by Richard Matheson
Button, Button: Uncanny Stories (2008)
* * * (Good) Science Fiction
Scientists prove that the city of Los Angeles is alive, and spreading outward across the country. As this creeping terror covers the land the people exposed begin to act differently, sometimes dangerously.
Formatted to appear as a true scientific article – complete with footnotes – the story comes to us in bits and pieces. With as crazy an idea as we have here, the format works to frame the craziness inside a border of authenticity we understand, we almost believe. And then again, you could look at the whole story as a metaphor, and not as science fiction, and be satisfied on a different level. I particularly enjoyed the image of the lone citrus tree popping up among the cornfields of the Midwest, and the famer’s wife’s sudden desire to “drive in to Hollywood.” Sometimes an image just fits the story so perfectly and memorably.
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