Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

Horror Stories

By: Stephen King - introduction, Richard Matheson

Narrated by: Julia Campbell, Richard Powers, Malcolm Hillgartner, Arte Johnson, Jay Karnes, Ray Porter, Yuri Rasovsky, Lorna Raver

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the finest and most influential horror writers of the 20th century, Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Somewhere in Time) has left his stamp on the collective imagination. Here are more than 20 of Matheson's most memorable tales of fear and paranoia, personally selected by the author. Many of these stories have already entered into popular culture, including the title story, which became a landmark episode of The Twilight Zone, and "Duel", the nail-biting tale of man versus machine that inspired Steven Spielberg's first film.

Other stories include "First Anniversary", "Dress of White Silk", "Witch War", "Dance of the Dead", "Mad House", "Prey", "Blood Son", "Crickets", "Wet Straw", "The Children of Noah", "Through Channels", "Old Haunts", "Disappearing Act", "The Holiday Man", "Legion of Plotters", "The Distributor", "Long Distance Call", "Slaughter House", and "The Likeness of Julie".

Find out why Stephen King (who wrote the introduction) has called Matheson one of his favorite writers.

Narrated by Richard Powers, Malcolm Hillgartner, Arte Johnson, Jay Karnes, Ray Porter, Lawrence Pressman, Yuri Rasovsky, Lorna Raver, Ned Schmidtke, Conrad John Schuck, and Christine Williams.

©2002 RXR, Inc. (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The well-known title tale about a nervous air traveler is a showcase for the author's trademark less-is-more prose style, which suspensefully delineates a psychological tug-of-war between man and a monster that may be purely imagined. Timeless in their simplicity, [Matheson's] stories are also relentless in their approach to basic fears." (Publishers Weekly)

dark fantasy, but some of the stories are recycled

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would rerecord any narrations by Yuri Rasovsky. Many of the stories were recycled from the short stories in the I Am Leged collection.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The stories were so dark, I have listened to many Richard Matheson Stories, but these are easily the darkest and angriest

What three words best describe the narrators???s voice?

spitty slobbery gross

Was Nightmare at 20,000 Feet worth the listening time?

not really

Any additional comments?

I love Richard Matheson's writing, but this compilation just seemed lazy.

Good horror!

Great eerie stories...many were filmed and are worth watching; but great to hear the original stories.

A great narrative about normal people going crazy.

An entertaining read for the current generation of crazy people trying to redefine what’s normal.

An Excellent Collection

I've listened to numerous short story horror collections through
Audible and have to say that this is one of the finest. Unlike many other collections which tend to meander, wandering in and out of the horror genre, Mr Matheson's writing is pure terror; bold, original (even against contemporary authors) and, to quote Mr. King's introduction, 'unrelenting'. From the opening tale Matheson puts you on the edge of your seat and then never gives you a moments' rest! Well narrated, nice clear recording.

Some good old friends ad new ones

The collection of stories was pretty good. The last one, about the “One That Kills” doll

Wow

I love Steven King, this writer is as good or better! Listen to this. Good twists and turns of thought.

Solid Collection

I am surprised by how many of these stories worked for me. This is an easy recommendation for people who enjoy horror.

I tend to shy away from psycho-analyzing authors based on themes I see repeating in their work, but the whole, "People with tempers are awful" and "women are monsters who will devour you" might say a few things about Matheson's worldview.

The only thing I am left to wonder is how many of these stories created the concepts they explore. This work is decades old and Matheson was influential and well regarded even back then. It is possible that some of these stories progenerated the ideas in them, which is interesting.

leaves you wanting more

One amazing chiller after the next. couldn't wait to hear the next short story while still wanting more from the one before. The narration made me feel as I was part of the story not just listening to it.

Nice little collection

Matheson is new to me, but I have to say he's a very welcome change of scenery in my perspective. The stories are excellent and quite good at keeping my attention.

I would however recommend that the stories read by Yuri Rasovsky be re-recorded. I tried to get through "The Silk Dress" but had to quit. He strikes me as either being very new to voice acting or maybe he's just in a league of his own. In any case I found his work particularly hard to suffer and I proceeded to skip the other stories he's narrated in this collection. If I'd payed for this I would have been disappointed with the quality but as it currently is in my "included" portfolio, I could enjoy the rest of the stories without being too bothered with the hick-up of Mr. Rasovsky's narration.

Also: "The Holiday Man" really is a study in the letter "S" either through poor recording equipment or Julia Campbell's diction. In any case don't play it too loudly. 😉

All in all a nice little collection. :)

Great stories, not so much for the readers

I'm about 3 hours into the book, and, while I adore Richard Matheson stories, I'm not thrilled with some of the choice of readers. I find Yuri Rasovsky particularly hard to listen to. Might be different if this were a dramatization, but as a reader he's distracting.