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Strange Eons
What men know is called science; what they have not yet learned they call magic. But both are real.... — In the world of today and the near future, three people inexorably linked by a common interest in the work of H. P. Lovecraft, discover: —
that the legendary creatures he created in his fantasies have hideous counterparts in reality...
that his fiction is incredible fact...
that his message is a warning...
Bloch was a protège of H. P. Lovecraft, and, at the age of fifteen, the youngest member of the "Lovecraft Circle." This book, based on Lovecraftian themes, is his homage to the man.
Of all the Lovecraft pastiches, Strange Eons most emphatically takes the bleak implications of his mythos to their logical conclusion.
Cover Art by David Hada
that the legendary creatures he created in his fantasies have hideous counterparts in reality...
that his fiction is incredible fact...
that his message is a warning...
Bloch was a protège of H. P. Lovecraft, and, at the age of fifteen, the youngest member of the "Lovecraft Circle." This book, based on Lovecraftian themes, is his homage to the man.
Of all the Lovecraft pastiches, Strange Eons most emphatically takes the bleak implications of his mythos to their logical conclusion.
Cover Art by David Hada
249 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
About the author
Robert Bloch
1,105 books1,325 followersRobert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer. He was the son of Raphael "Ray" Bloch (1884, Chicago-1952, Chicago), a bank cashier, and his wife Stella Loeb (1880, Attica, Indiana-1944, Milwaukee, WI), a social worker, both of German-Jewish descent.
Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, usually crime fiction, science fiction, and, perhaps most influentially, horror fiction (Psycho). He was one of the youngest members of the Lovecraft Circle; Lovecraft was Bloch's mentor and one of the first to seriously encourage his talent.
He was a contributor to pulp magazines such as Weird Tales in his early career, and was also a prolific screenwriter. He was the recipient of the Hugo Award (for his story "That Hell-Bound Train"), the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He served a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Robert Bloch was also a major contributor to science fiction fanzines and fandom in general. In the 1940s, he created the humorous character Lefty Feep in a story for Fantastic Adventures. He also worked for a time in local vaudeville, and tried to break into writing for nationally-known performers. He was a good friend of the science fiction writer Stanley G. Weinbaum. In the 1960's, he wrote 3 stories for Star Trek.
Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, usually crime fiction, science fiction, and, perhaps most influentially, horror fiction (Psycho). He was one of the youngest members of the Lovecraft Circle; Lovecraft was Bloch's mentor and one of the first to seriously encourage his talent.
He was a contributor to pulp magazines such as Weird Tales in his early career, and was also a prolific screenwriter. He was the recipient of the Hugo Award (for his story "That Hell-Bound Train"), the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He served a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Robert Bloch was also a major contributor to science fiction fanzines and fandom in general. In the 1940s, he created the humorous character Lefty Feep in a story for Fantastic Adventures. He also worked for a time in local vaudeville, and tried to break into writing for nationally-known performers. He was a good friend of the science fiction writer Stanley G. Weinbaum. In the 1960's, he wrote 3 stories for Star Trek.
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March 21, 2015
time again for LOVE ♥ CRAFT ♥ CONNECTION...
THE ♥ GAY ♥ EDITION!
this roman à clef features hunky bachelor CTHULHU and charming man-about-town NYARLOTHOTEP.
Cthulhu
Nicknames: The Many-Tentacled One, The Dweller in the Deep
Likes: dreaming, sending dreams to minions, the watery depths, water sports in general
Dislikes: locked gates, being stuck at the bottom of the ocean
Favorite Craft: although he enjoys the comforts of home and armchair traveling via the minds of his minions, Mr. Cthulhu also longs for freedom and adventure - and so his favorite hobby besides scrapbooking is planning fun ways to get out in the open and into the world.
What He Is Looking For: someone unafraid of genuine depth in another person; strong interest in immersing themselves in different cultures is a must.
(((((♥)))))
Nyarlothotep
Nicknames: The Black Man, The Crawling Chaos
Likes: crystals and other "New Age" curios, trying on different outfits and shapes and meat suits
Dislikes: racists, close-minded people :(
Favorite Craft: a natural orator, Mr. Nyarlothotep enjoys crafting motivational speeches for crowds of naive young people and various mongrel half-human races looking to take that next step into the beyond or as food for the Old Ones - wherever their hearts lie, he wants to make that happen!
What He Is Looking For: someone able to cast their innate biases and humanity aside, just let those preconceptions go and try something crazy & new!
__________
and now for the review:
sad to say, this is for Cthulhu completists only. the premise is fun: various characters realize that H.P. Lovecraft wasn't writing fiction at all, he was warning the world of the many dangers of the Old Ones! and off they go around the world, getting into horrific adventures on tropical islands, in the middle of the ocean, on jets and in churches and in dusty little offices and rich bachelor pads. unfortunately the execution is middling at best. although Bloch knows pacing and how to build an intriguing narrative full of weird imagery, unfortunately his actual prose is dull as dishwater (and other cliches). he betrays a certain reactionary, old man-ish stodginess whenever the topic of Youth Culture comes up - rather amusing at first but it quickly became annoying. I didn't appreciate the inclusion of a tired rape joke (the if-you-can't-stop-it-then-sit-back-and-enjoy-it one). but the most egregious flaw runs through the novel from beginning to end: characters can't stop commenting on how this or that scary situation is just like this or that particular Lovecraft story and hey, let's just describe that story, right now in the middle of the action. this happens again and again and again. ugh, so tiresome.
but this isn't a 1 star book, it does have its virtues. a surprising change in protagonists was a strength. the narrative shifts into the future for its last quarter, and I loved that. the novel also depicts the beginning of the end of the world due to Nyarlothotep's scheming and the eventual rise of Cthulhu, and I loved that too. the images of Los Angeles going down in flames then earthquakes then floods were quite pleasing, because I have also imagined such things when trying to cheer myself up.
THE ♥ GAY ♥ EDITION!
this roman à clef features hunky bachelor CTHULHU and charming man-about-town NYARLOTHOTEP.
Cthulhu
Nicknames: The Many-Tentacled One, The Dweller in the Deep
Likes: dreaming, sending dreams to minions, the watery depths, water sports in general
Dislikes: locked gates, being stuck at the bottom of the ocean
Favorite Craft: although he enjoys the comforts of home and armchair traveling via the minds of his minions, Mr. Cthulhu also longs for freedom and adventure - and so his favorite hobby besides scrapbooking is planning fun ways to get out in the open and into the world.
What He Is Looking For: someone unafraid of genuine depth in another person; strong interest in immersing themselves in different cultures is a must.
(((((♥)))))
Nyarlothotep
Nicknames: The Black Man, The Crawling Chaos
Likes: crystals and other "New Age" curios, trying on different outfits and shapes and meat suits
Dislikes: racists, close-minded people :(
Favorite Craft: a natural orator, Mr. Nyarlothotep enjoys crafting motivational speeches for crowds of naive young people and various mongrel half-human races looking to take that next step into the beyond or as food for the Old Ones - wherever their hearts lie, he wants to make that happen!
What He Is Looking For: someone able to cast their innate biases and humanity aside, just let those preconceptions go and try something crazy & new!
__________
and now for the review:
sad to say, this is for Cthulhu completists only. the premise is fun: various characters realize that H.P. Lovecraft wasn't writing fiction at all, he was warning the world of the many dangers of the Old Ones! and off they go around the world, getting into horrific adventures on tropical islands, in the middle of the ocean, on jets and in churches and in dusty little offices and rich bachelor pads. unfortunately the execution is middling at best. although Bloch knows pacing and how to build an intriguing narrative full of weird imagery, unfortunately his actual prose is dull as dishwater (and other cliches). he betrays a certain reactionary, old man-ish stodginess whenever the topic of Youth Culture comes up - rather amusing at first but it quickly became annoying. I didn't appreciate the inclusion of a tired rape joke (the if-you-can't-stop-it-then-sit-back-and-enjoy-it one). but the most egregious flaw runs through the novel from beginning to end: characters can't stop commenting on how this or that scary situation is just like this or that particular Lovecraft story and hey, let's just describe that story, right now in the middle of the action. this happens again and again and again. ugh, so tiresome.
but this isn't a 1 star book, it does have its virtues. a surprising change in protagonists was a strength. the narrative shifts into the future for its last quarter, and I loved that. the novel also depicts the beginning of the end of the world due to Nyarlothotep's scheming and the eventual rise of Cthulhu, and I loved that too. the images of Los Angeles going down in flames then earthquakes then floods were quite pleasing, because I have also imagined such things when trying to cheer myself up.
October 25, 2015
What's the best way to write a Lovecraftian book? Be a member of the Lovecraft Circle.
Robert Bloch, having sold his first story at 18, is a near-endless source of wonder and envy for me. Having known H.P. Lovecraft, he's one of the few perfect choices to play in Howie's sandbox. I've wanted to see how it turned out for years, but until a dear friend and talented podcaster sent me a copy, I couldn't get my hands on one.
Now that I have it, I can legitimately say this is wonderfully different than any Lovecraftian story I've read.
