Richard Matheson

Author Richard Burton Matheson was born in Allendale, New Jersey on February 20, 1926. His parents were Norwegian immigrants (who were named Bertolf and Fanny) and they divorced when Richard was only eight years old. He was later raised, by his mom, in Brooklyn, New York.

The best place to start is The Dark Descent series, the earliest of Richard Matheson's multi-book series: it opens with Volume I: The Color of Evil (1987) and runs to 3 books across 1987–1991, ending with Volume III:A Fabulous, Formless Darkness (1991). Richard Matheson's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Richard Matheson has 123 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1951 and 2020. 7 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being the Foundations of Fear Anthology series with 4 books — and 116 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Richard Matheson's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are The Dark Descent (1987–1991, 3 books) and Foundations of Fear Anthology (1992–1994, 4 books).

This guide splits Richard Matheson's 123 books into 2 named series and 116 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Foundations of Fear Anthology (4 books, 1992–1994); The Dark Descent (3 books, 1987–1991).