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

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.

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.

Prepare yourself to be entertained

Great compilation of short horror stories - most of which were greatly written and performed. Since I enjoy this genre of writing, I wasn’t scared at all but did appreciate the imaginative creations.

If you love classic horror…

If you love classic horror, this is for you! I grew up with Stephen King, The Twilight Zone, and the ladder. These stories have me a nostalgic feeling and pulled me in as expected. I still get scared listening/reading these stories. Please make more of these accessible to audible members! They’re awesome!👻🧟‍♀️💀🎃Happy Halloween!🎃✌🏼

This isn’t what I thought it would be.

Don’t be fooled…Stephen King does the introduction only! The screen on my cell is small, I only saw by SK.

Captivating

Each story is so thrillingly unusual and marvelously read! The man was a master of the short story.

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