Move Cthulhu Mythos books start with a slow burn, leading to the revealing of the cult or the finding of the journal/blog/cave writing. Things start to pick up until tentacles start flying everywhere. I assumed something similar would happen here.
Did I mention Robert Bloch wrote Psycho?
Bloch, master of human horror, focuses on that oft-neglected member of the Lovecraftian ecosystem: the cultist. He wants you to know exactly how scary a world-spanning conspiracy of murderous religious fanatics would be, and it works. The humans are the real monsters, and they're more than enough to replace the ubiquitous shoggoths and elder gods that usually pop up.
The original The Call of Cthulhu certainly laid the groundwork. We learn that the protagonist's relative was jostled by a sailor and died unexpectantly and that narrator dies at the cults hands by page two. Yeah, "The Madness from the Sea" section is the story's money shot, but the cult's lethality hangs over the beginning and end of that seminal text.
So too with Bloch. Why have monsters tear people apart when paranoia and tension do the same job? Hell, he pulls one of the same plot twists early on that Psycho does, and it is absolutely as effective. The Cthulhu Cult is well-equiped, omnipresent, bloody-minded, and thorough.
Also, they've read Lovecraft and try to keep a sense of humor about the thing.
Things go about as well for the protagonists as you'd expect, and it's a great ride along the way. It makes me want to see more Cthulhu Mythos stories with cultists as the antagonists instead of the appetizers. If you can get your hands on a copy, give it a shot. Its difference from the mass of Lovecraft imitators may unsettle you. Hell, it may shake your very sanity.
But we all go a little mad sometimes.
Robert Bloch, having sold his first story at 18, is a near-endless source of wonder and envy for me. Having known H.P. Lovecraft, he's one of the few perfect choices to play in Howie's sandbox. I've wanted to see how it turned out for years, but until a dear friend and talented podcaster sent me a copy, I couldn't get my hands on one.
Now that I have it, I can legitimately say this is wonderfully different than any Lovecraftian story I've read.
Move Cthulhu Mythos books start with a slow burn, leading to the revealing of the cult or the finding of the journal/blog/cave writing. Things start to pick up until tentacles start flying everywhere. I assumed something similar would happen here.
Did I mention Robert Bloch wrote Psycho?
Bloch, master of human horror, focuses on that oft-neglected member of the Lovecraftian ecosystem: the cultist. He wants you to know exactly how scary a world-spanning conspiracy of murderous religious fanatics would be, and it works. The humans are the real monsters, and they're more than enough to replace the ubiquitous shoggoths and elder gods that usually pop up.
The original The Call of Cthulhu certainly laid the groundwork. We learn that the protagonist's relative was jostled by a sailor and died unexpectantly and that narrator dies at the cults hands by page two. Yeah, "The Madness from the Sea" section is the story's money shot, but the cult's lethality hangs over the beginning and end of that seminal text.
So too with Bloch. Why have monsters tear people apart when paranoia and tension do the same job? Hell, he pulls one of the same plot twists early on that Psycho does, and it is absolutely as effective. The Cthulhu Cult is well-equiped, omnipresent, bloody-minded, and thorough.
Also, they've read Lovecraft and try to keep a sense of humor about the thing.
Things go about as well for the protagonists as you'd expect, and it's a great ride along the way. It makes me want to see more Cthulhu Mythos stories with cultists as the antagonists instead of the appetizers. If you can get your hands on a copy, give it a shot. Its difference from the mass of Lovecraft imitators may unsettle you. Hell, it may shake your very sanity.
But we all go a little mad sometimes.
January 3, 2017
I don't often make it a habit to read Lovecraft pastiches, seeing as how (with some exceptions to the rule) the end results are often on the dire side: however, this book is often namechecked by the occultist Kenneth Grant in the latter volumes of his Typhonian Trilogies, so naturally I was somewhat curious about its contents (it was also highly praised by S.T. Joshi in his book The Rise and Fall of the Cthulhu Mythos, though he was also quick to point out that as good as it was, it was still not a masterpiece of literature). I haven't read all that much of Bloch's work, aside from a few of his Mythos short stories and, of course, his novel Psycho. As for this book, I agree with Joshi that, while entertaining, it is not a masterpiece, but still enjoyable enough, and a good way to kill a few days. The version of this book I own (a first edition hardcover) is quite a nice product: I like the quasi-psychedelic artwork on the front and back cover (courtesy of Richard Powers), and the black & white illustrations by John Stewart in the book's interior sections are quite nice as well. As for the actual story, it's fun in a pulpy way, written in a fairly evocative prose style, with a lot of shout-outs and in-jokes to the life and work of Lovecraft and some surprising plot twists (though some of the plot twists are also, at the same time, fairly obvious: if you can't figure out, just from the way he's physically described in the first scene, that Reverend Nye is actually Nyarlathotep, then you obviously have not read a lot of Lovecraft). Part of the fun of the book is that it is (for the most part) set in Los Angeles in what was then modern-day 1978, and as a result there is a lot of dated pop culture references and lingo, such as Sonny & Cher, Women's Lib, the Hare Krishna, characters using words and phrases like "far-out," "tripping," and so on: it's also probably the only novel set in the Cthulhu Mythos universe that has Nyarlathotep saying dialogue like "Who is this turkey and what's all this far-out jive he's laying on us?" My only real issue with the book is its third and final part, which seems oddly abbreviated and not as fleshed-out as the first two sections, though there is some nice apocalyptic imagery employed.
On a side note, I seriously wonder if Alan Moore has ever read the book in his Lovecraftian researches, because some of the major plot points from his Lovecraft comic books (such as "The Courtyard," "Neonomicon" and "Providence"), can first be found here: namely, a woman becoming pregnant with the literal seed of Cthulhu and characters investigating the possibility that Lovecraft was secretly writing factual material, not fiction.
On a side note, I seriously wonder if Alan Moore has ever read the book in his Lovecraftian researches, because some of the major plot points from his Lovecraft comic books (such as "The Courtyard," "Neonomicon" and "Providence"), can first be found here: namely, a woman becoming pregnant with the literal seed of Cthulhu and characters investigating the possibility that Lovecraft was secretly writing factual material, not fiction.
March 19, 2013
-Honores y desorden, con la mejor de las intenciones.-
Género. Narrativa fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. El habitante más conocido de R´lyeh va a salir de su sueño muy pronto, y la compra de un inquietante cuadro desencadena una serie inesperada de acontecimientos…
¿Quiere saber más del libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Narrativa fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. El habitante más conocido de R´lyeh va a salir de su sueño muy pronto, y la compra de un inquietante cuadro desencadena una serie inesperada de acontecimientos…
¿Quiere saber más del libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
February 10, 2023
Twists and surprises in Block fashion abound as he returns to mythos territory. Here H.P. Lovecraft’s tales mask a secret reality, and Block weave aspects of many stories into a contemporary—for the 1970s—conspiracy to unleash the dark power of the Elder Gods. A few wild leaps keep the story moving. This is about plot and not character so much, but it’s an entertaining ride.
May 3, 2012
Robert Bloch's best book after Psycho and one of the best novels based on Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
July 1, 2014
-Honores y desorden, con la mejor de las intenciones.-
Género. Narrativa fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. El habitante más conocido de R´lyeh va a salir de su sueño muy pronto, y la compra de un inquietante cuadro desencadena una serie inesperada de acontecimientos…
¿Quiere saber más del libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Narrativa fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. El habitante más conocido de R´lyeh va a salir de su sueño muy pronto, y la compra de un inquietante cuadro desencadena una serie inesperada de acontecimientos…
¿Quiere saber más del libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
June 21, 2012
I love the cold, cosmic horror H.P. Lovecraft gave to the world. I love the darkly grinning and malevolently winking nightmares of Robert Bloch. Combine the two and you get one hell of a book any fan of the Cthulhu Mythos, Mr. Bloch, and especially those who love both, should read at once. This right here is the good stuff.
October 17, 2026
The October 1927 issue of the classic pulp magazine "Weird Tales" was, in most respects, a very typical one for its era, although it would wind up having a profound effect on a certain precocious 10-year-old at the time. In that issue-- just one of the 279 that "Weird Tales" released during its classic period from 1923 to 1954--appeared such luminaries as Edmond Hamilton, beginning his serial "The Time-Raider"; the magazine's most-published writer, Seabury Quinn, with another of his Jules de Grandin stories, "The Poltergeist"; Robert E. Howard's poem entitled "The Ride of Falume"; Donald Wandrei's "The Red Brain"; Nictzin Dyalhis' "The Dark Lore," which copped the front-cover treatment for that issue; Otis Adelbert Kline's capper for the series entitled "The Bride of Osiris"; E. Hoffmann Price's story "Saladin’s Throne-Rug"; and others. Oh...and there was also a nine-page offering entitled "Pickman's Model," from the Providence-based author Howard Phillips Lovecraft. (The "Weird Tales" reader surely did get a lot for his/her 25 cents back when!) And it is the Lovecraft story that made such a seismic impact on the young, Chicago-born Robert Bloch at the time.
