Mysteries of the Worm

Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu books

by Robert Bloch, Steven Gilberts (Illustrator), Robert Price (Editor)

Robert Bloch has become one with his fictional counterpart Ludvig Prinn: future generations of readers will know him as an eldritch name hovering over a body of nightmare texts. To know them will be to know him. And thus we have decided to release a new and expanded third edition of Robert Bloch’s Mysteries of the Worm. This collection contains four more Mythos tales–”The Opener of the Way”, “The Eyes of the Mummy”, “Black Bargain”, and “Philtre Tip”–not included in the first two editions.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Cthulhu Mythos, Short Stories, Lovecraftian, Weird Fiction, Fantasy

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1981

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

[Thee_ron_clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mysteries of the Worm is a collection of short stories by Robert Bloch (Psycho) that involve the Lovecraft mythos. Being an avid fan of this mythos, I felt compelled to get as many perspectives from the authors involved as possible.

As with other collections, I will give my thoughts on the individual stories.

The Secret of the Tomb involves a man going into his ancestral burial vault to face his destiny. At only a few pages in length, it served to entertain me without getting old. Not too shabby.

The Suicide in the Study is about man's duality. In this case, it is taken beyond the simple duality of the mind into the concept that we can be separated into more than one physical entity. Again, this story was a short and decent read.

The Shambler from the Stars is typical Lovecraftian fare. A man seeks forbidden knowledge from cursed tomes and finds it to be not entirely what he hoped for. This was a decent short story.

The Faceless God is the story of a greedy man's quest to attain a forbidden relic. This one was of interest to me in that it brought a lot of details to Bloch's thoughts on one Nyalarthotep. Otherwise, it was alright.

The Grinning Ghoul is another of Bloch's stories involving the search for forbidden knowledge. As usual, the truth is not what the narrator hopes for. This one was standard. Again, it was nothing special.

The Dark Demon was the first story I really enjoyed. In this story, a friend of the narrator becomes more and more reclusive and the narrator seeks to find the reason why. When the reason is found, the narrator attempts to make things right.

The Mannikin is the story of a strange man who has a fondness for forbidden lore and a strange growth on his back. The narrator finds the strange man who he had known years earlier, to discover that the man is now erratic and struggling with some thing unknown. The growth is also much larger. I liked this story, especially the ending.

In the Brood of Bubastis, a man travels to visit an old college friend. Both of them, of course share an interest in the occult. It seems that the friend has gained some forbidden knowledge and is using it in an evil manner. Good stuff in this one.

The Creeper in the Crypt is about a kidnapped man being taken to an abandoned house to be ransomed. Little do the kidnappers know, the house has been abandoned with good reason. This was a pretty decent story with enough background given to keep my interest, but not over done.

The Secret of Sebek features a man with a great deal of knowledge and interest in Egyptian mythology being invited to a costume ball. The ball turns out to be filled with seekers of dark knowledge, some of whom actually know what they are doing. The real deal folks get in a little too deep.

Fane of the Black Pharaoh is the story of a man being led into a fantastic underground temple in which the future has been scrawled across the walls. The back story is pretty cool in this one, although I felt part of it was contradicted by its own mythos. The ending became rather apparent a bit before it was there. Either way, I liked it.

The Sorcerer's Jewel is the story of a photographer who finds he is simply unable to make the art that he wishes to make with conventional means. His friend has an ancient jewel cut into a lens to allow the photographer to get a new angle. The new angle is not one that is expected. Nor is it safe.

The Unspeakable Betrothal is the story of a young lady dreaming of a different life; one that she felt she came close to as a child. With her guardians deceased and her fiance away, she opens a window from her past to seek the dream life and escape reality.

The Shadow from the Steeple is about the quest of one man to find out what really happened to his friend; a man seeking dark knowledge. Of course this cannot end well for anyone involved.

Notebook Found in a Deserted House is probably my favorite story of the book. Those who have heard tale of the black goat of the woods will probably enjoy where this one goes.

The last story is Terror in Cut-Throat Cove is the story of treasure hunters looking for sunken treasure best left untouched. As the treasure comes closer to being retrieved, the ones seeking it find that not all is as it should be.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mysteries of the Worm made me think back to a lot of the strange Egyptian stories I couldn't get enough of as a kid and absolutely loved -- mummies returning for vengeance, strange curses that fell on people who opened tombs, etc. While not all of Bloch's writing in this volume consist of his Egyptian tales, the book as a whole left me with inner squeals of delight. Sure, there are some pieces that are not so hot, but overall, this is a great read.

