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The Complete Stories, Vol. 3: Last Rites
Contents:
Talent
The World-Timer
Fat Chance
The Final Performance
Hobo
A Home Away from Home
The Unpardonable Crime
Crime Machine
Untouchable
Method for Murder
The Living End
Impractical Joker
Beelzebub
The Old College Try
A Quiet Funeral
The Plot Is the Thing
Life in Our Time
Underground
A Toy for Juliette
The Gods Are Not Mocked
How Like a God
The Movie People
The Double Whammy
In the Cards
The Warm Farewell
The Play’s the Thing
The Animal Fair
The Oracle
Ego Trip
His and Hearse
Space-Born
Forever and Amen
See How They Run
The Learning Maze
The Model
A Case of the Stubborns
Crook of the Month
Nina
Freak Show
Talent
The World-Timer
Fat Chance
The Final Performance
Hobo
A Home Away from Home
The Unpardonable Crime
Crime Machine
Untouchable
Method for Murder
The Living End
Impractical Joker
Beelzebub
The Old College Try
A Quiet Funeral
The Plot Is the Thing
Life in Our Time
Underground
A Toy for Juliette
The Gods Are Not Mocked
How Like a God
The Movie People
The Double Whammy
In the Cards
The Warm Farewell
The Play’s the Thing
The Animal Fair
The Oracle
Ego Trip
His and Hearse
Space-Born
Forever and Amen
See How They Run
The Learning Maze
The Model
A Case of the Stubborns
Crook of the Month
Nina
Freak Show
398 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1991
4 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Robert Bloch
1,090 books1,280 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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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 7, 2019
Robert Bloch (1917-1994) was a prolific author of horror, science fiction and mystery works. (You may have seen, read or at least heard of Psycho.) This volume, originally “Selected Stories” and by no means complete, features 39 stories published between 1960 and 1979, his “Hollywood Years.”
The subtitle “Last Rites” just seems to mean this is the final volume in this particular collection. The book opens with “Talent”, about a young man with a gift for imitating movie characters. Like several other stories in this volume, there are some accidental deaths that in retrospect should have been investigated more closely. The closing story is “Freak Show.” A sinister-looking fellow sets up a freak show attraction in a small town and invites all the locals. But are the freaks inside the tent, or outside? The story namedrops other sinister carnivals of fiction.
Some other standouts: “The Final Performance” in which a temporarily stranded traveler meets a young woman desperate to leave her current living situation, only to seemingly change her mind at the last moment. (Uncomfortably reminiscent of real-life abusive situations.)
“Untouchable” about a racist movie star who goes out of his way to offend his Indian host and learns too late there’s more than one way a person can be untouchable. (Content notes: The N-word, rape.)
“A Toy for Juliette” which first appeared in the Dangerous Visions anthology. The title character lives in a decadent future, and her time-traveling grandfather brings her random people from the past to torture to death. Oops, her latest toy has sharp edges!
“Crook of the Month”, which is a satire of the state of literature at the time it was written. A ghost writer is coerced into producing a novel on an impossible schedule. Only his wife’s quick thinking can save him now. You can tell Mr. Bloch didn’t think kindly of bestseller culture of the 1970s; the described novels sound sick even by 21st Century standards.
Most of the stories feature dark humor; often it’s of “the biter bit” type. Several were either adapted for Alfred Hitchcock Presents or were inspired by scripts for that program. No-fault divorce would have solved the issue in many stories without resort to murder.
There’s period sexism and racism, usually by someone who’s about to suffer horrific consequences.
Overall, despite the strong themes running through the stories, the genres are varied enough to keep the collection from feeling too same-y.
Recommended to folks who enjoy dark humor in their gruesome stories.
The subtitle “Last Rites” just seems to mean this is the final volume in this particular collection. The book opens with “Talent”, about a young man with a gift for imitating movie characters. Like several other stories in this volume, there are some accidental deaths that in retrospect should have been investigated more closely. The closing story is “Freak Show.” A sinister-looking fellow sets up a freak show attraction in a small town and invites all the locals. But are the freaks inside the tent, or outside? The story namedrops other sinister carnivals of fiction.
Some other standouts: “The Final Performance” in which a temporarily stranded traveler meets a young woman desperate to leave her current living situation, only to seemingly change her mind at the last moment. (Uncomfortably reminiscent of real-life abusive situations.)
“Untouchable” about a racist movie star who goes out of his way to offend his Indian host and learns too late there’s more than one way a person can be untouchable. (Content notes: The N-word, rape.)
“A Toy for Juliette” which first appeared in the Dangerous Visions anthology. The title character lives in a decadent future, and her time-traveling grandfather brings her random people from the past to torture to death. Oops, her latest toy has sharp edges!
“Crook of the Month”, which is a satire of the state of literature at the time it was written. A ghost writer is coerced into producing a novel on an impossible schedule. Only his wife’s quick thinking can save him now. You can tell Mr. Bloch didn’t think kindly of bestseller culture of the 1970s; the described novels sound sick even by 21st Century standards.
Most of the stories feature dark humor; often it’s of “the biter bit” type. Several were either adapted for Alfred Hitchcock Presents or were inspired by scripts for that program. No-fault divorce would have solved the issue in many stories without resort to murder.
There’s period sexism and racism, usually by someone who’s about to suffer horrific consequences.
Overall, despite the strong themes running through the stories, the genres are varied enough to keep the collection from feeling too same-y.
Recommended to folks who enjoy dark humor in their gruesome stories.
June 20, 2012
This selection from Bloch's work is mostly from the 1960's with a handful from the early 1970's. A number of them first appeared in men's magazines like Playboy and Penthouse, and have a grittier edge to them. Hippies and drugs show up in a number of them, for example. Again, all of them are entertaining. Bloch wrote many more stories than could be contained in three volumes, from horror, to crime and science fiction. They're fun collections to have, and worth picking up if you find them. Just rememeber, they're only the tip of the iceberg and not complete as the titles indicate.
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May 4, 2024The book I'm reading is called The Selected Stories of Robert Bloch, Volume Three: Last Rites
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews