Steel: And Other Stories [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Steel and Other Stories is a collection of stories written by Richard Matheson who is probably best known for his novels I am Legend and The Incredible Shrinking Man. Most were originally published in pulp magazines in the 1950s, though two are recent and have never been collected before. Each is quite short:

* "Steel" -- (1956, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) Steel Kelly, a washed-up boxer, is now living vicariously through his broken down robot fighter. If they can win the next match, Steel hopes he'll have enough money to fix up his robot. "Steel" was the inspiration for a Twilight Zone episode and the movie Real Steel. It's exciting and demonstrates Richard Matheson's talent for writing men from a psychological perspective.
* "To Fit the Crime" -- 1952, Fantastic) A cruel and pretentious 1950s poet dies and finds out what hell is like for cruel and pretentious 1950s poets. This one is amusing.
* "The Wedding" -- (1953, Beyond Fantasy Fiction) A superstitious groom ruins his marriage before it gets started.
* "The Conqueror" -- (1954, Bluebook Magazine) A young Yankee idolizes the pistol fighters out West, so he sets out to become one. I don't normally read Westerns, but I liked this one.
* "Dear Diary" -- (1954, Born of Man and Woman) A very short and penetrating story about two pessimistic women from two different eras writing entries in their diaries.
* "Descent" -- (1954, If) A nuclear bomb is about to be dropped on California and the citizens are preparing to leave everything behind and descend into an underground city.
* "The Doll That Does Everything" -- (1954) A destructive baby is making life miserable for his poet father and sculptor mother, so they buy him a sophisticated robot companion, hoping it will be a good influence on his behavior.
* "The Traveller" -- (1954, Born of Man and Woman) Hoping to debunk the account of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, a professor is sent back in time to view it. This story is intense and moving.
* "When Day Is Dun" -- (1954, Fantastic Universe) The last man on Earth is a poet. Even though he has no audience, he's compelled to write an epitaph for humanity, blaming his species for destroying the Earth. The twist ending to this story is ironic and disturbing.
* "The Splendid Source" -- (1956, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) The basis of the Family Guy episode "The Splendid Source," this story is about an eccentric millionaire who wants to trace the source of all dirty jokes. It's really funny.
* "Lemmings" -- (1958, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) A couple of friends watch as masses of people, lemming-like, walk into the ocean and drown themselves. This is the only story I didn't like. Fortunately, it was only a few minutes long -- I believe it's the shortest story he's written.
* "The Edge" -- (1958, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) A creepy tale about a man who doesn't know he has a doppelganger.
* "A Visit to Santa Claus" -- (1957, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine) A horror story about a man who has hired a hitman to kill his wife while he takes his son to visit Santa Claus.
* "Dr. Morton's Folly" -- (2009, Vice Magazine) Another horror story about a dentist treating a man who refuses to let him extract his left canine tooth... which is abnormally long.
* "The Window of Time" -- (2010, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) A sweet and nostalgic story about aging. I don't know when he wrote it, but this story was published when Matheson was 84 years old, which makes it especially poignant and a beautiful ending to this collection.

I've read a lot of speculative fiction from the 1950s and in some ways Richard Matheson's stories have the same sort of feel, but in other ways they seem less dated than those of, for example, Philip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury. I think that's because Matheson doesn't focus on space exploration, aliens, and atomic war. Instead, he uses speculative fiction to explore human psychology, especially the psychology of men, and that is a theme that just hasn't changed much since the 1950s. Every story in Steel and Other Stories (with the exception, perhaps, of "The Splendid Source") examines the motives, behaviors, and hidden thoughts of human beings who feel real and deep. This makes every story, even the ones with plots I wouldn't normally care for, feel like a work of art. My favorites were "Steel," "The Conquerer," "The Traveller," and "The Splendid Source."

I listened to Blackstone Audio's version of Steel and Other Stories, which was narrated by Scott Brick. Mr. Brick seems to be the master of old SFF on audio -- he has this style down right and he always does a great job. I recommend Steel and Other Stories for fans of Richard Matheson, 1950s SFF (or anyone who wants to become better educated in that genre), and anyone who likes their SFF with a focus on character (especially male) psychology.

Even though I've heard of Matheson and recognize the influence he has had upon Hollywood and modern American literature, I haven't read much of his work. In fact, other than I AM LEGEND, the only work of Matheson's I have read is a collection of short stories entitled THE BOX that was released at the same time as a movie of the same name. When I recently saw a copy of REAL STEEL selling for around $5, I couldn't pass the book up; I know enough about Matheson to know that he's one of the best short story writers ever and a collection of his short stories for that price, which includes "Steel", is almost a steal. There are a total of 15 stories in REAL STEEL.

"Steel" - this story was adapted into an episode of the original TWILIGHT ZONE and is the basis for the movie, REAL STEEL. In the future boxing between people no longer happens and boxing takes places between lifelike androids. A trainer named Kelly dreams of the big leagues and almost hit the big time when his robot named Maxo KO'd a contender. But that was three years ago and Maxo is a nobody and is an antique that's literally falling apart. Before the fight that will bring Kelly and Maxo back into the road to the big time, something unfortunate happens and Kelly makes a possible life-changing decision.

