Steel is a collection of short stories from author Richard Matheson, a prolific writer, mostly of TV. It's worth pointing that out because many of the betters ones in this collection feel like (or were!) TV scripts designed for an about hour of run time, minus commercials. So they're about two acts at best. That's fine, it works for short stories, it's just worth noting for anyone coming into it. Don't expect a lot of depth if that's what you want.

It's a really well-balanced collection; none of them are clunkers (although the finale was heading that direction), even though there were a couple I didn't like. The audiobook version was well-read by Scott Brick. Overall enjoyable. ( )

An interesting mix of stories. If you like classic science fiction (with some other things thrown into the mix), give this one a try. Scott Brick reads with his usual finesse. ( )

Matheson seems to see the worst in humanity and to spray that about.
I think every story was about a human being being irrational in one form or another.

I enjoyed these,[there was comic relief, even if in a bitter form] but would not want to read lots of books like this one right after the other. It would be too much. ( )

A free download from my local library by Black Stone Audio. Narrated by Scott Brick.

Steel was good, but the book descriptions tout that this is what the movie with Hugh Jackman in it was based on. OK, but the Twilight Zone episode with Lee Marvin in it was far more accurate to the story & really fantastic.

To fit the crime is a man dying & then what he finds in the afterlife. Pretty much perfect justice. Matheson's got a mean side, no doubt.

The wedding just goes to show there's nothing to all the superstitions surrounding the institution or is there? I repeat, Matheson has a mean side.

The conqueror is sad & so true. I wonder how often it really happens that way.

Dear diary LOL! Two girls' diaries 2000 years apart. Only the year has changed.

Descent just how much change can men take? Which choice would you have made? This story asks a very hard question.

The doll that does everything there really are people like this out there. If you have kids, this is truly horrible.

The Traveler I've read a lot of time travel stories, but few have ever made several points so well. Atheistic science meets religion & faith. Beautifully done. I don't think this was a Twilight Zone, but should have been.

When day is dun Very few can look into the soul of a poet or man & lay it as bare as Matheson. Wow! Just how far can ego take a man? Worse, it was believable.

The splendid source I read an SF story, also done in the 50's I believe, about where jokes came from. That one decided it was an alien test & once our computers had figured it out, humor was gone. Scary & shocking. I wondered if anyone could top it. Matheson gave it a good run. Interesting, although I don't really agree with his basic interpretation of what jokes are for or do in this story.

Lemmings was odd. Not really sure to make of it. Felt in some ways like a haunting fragment. I'm still thinking about it.

The edge was a nightmare for a man. Was this ever a Twilight Zone? Maybe part of one? Interesting idea.

A visit to Santa Claus is another nightmare of a man's own making. It went on a bit long building the tension, but never stopped. My mind kept writing the story after Matheson was done. Very well done!

Dr. Morton's folly is fun. Matheson never comes right out and tells us who or what the man with the bad tooth is. That's left to our imagination, although it is fairly obvious. Excellent.

The window of time is a new story & quite long winded, although with an interesting message & pretty good. One of the things I always liked about Matheson was his brevity. I'm sorry he seems to have lost it.

Overall, this was a pretty good listen. There are a couple of 5 star stories, so I rounded this up from a 3.5 to 4 stars. Only a couple of stories were misses. ( )

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

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. ( )