Born of Man and Woman

Born of Man and Woman is the first short story collection by Richard Matheson, featuring seventeen masterful early works that showcase the author’s unparalleled ability to dive into the dark and mysterious corners of the human psyche. From the unsettling title story which kicks off the collection—a harrowing tale of a grotesque creature’s desperate desire for freedom—to the thought-provoking “Third from the Sun” wherein a family attempts to escape impending nuclear disaster, these tales weave themes of existential dread and the supernatural. In “Dress of White Silk,” Matheson delves into the nature of life, death and the afterlife, while “Mad House” explores the terrifying unraveling of reality itself. These stories, among others in the collection provoke philosophical questions, leaving readers with a lingering sense of unease and wonder.

Out of print for more than five decades, Born of Man and Woman is the first short story collection by Richard Matheson, featuring seventeen masterful early works that showcase the author’s unparalleled ability to dive into the dark and mysterious corners of the human psyche. From the unsettling title story which kicks off the collection—a harrowing tale of a grotesque creature’s desperate desire for freedom—to the thought-provoking “Third from the Sun” wherein a family attempts to escape impending nuclear disaster, these tales weave themes of existential dread and the supernatural. In “Dress of White Silk,” Matheson delves into the nature of life, death and the afterlife, while “Mad House” explores the terrifying unraveling of reality itself. These stories, among others in the collection provoke philosophical questions, leaving readers with a lingering sense of unease and wonder. Born of Man and Woman was first published by Chamberlain Press in 1954, featuring fifteen short stories that had been previously published in magazines such as Galaxy, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science-Fiction and Thrilling Wonder Stories between the years 1950 and 1953, plus two new stories (“Dear Diary” and “The Traveller”) that were published for the first time in the collection.

A crushing, tragic masterpiece, “Born of Man and Woman” is the short story that introduced the world to Richard Matheson. The tale of an uneducated and abused child chained in its parents’ cellar, “Born of Man and Woman” is the child’s internal diary, written in poignantly broken English. In just a few pages, Richard Matheson delivers a story packed with powerful imagery so haunting and heartbreaking, it is unforgettable.