by Monnie

Created on: July 21, 2010

Richard Matheson is a horror writer best known for such iconic stories like I Am Legend, Somewhere In Time and Hell House. While he has written for other genres ranging from Westerns to Science Fiction his horror stories are the ones he is known for most. Richard Matheson, born in raised in New Jersey, is a veteran of World War II. He's a father of four children and currently resides in California. Richard Matheson has penned numerous short stories over his career and in The Box: You Are The Experiment by Richard Matheson some of these have been put together for one's reading pleasure. Tales of paranoia, supernatural, insanity and various other horrors are featured in this collection. One of the oddest tales is “The Creeping Terror”.

“The Creeping Terror” depicts a phenomenon and how it begins in Los Angeles. The odd happening is discovered by a professor of physics by the name of Dr. Grimsby. Originally this discovery was dismissed of having little importance. A few years later another odd event occurs when a farmer in Nebraska is shocked to find orange trees growing in the middle of his corn field. Soon these trees are taking over, threatening crops and alarm grows as this crazy event seems to be occurring in Colorado and other states as well. People begin dressing in skimpy clothing, an obsession with movies occurs and it seems the whole country is turning into……L.A.!

The story seems to be a skewering of the superficial culture and stereotypes Los Angeles is known for. This is a satirical piece and contains some humor along with a little science fiction. Most readers will find themselves laughing at the symptoms of this spreading disease which is called Ellietis. They will probably snicker when they comprehend the fact there are radical groups who want everyone to conform to the LA standards and are advocating for the country to become The United States of Los Angeles.

Matheson steps into the absurd and the results are interesting and thought provoking. While “The Creeping Terror” doesn’t even come close to being the best of his stories to have escaped his typing fingers its not hard to appreciate what he’s trying to do. If a reader tends to gravitate more towards his science fiction fueled compositions they will like this. If a reader enjoys the horror aspects more this might not be a favorite. Either way, Matheson keeps it interesting.

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