Button, Button: Uncanny Stories
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Overview
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 new collection by Richard Matheson, the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come. This volume contains a number of stories that were adapted for television, as well as a new introduction by Matheson himself.
This collection of stories features "Button, Button," soon to be a major motion picture starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden.
Synopsis
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 new collection by Richard Matheson, the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come. This volume contains a number of stories that were adapted for television, as well as a new introduction by Matheson himself.
This collection of stories features "Button, Button," soon to be a major motion picture starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden.
Publishers Weekly
Both longtime fans and readers who have never encountered horror and suspense author Matheson (I Am Legend), winner of Stoker and World Fantasy lifetime achievement awards among many others, should enjoy this collection of a dozen stories originally published in the 1950s and 1960s. In the standout title story, later adapted as a Twilight Zoneepisode, a discontented husband and wife are presented with a device and told they will get $50,000 every time they press its button. The catch is that every push will cause someone else's death. Many of the other tales pack a similar punch. The collection also includes "The Creeping Terror," a vicious parody of the author's home state of California. The inventive plots and spare but convincing portraits of the ordinary men and women caught up by forces beyond their control demonstrate why Stephen King has called Matheson his most significant influence. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Both longtime fans and readers who have never encountered horror and suspense author Matheson (I Am Legend), winner of Stoker and World Fantasy lifetime achievement awards among many others, should enjoy this collection of a dozen stories originally published in the 1950s and 1960s. In the standout title story, later adapted as a Twilight Zoneepisode, a discontented husband and wife are presented with a device and told they will get $50,000 every time they press its button. The catch is that every push will cause someone else's death. Many of the other tales pack a similar punch. The collection also includes "The Creeping Terror," a vicious parody of the author's home state of California. The inventive plots and spare but convincing portraits of the ordinary men and women caught up by forces beyond their control demonstrate why Stephen King has called Matheson his most significant influence. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.School Library Journal
These dozen short stories, previously published from 1950 to 1970, demonstrate the range of one of the most admired writers in horror fiction, best known for I Am Legend. The title story (once adapted into a Twilight Zoneepisode) asks, If you could press a button and receive $50,000, but someone you don't know dies, would you? "Girl of My Dreams" features a despicable protagonist who uses his girlfriend's psychic talent for personal gain. "Mute" is aching and lyrical, exploring the loss of innocence from a fresh angle. "A Flourish of Strumpets" reads like Thurber gone a touch off-color. "'Tis the Season To Be Jelly" is just plain odd. Demand may be driven by the recent I Am Legendfilm, but these stories deserve to be read in spite of the movie's popularity. Highly recommended for popular fiction collections.
—Karl G. Siewert Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information