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14th out of 27 books
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Button, Button: Uncanny Stories
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 Drea...more
"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 Drea...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
April 1st 2008
by Tor Books
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Richard Matheson wrote some of the most iconic Twilight Zone episodes, so when I saw this short story collection at the library, I figured it had to be great.
Unfortunately, only the title story really packed the sort of punch that I was expecting. The other stories range from clever to mediocre, with more falling on the latter side. The TZ episode "Mute" was never one of my favorites, and the short story that inspired it went on for far too long and wasn't any better than t...more
Unfortunately, only the title story really packed the sort of punch that I was expecting. The other stories range from clever to mediocre, with more falling on the latter side. The TZ episode "Mute" was never one of my favorites, and the short story that inspired it went on for far too long and wasn't any better than t...more
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For the most part, this was a really good collection of short stories. Matheson seems to be quite good at the form, and I found myself enjoying most of these stories, though there were a few in there that just didn't work all that well for me. Many of them seemed to have an "O'Henry" kind of feel to them. None were too long and the writing style made them very easy reads (except for the Jazz Machine).
What didn't work for me: The Jazz Machine, Tis the Season to be Jelly, ...more
What didn't work for me: The Jazz Machine, Tis the Season to be Jelly, ...more
The Box: Uncanny Stories is a creepy collection of twelve short stories by author Richard Matheson who also wrote I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come.
As with most short story anthologies, I enjoyed some of these tales more than others. In this collection, there were maybe two that I didn't care for.
These stories are strange and suspenseful and have supernatural and fantasy aspects to them. Most of the stories have an unexpected twist to them. I'll mention a few that I enjoyed here i...more
As with most short story anthologies, I enjoyed some of these tales more than others. In this collection, there were maybe two that I didn't care for.
These stories are strange and suspenseful and have supernatural and fantasy aspects to them. Most of the stories have an unexpected twist to them. I'll mention a few that I enjoyed here i...more
Read Button, Button - Uncanny Stories by Richard Matheson. One of many books I picked up cheap at the co-op in a sale this year (or last).
I really enjoyed I Am Legend before reading this. I think it was a book that touched on a lot of interesting ideas, but had dated a little bit too much (unfortunately) so I couldn't understand or unpick it as much as I'd like.
Button, Button is (unsurprisingly given the title) a huge pile of small stories. Most are pretty standard, being wri...more
I really enjoyed I Am Legend before reading this. I think it was a book that touched on a lot of interesting ideas, but had dated a little bit too much (unfortunately) so I couldn't understand or unpick it as much as I'd like.
Button, Button is (unsurprisingly given the title) a huge pile of small stories. Most are pretty standard, being wri...more
Well, I don’t know where to begin or end with this book. I will say my reading of it started out very promisingly. It came highly recommended from a co-worker who I thought had flawless taste in books, and when I heard this author wrote I Am Legend and the first story from this collection, “Button, Button” is going to be a major motion picture, I really thought it couldn’t be better. Maybe I was wrong.
The book is basically a written version of the Twilight Zone. These stories were or...more
The book is basically a written version of the Twilight Zone. These stories were or...more
Button, Button, by Richard Matheson, is about a couple who are facing fiancial problems. One day Mrs. Lewis finds a strange man at her door with a box with a button on it. He offers her a oposition, she and her husband will not hit the button, and nothing happens, or they hit the button recieve $50,000 but someone in the world, they dont know, will die. After some thinking, Mrs. Lewis presses the button. The next day the man picks up the box and tell them that the button will be reset, and w...more
I've been reading a lot of Matheson lately, and this one wasn't much different -- clever premise after clever premise, but nothing really goes anywhere and don't expect any kind of meaningful ending.
That having been said, I enjoy reading Matheson, but he's kinda like bingeing on junk food -- strictly empty calories.
The first half of the book is kind of "light," in the damning aspect of that term. The title story has an interesting premise, but the ending is che...more
That having been said, I enjoy reading Matheson, but he's kinda like bingeing on junk food -- strictly empty calories.
The first half of the book is kind of "light," in the damning aspect of that term. The title story has an interesting premise, but the ending is che...more
Richard Matheson is a really interesting author in terms of style. I think, in many ways, he is a bridge between Poe and Stephen King in terms of tone and subject matter. I haven't read a lot of Stephen King but he is certainly not as dark, brooding, and foreboding as Poe was. King seems to focus more mystery, suspense, and horror (more than terror which I would put in the Poe camp). Matheson, in Button Button and the other stories in this collection, is a little bit between those worlds with a ...more
Disappointing collection of Matheson stories reissued to tie into an illfated movie based on the title story. Of the group of stories only a couple rise above mediocre. What has always appealed to me about Matheson is his ability to take the amazing and place it amidst the very ordinary. His straightforward style creates a kind of normalcy that grounds the unreal in reality. BUTTON, BUTTON and MUTE and NO SUCH THING AS A VAMPIRE all work quite well. Can't imagine the title story being tortured i...more
I really, really hate to admit that I didn't like this. I adore Matheson, I really do. But I get the feeling this is a collection of stories that someone requested he NOT publish.