Flash forward to 1933, and the now-16-year-old Bloch works up the courage to ask his favorite "WT" author, via the magazine, for help in tracking down the 43-year-old's early stories. The two begin a correspondence, and Lovecraft soon encourages the teenager to begin writing stories on his own. When Bloch does so, Lovecraft offers advice and encouragement, leading to the young Bloch also becoming a "Weird Tales" contributor. (In fairness, it should be added that Bloch was not the only aspiring author to whom HPL extended these courtesies; August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long and others were all beneficiaries of the Sage of Providence's mentorship; the so-called Lovecraft Circle.) Many of Bloch's earliest stories, such as "The Mannikin," "The Dark Demon," "The Faceless God" and "The Shambler From the Stars" (all to be found in his first collection, 1945's "The Opener of the Way"), showed the HPL influence quite strongly, even becoming subsumed into the so-called Cthulhu Mythos. Indeed, for that last story, Bloch famously received Lovecraft's written permission to kill off a thinly disguised portrait of the man; Lovecraft would return the favor in his 1936 story "The Haunter of the Dark." In this tale, not only did Lovecraft kill off a character named "Robert Blake," but he also dedicated the story to Robert Bloch...the one and only time HPL dedicated one of his works to anyone! Eventually, Bloch's writing style would mature, and as he found his own voice he grew less and less inclined to merely ape his hero's manner of presentation, especially after HPL's premature passing in 1937. But Bloch's love for Lovecraft endured throughout his life. In a 1983 interview, conducted when Bloch was 66, he was asked "Would you say that you owe your career to [Lovecraft]?" To which he responded "I most certainly do! And I've never ceased to be grateful to him for it." And indeed, five years earlier, Bloch had come out with his first piece of Lovecraftian fiction in many decades; a tribute of sorts to the man who had jump-started his career. And that book, indeed, is the one that I've just had so much fun with, namely "Strange Eons."
"Strange Eons" initially appeared in 1978 as a $12 hardcover from the specialty publisher Whispers Press, and featuring cover art by the great Richard Powers. A $1.95 paperback from Pinnacle Books came out the following year, and between 1980 and 2003, editions in French, Spanish, Italian and German. But a full 46 years would elapse before the fine folks at Valancourt Books opted to resurrect the book for an English-speaking audience, and it is that 2025 edition, boasting a very fine intro from horror author David V. Schow (co-author of one of my bibles, "The Outer Limits: The Official Companion"), that I was more than happy to lay my hands on. And I do believe that any old fan of Lovecraft and/or Bloch will feel the same.
Bloch's novel has as its central conceit the notion that Lovecraft was not merely writing outre fiction, but rather thinly disguised warnings to the world regarding actual cosmic entities that he had been made aware of! The book is divided into three stories of unequal length. In the novelette-length first section, entitled "Now," we are introduced to a wealthy curio collector named Albert Keith, who falls in love with a painting of a hideous, caninelike demon, buys it for $500, and brings it back to his Los Angeles home. When his friend, Lovecraft enthusiast Simon Waverly, sees it, he swears that it is the spitting image of the painting depicted in HPL's story "Pickman's Model." And this sets off a chain of inconclusive thought: Was the painting done as a tribute to Lovecraft's story, or could HPL have written his story based on what the artist actually saw? As the two m’s third section, a longish short story called “Soon,” jumps forward in time 25 yen prosecute their investigations, everyone connected to the painting is brutally murdered around them. Ultimately, Keith takes off for Tahiti, after a massive quake levels a good portion of L.A. Chartering a boat, he attempts to find the legendary R'lyeh, the sunken city where the Elder God Cthulhu had been imprisoned before it was raised above the waters, as depicted in Lovecraft's 1928 story "The Call of Cthulhu." But when the island turns out to be anything but myth, things do not go at all well for Albert Keith....
In the second section, the novella-length "Later," government operatives contact Kay Keith, Albert's ex-wife, who is currently working as a model, to ask for her help in an investigation they are conducting. Could the recent quake actually have something to do with the final days presaging the Elder Gods' return? Could the black preacher, Reverend Nye, who leads the congregation at the Starry Wisdom Temple, actually be Nyarlathotep, the black messenger of those Elder Gods? When the reverend asks Kay to do a photo shoot for the temple, she thus keeps the appointment, and later explores Nye's bizarre underground installation that is located north of Malibu. Eventually, however, Kay is abducted and brought to lonely Easter Island, where again, things do not go well....
The book's third section, a longish short story called "Soon," jumps forward in time 25 years, and introduces us to a cub reporter named Mark Dixon. After more than two decades of comparative calm, troubles have started anew. Political assassinations have become rampant, as had been the case 25 years before, and a group called the Black Brotherhood has begun making claims that the government's A-bombing of Easter Island back when had been unsuccessful in its attempt to destroy Cthulhu. And then, after an even more monstrous quake hits Los Angeles, and humanoids that are part man, part fish kidnap Dixon to rescue him from the coastal inundation, it begins to appear that things will not be going well for the reporter either...or for the world....
It occurs to me that this capsule summary of Bloch's fairly terrific piece of work does not at all give a sense of the complexity of the novel's plot, or of the suspense and paranoia engendered as the story chugs along. In an effort to not ruin the fun for anyone, I have deliberately avoided mentioning any of this novel's many surprises, which seem to pop up with shocking effect on practically every other page! The book certainly is a thrill ride, besides being a moving tribute and homage to a writer highly esteemed by Robert Bloch, who was clearly having a ball here. This work was obviously a labor of love for the "Psycho" author, whether he's discussing Lovecraft's work and his biography, or having HPL's tentacled monstrosities and their acolytes rain havoc on the planet. The book is also a true horror novel in that something absolutely horrifying is forced upon each section's main character. The novel has a very high body count--a nearly total body count, actually--and I would advise readers to not grow overly attached to any one character. All of these deaths are unfailingly stunning. Paranoia, as mentioned, reigns supreme here, especially in the first two sections, with none of our protagonists ever being able to know who is an Elder God disciple and who isn't.
Bloch's novel made me wish that I had read the complete Lovecraft more recently, instead of--can it possibly be?--around 35 years ago. Still, all the HPL stories referenced by Bloch here are thoroughly gone over and explained for the reader. Bloch's enthusiasm is infectious, and anyone who experiences "Strange Eons" will surely come away with a desire to either make Lovecraft's acquaintance for the first time or--as was the case with me--refamiliarize oneself with those old classics. If Bloch's primary goal here was to drum up a new appreciation for his onetime mentor, his work must be deemed a complete success. A remarkable number of Lovecraft stories and longer pieces are discussed in the novel; namely "Pickman's Model," "The Lurking Fear," "The Picture in the House," "The Rats in the Walls," "Arthur Jermyn," "The Dunwich Horror," "The Statement of Randolph Carter," "The Whisperer in the Darkness," "The Haunter of the Dark," "The Strange High House in the Mist," "The Shunned House," "Cool Air," "He," "The Festival," "The Terrible Old Man," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," "At the Mountains of Madness," "The Shadow Out of Time," "The Colour Out of Space," "The Dreams in the Witch-House," "Dagon," "The Temple," "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" and "The Thing on the Doorstep." Remarkably, each one of these stories does have a connection to the events that we read about here. And surprisingly, no mention is made of what might be my personal favorite Lovecraft work; his only novel, the posthumously released "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." Go figure.
As might be expected, "Strange Eons" is a very fast-moving affair and terrifically written by the old pro that Bloch had become by this point. Any number of impressive shock sequences are given to the reader, but again, to avoid spoilers, I will limit myself by mentioning only three, one from each section. In the first, Albert Keith, having befriended an English Army officer of seeming trustworthiness and hired a non-English-speaking crew, discovers the oozing island that is R'lyeh, with its "cyclopean citadel" replete with a "crazily-angled stone staircase that was not meant or fashioned for mortal tread"...and encounters the horror within! In the second, Kay explores the underground labyrinth of Reverend Nye, discovers human bodies in cryogenic freeze, is chased by hundreds of rats, and flees from a flopping monstrosity that is mercifully obscured in the darkened cavern. And in the third, Dixon and his girlfriend flee for their lives across a cemetery in the middle of an earthquake, the ground of which is torn apart to reveal hideous, caninelike demons that have tunneled out a warren to better feast on the interred cadavers. These are all thrilling horror set pieces, brilliantly tossed off with seeming ease by an old master. But really, examples of Robert Bloch's simply worded but highly effective writing style abound here. Some examples: Here, Albert Keith marvels at the mess that he has suddenly descended into:
"...It seemed to Keith as though he himself had been living in some sort of envelope all these years, moving through life with the special handling accorded the fortunate few whose means insulate them from unpleasant contacts and conditions. Then, a week ago, the seal had somehow been broken and he'd suddenly been exposed to--what? Certainly not reality. For recent events coincided with no concept of reality as he understood it. But perhaps most people, rich and poor alike, lived in sealed envelopes; narrow, almost two-dimensional confines which constricted their vision and afforded no glimpse of the world outside or what was actually happening to them. Sped through life by mechanical means they couldn't imagine or comprehend, sorted and handled by entities whose very existence was undreamed of, they travelled through space and time to unguessed dimensions. But now, outside the protection of the envelope, the narrow view widened, revealing limitless vistas, and the paper-thin sheet on which sanity is lettered was exposed to great winds blowing from gulfs beyond the stars...."
