A Horror World Conversation with Richard Christian Matheson
By Steven E. Wedel

This month's guest is someone I have not had the privilege of meeting yet, but his name has been familiar to me since the mid-1980s when I'd read his stories in magazines borrowed from the rack at the grocery story where I worked.

Fortunately for you young'uns, most of those stories by Richard Christian Matheson have been collected and/or anthologized and you can still get at them one way or another. But, you don't have to take my word for the quality of his work. How about some blurbage?

Rolling Stone said, "Richard Christian Matheson is one of a handful of resourceful, fear-minded authors helping to create a new sensibility in horror fiction that is as frightening and merciless as the modern world itself." The New York Times thinks he's pretty OK, too, saying, "Richard Christian Matheson is a great, ingenious horror writer. His works are minor masterpieces."

He has written and co-written feature film and television projects for Richard Donner, Ivan Reitman, Joel Silver, Steven Spielberg, Bryan Singer, Roger Corman and many others. To date, Matheson has written and sold twelve original, spec feature scripts; considered a record. He has written pilots for comedy and dramatic series for SHOWTIME, FOX, NBC, ABC, TNT, HBO, FOX, SPIKE and CBS and served as head writer and Executive Producer for thirty network comedy and dramatic series. Matheson has had seven feature films produced, including the critically hailed, paranoid satire "THREE O'CLOCK HIGH."

His critically lauded fiction has been published in major, award-winning anthologies, including multiple times in YEARS BEST HORROR, YEARS BEST FANTASY as well as PENTHOUSE and OMNI magazines.

Stephen King compares Matheson to Ray Bradbury and terms his work, "Remarkable. The writing is finely tuned and has that rarest combination of style and narrative substance. Richard Christian Matheson is brilliant." Ray Bradbury calls Matheson's work "first class and stunning", and Clive Barker terms it "…devastating."

And now, without further ado, I give you Richard Christian Matheson …

Horror World: Richard, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Horror World. You’re a man with a lot of irons in the fire, so we really appreciate you taking this break to tell us about it all. Now, your Web site says you are a screenwriter, author and musician. Is that the order in which you prioritize the hats on your rack?

Richard Christian Matheson: Whatever needs to get done first goes to the front of the restless line.

HW: Let’s talk about the musician hat for a bit. You’ve been a skin-beater for over 30 years, studying with Cream drummer Ginger Baker. What made you want to be a musician, in general, and a drummer in particular?

RCM: As a kid, I tried other instruments but drums were it. I loved rhythm. My father saw I was serious about it and took me to nightclubs, when I was still underage, to see Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson perform with their big bands. They would come over and introduce themselves between sets; my version of meeting Babe Ruth. Years later, studying with Ginger Baker, one-on-one, was quite profound; like a Joseph Campbell experience. When he would show me a tricky beat or pattern and slip, the lesson for me was enduring and immediate; even masters stumble, so persist. Getting good takes practice. Getting really good takes obsession.

HW: A lot of young people dream about being rock stars, buy an instrument and it ends up holding dirty underwear. How did you stay motivated to keep at it?

RCM:  When you love something motivation is a non-issue.  

HW: As with most of what you’ve done, it’s hard to determine where to really begin talking about your musical career. Let’s start with The Rock Bottom Remainders and work toward Smash-Cut. How did you come to be involved in The Rock Bottom Remainders?

RCM: The book publicist who chaperoned me around San Francisco for my CREATED BY author’s tour had gotten to know the guys who she’d also chaperoned. We got to talking about music, I told her I was a drummer, she said the band was looking for a new drummer with the proviso the candidate was a published novelist. Few weeks later, I auditioned with the band at a club in San Francisco and they asked me to join them for a gig in Miami. They sent me the set list which I practiced and flew there, two days after my house in Malibu burned down. I welcomed the break; needed it. We rehearsed at Dave Barry’s house which was a blast and hung out in Miami going to movies and just fucking around. We played the Miami Book Fair a couple days later, in a fabulous nightclub in Miami. Kinky Friedman joined us on stage and Steve sang and the whole place went nuts. Steve and I took a limo to the after party at some mansion; talking and laughing like teenagers. I still have photos from backstage. Almost helped me forget my house was in ashes.

HW: How do the four of you determine when (or if) to get together and play a gig?

RCM: I played with them briefly. They work in mysterious ways.

HW: You’ve also played with The Smithereens. What can you tell us about that experience?

RCM: I always loved their music. Their leader, Pat Dinizio, asked me to sit in at an L.A. gig. I could hardly say no.

HW: How did Smash-Cut come about?

RCM: I played with Craig Spector and John Skipp in a band called BLOOD BROTHERS a few years back. After the band split up, I met Preston Sturges Jr. on the set of the TV version of THE SHINING which our pal Mick Garris was directing. He asked me, Preston, David J. Schow and some other writers to be in the film and we all flew up to Colorado where he was shooting. Between set-ups, Preston and I, cast as monsters in tuxedos, got to know each other and hit it off. We talked about everything, including music and stupid bands we’d both been in and having famous writing fathers. When we got back to L.A., he called me, said he was going into a studio to play, wanted to know if I was available. Our musical chemistry was instant. Next time we played, I invited Craig. We all fit with zero effort.  