Robert Bloch was not just the author of Psycho, the book most people would associate with him, but early on in his career, he joined the ranks of the "Lovecraft Circle," which as Lin Carter notes was a

"band of aspiring or season writers scattered across the country whose common links were their enthusiasm for macabre fiction in general and Weird Tales in particular, and their friendship with Lovecraft."

Judging by what I've just finished reading, and by books I've already read, there is no doubt that he made sufficient contributions to the "tales that define the mythos," as the cover blurb notes about this entire series of books. While perhaps they're not the most bone-chilling of stories as a whole, a) they're fun and b) it's really interesting to watch the development of Bloch's writing over time in this volume from being a producer of Lovecraftian pastiche to coming more into his own both in terms of story and style. A big thumbs up for this book. Once again, Chaosium has come through with an anthology of stories where the good tales far outweigh the not so great ones. Definitely a no-miss not only for weird-fiction readers, but also for anyone who enjoys Bloch's writing in general and wants to visit the work of his earlier days. What a great group of tales!

If you want to peruse the table of contents and read small (no spoiler) synopses of each, feel free to click to the weird-fiction page at my online reading journal.

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technically not all of Robert Bloch's Cthulhu Mythos stories. There's about 5 or 6 missing that were added in a later version of this book. However these are the cream of the crop and a must for any Lovecraft enthusiasts out there. Bloch was the youngest of the Lovecraftian Circle and these stories could almost be called fan fiction. For the most part the tales were written in the late 30s. for the magazine Weird Tales.They represent a young developing writer who would later leave his Lovecraftian roots and develop a more modern style a la Psycho. Bloch would return briefly to the Cthulhu Mythos in the 70s with his novel Strange Eons but these stories are his most essential contribution to the Mythos.

[Иван Величков · Rating 3 out of 5]

Едно нещо като че ли постоянно забравят модерните писатели, когато се заиграват с Ктхулу митовете. Кръгът "Лъвкрафт" е имал малко условия към всеки желаещ да разшири мрачната вселена на митологиите му, но две са били задължителни. Писателят е трябвало да измисли собствено божество и да създаде апокрифна книга, която да води героите му по пътя на тъмното знание. Направил го е Хауърд, направил го е Кларк Аштън Смит, направил го е и самият Лъвкрафт.
"De Vermis Mysteriis" на Лудвиг Прин е приносът на младия Блох (той е 15 годишен, когато под влиянието на Лъвкрафт започва собствените си интерпретации на митоса) към Кхтулу вселената.
Доста от разказите са по младежки наивни и копират тежкия стил на Лъвкрафт, но с напредването на годините, Блох изгражда собствен глас, доста по-ведър и различен от оригинала.
Най-ми хареса цикълът за Ниалархотеп, подвластните му Басет, Себек и Анубис и мрачния фараон-жрец Нефер-Ка.
Може би любим разказ ми стана "Ужас в залива на главорезите".
При всички положения четенето си заслужава, ако щете и само да се види как един 16-17 годишен пикльо твори с размах на който могат да завидят 40-50 годишни съвременни писатели.
ДОста от разказите следват схемата на списанието за което са писани и последното изречение обръща цялото повествование. То (повествованието) от своя страна се вие около тази последна реплика и ефекта става предвидим след няколко разказа. От тази гледна точка е препоръчително да не се четат на "едно сядане" По разказ два на ден, или през няколко дни, определено вдига удоволствието от сборника.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my reading goals is to read as much of the material from the original Weird Tales magazines as possible, especially the "big name" authors. I enjoy these old stories from the "Unique Magazine," even when they're not masterpieces they're fun and have a certain charm.

And speaking of "not masterpieces," that's the case with many stories here, there's a lot of early work here, and one can see Bloch improve as he goes along. Some of these stories, especially the early ones can run together a bit with the same themes. It's not as bad as August Derleth's Lovecraftian tales (man inherits house of occultist ancestor, man goes to live in house, bad stuff happens) but some of the stories are rather samey. Many of these stories have the BIG(!), Lovecraftian(!) REVEAL(!)...All italicized of course. Because ultimate horror only comes through with italics ;). I love stuff like this on occasion, but know it's not to everyone's taste.

Many Lovecraft fans know Bloch corresponded with him, and know that they wrote some stories about each other. But I didn't know Bloch included Lovecraft as a character in more stories than just "The Shadow from the Steeple."

All of these stories appeared in Weird Tales magazine, generally in the 30's, except for four of them "The Sorcerer’s Jewel," "The Unspeakable Betrothal," "Terror in Cut-Throat Cove" and "Philtre Tip" which appeared elsewhere.

The Secret in the Tomb - I will admit I got a bit of a chuckle out of a few passages here, about "there are some skulls that have reason to grin" and the protagonist pouring over "maggot-eaten volumes." Some say Lovecraft wrote "The Hound" as a comedy; it's imagery of lichen-covered gravestones, bats, full moons, tombs, and over-the-top horror elements. That's what this can feel like at moments, but it's still an enjoyable story, and interesting as an early example of Bloch's writing. A man visits the forbidden tomb of his family which some have ventured to, but never returned.

The Suicide in the Study - A story published just one month after the previous one, but this one is far more original in concept I thought, and effectively "weird." A man uses hypnosis to manifest his evil side into a horrific form.

The Shambler from the Stars - Another good entry here, somewhat predictable, but the stories are gradually improving I would say. The monster at the end of the story was fairly impressive, with interesting touches like how it was only visible after feeding. A man attempting to write weird fiction seeks inspiration from an old occult book in Latin, and a strange friend in Providence who can translate it for him.

The Faceless God - One of those exotic weird tales, forbidden idols, exotic locales, which were so common in the magazine. A very grim piece, there's an aside in the middle of the story telling us essentially how badass Nyarlathotep is which was a bit overlong, but it's still an enjoyable story. A man catches a rumor about an idol in the desert, and gathers a party to go steal it, not knowing it's cursed history.

The Grinning Ghoul - A decent ghoul tale which generates a decent sense of unease. I liked the final "reveal" in this one, seen briefly in a candle being snuffed out. A psychiatrist recounts how he followed a patient into an ancient graveyard to dispel what he considers irrational fears about creatures living below.

The Opener of the Way - This one I read a couple years ago from a scanned copy of Weird Tales. At the time I wrote, "I was actually pretty impressed by this one, very creepy at times, a stunning conclusion." It's a fairly typical cursed tomb exploration story, with some creative, original ideas at the end.

The Dark Demon - An OK story, again rather like what one would expect from a 30's Weird Tale. I like how Bloch writes so many of these tales with a nod to Lovecraft the man himself. A man tells of his friend, an author of weird fiction whose work is inspired by his lucid dreams, and how his work became stranger and stranger before he disappeared.

The Brood of Bubastis - This is one of the best early stories here, quite effective, riffing off of Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls," but creating a quite original, horrific story. A man visits a friend on the English moors who has discovered a dreadful horror living in a network of caves below.

The Mannikin - This is another top tier story as far as this collection goes, the influence of Lovecraft is certainly present, but Bloch makes it his own. A man tells of his friend, a sickly scholar who has an odd growth on him, and a family history haunted by accusations of witchcraft.

The Creeper in the Crypt - A pretty short tale, predictable? Sure. But it does have a pretty effectively horrific ending I thought. A group of kidnappers have no idea what's in store for them when they hideout in an accursed old mansion.

The Secret of Sebek - A decent story, predictable but good fun, with that big Lovecraftian, italicized reveal at the end! Most interesting were the descriptions of the settings and people. An author enjoying Mardi Gras meets an occultist who has smuggled the cursed mummy of a priest into his house.

Fane of the Black Pharaoh - Another one of those exotic weird tales, also fusing Egyptian mythology and the Lovecraft Mythos. Yet again, predictable but fun. Bloch likes to start these stories, then pause for an in-depth view of "dark and dreaded" history we are about to explore. An Egyptologist with a keen interest in the cult of Nephren-Ka gets an offer to be shown the tomb by a member of the surviving cult. A dreaded place wherein Nephren-Ka inscribed future events along the walls with the aid of Nyarlathotep himself.

The Eyes of the Mummy - This is a continuance of "The Secret of Sebek," and one of the better stories in the book. It's got an interesting, original theme to it. A man agrees to accompany an archaeologist into the Egyptian desert to raid the tomb of a cursed priest, little to they know he has set a trap for his own resurrection.

