Backteria and Other Improbable Tales

Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 - June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known for being the author of I Am Legend, a 1954 science-fiction horror novel that has been adapted for screen three times, the first of which is The Last Man on Earth, for which he co-wrote. Matheson has also written 16 television episodes of The Twilight Zone, including "Nightmare at 20,000 Fit" and "Steel", as well as numerous adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's stories by Roger Corman, American International Pictures - House of Usher, and The Beat and the Bandlem. Tales of Terror, and The Raven. He adapted his 1971 short story as a screenplay directed by Steven Spielberg for the television movie Doll that year. Seven of his novels and short stories have been adapted into motion pictures: The Shrinking Man (pictured as The Incredible Shrinking Man), The Hill House (pictured as The Legend of Hill House), What Dreams My Come, and Bedtime Return (pictured as Somewhere in Time) (the place where What's In Time), Esther of Echoes, Steele (cast as Real Steel) (real steel), and Patton, Patton (cast as The Box) (the Box). Cold Sweet was based on his novel The Nightmare Ride, and Lee Saint-de-Glass (Ice Boobs) was based on his novel Someone Is Bleeding.