Penned by one of the greatest and most prolific writers of the 20th century and based in part upon his own experiences in one of the greatest conflicts of the 20th century, this is a novel that needs to be read -particularly by those in power anywhere who would send their troops to war. This is the most utterly enveloping account of front line combat I have ever read. The story is about a mere three weeks in the life of a young man named Hackameyer who participates in the latter offensive in Europe in the closing days of World War II. We are immersed entirely in the body of this introverted, easily confused kid who has sprung from a dead-end family that gave him nothing but self-doubt, only to find that it seems our one true talent in life is killing. While all the typical genre devices of the two-fisted World War II tale are here (the fatherly Sergeant, the pacifist religious guy, the incompetent private), this is NOT typical fare. We are THERE. We can feel the reverberation of the shells as they hit all around us. We are sick to our stomach at the squeaking sounds of the tank treads and the groan of the engines as they smash through the brush. We feel for the characters Hackameyer gets attached to, and we hate the ones he hates. We exhult in Hackameyer's accomplishments, even while we, as readers outside the character can plainly see the dangerous line he is treading between hero and maniac. We want desperately the same things Hackameyer wants - a home on a ranch with a real father. This should be read by anyone who wants to understand the experience of the soldier - ANY soldier on the front line.

"The Beardless Warriors", by Richard Matheson, sub-titled, " A Novel of World War II". A Tom Doherty Associates Book, New York, May 2001, but first copyrighted in 1960.

According to the fronts piece, this is a work of fiction based upon the experiences of the noted writer, Richard Matheson, when he was shipped as an 18-year-old replacement into the European Theater of Operations in late 1944. Matheson portrays the development of Private Hackermeyer from a stumbling, inexperienced and frightened young soldier to a competent killer, who ignores the surrendering gestures of German soldiers. He has become so proficient in shooting his M-1, that Hackermeyer automatically registers on the target, pulls the trigger and then begins to scan for more.

Although written as fiction, there are two separate analyses of the wisdom of using young men as soldiers; these analyses are couched in dialogue among squad members. (Sergeant Cooley states, "I ain't running a rifle squad, ...I'm running a kindergarten.") There is also some discussion about life after death, resulting in Hackermeyer's introspection on that subject, on the death of his mother, and on life back in Brooklyn, NY.

The writing is excellent and Richard Matheson vividly establishes the range of feelings among the young soldiers, ranging from absolute terror to complacent acceptance, during the various attacks and defensive actions that take place in a very short calendar time. In my opinion, Matheson has captured day to day combat better than most writers.

This is a very impressive novel, and one that needs to be much better known. Matheson gives a very compelling look at one week in combat.

The novel is short and reads quickly. This would be a fine assignment in a class that covers World War II. It would give young readers a vivid picture of life in an infantry squad.

Matheson is unsentimental without being bitter. There are no big speeches on the horrors of war, or the unfairness of it all. Basically, his characters struggle to survive against the physical dangers and the psychological dangers that combat poses.

Very interesting to read this book now, in light of all the "Greatest Generation" talk. "The Beardless Warriors" gives a very clear picture of what WWII GIs faced, but it is not celebratory in the least.

I found this at my local library I since I am a Matheson fan I gave it a try. It is very reminescint of Hitchcock's falsey accused man on the run theme. It has some very good twists and will keep you guessing until the very end. I was pleasently suprised by this book so if you can find it give it a try.

suck

This collection of Twilight Zone literature includes Bradbury's "I Sing the Body Electric," a classic, and several other classics that are unforgettable.

I think that these collections have some of the best ironies out of all of the Twilight Zone episodes. Aside from "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," this book has the necessary works for the Twilight Zone lovers.

Recommended to any sci-fi fanatics--

I loved this book. All of the stories were fantastic, I recommend it.

I really don't know if I'd classify Richard Matheson as a "horror" writer. So far I've read "7 Steps to Midnight" and this one, as well as seen the movies "Stir of Echoes", "What Dreams May Come" and "Somewhere in Time". The only one that classifies as horror is "Stir of Echoes". The books are more suspense/thriller/mystery type material and the movies are romantic dramas! I guess if you like Sherlock/Holmes stories, you'd like this book, but not if you're looking for good horror. I still plan to read "Hell House" since it gets such marvelous reviews as "true horror". But I was let down on this book since I was anticipating horror and didn't get any.

"Now You See It" is an amusing little trifle from one of the Grand Masters of Horror, Richard Matheson. Our narrator for this twisted tale of terror is Emil Delacorte, once a great stage magician but now (as he repeatedly tells us) a vegetable as a result of a stroke. In The Magic Room of the house now owned by his son Maximilian, the current holder of the title The Great Delacorte, Emil watches a strange series of events unfold and get even stranger by the minute. Involved in the festivities are Max, who has stopped performing because of some illness, Cassandra, his beautiful but treacherous wife, Brian, her brother and Max's unhappy assistant, Harry, his backstabbing agent, and Grover Plum, the local sheriff. There is murder and magic in the air and you will never ever, be able to figure out who has done what to who. Matheson has as many twists and turns in this one as he did in all of his Twilight Zone episodes put together. Just sit down and enjoy the ride. "Now You See It" is really more of a novella than a novel, which means you can read it in the time it would usually take you to watch a movie. This is not a great work of horror, but it is sure a lot of fun. When you are done you will be curious as to why this was never made into a movie for television. There are disembodied heads insulting people, corpses that are not dead or refuse to die, and a lightning storm providing appropriate punctuation to the high points, Somebody somewhere in Tinsel Town must have let their option expire.

This book reminds me very much of such stage classics as "Sleuth" and "Deathtrap", wherein there are several plot twists and character turns that stump the audience. That said, Matheson has created a tongue-in-cheek murder mystery, enhanced by the utilization of a stroke victim (also termed a "vegetable") as the narrator.

