To all GWC membersnd visitors. One of my favourite books. Please vote for this nomination so that we will have good memories of the story before Hollywood ruin it
… and, yes, a “How Hollywood ruined it” discussion would be good. It’s a novella, so it’s an easy read. Much to talk about.
One of my friends does a hilarious impression of of a Men In Black/Independence Day Will Smith in the context of I Am Legend: “I’m gonna bust your vampire ass!” It doesn’t really translate to text.
“I was a kind of like a one-man force,like Charleton Heston in Omega Man, eh?” – Doug McKenzie
I’ll third I Am Legend. A great story by a master sci-fi writer. A story you can really, ahem, sink your teeth into. And it would actually be very interesting to have the group-read in Dec, with the agreement that we read first, and then hit the movie theatre to see what Will hath wrot. It might be a case of great timing, and a way for us to compare book vs blockbuster. It’d be fun !
Wow, I just read I Am Legend. I had no preconceptions, never having seen The Omega Man. It is a powerful read, and Matheson is incredibly skillfull at creating suspense and tension. [spoiler] I also love the way he “rationalizes” the vampire legends. I was also very surprised at the ending. I wonder how closely the Will Smith vehicle will stick to that…! [/spoiler]
The edition I picked up (current mass market paperback tie-in) also has some of Matheson’s short stories in the back. So far, I’m not enjoying them as much. They seem rather sadistic and even misogynist (“The Near Dead” and “Prey,” e.g.). I realize Matheson wrote in a different era, but do they strike anyone else that way? Just wondering.
Just wanted to say thanks for bring up this book. I had never heard of it before but found it on the internet. Just got done reading it. Wow. The ending….I am Legend? Very cool stuff. I cant help imagine the movie will suck. I am going to give it a chance though.
I doubt the Will Smith version will stay too close.
[spoiler]Remember the huge fuss over the end of Million Dollar Baby?[/spoiler]
Well, they did keep the original title instead of changing it to “The Omega Man” (which I have never seen, btw). So there is hope. Granted, “I, Robot” was very different from the book – but, then again, the film was already in prep by the time the studio got the rights to the Asimov property; and the finished movie even acknowledged it was only “inspired by” the book. I really enjoyed the film of “I, Robot” on its own terms. (I would still love to see Harlan Ellison’s screenplay of it produced – check it out if you haven’t already! It’s available as an illustrated trade paperback.)
Yes, Lucky, the ending of the book was cool. Kind of makes you think, “All this has happend before…”, eh? <G>
I just finished reading the book and was horribly horribly disappointed to find the story ended with half a book left to go!!! 
I was only disappointed because the story was so fracking good and I wasn’t aware that the book was not all the same story. I read the first few stories and was not really interested in the horror stories so I stopped. I think the main story was excellent though.
Sorry about that Brittonlj. I should have mentioned that it is a novella of about roughly 100 - 150 pages and pdf’s can be downloaded from the Internet.
Hope you enjoyed the story. How close do you think the film will be to the book?
Hey, I’m not blaming anyone about that (except maybe the publisher). In general, I expect the movie to be loosely based on this story. I expect it to resemble the book about as much as Starship Troopers did. 
The story is one of the best works of fiction I’ve read in a long time. I’m aiming for the least expectations for the movie so hopefully I can be pleasantly surprised.
GWCers have spoken, and this month we’re going to take a collective look at I Am Legend by Richard Matheson – the basis of the recent movie of the same name featuring the ever-popular Will Smith.
Of course, Wikipedia indicates that this latest journey from tome to screen is the novel’s third, the first called simply The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price as “Dr. Robert Morgan.” Wikipedia goes on to suggest that Matheson removed his name from the original when he was unhappy with later re-writes.
The second – and more recently memorable – trek was titled The Omega Man, and starred Charlton Heston as the correctly-named Robert Neville. Unfortunately, Matheson also seems to have had no involvement in this film, and according to online sources it deviates significantly from the novel.
As someone who hasn’t read the book, I’m pretty excited to dive in.
Last month I read the book and watched both “Omega Man” and “I am Legend” so I’d be all ready to talk… now there’s a third movie? …jezzz… Here and I thought I’d done my homework… 
The book was short, but great. I would have prefered to share it with my 12-year-old son, but the main character was a little too sexual about the female vampires to make it PG-13 (in my mind). Omega Man was a great '70’s action flick with Heaston taking off his shirt every chance he got. Legend was fun, but I was fustrated that they didn’t choose to acknowledge that the alpha male monster was obviously smart enought to overcome Neville and was motivated by the theft of his mate. That sure wasn’t mindless monster-think…
As to the book itself. The new society that evolved to fill in the vacuum created by the loss of humanity was more interesting then anything developed in either movie. Neville accepted his obsolesence rather then doing the Christ-figure thing from Omega Man or the sacrifice of Legend. Humanity’s time is over, and he was forced to accept it.
— Dismal waiting for the Vincent Price download to finish so he can finish his homework
I completely and totally agree. I’ve also read the book a month or so ago - for the first time - and then I went and saw “I am legend” and I can only say that the ending of the movie was quite disappointing, it was way too happy/shiny, too Hollywoodesque, it doesn’t say anything about society or humankind (the ending, I mean), whereas the book at least had an interesting statement to make.
I’m very happy to have this suggestion chosen. This book is a fairly short read, but the story will stick with you for a long time (more so than the movie, imho). I read this when I was 11, I was bored one summer day and my dad grabbed the paperback out of his stack of books and I was hooked, my first grown-up sci-fi… I’ve read it dozens of times since. The story in the book is far superior to the movie imho, particularly the ending, as has been stated by others…I really missed the direct conflict between Cortman and Neville that was played so well in the book. To anyone who’s seen the movie but hasn’t read the book yet…go get the book, it’s written by a master, and while the basic premise will be familiar to you, the details are very, very different, but very, very good. I was pretty happy with the movie. The written story, though, it rocks.
As I was writing this I looked up Richard Matheson’s bio…the guy also wrote both the book and the screenplay “The Incredible Shrinking Man”, another classic !! 'nuff said ??
1st book I actually read woooooooooooooooooo
awesome, awesome read. I liked it a lot more than the movie simply because of the ending.
Congrats! I have to admit that I’m still struggling with Dune… (frankly this is the second time I’ve tried to read it, and I really hate it)…
— Dismal the worm hater
Great choice this month. One of the few books that has ever frightened me. The current movie does change things, but captures the loneliness of Neville very well. That’s the part that scares me. Enjoy everyone!
that’s awesome, I bought the book after I saw the movie. I think I’m going to rent Omega Man.
I haven’t seen Omega Man in a long time…but if memory serves, prepare yourself for some serious kitch. Some interesting psychological moments, but for the most part…kitch.
Oh yeah, Omega Man scared me and made me laugh at the same time. I love stories with post-apocalyptic menace. Not real big on Charlton Heston, tho.