The title story is actually incredible. I do not understand how they could've possibly made this into a motion picture, unless they drag it out irritatingly. Pattern of Survival took me 2 times listening to understand, and while the premise was great, there was no spine tingle. I read Matheson for the spine ...more
The title story is actually incredible. I do not understand how they could've possibly made this into a motion picture, unless they drag it out irritatingly. Pattern of Survival took me 2 times listening to understand, and while the premise was great, there was no spine tingle. I read Matheson for the spine ...more
I read this book simply because I saw endorsements for the author by Ray Bradbury and Stephen King. I confess, this is my first time reading Richard Matheson. I didn't know anything about him before reading this book. Now, I'm a fan!
Button, Button is a quick read. There are only a dozen stories and some of them are as short as eight pages. Matheson is also a dialogue heavy writer (and least in this collection), which gives the stories a great pace and ads to the quickness of the read...more
Button, Button is a quick read. There are only a dozen stories and some of them are as short as eight pages. Matheson is also a dialogue heavy writer (and least in this collection), which gives the stories a great pace and ads to the quickness of the read...more
Matheson is the man!
Short, simple, basic, but completely bad ass stories. Every writer should read these short stories.
You don't need big fancy words or sentence structures to tell a great story. Matheson is proof of that.
No Such Thing As Vampires is my fav of this collection.
Short, simple, basic, but completely bad ass stories. Every writer should read these short stories.
You don't need big fancy words or sentence structures to tell a great story. Matheson is proof of that.
No Such Thing As Vampires is my fav of this collection.
honestly mem
rated it
As with most short story collections, the quality of the work varies from story to story. Of the twelve stories contained within Button, Button: Uncanny Stories I enjoyed about half; of those six, I might reread three. It isn't as though Matheson isn't a capable writer. His prose is direct and snappy, his ideas interesting and frequently clever, but something in the overall execution left me cold.
Perhaps it's the awkward pacing: several of the stories go on for much longer than they...more
Perhaps it's the awkward pacing: several of the stories go on for much longer than they...more
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Well, surprisingly I did not love this collection as much as most of Matheson's work. Button, Button is a cute story--suitable for a Twilight Zone eppy-and I don't for the life of me see how they made a movie out of it (which probably explains why it flopped). But some of the other stories just fell a bit flat for me. I enjoyed "Jazz Machine" very much--very off type for him but really beautiful. And I adored "A Flourish of Strumpets"....I mean the title alone wins kudos-...more
I picked up this book, once I realized the movie The Box was based on a short story by Richard Matheson. I wasn't familiar with Richard Matheson, but apparently, Stephen King was once quoted as saying that he is the author who influenced him the most as a writer, so I figured I would give him a try.
I read the first story, which the movie, The Box is based on called Button, Button and loved it. It is a tale of ethics vs. greed as a married couple possesses a device in which each time ...more
I read the first story, which the movie, The Box is based on called Button, Button and loved it. It is a tale of ethics vs. greed as a married couple possesses a device in which each time ...more
Actually, I've only read the ebook version of Matheson's short story "Button, Button". It was reminiscent of WW Jacob's
The Monkey's Paw with a dark twist in the end. I have seen both the Twilight Zone version and the Cameron Diaz movie, both of which weren't faithful to Matheson's original concept (although the Twilight Zone version seemed closer even though it differed in the ending). Personally, I think I prefer the Monkey's Paw, but Button, Button is still a nice, good read, ...more
The Monkey's Paw with a dark twist in the end. I have seen both the Twilight Zone version and the Cameron Diaz movie, both of which weren't faithful to Matheson's original concept (although the Twilight Zone version seemed closer even though it differed in the ending). Personally, I think I prefer the Monkey's Paw, but Button, Button is still a nice, good read, ...more
This book was an interesting collection of short stories. They all had a disturbing quality about them that didn't always make sense to me but was facinating nonetheless. The husband that tries to punish his wife and friend for having an affair behind his back by pretending she is being attacked by vampires...the boy who regresses by learning to talk...the church organ that becomes self aware and of course the reason I picked up the book in the first place-"Button, Button" the very sh...more
There is a reason why so many of Matheson's stories were turned into television episodes or movies - he is a truly gifted writer. He has the ability to convey unbelievable amounts of plot and characterization in a few short pages. The movie The Box was based on the first story in this collection - and the story is only a few short pages (granted, the movie kinda took the idea and ran with it and not necessarily in a good way). I think the subtitle of this collection is perfectly accurate - these...more
Pretty nifty short story collection from one of the masters of the craft. Previously, I'd only read Matheson's "I Am Legend," admired his sublime work on "The Twilight Zone" and watched "Somewhere in Time," so I thought it was high time I dug into more of the classic works of the man Stephen King credits as his greatest influence. I was not disappointed. The title story, "Girl of My Dreams" and "Mute" were my favorites, and alone worth the readin...more
I saw the movie The Box last summer and I enjoyed it, but...I didn't get it. I don't know if I blinked or sneezed, but I missed something important because at the end, although I could piece together the obvious outcome, I wasn't sure exactly what happened. Before watching the movie, I didn't realize it was based on a short story, but afterward, I felt compelled to seek it out. Even after reading the story, I still have to wonder about some things from the movie. Thanks, Hollywood, for makin...more
A fairly silly collection that reminded me of The Wrong Door skits from Futurama, in which a story would have a bizzare and overtly obvious twist at the end. Stories included one about L.A. being alive and devouring the country and the rest of the world with citrus trees and desires to play tennis, a writer who is truly his own biggest fan, a button that will give you 50,000 and kill someone "you don't know" , and a suit that takes on a life of it's own.
