Le escrescenze della Luna

by Robert Bloch, Cecilia Scerbanenco (translator)

Chi la conosce solo per sentito dire, crede che la fantascienza sia una letteratura di sfrenate e mirabolanti trovate. In realtà, è frequente il caso di scrittori di sf più ricchi di concetti che di immaginazione, più inclini a predicare che a raccontare, e le intelligenti sorprese, le ben congegnate invenzioni, non sono affatto alla portata di chiunque. Per il mese di Halloween, "URANIA" ha preparato un numero macabro all'insegna dell'immaginazione pura, delle emozioni più terrificanti, con i racconti di Robert Bloch, il maestro di Psycho e il creatore di un'intera scuola di moderne, ormai classiche ossessioni.

Dalle pagine di "Weird Tales" e "Strange Tales", molti testi antologizzati qui per la prima volta.

Indice:
La maledizione dei Druidi (The Druidic Doom, 1936)
Le zanne della vendetta (Fangs of Vengeance, 1937)
La morte è un elefante (Death is an elephant, 1939)
Una questione di identità (A question of identity, 1939)
La morte ha cinque carte (Death has five guesses, 1939)
Lo stagno senza fondo (The bottomless pool, 1939)
L'isola oscura (The dark isle, 1939)
Fiori dalla Luna (Flowers from the Moon, 1939)
La voce degli abissi (He waits beneath the sea, 1939)
Il druido e il serpente (Power of the druid, 1940)
Sii te stesso! (Be yourself, 1940)
Uno stregone candida se stesso (A sorcerer runs for sheriff, 1941)
Patto con il diavolo (Black bargain, 1942)
Una bottiglia di gin (A bottle of gin, 1943)
Il vino del sabba (Wine of the Sabbath, 1944)
Il proprietario di anime (Soul proprietor, 1945)
Il fonografo di Satana (Satan's phonograph, 1946)
L'uomo che diceva la verità (The man who told the truth, 1946)
Ospiti inattesi (The night they crashed the party, 1951)
Il filtro d'amore (Philtre tip, 1961)

Copertina: Jacopo Bruno

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy

440 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Robert 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.

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories had been written by Robert Bloch at the time when he was at his pulpy best. Now, if you are of a snooty kind who thinks that the world would have been a better place if the hackwork stories published in pulps had not seen the light of the day, then stop reading here, and kindly visit some other page. But if you ARE a lover of tightly told action-packed stories with liberal dosage of humour & horror (often seamlessly mixed), then this is the volume for you. The contents are: -

(*) Introduction by Robert M. Price

1) The Druidic Doom
2) Fangs of Vengeance
3) Death is an Elephant
4) A Question of Identity
5) Death Has Five Guesses
6) The Bottomless Pool
7) The Dark Isle
8) Flowers from the Moon
9) He Waits Beneath the Sea
10) Power of the Druid
11) Be Yourself
12) A Sorcerer Runs for Sheriff
13) Black Bargain
14) A Bottle of Gin
15) Wine of the Sabbat
16) Soul Propietor
17) Satan's Phonograph
18) The Man Who Told the Truth
19) The Night They Crashed the Party
20) Philtre Tip

I don't know if you can get hold of this collection, since it has gone out of print. But if you can, and believe me, you would really love to read these stories, then go all-out to have the book. Otherwise, it would be..... lunacy, what else?!

[Henrik]

OCTOBER 11:

"Satan's Phonograph":

A very short and surprisingly chilly tale about such a weird thing as a... soul stealing phonograph:-D

As is often the case with a Bloch story there's also a healthy dose of dark humor and irony involved.

OCTOBER 13:

"Be Yourself":

An early version of the story Stephen King tells in his novel The Dark Half and other tales where he deals with the "personality split" of a writer. Bloch delivers an excellent tale here, which is also about finding yourself again and believing that is actually good enough.

OCTOBER 13:

"A Question of Identity":

Perhaps it is a difference between a reader of today and a reader in the times the story was written, but I found it too easy to discern what this was all about. Long before the ending it is clear that the person we follow is a vampire--making the "punch" of the ending rather blah. Except for that it was a very intense, claustrophopic read.

