I Am Legend

It seems strange to find a 1954 vampire novel in Millennium's "SF Masterworks" classic reprints series. I Am Legend, though, was a trailblazing and later much imitated story that reinvented the vampire myth as SF. Without losing the horror, it presents vampirism as a disease whose secrets can be unlocked by scientific tools. The hero Robert Neville, perhaps the last uninfected man on Earth, finds himself in a paranoid nightmare. By night, the bloodthirsty undead of small-town America besiege his barricaded house: their repeated cry "Come out, Neville!" is a famous SF catchphrase. By day, when they hide in shadow and become comatose, Neville gets out his wooden stakes for an orgy of slaughter. He also discovers pseudoscientific explanations, some rather strained, for vampires' fear of light, vulnerability to stakes though not bullets, loathing of garlic, and so on. What gives the story its uneasy power is the gradual perspective shift which shows that by fighting monsters Neville is himself becoming monstrous--not a vampire but something to terrify vampires and haunt their dreams as a dreadful legend from the bad old days. I Am Legend was altered out of recognition when filmed as The Omega Man (1971), starring Charlton Heston. Avoid the movie; read the book. --David Langford

"One of the most important writers of the twentieth century."--Ray Bradbury "I think the author who influence me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson. Books like "I Am Legend" were an inspiration to me." --Stephen King
"Matheson is one of the great names in American terror fiction."--"The Philadelphia Inquirer"
"Matheson inspires, it's as simple as that."--Brian Lumley

One of the most important writers of the twentieth century. "Ray Bradbury"

I think the author who influence me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson. Books like "I Am Legend" were an inspiration to me. "Stephen King"

Matheson is one of the great names in American terror fiction. "The Philadelphia Inquirer"

Matheson inspires, it's as simple as that. "Brian Lumley""

"One of the most important writers of the twentieth century." --Ray Bradbury

"I think the author who influence me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson. Books like I Am Legend were an inspiration to me." --Stephen King

"Matheson is one of the great names in American terror fiction." --The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Matheson inspires, it's as simple as that." --Brian Lumley

-One of the most important writers of the twentieth century.- --Ray Bradbury

-I think the author who influence me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson. Books like I Am Legend were an inspiration to me.- --Stephen King

-Matheson is one of the great names in American terror fiction.- --The Philadelphia Inquirer

-Matheson inspires, it's as simple as that.- --Brian Lumley