And here, Kay stands in her missing ex's room, looking about at Albert's curio collection:
"...the sun was gone now, and the shadows were everywhere. Creeping out of the corners, slithering from the walls, crawling across the floor, looming all around her. In the shadows the masks could move their mouths, the figures in the cabinet stared through the glass, the face of the shrunken head contorted in a ghastly grin. Logic blossoms in the light of day, but when the night comes it withers quickly at a shadow's touch. Then the darker flowers bloom and writhe, pouring forth the perfume of fear. They sway in the shadows, and the shadows sway with them...."
For the rest of it, Bloch's book further impresses the reader with its fidelity to detail. He obviously knew the city of L.A. well, and his descriptions of Tahiti and Easter Island are equally convincing. A Long Beach bookstore called Acres of Books is referenced, and as many California residents will tell you, it did actually exist...until 2008, at least. And my goodness, did Bloch ever know his Lovecraft inside and out, as well as the biographies of him, three of which are referenced here. "Strange Eons" makes for a very fine addition to the Cthulhu Mythos, although it is not written in the Lovecraft style that Bloch essayed to emulate when he was a novice. Still, I can't help feel that HPL might have smiled upon this effort with decided approbation. The book is surprisingly light on the humor that so frequently crops up in Bloch's writing, although there is one amusing, meta moment when Waverly refers to Lovecraft once "giving another author permission to use him as a character in a story"! That author, as I mentioned earlier, was of course Bloch himself. But even if the humor here is kept to a minimum, Bloch's merriment, again, is infectious. And oh...my thanks to Bloch for turning me on to the words "myxa" and "usnea humana"; I don't think I'd ever encountered those before!
I have very few quibbles to raise regarding Bloch's hugely entertaining work here. Oh, in one section, Kay is told that the Learjet that she is on will travel from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles in three hours, but since the top speed of a Learjet is around 620 mph, that seems highly unlikely. And then there is the little matter of Waverly lending Albert Keith all of Lovecraft's writings, as well as three biographies, which Keith manages to read in...three days? Is that even possible? Certainly not for this reader! But really, that's about it.
I regret to add that this particular Valancourt edition contains more typographical errors than is the norm for this typically immaculate publisher. Usually, if you find a single typo in a Valancourt book, it is a very rare occurrence, and this volume happened to contain a good four or five! Still, my other two favorite publishers, Armchair Fiction and Ramble House, would be lucky if they could produce a book with fewer than a half dozen typos. And again, as mentioned, your options for finding this very dark fantasy are extremely limited today. As for myself, I am now highly desirous of checking out the other two Bloch novels in the current Valancourt catalog, namely "The Scarf" (1947) and "The Night of the Ripper" (1984), and I hope to be experiencing both of those very shortly....
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of both H. P. Lovecraft and Robert Bloch....)
Flash forward to 1933, and the now-16-year-old Bloch works up the courage to ask his favorite "WT" author, via the magazine, for help in tracking down the 43-year-old's early stories. The two begin a correspondence, and Lovecraft soon encourages the teenager to begin writing stories on his own. When Bloch does so, Lovecraft offers advice and encouragement, leading to the young Bloch also becoming a "Weird Tales" contributor. (In fairness, it should be added that Bloch was not the only aspiring author to whom HPL extended these courtesies; August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long and others were all beneficiaries of the Sage of Providence's mentorship; the so-called Lovecraft Circle.) Many of Bloch's earliest stories, such as "The Mannikin," "The Dark Demon," "The Faceless God" and "The Shambler From the Stars" (all to be found in his first collection, 1945's "The Opener of the Way"), showed the HPL influence quite strongly, even becoming subsumed into the so-called Cthulhu Mythos. Indeed, for that last story, Bloch famously received Lovecraft's written permission to kill off a thinly disguised portrait of the man; Lovecraft would return the favor in his 1936 story "The Haunter of the Dark." In this tale, not only did Lovecraft kill off a character named "Robert Blake," but he also dedicated the story to Robert Bloch...the one and only time HPL dedicated one of his works to anyone! Eventually, Bloch's writing style would mature, and as he found his own voice he grew less and less inclined to merely ape his hero's manner of presentation, especially after HPL's premature passing in 1937. But Bloch's love for Lovecraft endured throughout his life. In a 1983 interview, conducted when Bloch was 66, he was asked "Would you say that you owe your career to [Lovecraft]?" To which he responded "I most certainly do! And I've never ceased to be grateful to him for it." And indeed, five years earlier, Bloch had come out with his first piece of Lovecraftian fiction in many decades; a tribute of sorts to the man who had jump-started his career. And that book, indeed, is the one that I've just had so much fun with, namely "Strange Eons."
"Strange Eons" initially appeared in 1978 as a $12 hardcover from the specialty publisher Whispers Press, and featuring cover art by the great Richard Powers. A $1.95 paperback from Pinnacle Books came out the following year, and between 1980 and 2003, editions in French, Spanish, Italian and German. But a full 46 years would elapse before the fine folks at Valancourt Books opted to resurrect the book for an English-speaking audience, and it is that 2025 edition, boasting a very fine intro from horror author David V. Schow (co-author of one of my bibles, "The Outer Limits: The Official Companion"), that I was more than happy to lay my hands on. And I do believe that any old fan of Lovecraft and/or Bloch will feel the same.
Bloch's novel has as its central conceit the notion that Lovecraft was not merely writing outre fiction, but rather thinly disguised warnings to the world regarding actual cosmic entities that he had been made aware of! The book is divided into three stories of unequal length. In the novelette-length first section, entitled "Now," we are introduced to a wealthy curio collector named Albert Keith, who falls in love with a painting of a hideous, caninelike demon, buys it for $500, and brings it back to his Los Angeles home. When his friend, Lovecraft enthusiast Simon Waverly, sees it, he swears that it is the spitting image of the painting depicted in HPL's story "Pickman's Model." And this sets off a chain of inconclusive thought: Was the painting done as a tribute to Lovecraft's story, or could HPL have written his story based on what the artist actually saw? As the two m’s third section, a longish short story called “Soon,” jumps forward in time 25 yen prosecute their investigations, everyone connected to the painting is brutally murdered around them. Ultimately, Keith takes off for Tahiti, after a massive quake levels a good portion of L.A. Chartering a boat, he attempts to find the legendary R'lyeh, the sunken city where the Elder God Cthulhu had been imprisoned before it was raised above the waters, as depicted in Lovecraft's 1928 story "The Call of Cthulhu." But when the island turns out to be anything but myth, things do not go at all well for Albert Keith....
In the second section, the novella-length "Later," government operatives contact Kay Keith, Albert's ex-wife, who is currently working as a model, to ask for her help in an investigation they are conducting. Could the recent quake actually have something to do with the final days presaging the Elder Gods' return? Could the black preacher, Reverend Nye, who leads the congregation at the Starry Wisdom Temple, actually be Nyarlathotep, the black messenger of those Elder Gods? When the reverend asks Kay to do a photo shoot for the temple, she thus keeps the appointment, and later explores Nye's bizarre underground installation that is located north of Malibu. Eventually, however, Kay is abducted and brought to lonely Easter Island, where again, things do not go well....
The book's third section, a longish short story called "Soon," jumps forward in time 25 years, and introduces us to a cub reporter named Mark Dixon. After more than two decades of comparative calm, troubles have started anew. Political assassinations have become rampant, as had been the case 25 years before, and a group called the Black Brotherhood has begun making claims that the government's A-bombing of Easter Island back when had been unsuccessful in its attempt to destroy Cthulhu. And then, after an even more monstrous quake hits Los Angeles, and humanoids that are part man, part fish kidnap Dixon to rescue him from the coastal inundation, it begins to appear that things will not be going well for the reporter either...or for the world....
It occurs to me that this capsule summary of Bloch's fairly terrific piece of work does not at all give a sense of the complexity of the novel's plot, or of the suspense and paranoia engendered as the story chugs along. In an effort to not ruin the fun for anyone, I have deliberately avoided mentioning any of this novel's many surprises, which seem to pop up with shocking effect on practically every other page! The book certainly is a thrill ride, besides being a moving tribute and homage to a writer highly esteemed by Robert Bloch, who was clearly having a ball here. This work was obviously a labor of love for the "Psycho" author, whether he's discussing Lovecraft's work and his biography, or having HPL's tentacled monstrosities and their acolytes rain havoc on the planet. The book is also a true horror novel in that something absolutely horrifying is forced upon each section's main character. The novel has a very high body count--a nearly total body count, actually--and I would advise readers to not grow overly attached to any one character. All of these deaths are unfailingly stunning. Paranoia, as mentioned, reigns supreme here, especially in the first two sections, with none of our protagonists ever being able to know who is an Elder God disciple and who isn't.