The Sorcerer’s Jewel - This was an excellent story and I'm surprised it didn't appear in Weird Tales, instead it was in Strange Stories. It's riffing on Lovecraft's "From Beyond" but this story really makes the inter-dimensional themes it's own. Two photographers use a cursed Egyptian jewel as a lens to see into another dimension.

Black Bargain - One I'd read before, pretty good weird story, not difficult to predict what was coming most of the time, but still enjoyable. A soda jerk meets a man who gains power and influence after making a deal with some "thing" but afterwards his shadow takes on a life of it's own.

The Unspeakable Betrothal - This one was a bit different from most others here and was another to not appear in Weird Tales. It leans a bit more toward fantasy with a Bradbury-esque childhood wonder. A young girl establishes contact with alien presences in her dreams, presences which she wants to take her away.

The Shadow from the Steeple - This is great Lovecraftian mythos fiction, certainly one of the most original and effective in this collection. I admit, it's final "sci-fi/horror reveal" feels a little dated, but it's investigative tone is very much like something Lovecraft himself may have written. A horror author and member of the "Lovecraft circle" tries to uncover the truth of Robert Blake's death, written about in Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark."

Notebook Found in a Deserted House - This was a re-read for me, I think I liked it even more this time around though. It has a number of decent scares throughout and a creepy setting and mood. In an old deserted house in the backwoods a boy sets down his story in a notebook about how he is being pursued by a cult and the horrible monster they have invoked.

Terror in Cut-Throat Cove - I thought this was a good mix of pulp adventure/crime with a Lovecraftian horror theme. It's a maturely developed story, written in 1958, some years after Weird Tales went out of business. Despite this and it's 15,000~ word length there's several stories here I'd put ahead of this one. A writer living on an island in the pacific gets involved with a deep sea treasure hunt for a sunk pirate ship, little do they know what's guarding the treasure.

Philtre Tip - Another one I'd read before, a funny, pulpy little story. A man obsessed with a married woman uses his influence to punish her husband, then later the husband sends him a book to review with a love potion in it which will turn someone into a "bitch in heat."

[Shawn]

PLACEHOLDER REVIEWS

“The Shambler From The Stars” has a writer of “weird tales” who wants to explore “further” (for inspiration) into the world of the dark. He finds a blasphemous text and brings it to “the scholar from Providence”, but further extrapolation leads to death and madness. Once upon a time I would have rated this low, and disregarded it as trite, but with age comes wisdom. What this story is, hoary and predictable as it may be, is a lot of fun. Bloch weighs and balances everything (except the weight of history), and spins a predictable but savory yarn that incorporates his life experience into a Lovecraft Circle horror yarn. Would that we could all do so well....

"The Suicide In The Study" has a modern wizard perform a mystical experiment to split his identity between good and evil (like Jekyll/Hyde), only for the plan to go awry because he didn't consider the obvious. Essentially an extended monologue, it's not bad - if obvious - for a short piece.

In "The Secret In The Tomb" a man pursues his familial inheritance of occult knowledge of "life after death" back to the family's mausoleum, only to find a surprise awaiting him. What's enjoyable about this one is not so much the story, plot wise, as the details - specific an aspect of misanthropic self-reflection and nostalgia, and the hyper-gothic language that builds and builds the suspense - to an unexpected/unprecedented positive outcome. Not great but different.

[Signor Mambrino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories are great, but some are a bit boring. Love the completeness of the collection though. Better than a lot of Cthulhu mythos stuff.

[Sotiris Kosmas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories with a particular fascination on Egypt and centered on forbidden apocryphal books by Bloch, a member of the Lovecraftian Circle. A few stand outs with most being the average fare if you have delved into the Mythos before

[Tony Calder · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the (many) slightly unusual things about HP Lovecraft was his willingness to share his creations with other authors. Not only was he willingly to, but he often invited others to come and play in his sandbox, which is one of the things that makes the Cthulhu Mythos such a rich tapestry, as each author would add to the overall mythology.

Robert Bloch started his writing career as a teenager, having been encouraged by Lovecraft to write weird fiction. And the first story of his accepted for publication (although not the first published), "The Secret in the Tomb", introduces what many may say was his greatest contribution to the mythology - medieval sorcerer Ludvig Prinn and his tome De Vermis Mysteriis. De Vermis Mysteriis ("Mysteries of the Worm") is well known to most devotees of the Cthulhu Mythos, whether they come from reading the stories or from playing the role-playing game, or from some other route. It is the glue that binds this collection (which is by no means a complete collection of Bloch's Mythos tales) together, as almost all the stories at least mention the book in one form or another.

