May Come(1978, filmed in 1998) is an almost
mystical fantasy in which the spirit of a dead man
seeks to be reunited with the woman he loves, who
is still among the living. Matheson’s later novels,
which often involve no fantastic content, are gen-
erally less memorable than his early work.
Several of Matheson’s better short stories are
horror, although many others are science fiction,
and a few straddle both genres. Among his best are
“Dress of White Silk” (1951), “LITTLE GIRL LOST”
(1953), “Long Distance Call” (1953), in which the
dead use the telephone, “The Likeness of Julie”
(1962), “NIGHTMARE AT20,000 FEET” (1961), and
“PREY” (1969), in which a tiny African figurine
comes to life and wreaks havoc. Matheson’s short
fiction has been collected and recollected under a
variety of titles. Recent volumes containing much
of his best work include Collected Stories(1989),
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet(2002), and Duel(2003).
Matheson has written numerous screenplays, and
many of his short stories have been adapted as
episodes of television programs. He has long been
and remains one of the most respected figures in
the horror genre.
McCammon, Robert R.(1952– )
Robert McCammon is one of several writers who
took advantage of the popularity of horror in the
late 1970s to launch his career and one of the very
few to make the best-seller lists and appeal to a
wider audience than the hard-core fans originally
attracted to his work. His early novels, although
very well written, only hinted at the talent that he
would eventually reveal, partly because they make
use of plot devices that had already become overly
familiar. Baal(1978), his first novel, is, in fact, sim-
ply another variation of the son of Satan stories al-
ready done more successfully by Ira Levin in
ROSEMARY’S BABY(1967) and David Seltzer in THE
OMEN(1976), both of which became successful
movies. The child in this case is conceived through
rape and acquires supernatural powers as a conse-
quence, but the climax is predictable and some-
what flat.
Bethany’s Sin(1980) is a reversal of the situa-
tion in The Stepford Wives (1972), also by Ira
Levin. The protagonist stumbles upon a small town
whose men are kept in virtual slavery by a cult of
women who have cultivated supernatural powers
to protect their power base. Night Boat(1980) is
even more traditional, a ghostly revenge story, but
it is the most gripping of McCammon’s early nov-
els. A diver happens upon a sunken German sub-
marine from World War II. Although he is only
interested in salvage, he detects signals from inside
the boat, as though some of the crew had survived,
a circumstnce that is clearly impossible. Subse-
quent events proceed predictably but eerily as the
drowned sailors exact revenge on the living. In
each of these novels, the battle against supernatu-
ral evil is a reflection of a more mundane battle
that the protagonist is waging with his or her own
personal demons.
McCammon’s fourth novel signaled his emer-
gence from the ranks of mid-list writers. They
Thirst(1981) explores the logical consequences of
vampirism ignored by most other horror writers.
The rate of conversion is so rapid that efforts to
stem the tide fail, and eventually vampires virtually
rule Los Angeles. This is a much more ambitious
novel with a larger cast of viewpoint characters
and a substantially wider range of events, but de-
spite the grim nature of the plot, it is also sprinkled
with moments of sardonic humor, such as in the
sequence involving an undead disc jockey.
With Mystery Walk(1983) McCammon firmly
established himself as a major player in the horror
field. The story alternates between two seemingly
disparate men, one a faith healer and the other es-
sentially a medium. Neither man is particularly
good or particularly evil, and their relationship and
its effect on people around them is subtle, com-
plex, and insightful. It was the first novel to show
McCammon unmistakably drawing upon his own
sources of inspiration rather than the work of oth-
ers. It was followed promptly by Usher’s Passing
(1984), an even more impressive novel. The
novel’s premise is that Edgar Allan POEbased the
Ushers on a real family living in a remote part of
the South. One of the younger Ushers has re-
turned home intent upon severing the family’s re-
lationship with an arms manufacturer and
reclaiming their honor, but the situation is not as
simple as he initially believes. He finds himself
caught up in the same miasma of uncertainty andMcCammon, Robert R. 233