The plot revolves around a magician's revenge on his unfaithful wife and agent. Though at times a little labored, the narrative flows smoothly and the twists at the end are surprising.

This is not classic Matheson, but the man's genius as a writer remains evident in this compact little story.

I love most of Richard Matheson's books, which is why I am so disappointed with this western novel. It takes a whole novel to tell you this: A young lady lies and says an ex-Texas Ranger had insulted her. Her boyfriend is incensed and, egged on by his manic father, shoots the ranger dead in a gunfight. The rest of the book and characters are nothing but filler. I really resent losing the time I spent reading this excuse for a book. If the author was not well-known, no way this poor-excuse-for-a-book would have been published. Ignore it.

This book is un-doubtedly one of the best novels that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It was definately "the most" climactic novel ever. I was shaking near the end as I read. You can really feel with the characters. The ending was shocking and disturbing. This is the best western I have ever read, the only other westerns I've read have been trashy supermarket paperbacks. Richard Matheson is THE MAN. He is THE WRITER. No one can deny it. Stephen King and many other writers compliment every piece of writing that Richard Matheson has ever writen. It's sad though how something that Stephen King writes automatically becomes a number one best seller when this book is forgotten and barely read by anyone. I've never read the Journal of the Gun Years, but after reading this, I will. I also look forward to reading other books by Richard Matheson. Richard Matheson builds a climax like no one else can. His stories are all exciting, interesting and totally en-grosing. This is THE MOST engrosing novel I have ever read. It's a landmark in literature. It's flawless. Read it if you can. It's a masterpiece.

I am a Richard Matheson fan I like his stories, but I was not to impressed with this one. For one it just was not scary to me. I mean if a good looking girl ghost all a sudden appeared and she wanted to have sex with me well I just don't see that as a horrifying experiance. I would recommend it only if you are a die-hard Matheson fan.

David and Ellen came to the lonely beachside cottage in hopes of rekindling their troubled marriage. Yet they are not alone on their second honeymoon. Marianna, the most beautiful woman David has ever seen, appears whenever Ellen is out of the house. Even as she seduces him, David begins to realize that something is terribly wrong. And when an elderly neighbor tells him the story of Marianna he slowly accepts it as the truth, but is still powerless to resist her.

I found the story chilling and captivating - you'll want to read it all in one sitting. Highly recommended.

While I did not enjoy this book as much as Matheson's 'HELL HOUSE' I did find it eerie and hair-raising. It definatley does not contain the number of blood-curdling scenes that 'HELL HOUSE' does (which is an EXCELLENT book) but for a (relativley) short novel it is a fun excursion into the world of ghosts and possession. I recommend this book highly if you enjoy Matheson already (or are looking for a one-nighter), but if you like longer, darker, more complicated tales check out Stephen King's 'IT'.

In "Created By," Matheson spares no one his cycnicism and obvious disdain for the television industry. The idea of a t.v. show with gratuitous sex, nudity, and violence was something unusual when the book was written, but now in the new millennium, we're getting so much of it, we've become numb to it. Matheson's work is so out of sync with itself, vaunting different styles, making all the characters as unlikeable as possible and coming up with an ending that truly negates the entire premise. Psychobabble nonsense.

Not Recommended

The plot is okay. A writer creates a TV script which the main chracter actually begins to take shape and form. Sounds like a Steven King Frankenstein novel. What I did not like about the book was the style the book was written. It was a heavy chore to read. The book jumped from narrator to personal view to almost like a TV script to philosophical musings. The writer obviously knew someone in publishing as this mesh-mash is the type which would be creamed in a writer's conference. I hope that in the future the author choses one style and sticks with it. If you can stand to read the style the plot is as good as any B slasher films you will find at the video store.

this book is my all time favorite book-it is interesting exciting engrossing....all the stuff a great action adventure movie would have with a little bit of horror suspense !!! i highly reccomend it !! i pick it up again and again and am sucked back into RCM's world !!! read it you will not be disappointed !!

"Pride" would seem to have all the ingredients of a minor classic. A unique endeavor between father and son, each an immensely successful practitioner of the art of the terror tale in his own right, "Pride" features short stories based on the same plot-seed by Richard Matheson and his son, Richard Christian Matheson. The stories themselves are no great shakes, though interesting enough (one problem is that they simply resemble each other too much--neither author really goes off in a dramatically different direction). The trouble here, alas, is in the physical production of the volume. This book is loaded with obvious typographical errors ("well-fiscshed out" is a good, or bad, example) and is so poorly copy-edited that part of a sentence is actually missing from the bottom of page 36, which ends with these words: "Thick smoke rose and she turned as he came"

The next sentence, on p. 37, begins a new paragraph. This is clearly a mistake, not an intentional effect.

Considering the very high price of this slender volume, these kinds of crude errors are inexcusable. Moreover, the editors never even bother to clarify some of what we are asked to read. There is, for instance, an intriguing typed draft of Richard Christian Matheson's story, filled with linings-out and interpolations--clearly a working draft. But there is also a handwritten draft of the finished story, word-for-word as it appears in the final version. Are we to believe that R.C. Matheson types his first drafts, then, mysteriously, reverts to longhand for his final drafts? It would appear that Matheson was asked to simply write out his story once it was in finished form. But why? What in the world is this obviously bogus "draft" doing in this book? There is no explanation whatsoever.

On the positive side, "Pride" does represent Richard Matheson's first short story in many years, and the teleplay which both authors derive from their combined drafts is an effective little piece. But the powers-that-be at Gauntlet Press should be ashamed of themselves for putting such a shoddy product into the hands of the Mathesons' loyal readers.