|
The Incredible Shrinking Man
|
| Price: | $4.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com
28 new or used available from $1.82
Average customer review:
Product Description
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #132575 in Books
- Published on: 2008-04-29
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 320 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780765361165
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Matheson inspires, it's as simple as that."—Brian Lumley
About the Author
He lives in Calabasas, California.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
First he thought it was a tidal wave. Then he saw that the sky and ocean were visible through it and it was a curtain of spray rushing at the boat.
He’d been sunbathing on top of the cabin. It was just coincidence that he pushed up on his elbow and saw it coming.
“Marty!” he yelled. There was no answer. He scuttled across the hot wood and slid down the deck. “Hey, Marty!”
The spray didn’t look menacing, but for some reason he wanted to avoid it. he ran around the cabin, wincing at the hot planks underfoot. It would be a race.
Which he lost. One moment he was in sunlight. The next he was being soaked by the warm, glittering spray.
Then it was past. He stood there watching it sweep across the water, sun-glowing drops of it covering him. Suddenly he twitched and looked down. There was a curious tingling on his skin.
He grabbed for a towel and dried himself. It wasn’t so much pain as a pleasant stinging, like that of lotion on newly shaven cheeks.
Then he was dry and the feeling was almost gone. He went below and woke up his brother and told him about the curtain of spray that had run across the boat.
It was the beginning.
Copyright © 1994 by RXR, Inc.
Customer Reviews
Top-notch horror by a top-notch writer
Is Richard Matheson the greatest horror writer ever? I think it can be well-argued that the answer is yes. Poe can be rather staid to the modern reader and Lovecraft may be great at describing weird worlds, but his storytelling ability is rather limited. Among more recent writers, Stephen King (who counts Matheson among his influences) is a contender, and there may be a few others with worthy bodies of work in the genre. Matheson, in my opinion has them all beat, not only writing some of the most memorable horror stories ever, but also providing the material for numerous movies and TV shows (including The Twilight Zone and Roger Corman's sequence of Poe movies).
One of his most famous novels is The Incredible Shrinking Man, and despite its vaguely science fiction premise, it is clearly horror. Scott Carey is trapped in the cellar of his own house, around an inch tall and shrinking every day. His wife and child think he's dead and he has no way to let them know otherwise. His once familiar surroundings are now dangerous, and his struggle to survive will be hampered by a black widow spider that seemingly grows larger as Scott continues to shrink.
Through a series of flashbacks, we witness Scott's initial discovery of his malady, one triggered by accidental exposure to radiation and insecticide. He is shrinking one-seventh of an inch every day; while a geometric reduction might seem more logical, Matheson's use of an arithmetic one puts a clear end for Scott: after he is down to 1/7 of an inch, he is doomed to go to zero the next day.
The physical toll is only part of the problem, as Scott's shrinking also affects him psychologically, in particular with his feelings of inadequacy (both sexual and his inability to provide for his family). Even if you're familiar with the movie, there are other plot elements in this story that would never made it past the Production Code.
In addition to this novel-length story, my edition also had several short stories, bookended by another couple of well-known tales. In Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, a stressed out man has trouble convincing others of a creature lurking out on the wing of an in-flight airplane. In Duel, a driver on an isolated highway is preyed upon by a malevolent trucker.
These stories are famous, as are many others by Matheson (such as Somewhere in Time, I Am Legend and Stir of Echoes), because they are excellent. Matheson's able to draw in the reader and make him or her identify with the protagonist. The hero's crisis becomes the reader's. If you are a horror fan, you must read Matheson.
A CLASSIC SCI-FI STORY
Most are familiar with the incredible sci-fi epic The Incredible Shrinking Man. It stands alone as a precursor of later stories and films. However, an added pleasure is this unabridged narration of Richard Matheson's landmark story by Yuri Rasovsky. A Peabody, Grammy and Audie Award winning performer, Rasovsky has been writing, producing, and directing audio dramas for some thirty years. His experience and gifts for vocal performance come to the fore in this reading of what is often called a classic of suspense. Listeners will remember Scott Carey as an unremarkable man who is enjoying a holiday at sea when he is suddenly enfolded in a glowing cloud. Upon returning home medical tests reveal that he has been infected by an insecticide that causes him to shrink - very little at a time. As our story progresses he is at first unable to wear his clothes, then he loses his job. Obviously his wife notices a dramatic change in him, and when his situation is revealed he is surrounded by the curious. He finds solace with a circus midget, but she is not shrinking - he is until he reaches the point where the family cat is a formidable adversary. Listen and enjoy again the genius of Richard Matheson who has been called 'one of the most important writers of the 20th century.' - Gail Cooke
Great Value!
There's nothing more I can say about the book and the author that hasn't already been said in countless reviews. I'll just say it's a great story by a great writer. But I do want to praise the fantastic value of this special, $4.99 edition paperback by Tor. Especially since it contains not only the title novel but also nine short stories: "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," "The Test," "The Holiday Man," "Mantage," "The Distributor," "By Appointment Only," "Button, Button," "Duel," and "Shoofly."
Also, be sure to check out the other titles in this series of special editions, such as his little-known novel The Beardless Warriors.
