Saturday, October 23, 2010

Richard Matheson - The Original Stories: The Gauntlet Chapbooks

by John Scoleri

In the first four parts of this ongoing series, I looked at Richard Matheson's short fiction appearances in Playboy, the Sci-Fi Pulps, the Mystery Digests, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. In this installment, I look at the original works that debuted as Gauntlet Chapbooks.

The Original Stories - Part 5: The Gauntlet Chapbooks

For the last several years, Barry Hoffman's Gauntlet Press has been the de facto home of Richard Matheson. In addition to reprinting his many classic works in signed, limited editions, Gauntlet has published many never before seen works. For a period of time, Gauntlet offered limited edition chapbooks containing short fiction, teleplays, and non-fiction for the Matheson completist as an incentive for customers ordering titles directly. As you'll see, most of these have since been collected in Off Beat and Matheson Uncollected Volume 1.


"And in Sorrow"
Cover by Harry O. Morris.
Gauntlet, 2000.

Subsequent appearances: Off Beat: Uncollected Stories

Notes: Originally published as a 200-copy, unsigned, numbered edition for customers who ordered Hunger & Thirst from Gauntlet.


"Life Size"
Cover by David Armstrong.
Gauntlet, 2001.

Subsequent appearances: Matheson Uncollected Vol. 1

Notes: Originally appeared exclusively in the 52-copy lettered edition of Subterranean Press' Off Beat. Reprinted in this Gauntlet Press Sampler also including original and reprint fiction from R.C. Matheson, Rain Graves, Barry Hoffman, and Clive Barker. Limitation not specified.

Illustration by Harry O. Morris


"Purge Among Peanuts"
Cover by Marcelo M. Martinez.
Gauntlet, 2001.

Subsequent appearances: Matheson Uncollected Vol. 1

Notes: Originally published as a 500-copy, signed, numbered edition for customers who ordered unspecified titles from Gauntlet.


"The Prisoner"
Cover by Marcelo M. Martinez.
Gauntlet, 2001.

Subsequent appearances: Off Beat: Uncollected Stories, Matheson Uncollected Vol. 1

Notes: Originally published as a 350-copy, unsigned, numbered edition for customers who ordered unspecified titles from Gauntlet.



"He Wanted To Live"
Cover by Michael Bayouth.
Gauntlet, 2002.

Subsequent appearances: Matheson Uncollected Vol. 1

Notes: Originally published as a 552-copy, unsigned, unnumbered edition for customers who ordered A Stir of Echoes from Gauntlet.


"Professor Fritz and the Runaway House"
Cover by Michael Bayouth.
Gauntlet, 2002.

Subsequent appearances: Matheson Uncollected Vol. 1

Notes: Originally published as a 404-copy, unsigned, unnumbered edition for customers who ordered ABU and the Seven Marvels from Gauntlet.


"14 Steps to Reality: Metaphysics for the Young"
Cover by Michael Bayouth.
Gauntlet, 2002.

Subsequent appearances: N/A

Notes: Non-fiction by Matheson (included here solely to maintain a complete list of the Matheson Gauntlet Chapbooks) published in an unspecified edition for customers who ordered A Primer of Reality from Gauntlet.


"Man With A Club"
Cover by Michael Bayouth.
Gauntlet, 2003.

Subsequent appearances: Matheson Uncollected Vol. 1

Notes: Originally published as a 552-copy, unsigned, unnumbered edition for customers who ordered Come Fygures, Come Shadowes from Gauntlet.


"Richard Matheson's Kolchak Scripts EXTRA!"
Cover by Bill Walker.
Gauntlet, 2003.

Subsequent appearances: N/A

Notes: Non-fiction (included here solely to maintain a complete list of the Matheson related Gauntlet Chapbooks) published in an unspecified edition for customers who ordered Richard Matheson's Kolchak Scripts from Gauntlet. Contains 7 photos and 3 illustrations and an introduction ("Picture Perfect?")


"The Last Blah In The Etc"
Cover by Harry O. Morris.
Gauntlet, 2004.

Subsequent appearances: Matheson Uncollected Vol. 1

Notes: Originally published as "All and Only Silence" in Off Beat: Uncollected Stories, and subsequently published as a 552-copy, unsigned, unnumbered edition for customers who ordered Darker Places from Gauntlet.

"Counterfeit Bills"
Cover by Harry O. Morris.
Gauntlet, 2004.

Subsequent appearances: Matheson Uncollected Vol. 1

Notes: Also includes an interview with Matheson conducted by William P. Simmons. which is about six times longer than the short story itself! Originally published as a 552-copy, unsigned, unnumbered edition for customers who ordered Duel & The Distributor from Gauntlet.


"1984 1/2"
Cover by Harry O. Morris.
Gauntlet, 2005.

Subsequent appearances: Matheson Uncollected Vol. 1

Notes: Originally published as a 552-copy, unsigned, unnumbered edition for customers who ordered Unrealized Dreams from Gauntlet.


"The Funeral: Teleplay"
Cover by Harry O. Morris.
Gauntlet, 2006.

Subsequent appearances: N/A

Notes: Originally published as a 552-copy, unsigned, unnumbered edition for customers who ordered Bloodlines from Gauntlet. Features and introduction by Mark Dawidziak. Included here solely to maintain a complete list of the Matheson Gauntlet Chapbooks.


There's more to come! Stay tuned for future installments of Richard Matheson - The Original Stories.




5 comments:

Matthew Bradley said...

For the record, "The Last Blah in the Etc" originally appeared in OFF BEAT as "All and Only Silence."

John Scoleri said...

Hey Matthew -

Thanks for pointing that out. Do you know the details behind the name change for the Gauntlet chapbook (and subsequent reprinting under "The Last Blah in the Etc" in Matheson Uncollected Volume 1)?

Matthew Bradley said...

I'm afraid all I know is what Richard wrote in his OFF BEAT afterword: "'All and Only Silence' was originally titled 'The Last Blah in the etc.' which [editor] Bill Nolan, correctly, did not think was a very good title and changed." No idea why Gauntlet reverted to the original title in its chapbook and UNCOLLECTED: VOLUME ONE.

John Scoleri said...

Thanks Matthew! I probably would have caught that when I got to the stories that originated in Matheson's own collections, but I appreciate the chance to fix it now. I wonder if as a result of the name change it slipped by Gauntlet as well.

Of course I should have also recalled it from The Matheson Companion, aka The Twilight and Other Zones, your indispensable guide to Matheson edited with Stan Wiater and Paul Stuve. No Matheson fan should be without it!

Matthew Bradley said...

Why, thank you, kind sir. I suppose the ultimate test is to say that I frequently need to refer to it myself!