Overview
In Matheson’s legendary tale, family man Scott Carey finds himself shrinking, slowly, day-by-day, inch-by-inch. While on vacation, he gets exposed to a radioactive cloud, the cause of this bizarre event. Scott once had an everyday existence as a husband and father, but now his shrinking shows no end in sight. He becomes a national spectacle, something worthy of newspaper headlines. As Carey shrinks smaller and smaller, his family become more and more unreachable giants, and the family cat becomes a predatory menace. In this world of disproportion, which grows more and more perilous with each passing day, Scott struggles to survive. He is pushed to the very limits of fear and existence.As the story continues, Carey meets up with some circus performers and attempts to rebuild some semblance of a life. But since his shrinking never stops, all ideas of normal fade, and the threats never stop growing.
In 1958, The Shrinking Man won the Hugo award for that year’s best science fiction or fantasy dramatic presentation. It was also adapted into the film The Incredible Shrinking Man.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Burton Matheson (born February 20th, 1926) is an American author and screenwriter working primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently combining elements from different genres and making important contributions to the further development of modern horror. Matheson wrote fourteen episodes for the American television series The Twilight Zone, including the famous “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” Notably, Steven Spielberg’s first full length film (made for television) was based on the story Duel, for which Matheson also wrote the screenplay.
Matheson’s first novel, Someone is Bleeding, was published in 1953. His thirty novels since then include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again adapted from Matheson’s own screenplay), and the novel I Am Legend (made into film as The Last Man on Earth, 1964; The Omega Man, 1971; and I Am Legend, 2007).
A new film based on Matheson’s story “Steel,” entitled Real Steel, is a major motion picture that was released in October 2011. His most recent novel, Other Kingdoms, appeared in March 2011.
ABOUT THE SERIES
From classic book to classic film, RosettaBooks has gathered some of most memorable books into film available. The selection is broad ranging and far reaching, with books from classic genre to cult classic to science fiction and horror and a blend of the two creating whole new genres like Richard Matheson’s The Shrinking Man. Classic works from Vonnegut, one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, meet with E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India. Whether the work is centered in the here and now, in the past, or in some distant and almost unimaginable future, each work is lasting and memorable and award-winning.
Scott Carey is an ordinary man, until a mysterious cloud causes him to start shrinking away at a rate of one inch per week--from dwarf-sized to doll-sized to beyond. "A great adventure story . . . one of that select handful I have given to people, envying them the experience of the first reading."--Stephen King.
Synopsis
Richard Matheson, the New York Times bestselling author of What Dreams May Come and I Am Legend, achieved early fame by penning this unforgettable novel, which became the basis for the Hugo Award-winning 1957 film, The Incredible Shrinking Man. His compelling vision of an ordinary man's gradual descent into a microscopic world remains one of the acknowledged classics of horror and science fiction.
Once an unremarkable husband and father, Scott finds himself shrinking with no end in sight. His wife and family turn into unreachable giants, the family cat becomes a predatory menace, and Scott must struggle to survive in a world that seems to be growing ever larger and more perilous—until he faces the ultimate limits of fear and existence.
Author Biography: Richard Matheson is the acclaimed and multiple award-winning author of such novels as Hell House, Somewhere in Time, and A Stir of Echoes. He lives in Calabasas, California.
Internet Book Watch
Scott Carey is a typical American family man. He is happily married and loves his wife and daughter. However, everything changes including relationships when the tidal wave of spray soaked him while sunbathing on the top of a boat. Now Cary is shrinking inch by inch into a micro world of the unknown. He has only six days left on the human plane and this is his account of when he became The Incredible Shrinking Man. Though this anthology is labeled the Incredible Shrinking Man, it actually contains several other stories besides this classic. Included are great tales like "Duel", "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", and "The Test" that prove that Richard Matheson works not only hold up, but he remains the master of tales that involve an outside force that harm the innocent. Horror meets science fiction at a signpost that Serling would have relished announcing, as this is a great collection worth reading and in many ways better than the several well-done movies that are based on these tales.
Editorials
Scott Carey is a typical American family man. He is happily married and loves his wife and daughter. However, everything changes including relationships when the tidal wave of spray soaked him while sunbathing on the top of a boat. Now Cary is shrinking inch by inch into a micro world of the unknown. He has only six days left on the human plane and this is his account of when he became The Incredible Shrinking Man. Though this anthology is labeled the Incredible Shrinking Man, it actually contains several other stories besides this classic. Included are great tales like "Duel", "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", and "The Test" that prove that Richard Matheson works not only hold up, but he remains the master of tales that involve an outside force that harm the innocent. Horror meets science fiction at a signpost that Serling would have relished announcing, as this is a great collection worth reading and in many ways better than the several well-done movies that are based on these tales.