The stories are presented in chronological order, so the reader gets to experience how Bloch's writing grows over the years. The majority of these stories are from the mid-to-late 30s, as Bloch put aside Cthulhu fiction for quite a while after Lovecraft's death, and the writing style is quite different in his post-war stories, most notably "Terror in Cut-Throat Cove", which reads more like a hard-crime story than a Mythos story.

If you're into Lovecraft's mythology, then this is a very worthwhile read. A note of caution though, each story has a small preface, many of which contain spoilers.

[Lynsey Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

If HP Lovecraft is the King of his Mythos and Cosmic horror in general, then Bloch is the Prince in waiting. For me he stands head and shoulders above the rest of Lovecafts gang of Mythos bezzies, and that is a grand achievement in itself, as some of those guys are also spectacular.

Some of the stories in this collection are so similar to Lovecraft that they could have almost been penned by him. And I don't mean they are carbon copies of his work, far from it, but they are wrapped in the same heady feeling of lurking terror,eldritch nightmare and cyclopean witchcraft. God, I fucking love eldritch nightmare.

In most of these tales Bloch takes a Lovecraft trope and puts all the 'unseen horror' back in, as these tales are blood soaked and gory in a way most of the other old Mythos stories are not. And I enjoyed them the more for this as sometimes we need that blood.

Although the writing style is nowhere near as archaic and ornate as Lovecrafts, the stories are genuinely disquieting and disturbing, and the imagery was from the outer reaches of hellish space itself. In other words, I loved it.

Now, this is only getting a 4 star for two reasons. One, the editing in my copy is fucking terrible and the editor should be sacrificed to Nyarlathotep post haste. And two, the last two stories where far to modern Mythos for me. And you all know that I only fuck with stuff from around the same period as Lovecraft and just after, anything more modern than that is trash. Trash.

A must for any Cosmic Horror fan who, like me, has read all of Lovecrafts works and needs their next fix.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was hard going - there is no other way to describe it to be honest - Born from the Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu role playing game this series of books has tried to collect together all the masses of mythos related stories and material in to one complete (or as close as can get with licensing agreements will allow) series of books.
The book therefore has a wide range of quality (both style and substance) and at times it painfully shows this. However if you are interested in the mythos and have a bit of an obsessive compulsive steak then this is a must.

[Joel Hacker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Bloch wrote voluminously across a variety of fiction genres during his life. To many, he may be best known for writing Psycho as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek The Original Series. The latest version of this collection contains all (or at least the bulk) of his 'weird fiction' work, including the stories set in turn of the century Egypt discussed by H.P. Lovecraft and his lovecraftian mythos stories as well.
This was a second time around on some of these stories for me, and others it had been so long since I had read them it might as well have been the first time. First of all, I should say that if you are a fan of Bloch's script, film, and television work these stories may not be for you. The pacing is much different, and while some scene are described with rich language, none of this is what I would call cinematic. While technically their inclusion in this collection means all of these short stories share some element of the Cthulhu/Lovecraft mythos, in my opinion only a few really merit that label. Most share a minor element common to the Lovecraft circle of contemporaries. Like Robert Howard, Bloch borrowed either names of entities (i.e. Nyarlahothep), forbidden tomes (the Necronomicon), and/or used analogs to them or story telling devices meant to serve the same purpose (De Vermis Mysteriis). Only a few rise to level of something that feels like part of the mythos, though Lovecraft completionists will undoubtedly want to read the entire collection.
As a fan of mythos fiction in general, and the actual Lovecraft circle of contemporaries in particular, I not only expected to enjoy the mythos stories in this collection more, but even vaguely recall enjoying them (especially the more tongue in cheek, semi-meta stories) a lot more than I did with this reading. Its difficult to say whether that's a result of changing tastes (I first read those stories in my early to mid-teens), or if because they don't hold up well next to truly exceptional Egypt centered horror fiction here. These stories are similar in feel to some of Rudyard Kipling's India horror, and with the tone of the turn of the 20th century stories (and later films) about the ancient mysteries and curses surrounding the archeological discoveries of the mysterious Egyptian desert. I found myself rushing through mythos fiction that felt ho-hum in an effort to get more of stories like 'The Secret of Sebek', 'The Fane of the Black Pharaoh', or 'The Eyes of the Mummy.' These more thoroughly satisfied both my inner child fascinated with archeology and the black & white Universal Mummy as well as the adult in my that could appreciate the craft that went into the lush descriptions that really brought the mystery and menace of the desert to life.
All in all, a good collection by Chaosium, especially as to the best of my knowledge there isn't an adequate Complete Works of Bloch's material (which would likely be sizable anyway).