Bloch's novel made me wish that I had read the complete Lovecraft more recently, instead of--can it possibly be?--around 35 years ago. Still, all the HPL stories referenced by Bloch here are thoroughly gone over and explained for the reader. Bloch's enthusiasm is infectious, and anyone who experiences "Strange Eons" will surely come away with a desire to either make Lovecraft's acquaintance for the first time or--as was the case with me--refamiliarize oneself with those old classics. If Bloch's primary goal here was to drum up a new appreciation for his onetime mentor, his work must be deemed a complete success. A remarkable number of Lovecraft stories and longer pieces are discussed in the novel; namely "Pickman's Model," "The Lurking Fear," "The Picture in the House," "The Rats in the Walls," "Arthur Jermyn," "The Dunwich Horror," "The Statement of Randolph Carter," "The Whisperer in the Darkness," "The Haunter of the Dark," "The Strange High House in the Mist," "The Shunned House," "Cool Air," "He," "The Festival," "The Terrible Old Man," "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," "At the Mountains of Madness," "The Shadow Out of Time," "The Colour Out of Space," "The Dreams in the Witch-House," "Dagon," "The Temple," "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" and "The Thing on the Doorstep." Remarkably, each one of these stories does have a connection to the events that we read about here. And surprisingly, no mention is made of what might be my personal favorite Lovecraft work; his only novel, the posthumously released "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." Go figure.
As might be expected, "Strange Eons" is a very fast-moving affair and terrifically written by the old pro that Bloch had become by this point. Any number of impressive shock sequences are given to the reader, but again, to avoid spoilers, I will limit myself by mentioning only three, one from each section. In the first, Albert Keith, having befriended an English Army officer of seeming trustworthiness and hired a non-English-speaking crew, discovers the oozing island that is R'lyeh, with its "cyclopean citadel" replete with a "crazily-angled stone staircase that was not meant or fashioned for mortal tread"...and encounters the horror within! In the second, Kay explores the underground labyrinth of Reverend Nye, discovers human bodies in cryogenic freeze, is chased by hundreds of rats, and flees from a flopping monstrosity that is mercifully obscured in the darkened cavern. And in the third, Dixon and his girlfriend flee for their lives across a cemetery in the middle of an earthquake, the ground of which is torn apart to reveal hideous, caninelike demons that have tunneled out a warren to better feast on the interred cadavers. These are all thrilling horror set pieces, brilliantly tossed off with seeming ease by an old master. But really, examples of Robert Bloch's simply worded but highly effective writing style abound here. Some examples: Here, Albert Keith marvels at the mess that he has suddenly descended into:
"...It seemed to Keith as though he himself had been living in some sort of envelope all these years, moving through life with the special handling accorded the fortunate few whose means insulate them from unpleasant contacts and conditions. Then, a week ago, the seal had somehow been broken and he'd suddenly been exposed to--what? Certainly not reality. For recent events coincided with no concept of reality as he understood it. But perhaps most people, rich and poor alike, lived in sealed envelopes; narrow, almost two-dimensional confines which constricted their vision and afforded no glimpse of the world outside or what was actually happening to them. Sped through life by mechanical means they couldn't imagine or comprehend, sorted and handled by entities whose very existence was undreamed of, they travelled through space and time to unguessed dimensions. But now, outside the protection of the envelope, the narrow view widened, revealing limitless vistas, and the paper-thin sheet on which sanity is lettered was exposed to great winds blowing from gulfs beyond the stars...."
And here, Kay stands in her missing ex's room, looking about at Albert's curio collection:
"...the sun was gone now, and the shadows were everywhere. Creeping out of the corners, slithering from the walls, crawling across the floor, looming all around her. In the shadows the masks could move their mouths, the figures in the cabinet stared through the glass, the face of the shrunken head contorted in a ghastly grin. Logic blossoms in the light of day, but when the night comes it withers quickly at a shadow's touch. Then the darker flowers bloom and writhe, pouring forth the perfume of fear. They sway in the shadows, and the shadows sway with them...."
For the rest of it, Bloch's book further impresses the reader with its fidelity to detail. He obviously knew the city of L.A. well, and his descriptions of Tahiti and Easter Island are equally convincing. A Long Beach bookstore called Acres of Books is referenced, and as many California residents will tell you, it did actually exist...until 2008, at least. And my goodness, did Bloch ever know his Lovecraft inside and out, as well as the biographies of him, three of which are referenced here. "Strange Eons" makes for a very fine addition to the Cthulhu Mythos, although it is not written in the Lovecraft style that Bloch essayed to emulate when he was a novice. Still, I can't help feel that HPL might have smiled upon this effort with decided approbation. The book is surprisingly light on the humor that so frequently crops up in Bloch's writing, although there is one amusing, meta moment when Waverly refers to Lovecraft once "giving another author permission to use him as a character in a story"! That author, as I mentioned earlier, was of course Bloch himself. But even if the humor here is kept to a minimum, Bloch's merriment, again, is infectious. And oh...my thanks to Bloch for turning me on to the words "myxa" and "usnea humana"; I don't think I'd ever encountered those before!
I have very few quibbles to raise regarding Bloch's hugely entertaining work here. Oh, in one section, Kay is told that the Learjet that she is on will travel from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles in three hours, but since the top speed of a Learjet is around 620 mph, that seems highly unlikely. And then there is the little matter of Waverly lending Albert Keith all of Lovecraft's writings, as well as three biographies, which Keith manages to read in...three days? Is that even possible? Certainly not for this reader! But really, that's about it.
I regret to add that this particular Valancourt edition contains more typographical errors than is the norm for this typically immaculate publisher. Usually, if you find a single typo in a Valancourt book, it is a very rare occurrence, and this volume happened to contain a good four or five! Still, my other two favorite publishers, Armchair Fiction and Ramble House, would be lucky if they could produce a book with fewer than a half dozen typos. And again, as mentioned, your options for finding this very dark fantasy are extremely limited today. As for myself, I am now highly desirous of checking out the other two Bloch novels in the current Valancourt catalog, namely "The Scarf" (1947) and "The Night of the Ripper" (1984), and I hope to be experiencing both of those very shortly....
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of both H. P. Lovecraft and Robert Bloch....)
July 24, 2013
Great, heartfelt love letter to the Cthulhu Mythos fiction of HP Lovecraft. The storyline assumes that Lovecraft wasn't writing fiction at all; he was trying to warn people. The book consists of three novellas, all of which allude to various stories from Lovecraft. Great stuff.
August 27, 2012
This book is, in my opinion, the BEST Lovecraft/Mythos paniche out there! written with love and admiration for Lovecraft and his concepts. A terrific terror novel, and well worth finding on your own!
November 6, 2017
L'incipit è buono, fa rivivere le atmofere un po' polverose ma sempre affascinanti dei vecchi romanzi dell'orrore di inizio Novecento. Poi la trama diventa più concreta, attuale e ingarbugliata, tra complotti, servizi segreti e sette sataniche fino all'inevitabile spiegone finale.
Un'omaggio a Lovecraft riuscito a metà a causa di una storia che non cattura abbastanza e di personaggi poco caratterizzati.
Mi aspettavo meglio.
Un'omaggio a Lovecraft riuscito a metà a causa di una storia che non cattura abbastanza e di personaggi poco caratterizzati.
Mi aspettavo meglio.
April 18, 2021
Si con El que acecha en el umbral encontré una novela introductoria altamente recomendable para enterarse de la mitología Lovecraftniana sin verse abrumado por escenarios o historias más grandilocuentes de tinte apocalíptico pero conservando la esencia y sirviendo de abrebocas para la obra del autor de Providence. Con el El horror que nos acecha encontré una novela que amerita conocerse en el orden opuesto. Estamos ante una historia alejada del drama familiar ("micro") vista en la obra de Derleth; mucho más ambiciosa, con consecuencias sufridas a escala a global y toda una deliciosa explicación casi al final donde se explica a detalle la macabra conspiración pesimista con las jerarquías y roles asignados a la humanidad, que Lovecraft dimensionó a lo largo de su obra. La historia será contada cambiando cada cierto tiempo de perspectivas (sin volver a ellas luego), lo cual puede volverse un poco confuso pero sin duda puede encontrarse interesante y una vez comprendes el tramo temporal en que transcurren entre sí y el porqué no es posible retomar una perspectiva previa, se puede volver interesante y dinámico.
Sin embargo, la historia esta plagada de referencias a relatos y libros de lovecraft. Varias de estas referencias pueden considerarse Spoilers siendo los que más lamente el relacionado a la La llamada de Cthulhu. No recomendaría a ninguno perderse la oportunidad de sorprenderse en toda su capacidad de tal libro, ni mucho menos de excelentes relatos como El modelo de Pickman . Aconsejaría dejar esta lectura SOLO para cuando ya hayas tenido un recorrido dedicado a los mitos de Cthulhu. Así podrás disfrutar todas estas alusiones no como spoilers sino como tributos o detalles de fina coquetería.
Sin embargo, la historia esta plagada de referencias a relatos y libros de lovecraft. Varias de estas referencias pueden considerarse Spoilers siendo los que más lamente el relacionado a la La llamada de Cthulhu. No recomendaría a ninguno perderse la oportunidad de sorprenderse en toda su capacidad de tal libro, ni mucho menos de excelentes relatos como El modelo de Pickman . Aconsejaría dejar esta lectura SOLO para cuando ya hayas tenido un recorrido dedicado a los mitos de Cthulhu. Así podrás disfrutar todas estas alusiones no como spoilers sino como tributos o detalles de fina coquetería.
