In the past few years, weve been losing some of the real pioneers and giants of geekdom, those individuals that stood above and apart from any genre distinction and crafted work after work that defined those arenas of science fiction, fantasy and horror that we take for granted today. In a years span that has seen the passing of Ray Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury, weve taken yet another blow in the form of Richard Matheson. Although any fanboy worth their salt can recite to you the merits of Matheson, I was always surprised at the relatively low level of acclaim that followed the man, a writer responsible for some of the best genre stories out there and a pioneer when it came to genre work on television. So much of the content we adore today can be traced back to things Matheson wrote or barriers he broke when he was in his prime. Is it any wonder that tweets from the likes of Neil Gaiman and Stephen King are reflecting the great impact he had on the current generation of writers and artists? In my own salute to the man, Im counting down ten great contributions he made to pop culture; some you are likely aware of and some not. From his prolific work on television, to his novels and screenplays, its clear that the genres we love would be in a very different place without his influence, and yet for most of his life I think that resonance was often overlooked in favor of flashier participants. Heres to you Mr. Matheson, a titan of your field, and one of the most uniquely creative storytellers weve ever had.