Shu_journal

“The Near Departed”

Another interesting little vignette by Matheson. To be honest, though, I didn’t find anything particularly interesting from a writer’s perspective. The dialog is plain, there’s little action, no real sense of tension, and the ending is standard “Twilight Zone” material.

“I Am Legend” (Ch. 17 – …

These are the final chapters. Matheson does a great job of continuing to create change in Neville. He’s encountered another human who is apparently immune as well, Ruth. He’s cold and distrustful at first, now having been in isolation for about 3 years. He suddenly realized that he had …

“Buried Talents”

This vignette by Richard Matheson presents an interesting technique for escalation. It’s brief story of an odd man who plays a game at the fair, the one where you chuck ping-pong balls into a fishbowl, and never misses. The escalation is just that - the man never misses. It is, by nature of …