Several of Matheson's stories, including "
Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959), and "Button, Button" (1970), are simple sketches with
twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954), and "Mute" (1962), explore their characters' dilemmas over 20 or 30 pages. Some tales, such as "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) and "The Funeral" (1955), incorporate
satirical humor at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in bombastic prose that differed from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than those of scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and quotidian. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and "Duel" (1971), are tales of
paranoia, in which the commonplace environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
Sources of inspiration Matheson cited specific inspirations for many of his works.
Duel was derived from an incident in which he and friend Jerry Sohl were dangerously tailgated by a large truck on the same day as the
assassination of John F. Kennedy. ==Personal life and death==