More reviews coming.

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una raccolta di racconti di Bloch è sempre qualcosa da non perdere. Di questa in particolare posso dire che non c'è un racconto che non sia almeno buono. Si nota anche il maturare dello scrittore in quanto questi racconti spaziano, temporalmente, per tutta la sua carriera di scrittore. L'argomento è sempre il weird, l'orrore, il fantastico.
In particolare ho trovato eccellenti "La morte è un elefante (Death is an elephant, 1939" e "Lo stagno senza fondo (The bottomless pool, 1939" e "Il vino del sabba (Wine of the Sabbath, 1944)" e "Il proprietario di anime (Soul proprietor, 1945)" e "Il fonografo di Satana (Satan's phonograph, 1946)" per terminare con l'ottimo "Il filtro d'amore (Philtre tip, 1961)".

[Jon Ring · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stories. I've read a bit of Bloch's work, mostly his longer works, and this is the second short story collection I've perused. Some of the stories really stood out to me: "The Druidic Doom", "The Bottomless Pool", "Black Bargain", and "Soul Proprietor". Others were pretty close to the mark as well, like "Philtre Tip" and "Wine of the Sabbat". Some others, however, felt a little forced, like he had made the endings in a way to make the story fit with a publisher or magazine's preference instead of his own, but unfortunately that question will go forever unanswered now. Still, the writing was clear and direct, focusing more on the action than the characters or settings. This made the reading feel light, and so I finished it fairly quickly as a result. One of the nice things about his writings is his understanding of how to entertain; while some stories are not as interesting as others, all had that intriguing cadence of a proper beginning, middle, and end. All in all I enjoyed it. Oh, one final thought. "Mark Thornwald had an obsession" is extremely gripping first line:)

[Iophil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voti ai singoli racconti:

- La maledizione dei druidi ★★★
- Le zanne della vendetta ★★
- La morte è un elefante ★★
- Una questione di identità ★★★
- La morte ha cinque carte ★★★
- Lo stagno senza fondo ★★★★ 1/2
- L'isola oscura ★★★★
- Fiori dalla luna ★★ 1/2
- La voce negli abissi ★★★ 1/2
- Il druido e il serpente ★★★ 1/2
- Sii te stesso! ★★★
- Uno stregone si candida sceriffo ★★★
- Patto con il diavolo ★★★
- Una bottiglia di gin ★★★ 1/2
- Il vino del sabba ★★★
- Il proprietario di anime ★★★★
- Il fonografo di Satana ★★★ 1/2
- L'uomo che diceva la verità ★★★ 1/2
- Ospiti inattesi ★★★ 1/2
- Il filtro d'amore ★★★ 1/2

[Olethros · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely compendium of fantasy and horror!

[Paul Crowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third collection from the publisher, so much of the really good stuff had already been included in the first two.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of older stories from the pages of Weird Tales, ranging from the lighthearted to the scary. Little or no Cthulhu Mythos content here although one or two stories are close.

[Louis Yank · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title story, a question of identity, and Satan’s phonograph were highlights to me. I also enjoyed Philtre Tip, even though it’s a very common short story convention.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bloch is equal parts funny, horrifying, and thought-provoking. These are far from his best stories, but there are still some great moments in here. Can’t wait to find a collection of his more popular stories from “Weird Tales.”

[Warren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because it occurred to me this fellow had written my favorite star trek episode, and I heard he was pals with HP Lovecraft.

While the stories in this volume are very creative, I really don't like the way he writes. Maybe it is humor that hasn't aged well. but the prose often felt clumsy and simple.

Still, I have to admit that I admire the ideas of the stories - and hope to read more of his work (preferably later in life, when the humor-gap or word-choice-gap may be lessened).

[Greg Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

"And the third design--bit I must not speak of that!" Proceeds to speak of it anyway...
Bloch frustrates me. Some of his stories could be quite frightening. Except that, in his hands, they often become absurd to the point of no longer having any fear. I've now read five of his collections of stories (most of which I'm not going to bother to review) and aside from the occasional spark of potential, most of them have greatly disappointed me.