RICHARD CHRISTIAN MATHESON
MISLEADINGLY TRANQUIL
David Byron Chats with
Richard Christian Matheson
David Byron is the founder of NVF Magazine, an online publication that promotes new voices in horror fiction and film. His past special guests include Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and Edwin Neal of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame. His latest projects include Queens of Scream: The New Blood
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Richard Christian Matheson is an acclaimed novelist, short story writer and screenwriter/producer.
He has written and co-written feature film and television projects for Richard Donner, Ivan Reitman, Joel Silver, Steven Spielberg, Bryan Singer and many others. To date, Matheson has written and sold twelve original, spec feature scripts; considered a record. He has written pilots for comedy and dramatic series for SHOWTIME, FOX, NBC, ABC, TNT, HBO, SPIKE and CBS, and served as head writer and Executive Producer for thirty network comedy and dramatic series. Matheson has had seven feature films produced, including the critically hailed, paranoid satire Three O'clock High which the New York Times called "brilliantly subversive."
Matheson wrote the screenplay for the critically lauded Sole Survivor, a FOX four-hour mini-series based on Dean Koontz's best selling novel. He also co-wrote and executive produced the original Showtime film, Paradise, starring Barbara Hershey, David Strathairn and Elaine Stitch, Delusion an original suspense film for VH1, Demons an original, suspense film for SHOWTIME and the adaptation of Roger Zelazny's Nebula Award-Winning Science Fiction/Fantasy series, The Chronicles of Amber, as a four-hour mini-series for the SCIFI Channel.
Matheson recently co-created Chemistry, an edgy/erotic half-hour comedy series for Ostar Productions and wrote three scripts for SHOWTIME'S Masters of Horror. For TNT's Nightmares and Dreamscapes eight-hour mini-series, he wrote the critically-hailed adaptation of Stephen King's short story "Battleground," starring William Hurt and directed by Brian Henson. The New York Times called the episode "...a minor masterpiece."
He has recently created/written Majestic, a one-hour para-normal series for TNT, based on the work of Whitley Strieber. Most currently, he is writing and executive producing Dragons, a six-hour mini-series with director Bryan Singer and Shockers.TV, which he created and directed.
Matheson is considered a cutting-edge voice in surreal, psycho-logical horror fiction and master of the short story. His critically lauded fiction has been published in major, award-winning anthologies, including multiple times in Year's Best Horror, Year's Best Fantasy as well as Penthouse and Omni magazines.
Stephen King compares him to Ray Bradbury and terms his work, "Remarkable. The writing is finely tuned and has that rarest combination of style and narrative substance." Ray Bradbury calls Matheson's work "first class and stunning," and Clive Barker terms it "...devastating."
Rolling Stone calls Matheson "...one of a handful of resourceful, fear-minded authors helping to create a new sensibility in horror fiction that is as frightening and merciless as the modern world itself." Publisher's Weekly calls his stories "...miniature masterpieces."
Thirty of Matheson's stories are collected in Scars and Other Distinguishing Marks, as introduced by Stephen King. A second, hardcover collection of 60 stories, Dystopia, has received powerful reviews and been translated into several languages. His critically lauded debut novel, Created By, was Bantam's hardcover lead, a Bram Stoker Award nominee for best first novel and Book-of-the-Month Club lead selection. It has been translated into several languages.
Matheson is considered an expert on the occult and worked with the UCLA Parapsychology Labs, investigating haunted houses, and paranormal phenomenon. He was involved in the publicized case upon which the film The Entity was based.
He has written for stand-up comedians, taught college creative writing and screenwriting classes. Matheson has also been a professional drummer for over thirty years, studied privately with the legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker and worked as a studio musician. He has played with Stephen King, Amy Tan and Dave Barry in the writers' band The Rock Bottom Remainders, and with famed band The Smithereens. He also plays drums with Smash-Cut, a blues/rock/jazz band which includes Preston Sturges Jr. and recently recorded their debut album.
Horror Garage: Greetings and salutations, Richard. How are you doing this fine June morning?
Richard Christian Matheson: Misleadingly tranquil.
HG: First of all, let me say what an honor it is to have you here with us. I have been following your career since I read your story "Red" in the Splatterpunks Volume 1 years ago. Tell me, what was your particular inspiration for that piece. It seemed so terribly...real.
Richard Christian Matheson: I listen to people; eavesdrop. Hear things. Traumas, heartache. Bad things happen.
HG: Speaking of your short fiction, I see you have two collections. Are you mainly into writing shorts, or do you write novels?
Richard Christian Matheson: My first novel, Created By, was published by Doubleday. I'm completing a new one; a thriller. My third story collection will be published next year. 75 short stories, 25 essays. Maybe some automotive tips.
HG: Now, this next question is one you have most likely been asked a thousand times, but I couldn't resist; being the son of Richard Matheson, did you ever get a chance to meet Rod Serling when you were growing up? I know they used to collaborate on projects.
Richard Christian Matheson: Never met him.
HG: Your father's novel, I Am Legend, to me, was like a perfect template for writing the perfect sci-fi/horror novel. Was it an influence on your writing?
Richard Christian Matheson: Everything he wrote influenced me. He's brilliant. I Am Legend is a marvel of economy and dread.
HG: What was your first real "horrifying" experience? I've talked to a lot of writers who have said they have incorporated childhood experiences, fears and traumas into their fiction.
Richard Christian Matheson: I was electrocuted, severely burned, suffered head injuries and nearly drown multiple times in childhood. All accidents. So they tell me. Many of my stories center on flesh assailed. Draw your own conclusions.
HG: Off of the subject of the "creepy" for a moment, what's this about having written episodes for Three's Company and BJ and the Bear? Quite a departure from your usual fare, isn't it?
Richard Christian Matheson: A full-grown man traveling around in a truck with a monkey is fairly creepy. In my 20s, as I was learning my craft, I produced and was head writer for thirty hour and half-hour network television series. I wrote 500 episodes of sitcoms, action series, detective shows, you name it. I once had lunch with the monkey who played Bear, at the Universal commissary. He was brought by his manager and wore loafers, a blazer and bowtie. He smiled at starlets at nearby tables and had spaghetti. Tough dish for a monkey. You don't want to watch that.
HG: Exactly how would you classify your writing style?
Richard Christian Matheson: It varies.
HG: Tell me a little bit about the band you play in with Craig Spector and Preston Sturges Jr. How would you classify your musical style?
Richard Christian Matheson: Mixed bag. Blues, rock, jazz. Hypnotic arrangements. The guys went to the Berklee School of Music, I studied one-on-one with Ginger Baker of Cream. We use every trick we ever learned and play well together. Preston writes great songs, and last year we cut 30 songs in five days at a recording studio. We're fast studies. Our album preview is coming out this week.
HG: Now I will bore you with some of my obligatory Q & A: what would you say is your favorite horror film or book?
Richard Christian Matheson: I like Polanski; the malefic ice. J.G. Ballard, Martin Amis, Truman Capote, John Cheever; all write true horror. Gore is for punks.
HG: What is on the horizon for Richard Christian Matheson right now?
Richard Christian Matheson: Curve of the earth. Smoke signals. We'll see.
END
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