In a 2013 article in The Guardian, writer Alison Flood eulogized Matheson's classic horror novel I Am Legend saying the vampires he created in 1954 were "so much scarier, so much more interesting and memorable and believable, than the hordes of pallid high–school students who keep springing up today." Consider Edward Cullen's wig officially snatched.

In press following I Am Legend's Vampire Novel of the Century award, which was won over Stephen King's Salem's Lot, and Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, The Guardian heaped even more praise upon Matheson, quoting his acceptance speech.

"I am certainly honored and delighted that you have chosen I Am Legend as the vampire novel of the century, which is a rather dubious but interesting distinction," said Matheson. "When I was a teenager I went to see Dracula with Bela Lugosi and at that time, even as a teenager, the thought occurred to me that if one vampire is scary, what if all the world were full of vampires?"

To imagine what other classics Matheson could have added to his name aside from the dozens he left us with is too bittersweet. If he'd only written a single novel, and that's as far as his career got, I Am Legend will truly live forever, much like the bloodsucking monsters within its pages.

HIDDEN GEMS: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

I Am Legend

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