HW: Smash-Cut is a blues/rock/jazz band. How do you fuse those elements?

RCM: Music is fluid. We’ve each been playing for decades, been in countless bands and comfortable with many styles. Great songs speak many languages.

HW: Tell us about the album. Is it out yet? Where will we be able to find it?

RCM: It’s out. Available at SMASHCUTMUSIC.

HW: Will you be touring? If so, where will we be able to find dates and venues?

RCM: No touring planned. Our writing schedules keep us busy.

HW: Okay, let’s shift gears for a minute and talk about fiction. You hit the public in about 1977 with your first publication, right? Tell us about the horror short story market at that time?

RCM: It was strong. New, interesting voices.  Passionate editors. I was selling stories everywhere, sometimes three at a time.

HW: Now, one has to ask if, back when you first began submitting, you got special consideration – or maybe were held to higher standards – because of your father’s fame. What do you think?

RCM: Both. But if my stories hadn’t held up, no editor was going to forgive or advocate me out of affection for him or his work.

HW: You obviously showed early on that you could stand on your own and present a unique horror story, as you were on the crest of that huge wave of dark fiction that rolled to shore in the 1980s. Why was horror so big at that time in our history?

RCM: Who knows? I recall the pathologies of our culture churning; a wave of post 70’s missteps cornering us.  There has always been pain and fear but the wobble seemed to get worse. The death of God as manipulative given, imploding role models.  Coke didn’t help; altering personal cause and effect; spinning clocks too fast. As some kind of representation, serial killing multiplied in that decade when strung-out moms gave birth to hundreds of sociopaths; one more illustration of impatience and bad choice. Maybe horror literature suited the whole anxious mood. We were ready to dive into blood, soak in it. Lions like my father, King, Straub, Barker and others were a fierce, literate reveille

HW: You’ve delivered a slew of excellent short stories since the late ‘70s, and all 75 of them can be found in your two collections, SCARS And Other Distinguishing Marks and DYSTOPIA. Your debut novel CREATED BY was also well received, but so far we only have the one long fiction work from you, and that was 16 years ago. Does the novel form just not appeal to you?

RCM: I concentrated on writing and producing movies and television which leaves little time for anything else. I’m just finishing a new novel and determined to publish more.

HW: Okay, this is threatening to be my longest interview, so we’re going to move along to the screenwriting, and throw in the producing, too. What is it you like most about the film medium?

RCM: When done well, its hypnotic effect.

HW: The screenwriting portion of your MySpace page is just mindboggling. You’ve worked with just about everyone who is anyone, including Steven Spielberg, Roger Corman, Richard Donner, Bryan Singer, Joel Silver, Tobe Hooper, Ridley Scott, Ivan Reitman all the major networks, adapted the works of Dean Koontz and Stephen King … What has been your most memorable experience as a screenwriter?

RCM: Seeing the finished film. Whether good or bad, it is always slightly overwhelming.

HW: Is your writing process different when you set out to write a script as opposed to a piece of fiction?

RCM: Somehow, though I can’t explain it exactly, they’re the same. I put on music and go into a kind of trance. I am supervisory and present yet elsewhere.

HW: Tell us about Shockers.tv.

RCM: It’s an Internet series I created. Each episode is five minutes or so and based on one of my published short stories. All designed to jolt. I’ve written and directed four, a very talented director from Belgium, Jonas Govaerts, has directed two. My creative partner in crime, Jason D. McKean, who also co-produced our SMASH-CUT album, produces, scores and adds a ton of cool, super talented stuff.  It’s self-financed, so we do exactly what we want and have had offers from several buyers.

HW: Besides everything else, you’re also considered an expert on the occult and were involved in the case on which the book and film THE ENTITY was based. A while back I interviewed another iconic horror author and he said he has no belief in the super-natural. How about you? Do you believe? Why?

RCM: Yes. There’s endless evidence although fear dissuades many. I saw undeniable things while working as a paranormal investigator for the UCLA Parapsychology Lab. Certainly, energy can be sentient, survive physical death and seems alterable but not reducible. Nothing dies, it transforms. What’s referred to as “the supernatural” is mostly energy somehow orphaned or in chaos.   

HW: All right, we’ve got to wrap this up, as you probably could have cranked out another screenplay in the time you’ve spent with us. Tell us what we can expect to see from you in the coming year or so.

RCM: A new novel. A novella from PW Publishing in the U.K. Several new short stories in various anthologies. A variety of TV, Film and Web projects including one Joe Dante is directing next week.  Maybe a new album.

HW: Going forward, how do you see yourself splitting your time between music, film and fiction?

RCM: Equally.

HW: Is there anything I should have asked, or any parting thoughts you’d like to share?

RCM: I’d like to encourage people to play a musical instrument. It will change your life.

HW: Richard, thank you again for your time, and for your huge contributions to the genre.

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