June 21, 2025
A tribute to Lovecraft, this doesn’t quite feel like a Bloch novel to me. I find it a bit disjointed and not as pleasant a read as most of Bloch’s work.
October 26, 2017
This book disappointed a bit because some of Bloch’s mythos stories, like “The Shadow from the Steeple” and “Notebook Found in a Deserted House” are excellent. This story, though, reads as a bland homage to Lovecraft where Bloch tries to cram in as many aspects of the mythos as possible. There isn’t much horror to it, just knowing glances as Lovecraft’s best-known stories are referenced.
May 20, 2016
Strange Eons is a novel that is a child of its' era. Just look at that funktastic cover-you know a time capsule from the swinging seventies is hidden underneath that. I don't know how many people under thirty (I'm from the sixties) remember Robert Bloch. If you do you probably remember him as the author of Psycho. But Bloch was a prolific author who cut his teeth on the pulps. He corresponded with HP Lovecraft up until Lovecraft's death and in fact Strange Eons is an ode to Bloch's fellow writer and all he created. Bloch knew how to turn a phrase and he knew what buttons to push to scare people. If you can get past the literary anachronisms in Strange Eons (there is a section of "jive talk" that is somewhat reminiscent of a scene from the film Airplane!) I think you'll really enjoy this blast from the past, Constant Reader.
June 13, 2016
The chilling conclusion of the Cthulhu Mythos comes in the ultimate Lovecraft fanfiction, written by the great Robert Bloch. What if Lovecraft wrote his stories about the Great Old Ones not as fiction, but as a warning? Bloch answers this question in the best way possible and did something, which no other Cthulhu author dared - not Derleth, nor Masterton - he took the story to the end, which Lovecraft himself would have written.
A great read! You can read more detailed review in Bulgarian here:
http://citadelata.com/strange-eons/
A great read! You can read more detailed review in Bulgarian here:
http://citadelata.com/strange-eons/
October 31, 2025
Finally — Valancourt books has put Strange Eons back in print! This is Robert Bloch’s great ode to Lovecraft and it did not disappoint. In these three interwoven tales, Bloch crafts a series of characters facing cosmic threats in Los Angeles as they discover that Lovecrafts’s stories are true, and seek to thwart the coming of the Great Old Ones. Bloch does a great job updating Lovecraft to the modern age. Sometimes the references feel forced and on the nose but honestly I didn’t care. This was a blast.
May 26, 2013
I read Strange Eons back when I was 12 years old and was excited to revisit it. Bloch definitely lives up to his position as a member of the Lovecraft Circle with this tale. His capability to weave different elements of the Lovecraft mythos into the evolving plot without shoe-horning them in makes for an organic story that ages incredibly well. Highly recommend it.
May 11, 2022
Enjoyable trash. For Lovecraft fans only.
February 21, 2026
Not Bloch at his best, but definitely on his comfy chair spinning a yarn for his friend...
July 1, 2009
4-4,5 stars.
The only reason I do not give this novella 5 stars is that for it to be really efficient as a story I think it should either have been cut in places or, preferably, have been expanded with at least a hundred pages more--in order to create the desired emotional build-up all the elements in the story would require.
All this is no critique of Bloch, mind you. Bloch delivers exactly what I expected from this story, and he delivers exactly what he sets out to deliver. Which is a nice, fast-paced thriller with horrific moments, all the while playing with the whole Cthulhu Mythos & 'what if HPL's stories turned out to be about real stuff?' matter. No real, lasting thrill moments and no real, lasting horror moments; but that wasn't the deal anyway. It's just that I personally would prefer so.
A lot of material crammed into few pages. And, boy, do we get big time conspiracy theory here. LOL. By the time I was around page 50 I no longer trusted anyone in the tale. Except, perhaps, the Gentleman's texts, which in this story turns out to be revelations about real things going on. Big fun all around for a reader like me:-)
We follow different characters in what is referred to as "Now," "Later," and "Soon." Short titles mirroring excellently Bloch's style. Albert Keith is a collector of the weird who unfortunately and by accident stumbles upon a piece of art that seems to be created by a real-life Pickman about 50 years earlier. This is of course odd, he and a friend agrees, since Pickman is supposed to be a fictive character created by HPL. As they try to delve into this odd murders and deaths happen--and all of it in ways that can be found in HPL's stories--written about 50 years earlier. This they find eerie, and while they try to dismiss it as misguided "fanish" or plain mad people who have read HPL's stories things turn out to be rather more sinister. Keith and his friend both die and--enter--we then follow what happens to Keith's ex-wife who, simply by association, is weaved into a dark tapestry of dire consequences for the whole human race. Let's just say that Nyarlathotep has plans, big plans, and that Cthulhu, the stars etc., etc. all play an important part in the puzzle.
I loved the fact that despite the overall "lightness" of the style, Bloch stays true to HPL's vision and ends the tale with a genuinely bleak climax, where there is no doubt that mankind is doomed.
As a story in itself I also think Strange Eons would have benefitted from not having so many many scenes directly mirroring scenes from HPL's stories. It was fun recognizing them, and likewise fun--and understandably horrified and disbelieving--when the protagonists recognize these elements in their own life. On a meta-gaming level I appreciate Bloch's tool here (and it does make sense in the final context of the overarching idea, I think) but at the same time it also diminishes the genuine dread, since everything is sort of distanced from that element. Again--according to my personal preferences. Ultimately I prefer seriousness over playfulness.
It has been said that this is not so much a Cthulhu Mythos story as it is an homage from Bloch to his early-years mentor, HPL, who in many ways shaped Bloch's future, and the sub-genre. Perhaps, but I still count it in the former as well. And a darn entertaining one at that! It has all the ingredients, and is shoulders above most of what we find in this sub-genre, that's for sure.
NOTE:This is signed by the author (326 copies were signed in all, by author and/or artists, according to info in the back of the book).
The only reason I do not give this novella 5 stars is that for it to be really efficient as a story I think it should either have been cut in places or, preferably, have been expanded with at least a hundred pages more--in order to create the desired emotional build-up all the elements in the story would require.
All this is no critique of Bloch, mind you. Bloch delivers exactly what I expected from this story, and he delivers exactly what he sets out to deliver. Which is a nice, fast-paced thriller with horrific moments, all the while playing with the whole Cthulhu Mythos & 'what if HPL's stories turned out to be about real stuff?' matter. No real, lasting thrill moments and no real, lasting horror moments; but that wasn't the deal anyway. It's just that I personally would prefer so.
A lot of material crammed into few pages. And, boy, do we get big time conspiracy theory here. LOL. By the time I was around page 50 I no longer trusted anyone in the tale. Except, perhaps, the Gentleman's texts, which in this story turns out to be revelations about real things going on. Big fun all around for a reader like me:-)
We follow different characters in what is referred to as "Now," "Later," and "Soon." Short titles mirroring excellently Bloch's style. Albert Keith is a collector of the weird who unfortunately and by accident stumbles upon a piece of art that seems to be created by a real-life Pickman about 50 years earlier. This is of course odd, he and a friend agrees, since Pickman is supposed to be a fictive character created by HPL. As they try to delve into this odd murders and deaths happen--and all of it in ways that can be found in HPL's stories--written about 50 years earlier. This they find eerie, and while they try to dismiss it as misguided "fanish" or plain mad people who have read HPL's stories things turn out to be rather more sinister. Keith and his friend both die and--enter--we then follow what happens to Keith's ex-wife who, simply by association, is weaved into a dark tapestry of dire consequences for the whole human race. Let's just say that Nyarlathotep has plans, big plans, and that Cthulhu, the stars etc., etc. all play an important part in the puzzle.
I loved the fact that despite the overall "lightness" of the style, Bloch stays true to HPL's vision and ends the tale with a genuinely bleak climax, where there is no doubt that mankind is doomed.
As a story in itself I also think Strange Eons would have benefitted from not having so many many scenes directly mirroring scenes from HPL's stories. It was fun recognizing them, and likewise fun--and understandably horrified and disbelieving--when the protagonists recognize these elements in their own life. On a meta-gaming level I appreciate Bloch's tool here (and it does make sense in the final context of the overarching idea, I think) but at the same time it also diminishes the genuine dread, since everything is sort of distanced from that element. Again--according to my personal preferences. Ultimately I prefer seriousness over playfulness.
It has been said that this is not so much a Cthulhu Mythos story as it is an homage from Bloch to his early-years mentor, HPL, who in many ways shaped Bloch's future, and the sub-genre. Perhaps, but I still count it in the former as well. And a darn entertaining one at that! It has all the ingredients, and is shoulders above most of what we find in this sub-genre, that's for sure.
NOTE:This is signed by the author (326 copies were signed in all, by author and/or artists, according to info in the back of the book).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2025
After finishing his earlier weird fiction I had high hopes for this one but it was a little disappointing. I Still a fun time though and it was an excellent dedication to Lovecraft.