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 2 out of 5]

I cannot in good faith give this novel more than 2 stars.
First of all, let be real, Robert Bloch when he wrote this series he was 17/18 years old. Probably he wrote some before (!). That's commendable to say the least. At 17 I was playing Command & Conquer in PC games and failing in high school so there's that.

Most writers only come forward with writing a bit later - first because most people would ignore them for being young OR probably prefer more mature writers - yeah this is another topic and we even can say that I am not being fair since the 30's is different from the 90's / 00's of now. Either way it's commendable.

He was already exchanging letters with Lovecraft 2 or 3 years before. So it's even more amazing...
But for being so young and so devoted to Lovecraft the writing, the first 10 stories or so are really Lovecraftian in the same vein of Lovecraft. He didn't try to create something new like Lumley or other writers that inspire in Lovecraft but create something new - Laird Barron; Clark Ashton Smith, Stephen King and others. No, Bloch like Derleth make pastiches of Lovecraft. They created some books, some gods, monsters but never left that area.

The stories, at least the first written before Lovecraft death are all very similar but Bloch mix almost all stories with Egyptian Lore.

I am not saying they were bad, what I am saying is that they are written all in the same way, you've read one and you've read them all. They are very similar. All in the first person, all with a twist in the end, the same writing style and words. For stories with 5/10 pages he constantly uses the same words over and over.

It is know that his stories pass Lovecraft to give feedback, re-writing and such.

Ludvig Prinn's Mysteries of the Worm first appeared in Bloch's short story "The Secret in the Tomb" (Weird Tales May 1935). Lovecraft coined the Latin title, De Vermis Mysteriis.

Later Stories, after Lovecraft death, and after Bloch lost interest in the Mythos, he wrote some more stories and with a different baggage his stories were far better written and even the plot more interesting.

Can I advice this novel?
No.

[Lior · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting tour through Robert Bloch's writings - mostly known for writing Psycho (the novel, not the movie) - in HP Lovercraft's Cthulhu Mythos. The stories are uneven. Even Bloch himself, in the afterword, admits to the lesser quality of his early tales, the first of them written at the tender age of 17! These early forays into the mythos are little more than Lovecraft pastiches, written in his style but lacking any personal touch from Bloch. Things get better as we go through the years, and it's fascinating to see how Bloch turns from an amatuer into a professional, his writing becoming much more tight and assured, and his use of the mythos much more original and scary. I would break the stories in this collection to three distinct periods: The Early Years (mainly 1935-1940), the Egyptian Years, where Bloch apparently had a fascination with ancient Egypt, setting up Nyarlathotep as the main antagonist by turning him into a an old Egyptian god (1940's mostly), and the later years (1950 onward), where his stories became much more mature. My favorite has to be Terror in Cut-Throat Cove which is stupendously scary and riveting. It's doing what Lovecraft never did outside of Shadow over Insmouth, marrying the mythos with an actual plot and fleshed-out characters.

It should be mentioned that Bloch was a Protégé of Lovecraft and knew the man personally!

Chaosium's updated edition of this collection is handsomely produced with some nice introductions to each story (although full of spoilers, so maybe read the introduction AFTER you read the story), but unfortuantley it suffers from quite a few typos and puctuation issues. I guess thourough proofreading was not in the budget, I dunno.

In any case, highly recommended to fans of the mythos, and also recommended as a gateway to one of the most respected genre writers of our time.

[Winry Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sbírka povídek, převážně z raného období Blochovy tvorby (30. léta) volně propojených odkazy na Mýtus Cthulhu. Zpočátku jsou to dílka atmosférická, mile imitující Lovecraftův vypravěčský styl - všechna čest překladateli za příjemný až staromilný jazyk (užití přechodníků i výrazivo jedna radost) - hojně zastoupena je zde též fascinace starověkým Egyptem. Pozdější povídky, kdy si autor už vypěstovával vlastní styl mě bavily o poznání víc, a na závěr mi to přišlo jako šnůra perel - jedna krásnější než druhá.

