Strange Eons

by Robert Bloch, David J. Schow (Introduction)

Robert Bloch's classic contribution to the Lovecraftian Cthulhu Mythos, back in print at last!

When Albert Keith comes across a dusty old painting of a hideous, red-eyed, sharp-clawed creature in a dingy junk shop, he falls in love with it at first sight and buys it at a bargain price. But it isn't until he shows it to his friend Simon Waverly that he understands the painting's true it appears to be one of the portraits described by H.P. Lovecraft in his horror story "Pickman's Model." Keith and Waverly slowly begin to realize that Lovecraft's fiction may not be works of the imagination at all-instead they contain a message to mankind, a terrible warning about Cthulhu and his minions, the Great Old Ones. Keith sets off in search of the horrible truth, but can anything stop the Great Old Ones, or is mankind already doomed?

Robert Bloch (1917-1994) was a friend and admirer of Lovecraft, and in his Strange Eons (1978), originally published as a limited edition and long out of print, he contributes his own notable entry to the Lovecraftian Mythos. This new edition includes an introduction by David J. Schow.

"Robert Bloch is one of the all-time masters." - Peter Straub

"A hundred years from now, devotees of this genre will still be reading Robert Bloch." - Richard Matheson

Genres: Horror, Cthulhu Mythos, Fiction, Lovecraftian, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Weird Fiction

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1978

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

[mark monday · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[K.T. Katzmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-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/...

[Sidney · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Bloch's best book after Psycho and one of the best novels based on Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-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/...

[Brian Sammons · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Randy Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Doug Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Derek Hutchins · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Alessandro Balestra · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Bryham Fabian · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Scott Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Vanina · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐

[John Frasene · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Alexander Draganov · Rating 5 out of 5]

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/

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Signor Mambrino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable trash. For Lovecraft fans only.

[Henrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

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).

[Jorge Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[EmBe · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Jonatan FA · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 !

[Arcadio · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

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!

[Aitor · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Alejandro Pardo Ladino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un homenaje de Bloch a la obra de Lovecraft. Y no se trata de hacer referencias, el autor toma tal cual los elementos de, personajes y bestiario y arma una historia "actualizada" de los mitos de Cthulhu. La lectura es agil, entretiene, no está cargada como los cuentos de Lovecratf. Sin embargo, en el cuento, Bloch cae, como su maestro, en la discriminación racial. Y es que uno pensaría que con tantos años de distancia entre uno y otro, Bloch no repetiría el mismo error de Lovecraft, sobretodo porque el contexto social de Bloch es diferente del de Lovecraft.

En cuanto a la novela, son tres historias con tres protagonistas en tres momentos temporales con un eje en común, Cthulhu. Respeta muy bien el bestiario de Lovecraft y lo adapta perfectamente a la actualidad. Los tres protagonistas tienen carisma, y aunque el último es quien tiene "menos tiempo en pantalla" no por eso es el menos importante o aburridor. El hecho de no depender de generar atmósferas opresivas en plena segunda mitad del siglo XX, donde los avances científicos eran pan de cada día, le da ese toque de "credibilidad" así que se siente que no busca generar el susto gratis.

Creo que es una novela que escrita para los fanáticos de Lovecraft, quien no lo conozca, se va a sentir muy perdido. De todas formas es entretenida y engancha.

[Kurt Springs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was first published on Kurt's Frontier.

Synopsis:

“That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.” (The Call of Cthulhu 1928)

“It is said that what men know is called science; what they have not yet learned they call magic. But both are real…” What if Howard P. Lovecraft was not just an author. What if he were using fiction to deliver a veiled warning. Suppose that the creatures of his legendarium had horrific counterparts in reality.

Three people are linked with this terrible knowledge. For Albert Keith, it started with the purchase of a strange painting. Murder and theft followed. For his ex-wife, Kay, it was involvement with a government project to stop Cthulhu from rising. It culminates with Mark Dixon’s revelation on who he really is.

Review:

Robert Bloch was a protège of H. P. Lovecraft. His book Strange Eons uses an author’s greatest tool: the question “What if…” The major premise of the book is that H. P. Lovecraft was more than just an author of horror. He researched reality and used the guise of a writer to deliver warnings to the discerning reader. Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth, and others had counterparts in reality.

Strange Eons was thought-provoking. It caught the feeling of being in the power of something powerful, beyond comprehension, and indifferent to human existence (if we’re lucky). While not exactly scary in the classic sense, it is a suspenseful, fun read.

[Genna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. It sounds dumb to complain that a book based on the premise that Lovecraft is true feels derivative (because of COURSE it's derivative) but... God this felt derivative. I just... I expected a book with that premise to be interesting and this just... wasn't, and while of COURSE a book like this would have to reference Lovecraft, it did it too much. There was a lot of "Oh the thing that just happened was EXACTLY LIKE IN THAT ONE BIT IN THE DUNWICH HORROR" and yeah, okay, maybe you could use Lovecraft as a jumping off point and use that to craft something amazing rather than constantly quoting and referring back.

Unless Bloch was just a massive Lovecraft fanboy and this book was just a conspiracy to get people to read more Lovecraft, which I'm not ruling out.

Moments of good creeping horror, but the book was too conscious of itself to be any actual fun.

EDIT: Also I would just like to point y'all to A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson, which takes the premise that Shakespeare is true and goes wild. It's brilliant and perfect and scintillating and, despite using a famous author as a starting point, is not at all derivative or boring. SO IT CAN BE DONE.