September 6, 2025
Having now read all three of Valancourt’s reprintings of Bloch’s short story collections (shout out to Valancourt for getting so many excellent titles back in print AND making them so nice-looking to boot!), I feel that Bloch could really write well, even if he had a bad penchant for ending stories with dad-joke-style puns. This is what saves this book from being very bad. In fact, this book actually could have been great. Parts of it are great, especially the scenes toward the end describing the cataclysmic destruction of Los Angeles as the Great Old Ones emerge to reclaim the planet. I also enjoyed the parts that started to veer more into the political/spy thriller territory. Lots of interesting ideas that really could have supported their own short novels.
What is NOT an interesting idea, imho, is the conceit that Lovecraft’s writings exist in this fictional world but are actually nonfiction. As another reviewer noted, even this wouldn’t necessarily be so bad if every single time something happened that repurposed imagery or scenes from a Lovecraft story, Bloch (through the characters) will not miss the opportunity to tell you EXACTLY WHICH LOVECRAFT STORY HE SWIPED IT FROM. Without this explicit crediting, it would’ve just felt like Easter Eggs, which actually would’ve been pretty cool. Similarly, if Lovecraft and his stories didn’t exist in Bloch’s world, Strange Eons would just read as a solid-to-pretty-good mythos novel chock-full of tropes (which, honestly is what I enjoy most about mythos stories anyway…). Ultimately I don’t regret reading it, though I feel like there was a big missed opportunity for this to be great.
And I’m still excited to still have two more Valancourt Bloch reprints to read!
What is NOT an interesting idea, imho, is the conceit that Lovecraft’s writings exist in this fictional world but are actually nonfiction. As another reviewer noted, even this wouldn’t necessarily be so bad if every single time something happened that repurposed imagery or scenes from a Lovecraft story, Bloch (through the characters) will not miss the opportunity to tell you EXACTLY WHICH LOVECRAFT STORY HE SWIPED IT FROM. Without this explicit crediting, it would’ve just felt like Easter Eggs, which actually would’ve been pretty cool. Similarly, if Lovecraft and his stories didn’t exist in Bloch’s world, Strange Eons would just read as a solid-to-pretty-good mythos novel chock-full of tropes (which, honestly is what I enjoy most about mythos stories anyway…). Ultimately I don’t regret reading it, though I feel like there was a big missed opportunity for this to be great.
And I’m still excited to still have two more Valancourt Bloch reprints to read!
May 2, 2020
Mit diesem Roman kehrt Robert Bloch zurück zu seinen Anfängen als Schriftsteller. Die Lektüre der Geschichten von Lovecraft hatte ihn so fasziniert, dass er selbst Ctulhu Geschichten schrieb. Lovecraft, mit dem Bloch in Briefkontakt getreten war, ermunterte und lobte ihn, so dass RB sich zu einer Schriftstellerlaufbahn ermutigt fühlte. Mit der Zeit entwickelte er sich hin zum psychologisch fundierten Horror- und Dark Crime-Autor ("Psycho"). Seine pointierten und bisweilen makabren Geschichten werden immer wieder aufgelegt.
Bloch erzählt die spannende Geschichte von drei Menschen, die in den Bannkreis der Cthulhu-Verehrung in den USA der Gegenwart geraten und bald ganz unerfreuliche Bekanntschaften mit der Brut aus dem Kosmos machen. In drei Teilen wird die Bedrohung durch die großen Alten evoziert, „denn es ist nicht tot, das ewig liegt, bis dass die Ewigkeit den Tod besiegt“.
Der Roman ist eine Hommage an Lovecraft und den Ctulhu-Mythos. Er fügt ihm eigentlich nichts Neues hinzu, außer dass Cthulhus Rückkehr global apokalyptische Dimensionen hat, und dies mich auch emotional mitgenommen hat, so wie es sich für einen guten unheimlichen Roman gehört.
Bloch erzählt die spannende Geschichte von drei Menschen, die in den Bannkreis der Cthulhu-Verehrung in den USA der Gegenwart geraten und bald ganz unerfreuliche Bekanntschaften mit der Brut aus dem Kosmos machen. In drei Teilen wird die Bedrohung durch die großen Alten evoziert, „denn es ist nicht tot, das ewig liegt, bis dass die Ewigkeit den Tod besiegt“.
Der Roman ist eine Hommage an Lovecraft und den Ctulhu-Mythos. Er fügt ihm eigentlich nichts Neues hinzu, außer dass Cthulhus Rückkehr global apokalyptische Dimensionen hat, und dies mich auch emotional mitgenommen hat, so wie es sich für einen guten unheimlichen Roman gehört.
April 2, 2020
J'ai adoré les 2 premières parties, un peu moins la dernière. À noter : il faut bien connaître l'oeuvre de Lovecraft pour comprendre pleinement le livre !
February 18, 2022
Un tributo a HP Lovercraft por parte del escritor de Psicosis, que a través de sus tres historias nos responde a la pregunta ¿Qué pasarían si los cuentos/novelas de Lovecraft fuesen reales?
Algo que destaca en el libro desde el principio son las referencias a las obras del escritor de Providence a los largo de la novela, ya sea a través de menciones del propio autor o los personajes, esto mas que ser simple fanservice es una manera en que Bloch no introduce las historias de Lovercarft a un contexto moderno (para la época) dentro de una realidad en donde los cuentos de este autor son advertencias de un futuro oscuro y horrendo que los personajes de sus historias deben detener a toda costa. Haciendo buso del universo literario de Lovercraft a su vez de rendirle homenaje a su legado, sin mencionar que este aspecto le da un toque de intriga propio de las novelas de conspiraciones de la época mezclado con el horror cósmico. Combinación que el autor sabe manejar en su mayoría bien.
A su vez Bloch utiliza la mitología de Lovercraft para abordar temas como la fragilidad de nuestra realidad, en empequeñecimiento del humano frente a deidades ancestrales y en cierta medida la fascinación de las personas por lo desconocido. Con giros muy bien elaborados en especial en la tercera con la relvelación de Mark al final.
Los personajes de estas historia no son precisamente el punto fuerte de la novela sin embargo son funcionales para novela, presentando actitudes simples pero coherentes con el tono de la novela, reaccionando a los acontecimientos sobrenaturales que presenta la historia de manera creíble y orgánica. Albert Keith y Kay tienen desarrollos básicos empezando como gente escéptica a las historias Lovercraft para acabar creyendo y actuando en consecuencia una vez tienen sucesos los sucesos horrosos del novela. Albert desde su curiosidad (rayando el morbo) por lo siniestro y monstruoso y Kay desde el choque de la realidad que obtiene al involucrarse en el culto de la sabiduría sideral liderado por un monje siniestro. Personajes breves como memorables como el propio Nyathorlep son al ser el artífice de todos los eventos destructivos de la novela, teniendo una personalidad magnética y carismática que esconde propósitos bastante siniestros.
La obra no cuenta con la prosa florida y elevada de Lovercraft, lo cual no es para nada malo y es de agradecerse que Bloch no haya intentado emularla en este novela. La descripciones son amenas y directas pero con toque mordaz del autor que le da una aire propio. Eso sin mencionar lo bien escritor que están los diálogos en su mayoría. El único problema al respecto sería el como autor hace uso de la exposición en ciertos momentos, lo cuales puede resultar anodina por su extensión, me refiero particularmente a la reunión del FBI siendo extensa y estéril. Era necesaria para el contexto pero pudo llevarse de una mejor manera o de plano eliminarla.
El horror que nos acecha es un loable tributo al universo de Lovercraft que lleva de muy buena manera al contexto moderno utilizando sus mitologías para extender sus temas y darles giros interesantes a las ideas del escritor de Providence. Sus personajes son simples pero efectivos y su prosa le da el toque distintivo de su autor. Peca de tener una exposición extensa en ciertos momentos pero eso está lejos de arruinar esta gran obra de la literatura del horror.
Algo que destaca en el libro desde el principio son las referencias a las obras del escritor de Providence a los largo de la novela, ya sea a través de menciones del propio autor o los personajes, esto mas que ser simple fanservice es una manera en que Bloch no introduce las historias de Lovercarft a un contexto moderno (para la época) dentro de una realidad en donde los cuentos de este autor son advertencias de un futuro oscuro y horrendo que los personajes de sus historias deben detener a toda costa. Haciendo buso del universo literario de Lovercraft a su vez de rendirle homenaje a su legado, sin mencionar que este aspecto le da un toque de intriga propio de las novelas de conspiraciones de la época mezclado con el horror cósmico. Combinación que el autor sabe manejar en su mayoría bien.
A su vez Bloch utiliza la mitología de Lovercraft para abordar temas como la fragilidad de nuestra realidad, en empequeñecimiento del humano frente a deidades ancestrales y en cierta medida la fascinación de las personas por lo desconocido. Con giros muy bien elaborados en especial en la tercera con la relvelación de Mark al final.
