isn't really into the whole words/language thing**. It genuinely freaked me out to the point of putting the book down for about half a day.
Words. Empty, with no power to convey the moist, warm feel of earth. The sound of grain fields rustling in the wind like golden seas. The sight of sun setting on a red barn walll. The smell of soft lea winds carrying, from afar, the delicate clank of cowbells.
"This is a forest. A forest is made of trees."
No sense of presence in those black, dogmatic symbols whether sounded or looked upon. No sound of winds rushing like eternal rivers through the high green canopies. No smellll of pine and brith, oak and maple and hemlock. No feel of treading on centuray-thich carpet of leafy forest floors.
Words. Blunt, sawed-off lengths of hemmed-in meaning; incapable of evocation,of expansion. Black figures on white. This is a cat. This is a dog. Cat, dog. This is a man. This is a woman. Man, woman. Car. Horse. tree. Desk. Children. Each word a trap, stalking his mind. A snare set to enclose fuild and unbounded comprehension.
Apologies for any typos in that. I just typed it out quickly rather than find an online copy.
"The Creeping Terror" I also really enjoyed. Less is because it was a great example of horror but more because the idea of a city itself being alive is always a fun one. It also deals in a really fun way with the whole (outdated) idea of the physical geography defining the people who live there. So basically I enjoyed it because I got to geography nerd out, and then it reminded me of Jack Hawksmoor and then I was the worlds happiest Warren Ellis fangirl for a bit. :P
I may have written all this because I couldn't figure out what book I wanted to read before going to bed tonight. I still haven't decided. Bugger.
*Buggered if I can remember the title.
** I love to read, but I read for ideas, not the prose. That's just something you have to sit through to get to the ideas.
I really enjoyed I Am Legend before reading this. I think it was a book that touched on a lot of interesting ideas, but had dated a little bit too much (unfortunately) so I couldn't understand or unpick it as much as I'd like.
Button, Button is (unsurprisingly given the title) a huge pile of small stories. Most are pretty standard, being written in the late 50's and 60's, most of the horror 'twists' and plots I've already come across in derivative 'horror' shows like that old 'it happened to a friend of a friend of mine' cartoon* and that old kids Are you afraid of the dark? That's before you get onto Goosebumps etc... all those serial 'horror' books I ate as a child. It's not that the stories are bad, just that they've become a little two successful, so reading a plain tale where the point is nothing more than the story doesn't really have any appeal left.
Not all are like this though. "No Such Thing as a Vampyre" was a lot of fun in a light-hearted way. I wouldn't really call it horror, just an amusing revenge story that ties itself up really neatly IMO.
"Mute" was an amazing story. It doesn't really deal with it in a particularly deep or scientific way, but its horror is in language and it's effects on the brain... and I guess, as a person who isn't really into the whole words/language thing**. It genuinely freaked me out to the point of putting the book down for about half a day.
Words. Empty, with no power to convey the moist, warm feel of earth. The sound of grain fields rustling in the wind like golden seas. The sight of sun setting on a red barn walll. The smell of soft lea winds carrying, from afar, the delicate clank of cowbells.
"This is a forest. A forest is made of trees."
No sense of presence in those black, dogmatic symbols whether sounded or looked upon. No sound of winds rushing like eternal rivers through the high green canopies. No smellll of pine and brith, oak and maple and hemlock. No feel of treading on centuray-thich carpet of leafy forest floors.
Words. Blunt, sawed-off lengths of hemmed-in meaning; incapable of evocation,of expansion. Black figures on white. This is a cat. This is a dog. Cat, dog. This is a man. This is a woman. Man, woman. Car. Horse. tree. Desk. Children. Each word a trap, stalking his mind. A snare set to enclose fuild and unbounded comprehension.
Apologies for any typos in that. I just typed it out quickly rather than find an online copy.
"The Creeping Terror" I also really enjoyed. Less is because it was a great example of horror but more because the idea of a city itself being alive is always a fun one. It also deals in a really fun way with the whole (outdated) idea of the physical geography defining the people who live there. So basically I enjoyed it because I got to geography nerd out, and then it reminded me of Jack Hawksmoor and then I was the worlds happiest Warren Ellis fangirl for a bit. :P
I may have written all this because I couldn't figure out what book I wanted to read before going to bed tonight. I still haven't decided. Bugger.
*Buggered if I can remember the title.
** I love to read, but I read for ideas, not the prose. That's just something you have to sit through to get to the ideas.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 519 reviews