"To Fit the Crime" - a man at the end of his life loves the educated spoken word more than the people around him. He believes his mind is the only thing that separates himself from death and whatever horrors lie beyond. His whole life he verbally assaults and abuses his family with lofty spoken barbs.

"The Wedding" - a very superstitious man falls in love with an overweight woman. Despite his crazy beliefs, the woman agrees to marry him anyway and tragedy befalls them both.

"The Conqueror" - a 1st person narrative of the West. A grocer in a wild West American town meets a young man from the East who isn't exactly all he appears to be. The young man is determined to be the West's fastest gunslinger and has a plan how to do it. But, the West is wild, untamed, and unfair.

"Dear Diary" - two women from completely different periods of time write in their diaries.

"Descent" - three families who are friends spend their last supper together before leaving to live underground the next day before the bomb drops at sunset.

"The Doll That Does Everything" - a husband who is addicted to his poetry and his wife who is addicted to her pottery buy a growing doll as a companion for their one-year-old wayward son who is always getting into trouble and breaking things.

"The Traveller" - a college professor who isn't a Christian is given the opportunity to travel back in time and observe the crucifixion of Jesus.

"When Day Is Dun" - after an apparent nuclear Holocaust, a lone man attempts to write a poem that immortalizes mankind before he kills himself.

"The Splendid Source" - a wealthy young man with too much time on his hands sets out to discover to source of where dirty jokes come from. This story was the basis for the FAMILY GUY episode THE SPLENDID SOURCE.

"Lemmings" - people begin flocking into the ocean and disappearing as two friends sit and observe the phenomena.

"The Edge" - a man goes to his favorite drinking spot after a long day at work and is approached by another man who claims to know him, but he has no recollection of ever having met.

"A Visit to Santa Claus" - a man hires a stranger to kill his wife for him just before Christmas while he's at the mall with his son visiting Santa.

"Dr. Morton's Folly" - a dentist who can't see anyone in pain treats a strange man late one night.

"The Window of Time" - an eighty-two-year-old man climbs through a window of a room he is thinking of renting and travels back in time nearly seventy years into his past.

REAL STEEL is a mismatch of Matheson stories; there are some that feature some of Matheson's writing at his best while there are others that are kind dull and without merit. There are also several that end rather abruptly without any closure. Personally, my favorite stories in the book are "Steel", "The Conqueror", "The Traveller", and "The Splendid Source". My least favorite in the bunch is "Lemmings" because it's so short and feels more like a joke without a punchline rather than a short story.

Fans of Matheson probably own most of these stories. However, the inclusion of "Dr. Morton's Folly" and "The Window of Time" haven't been available before in anthologized or collected form, so completists will want the book for those stories. Beyond that, the book is a descent short story collection. It's not the best book to introduce readers to Matheson, but it makes a good 2nd or 3rd choice after reading one of his more influential works, such as I AM LEGEND.

Richard Matheson is one of the great short story writers of the 20th Century. His novels have remained inconsistent (of the many I've read, only I AM LEGEND, HELL HOUSE, and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN had the same quality as his shorter work, but that's just one opinion), but his short fiction is unparalleled. Many of his stories became the basis for movies and TV shows (many of the scripts written by Matheson himself, including all of those classic TWILIGHT ZONE episodes; all due respect to Rod Serling, but that show would not have been what it was without Matheson and fellow auteur/friend Charles Beaumont).

STEEL: AND OTHER STORIES is not Matheson's best work. The titular story is, indeed, spectacular; I haven't seen the Hugh Jackman film, though I'm betting there's not a lot of similarity (Hollywood so loves to tear apart Matheson's ideas). But the rest of the collection is hit-and-miss, with an unfortunate emphasis on the latter. "The Splendid Source" (oddly enough, the basis for a FAMILY GUY episode) is interesting, as is "A Visit to Santa Claus" and "The Wedding" (the latter is kitschy but amusing). Some stories, such as "Lemmings," "The Edge," and "Descent," are in the same ballpark as many of Matheson's collected works: intriguing science fiction with a good dose of social commentary. But others, such as "Dr. Morton's Folly" and "To Fit the Crime," are downright forgettable; far too obvious by Matheson's normal standards.

If you're a longtime fan of Matheson's, and want to get your hands on some stories that aren't available elsewhere, then by all means pick up this collection. But if you're new to Matheson, or if you're wanting to read the story that inspired the 2011 movie REAL STEAL, then pick up the DUEL collection instead; it contains "Steel," as well as several other above-par stories that you may already be familiar with (the titular piece was the basis for Steven Spielberg's first movie, for instance). STEEL: AND OTHER STORIES definitely feels like family-friendly Matheson, which granted isn't such a bad thing; the author has written in almost every genre imaginable, and though he hasn't always been consistently great, he's at least readable. But this is, by Matheson standards, a weak collection, and if you haven't already, you'd be better off investing your money in a stronger batch of stories.