But more often than easy dismissals, he'll have a story which is perhaps problematic when you consider the metaphor, but as surface level pulp is still a great little story. In "Lover, When You're Near Me" Matheson crafts an inspired tale on the horrors of women-run societies.

And I agree about his jokey mini stories. They're fun. The punchlines land. It makes me wish Rod Serling had pushed for Matheson to be a regular writer on Night Gallery. The co runner Jack Laird was responsible for a lot of short jokey segments that often didn't work at all.