Not all of the stories...more
Not all of the stories...more
Rarely do you run across horror or suspense writing that could be called light reading, but that's the category I'd put this collection of stories in. They're all intriguing ideas, stories that catch your imagination from the very first paragraph. However, they never go beyond the idea phase, in my opinion, They lack the punch of good short stories, and are more like extremely well written notes for a future story. Even taking into consideration that these stories were written four decades a...more
The reason why I bought this compilation of previously published short fictions by Richard Matheson is because the first short story, "Button, Button" was adapted into a major studio released movie starring Cameron Diaz, adequately titled "The Box".
The movie itself was such an unbelievably boring feast you could fall asleep for an hour and not miss any important details. But the short story, well, it's different. "Button, Button" was way much better it s...more
The movie itself was such an unbelievably boring feast you could fall asleep for an hour and not miss any important details. But the short story, well, it's different. "Button, Button" was way much better it s...more
This book was odd. I was first drawn into it from the movie Button Button starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsdon. The book is a series of little short stories, that have great similarities to the Twilight Zone. So if you take a liking to the twilight zones you will defenitly like this book. Some of my favorite short stories were Girl of My Dreams, The Creeping Terror, Shock Wave, and Clothes Make the Man. Some of the stories were hard to comprehend and way too complex. I still would recommend t...more
Written primarily in the 1950's and 60's, the stories in Richard Matheson's collection are recognizable to many who are familiar with Twilight Zone episodes. Beginning with the title story, Button, Button - which I understand to be coming out on the big screen soon as The Box with Cameron Diaz (ew) - Matheson's stories all mostly are short and have a fun twist in the end. Button, Button in particular leaves the reader questioning what he or she might do in a similar position and other stories ...more
I got this book from the library after a conversation with my stepson, Levi. He was telling me about a Twilight Zone episode he had seen where you could press a button, kill a stranger, and get $50,000. I thought it sounded very familiar, and it reminded me of a story I had read.
As a child, I was a voracious reader. My parents could not afford to keep me in books, and the nearest library was 30 miles away. As a "compromise," when I spent summers with my grandparents, they w...more
As a child, I was a voracious reader. My parents could not afford to keep me in books, and the nearest library was 30 miles away. As a "compromise," when I spent summers with my grandparents, they w...more
I got this book specifically to read Button,Button which is a kinda creepy, albeit shorter than i expected, story. The rest of the stories are ok but this collection as whole couldn't hold my interest. I'm a Richard Matheson fan and I think i've read better stories than these by him. This book does contain my new favorite Matheson story, No Such Thing as A Vampire which is really twisted. If all the stories had been like that one, I'd give this collection a better score.
As a fan of both short stories, and the few works of Richard Matheson that I had read, I was very much looking forward to reading this. Unfortunately the stories were all very hit and miss, with some being entertaining, and others just being tolerable. One thing that I did like was the fact that almost all of the stories were easy to read and follow. Overall not the best collection of short stories I've ever read, or the best works by Matheson.
This was a random lyeberry pick-up, based mostly on wanting to read the title story. Matheson's writing feels a lot like reading pulpy Tales from the Crypt comics (and I mean that in a good way). The prose is to the point, and Matheson loves the twist ending like whoa. I'm surprised more of these haven't been dredged up by Hollywood, truthfully.
"The Creeping Terror" and "The Jazz Machine" in particular were fantastic.
"The Creeping Terror" and "The Jazz Machine" in particular were fantastic.
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Born in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of w...more
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