- Publisher: TOR
- Publication date: 10/30/2007
- Pages: 320
- ISBN: 978-0-7653-5715-1
- Author: Richard Matheson
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is the 1954 novel that has been adapted to film three different times including: The Last Man on Earth in 1964 starring horror legend Vincent Price, The Omega Man in 1971 starring Charleston Heston and finally (for now) as I Am Legend in 2007 starring Will Smith. I am not going to comment on the movies, partially because I have never seen the 2007 version and mostly because this is a book review, not a movie review. The version of the book that I read includes the titular novel and 10 other short stories originally published between 1951 and 1997, with most of them coming out in the 1950s and 60s. All of the stories have either a horror or other macabre bent to them.
In “I Am Legend”, Robert Neville finds himself probably the last person alive on Earth. While vampires have presumably always been around, the bombs of a nuclear war have unleashed a bacteria that turns even the living into vampires. For some reason, Neville is immune to the disease and wages war against the beasts as they sleep during the day, and hides in his fortified house after dark. You’ve probably seen one or more of the movies based on this tale, but it is still one of those classic tales that are well worth the time to read as originally written. For something written 70 years ago, it holds up surprisingly well.
Most of the other stories also hold up reasonably well. “The Near Departed” and “The Funeral” have different fun twists on the reasons for making funeral arrangements. “The Mad House” takes the consequences of an author’s anger at not being able write to its illogical extreme. In “The Witch War”, an unusual ultimate weapon is used to vanquish the enemy. “From the Shadow Places” borders on racist with its over-the-top stereotype African-American-Anthropologist-Witch-Doctor woman. It’s not purposefully racist, but does seem more in line with 1960 sensibilities, when it was written, than the 21st century.
The other stories are enjoyable. Most having some supernatural, grim or other unusual twist that you might find in an old Twilight Zone episode or old horror magazine. They are not all classics, but they are worth a read.
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A science fiction story with a bacteria-driven potential societal collapse, but without the vampires…
Plastivore by Matt Truxaw