Nesmírně oceňuji předmluvu a krátké úvodníky k povídkám zasazující je do kontextu doby i okolnostem vzniku, do celkové spletité tapiserie Mýtu Cthulhu.

Plný počet hvězdiček hlavně za, řekněme, metatextualitu lovecraftovského spisovatelského kroužku, (autoři na sebe navzájem odkazují, vypůjčují si alter-ega druhých, by je s laskavým svolením, samozřejmě, sprovodili hrůzným způsobem ze světa) - ač makabrózní tématem, čišela z toho radost, která mi vykouzlila úsměv na tváři.

Tajemství v hrobce - 3/5
Sebevrah v pracovně - 3/5
Přízrak z hvězd - 3/5
Bůh bez tváře - 3/5
Usmívající se ghúl - 3/5
Ten, jenž otvírá cestu - 3/5
Temný démon - 3/5
Plémě bohyně Bubastis - 4/5
Skrček - 4/5
Vetřelec z krypty - 4/5
Sobekovo tajemství - 4/5
Chrám Černého faraona - 4/5
Oči mumie - 5/5
Černokněžníkův drahokam - 5/5
Temné ujednání - 5/5
Nepopsatelné zásnuby - 4/5
Stín z kostelní věže - 5/5
Zápisník nalezený v opuštěném domě - 5/5
Hrůza v Zátoce hrdlořezů - 5/5
Elixír lásky - 4/5

[Eurico Luiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eu odiei metade desse livro com força, mas depois, entendendo o contexto eu acabei relevando algumas coisas e acabou sendo uma leitura muito interessante. Basicamente, nesse livro, os contos estão em ordem cronológica de quando foram escritos pelo autor, ou seja, vão ficando melhores conforme você vai lendo (mas demora). O Robert Bloch começou a escrever com 15 anos, então da pra entender porque metade desse livro são contos extamente iguais e previsíveis: o personagem encontra um mistério para resolver, ele vai até o mistério, chegando lá é enganado (por alguém ou pela própria ganância) e morre uma morte horrível que não sabemos como é, mas é sempre descrita como horrível. O próprio Bloch diz, no final do livro, que esses contos são horríveis mesmo. Mas no final tem contos que valem muito a pena: The Creeper in the Crypt, Black Bargain, The Unspeakable Betrothal, Notebook Found in a Deserted House e Terror in Cut-Throat Cove. Odiei, cinco estrelas.

[Netanella · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Mysteries of the Worm" is a collection of early short stories, many of which were published in Weird Tales in the 1930's. Bloch was an early devotee of Lovecraft, and his initial stories are quite imitative of Lovecraft's style. Eventually, Bloch will find his own writer's voice, and his own fame.

The stories contained in this collection all refer to a mysterious and demonic tome, Ludvig Prinn's De Vermis Mysteriis, which was given its spooky Latin title by Lovecraft himself. Bloch created this fictitious volume to sit on the shelf alongside the equally fictitious Necronomicon by the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred. As the stories in this collection are mainly presented chronologically, it's fun to watch Bloch's progression from a pimply-faced teenaged writer to a more mature one.

Good stuff.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars) Lovecraftian fiction from Robert Bloch. The stories are presented chronologically from his teen years in the 1930s when he corresponded with Lovecraft to the late 50s. To follow them that way is to see Bloch grow in talent. Although all the stories were at least interesting, the earlier ones are clearly written when he was in thrall to Lovecraft and are mostly exercises in atmosphere (which I think much of Lovecraft is), with more development occurring in the later stories. Enjoyable late night reading for Halloween month. My favorites are "The Fane of the Black Pharoah" and the last story, "Terror in Cut-Throat Cove," which is the least Lovecraftian in style and more like an early Roger Corman B-horror film.

[Nichelle Seely · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of horror, but I love the Cthulhu Mythos and their ilk, and I'd say Bloch comes closest to Lovecraft in his contributions to the mythos while still remaining original. This collection is also a good spectrum of a writer's development, from young apprentice to skilled journeyman. But even the earlier, less developed stories are worth reading. I like how Bloch experiments with different stylistic approaches and characters; his narrators are more diverse than Lovecraft's in tone.