Los personajes de estas historia no son precisamente el punto fuerte de la novela sin embargo son funcionales para novela, presentando actitudes simples pero coherentes con el tono de la novela, reaccionando a los acontecimientos sobrenaturales que presenta la historia de manera creíble y orgánica. Albert Keith y Kay tienen desarrollos básicos empezando como gente escéptica a las historias Lovercraft para acabar creyendo y actuando en consecuencia una vez tienen sucesos los sucesos horrosos del novela. Albert desde su curiosidad (rayando el morbo) por lo siniestro y monstruoso y Kay desde el choque de la realidad que obtiene al involucrarse en el culto de la sabiduría sideral liderado por un monje siniestro. Personajes breves como memorables como el propio Nyathorlep son al ser el artífice de todos los eventos destructivos de la novela, teniendo una personalidad magnética y carismática que esconde propósitos bastante siniestros.
La obra no cuenta con la prosa florida y elevada de Lovercraft, lo cual no es para nada malo y es de agradecerse que Bloch no haya intentado emularla en este novela. La descripciones son amenas y directas pero con toque mordaz del autor que le da una aire propio. Eso sin mencionar lo bien escritor que están los diálogos en su mayoría. El único problema al respecto sería el como autor hace uso de la exposición en ciertos momentos, lo cuales puede resultar anodina por su extensión, me refiero particularmente a la reunión del FBI siendo extensa y estéril. Era necesaria para el contexto pero pudo llevarse de una mejor manera o de plano eliminarla.
El horror que nos acecha es un loable tributo al universo de Lovercraft que lleva de muy buena manera al contexto moderno utilizando sus mitologías para extender sus temas y darles giros interesantes a las ideas del escritor de Providence. Sus personajes son simples pero efectivos y su prosa le da el toque distintivo de su autor. Peca de tener una exposición extensa en ciertos momentos pero eso está lejos de arruinar esta gran obra de la literatura del horror.
September 27, 2026
Sure, this novel seems pretty dated now, even silly at times, but you have to remember that when it was published there really weren't novel-length pieces of Lovecraft fiction around, and as such, this is a historically pretty interesting and important book.*
Bloch's early stories of the Cthulhu-canon are superior as far as sheer eerie atmosphere, but Strange Eons is a pretty fascinating marriage of his mentor's work and Bloch's more well-known post-Psycho pulp, which often deals in crime and human psychology more than the supernatural (with exceptions, of course). It doesn't always work, but when it does, it is suitably creepy and full of cosmic anxiety, with plenty of passages dealing with characters experiencing existential dread. I particularly enjoyed seeing these aggrieved characters confront confounding horrors amidst an extremely 1970s backdrop. Imagine slithering horrors just out of sight as somebody walks across a shag carpet.
As an added bonus, some of Bloch's own contributions/expansions to the lore get some brief mentions (Sebek, The Goat with One Thousand Young) though, sadly, his Necronomicon adjacent forbidden tome, Mysteries of the Worm, is nowhere to be found. Added points for his heavy use of Nyarlathotep, my all-time favorite H.P. Lovecraft villain.
The structure of Strange Eons is also intriguing, in that the reader is treated to three different interconnected stories in which a different protagonist is thrust into a Lovecraftian world and inevitably overwhelmed by it. The last act being much further into the future helps with the scope of the story and the ending is bold and downbeat, yet triumphant in the sense that it delivers pretty much the ultimate Lovecraftian denouement.
The weaknesses of Strange Eons are plenty, too. Most of all the book is just too short, which doesn't allow us much time to get to know the characters, but this is also pretty typical of the sort of pulp-writing Bloch was pumping out during his height. He also goes way overboard with the alliteration, something I normally forgive him for, but it got to be distracting. Then there's the central conceit that all of Lovecraft's fiction is true and Howard Phillips himself saw the coming of Cthulhu, which is just too hard to believe in any narrative, though I guess it kind of worked in Wes Craven's New Nightmare, and I do really appreciate Bloch was doing a meta-story at a time when that was really, really uncommon.
Still, I immensely enjoyed reading Strange Eons, and am willing to forgive it its faults because it was probably as good as something like this was able to be in 1978. I am a huge admirer of Bloch's work, a "Bloch Head" if you will, and have enjoyed tracking down his various novels, though he was ultimately most potent as a short story writer.
*I haven't read Brian Lumley's The Burrowers Beneath, which appears to be a Lovecraft inspired book published before Strange Eons, and one with a better reputation. Definitely putting that on my radar.
Bloch's early stories of the Cthulhu-canon are superior as far as sheer eerie atmosphere, but Strange Eons is a pretty fascinating marriage of his mentor's work and Bloch's more well-known post-Psycho pulp, which often deals in crime and human psychology more than the supernatural (with exceptions, of course). It doesn't always work, but when it does, it is suitably creepy and full of cosmic anxiety, with plenty of passages dealing with characters experiencing existential dread. I particularly enjoyed seeing these aggrieved characters confront confounding horrors amidst an extremely 1970s backdrop. Imagine slithering horrors just out of sight as somebody walks across a shag carpet.
As an added bonus, some of Bloch's own contributions/expansions to the lore get some brief mentions (Sebek, The Goat with One Thousand Young) though, sadly, his Necronomicon adjacent forbidden tome, Mysteries of the Worm, is nowhere to be found. Added points for his heavy use of Nyarlathotep, my all-time favorite H.P. Lovecraft villain.
The structure of Strange Eons is also intriguing, in that the reader is treated to three different interconnected stories in which a different protagonist is thrust into a Lovecraftian world and inevitably overwhelmed by it. The last act being much further into the future helps with the scope of the story and the ending is bold and downbeat, yet triumphant in the sense that it delivers pretty much the ultimate Lovecraftian denouement.
The weaknesses of Strange Eons are plenty, too. Most of all the book is just too short, which doesn't allow us much time to get to know the characters, but this is also pretty typical of the sort of pulp-writing Bloch was pumping out during his height. He also goes way overboard with the alliteration, something I normally forgive him for, but it got to be distracting. Then there's the central conceit that all of Lovecraft's fiction is true and Howard Phillips himself saw the coming of Cthulhu, which is just too hard to believe in any narrative, though I guess it kind of worked in Wes Craven's New Nightmare, and I do really appreciate Bloch was doing a meta-story at a time when that was really, really uncommon.
Still, I immensely enjoyed reading Strange Eons, and am willing to forgive it its faults because it was probably as good as something like this was able to be in 1978. I am a huge admirer of Bloch's work, a "Bloch Head" if you will, and have enjoyed tracking down his various novels, though he was ultimately most potent as a short story writer.
*I haven't read Brian Lumley's The Burrowers Beneath, which appears to be a Lovecraft inspired book published before Strange Eons, and one with a better reputation. Definitely putting that on my radar.
March 8, 2022
Para mí ha sido una lectura bastante decepcionante, el primer tercio me gustó, el segundo me aburrí y el tercero me pareció predecible y ya seguí por no dejarlo sin acabar.
Debo decir que si me limitara a valorar el texto original de Bloch posiblemente serían 3 estrellas pero es que la edición en español es lamentable.
En primer lugar el traductor ignora completamente las traducciones previas de la obra de Lovecraft, con cosas como llamar a los "Great Old Ones" los "Grandes Diablos", lo que ya causa un poco de cáncer de ojos. Eso sería un mal menor en una obra independiente e inconexa con el resto de literatura lovecraftiana, el problema es que la obra que nos ocupa ("Strange Aeons" originalmente, pero traducido su título como "El horror que nos acecha" cual peli de sobremesa de Antena 3) es un homenaje a la obra de Lovecraft y constantemente hace alusiones a sus relatos, usando el traductor unos títulos que solo conoce él, en lugar de los de las traducciones publicadas, con lo cual la referencia se pierde o la tienes que desentrañar tú.
En segundo lugar, y por si el primer punto no fuera ya suficiente, no parece que el texto haya sido revisado antes de publicarlo. Es rara la página que no contenga al menos un error ortográfico, generalmente tildes de más o de menos y ausencia de puntuaciones, como comas, que hacen que tengas que leer varias veces una frase para cogerle el sentido.
Debo decir que si me limitara a valorar el texto original de Bloch posiblemente serían 3 estrellas pero es que la edición en español es lamentable.
En primer lugar el traductor ignora completamente las traducciones previas de la obra de Lovecraft, con cosas como llamar a los "Great Old Ones" los "Grandes Diablos", lo que ya causa un poco de cáncer de ojos. Eso sería un mal menor en una obra independiente e inconexa con el resto de literatura lovecraftiana, el problema es que la obra que nos ocupa ("Strange Aeons" originalmente, pero traducido su título como "El horror que nos acecha" cual peli de sobremesa de Antena 3) es un homenaje a la obra de Lovecraft y constantemente hace alusiones a sus relatos, usando el traductor unos títulos que solo conoce él, en lugar de los de las traducciones publicadas, con lo cual la referencia se pierde o la tienes que desentrañar tú.
En segundo lugar, y por si el primer punto no fuera ya suficiente, no parece que el texto haya sido revisado antes de publicarlo. Es rara la página que no contenga al menos un error ortográfico, generalmente tildes de más o de menos y ausencia de puntuaciones, como comas, que hacen que tengas que leer varias veces una frase para cogerle el sentido.
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