<Tr> <Th> Media type </Th> <Td> Paperback </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Pages </Th> <Td> 160 (1954 edition) </Td> </Tr> <P> I Am Legend is a 1954 science fiction horror novel by American writer Richard Matheson . It was influential in the development of the zombie - vampire genre of fiction, and in popularizing the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease . The novel was a success and was adapted into the plot of films, namely: The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), I Am Legend (2007), and the direct - to - video production I Am Omega (2007). The novel was also an inspiration behind Night of the Living Dead (1968). </P> <P> Robert Neville is the apparent sole survivor of a pandemic whose symptoms resemble vampirism . It is said that the pandemic was caused by a war, and that it was spread by dust storms in the cities and an explosion in the mosquito population . The narrative details Neville's daily life in Los Angeles as he attempts to comprehend, research, and possibly cure the disease, to which he is immune . Neville's past is revealed through flashbacks; the disease claimed his wife and daughter, and he was forced to kill his wife after she seemingly rose from the dead as a vampire and attacked him . Before he killed her, Neville says he did try to keep her with him but gives no details about this . </P>

Was the book legend made into a movie