My favorite story in this collection is Notebook Found in a Deserted House. Very creepy, very visual and with a fantastic narrative voice.

[Zeke Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mysteries of the Worm is a collection of Robert Bloch’s cosmic horror-bent short stories, particularly those with connections to the Cthulhu mythos. All in all, I find Bloch’s writing much more readable than HP Lovecraft and his stories have a much more pulp-horror flavor that I quite enjoy. There’s still inarguable issues with the content of his stories: the similarity of his protagonists, the tendency to over-homage instead of simply telling a story, and an unmistakable undercurrent of unchecked biases. But all that being said, this collection is still pretty fun and creative and easy to read.

[Gulnar · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology of Mythos-adjacent stories by Robert Bloch. As most anthologies, suffers from the fact that the quality is uneven: some stories like "The secret of Sebek" and "Black bargain" are objectively weak, with one-dimensional characters and predictable plots.
This said, the general level is enjoyable, and there are some stories that I really enjoyed - "Terror in the Cut-Throat Cove" is in my opinion fantastic with its keen character development, and other such as "Notebook Found in a Deserted House" and "The Shadow from the Steeple" are pretty great, be it from the unusual and well developed point of view, or from the surprising plot and ending. All in all a good enough book.

[Debra Arndt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"H.P. Lovecraft-like his creation, Cthulhu-never truly died. He and his influence live on, in the work of so many of us who were his friends and acolytes. Today we have reason for rejoycing in the widespread revival of this canon....If a volume such as this has any justification for its existence, it's because Lovecraft's readers continue to search out stories which reflect his contribution to the field of fantasy....[The tales in this book]represent a lifelong homage to HPL...I hope you'll accept them for what they were and are-a labor of love."
-Robert Bloch

[Taneli Repo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Cthulhu mythos tales by Robert Bloch. Not all of them are great - some are quite badly written. In general, the later stories are better than the earlier ones, as Bloch gradually finds his own voice instead if trying to imitate HPL’s writing style. Quite a few of the stories are familiar to Call of Cthulhu players, as they have been used as source material and inspiration for role playing game scenarios.

Recommended for HPL fans and nerds in general.

[David Erik Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Likely really of only academic interest (are there Robert Bloch scholars?) owing to organization: these Mythos stories are presented chronologically by date of authorship, starting with a tale Block wrote at 17 (and which, by his own admission, doesn’t even really qualify as a story, per se.) The final three stories show Bloch coming into his own, but still: do any of us need to read any more Lovecraftian horror written by a precocious teen?

[Andrew Huff · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the afterward, Robert Bloch acknowledges that most of the short stories in the collection are amateurish — having been written when he was a teenager and published in pulp magazines in the 1930s. The results are as formulaic as you might expect, although his later stories are more polished and inventive. I suppose if you’re a Lovecraft devotee you’ll get something out of these, but otherwise it’s skippable.

[Huckle Buck411 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology of Cthulhu Mythos short stories is ghoulishly entertaining and a grand homage to Lovecraft, who was a friend (and in some cases collaborator) to the youngest member at the time of the Lovecraftian Circle of authors, Robert Bloch. A short foreword to each story gives more insight into Bloch's treatment of Lovecraft's Mythos.

[Robert Woford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea Robert Bloch was a Lovecraft correspondent. Very much enjoyed his Egyptian stories in this volume, and need to look for other collections with the Egyptian themes that are non-mythos related.

[Scott Waldie · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the original torchbearers for the Lovecraftian Mythos, and a damn solid writer in general, but I found some of this a bit dull. That said, if you like the metaphysical or mystical lore attached to that universe, he puts a strong focus on that.

Halloween 2021 Read 5/20

[Nájezdník z Pustiny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nakonec jsem nedočetl. I když Bloch dokáže navodit temnou atmosféru, podle mě se jeho styl nepřibližuje hloubce, kterou nabízí samotný Lovecraft. Možná se k tomu vrátím, až budu mít Lovecraftovo dílo kompletně za sebou.

[Jim Ordolis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Bloch’s Cthulhu Mythos stories are a “must read” if you have read Lovecraft and want to continue reading more Mythos tales. Bloch was Lovecraft’s protégé and went on to become a force in horror onto himself. This collection Mysteries of the Worm are the top tier Mythos yarns!