THE LINK
An Introduction
by Richard Matheson
Some years ago Stephen Deutsch (that was his last name at the time. He has since taken the last name of his natural father, Simon) and I discussed the possibility of presenting a lengthy drama for TV which would incorporate spiritualism, parapsychology, the occult and metaphysics all told through three major stories. Since Stephen had just produced my script for Somewhere In Time, I felt confidence in his ability to produce this story.
We approached Brandon Stoddard at ABC with the concept. Since great success for them had resulted from such mini-series as Roots and The Winds of War, it seemed an excellent company to consider. We were given a go-ahead for my idea which would also include brief contemporary events in this area as well as events throughout history and a detailed account of two major historic occurences-the true identity of Jack the Ripper through psychic means and the psychic elements involved in the sinking of the Titanic.
I spent the next year-and-a-half preparing the continuity for this massive undertaking. The entire four walls of a work room were covered with 3x5 file cards-all the elements of the proposed mini-series. Those were finally stitched together into an outline which I called The Link. (The significance of the word to be revealed at the conclusion of the main story.) Stephen, in a burst of enthusiasm had the outline (557 pages long) bound in leather which we submitted to Brandon Stoddard and his associates at ABC.
We quickly discovered that either they had lost interest in my "vision" or were staggered by the size and scope of it. They told us that the story might be workable as a 7-hour mini-series which would have to include yet another major story.
Common sense should have told me to forget any attempt to provide ABC with the project they wanted. Eventually I did just that, but not before I tried, in vain, to accommodate them within the seven-hour length.
In a state of monumental disappointment, I asked ABC if they would let me convert my outline into a novel. What they saw in that as potentially valuable to ABC I have no idea. But they said yes.
I spent the next year-and-a-half trying to novelize the outline, ending up with more than 800 pages which comprised part of Part One. My New York agent cautioned me against continuing the novel (which I estimated would probably be so huge it might very well be too expensive to sell).
Years went by. Then, riding to the rescue like some literary Lone Ranger, Barry Hoffman of Gauntlet Press offered to publish what portion of the novel I had written. Later, he amended his offer, preferring to publish my outline for The Link since it included the entire story I visualized. Later, he decided to use a portion of what I had written of the teleplay and the outline of The Link, calling the package a narrative, which now, in 2011, appears as an E-Book on the screen in front of you.