Such Stuff As Screams Are Made Of

by Robert Bloch

NIGHTMARES TURNED INSIDE OUT

Contents:
Introduction by Gahan Wilson
The Tunnel of Love
The Unspeakable Betrothal
The Girl From Mars
The Head Hunter
The Weird Tailor
Lucy Comes to Stay
The Pin
I Do Not Love Thee, Dr. Fell
Luck Is No Lady
The Cure
The Screaming People
The Big Kick
The Masterpiece
Talent
The Final Performance
Life In Our Time
Underground
A Case Of The Stubborns
The Head
What You See Is What You Get
Nina
Author's Afterword

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies

287 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 12, 1979

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

[Althea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthology of 21 short stories, originally published between 1948 and 1977, by the classic horror author.

Includes: The Tunnel of Love; The Unspeakable Betrothal; The Girl from Mars; The Head Hunter; The Weird Tailor; Lucy Comes to Stay; The Pin; The Masterpiece; Talent; The Final Performance; Life in Our Time; Underground; A Case of the Stubborns; The Head; What You See is What You Get; Nina; I Do Not Love Thee, Dr. Fell; Luck is No Lady; The Cure; The Screaming People; The Big Kick.

The stories range from slasher-type horror to horrific sci-fi, but the majority fall into the realm of supernatural fantasy mixed with psychological suspense. Some may feel a little bit old-fashioned, but they're consistently good - as one might expect from this well-respected writer.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second Robert Bloch short story collection, and it won't be my last. Entertaining and intriguing stories, though a few of them haven't aged well in terms of gender and race, and after a while, the "Bloch twist" at the end of the stories loses its punch a little, not nearly as charming as a "Bradbury Twist" or as thought-provoking as a "Twilight Zone Twist." Even so, still a seminal speculative fiction writer who should be read by any young writer today.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Bloch's print fiction will never be as well remembered as his movie scripts (e.g, Psycho), which is a shame. What leaped out at me rereading this is how well he can shift voice: the Beatnik tone in "The Big Kick," the deadpan tone of a serious report in "Talent," the hillbilly voices of "A Case of the Stubborns." The stories are mostly good, though the 1960s ones ("Life In Our Time" and "Big Kick") suffer from the Kids Get Off My Lawn attitude he expressed in a lot of his fiction from that time. And several (not all) feel misogynistic, such as the casual allusions to rape in "Big Kick."

[Michael Fredette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such Stuff as Screams are Made Of, Robert Bloch [Del Rey, 1979].

A collection of short horror fiction by Robert Bloch, highlights includes:

“The Tunnel of Love”: The owner of a tunnel of love, takes his latest paramour on a fateful trip through the tunnel…

“The Girl From Mars”: A sideshow attraction draws curious spectators…

“Luck is No Lady”: A low-rent barfly experiences drastic changes in fortune…

“The Big Kick”: A beatnik couple try to hustle a mark who turns the tables…

“A Case of the Stubborns”: A semi-comic story in which the almost 90 year old patriarch of a hillbilly family, dies and begins to decompose, but mysteriously, still walks…

***
Robert Bloch [1917-94] began his career as a writer of cosmic horror and Weird Fiction before evolving into psychological horror and suspense. Bloch’s work of true crime reportage, “The Shambles of Ed Gein” is included in a Library of America volume and his novel Psycho was adapted as Hitchcock’s iconic film.

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always thought "Such Stuff as Screams Are Made of" was a great title.....a riff on the o Bard, so to speak.

I must be on a Robert Bloch kick today, as this is the third paperback I've read today....

Anywho - originally published in 1979 by Ballantine, a collection of his more ghoulish short stories...some of which were adapted for either television or the movies - "Lucy Comes to Stay" appeared in the movie "Asylum" from Amicus..."A Case of the Stubborns appeared in the anthology series "Monsters", and "The Weirs Taylor" was in the original "Tales from the Crypt" with Peter Cushing.

Buy it and read. Tell em I sent ya.



Jeff McIntosh

[Jendi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The clever premises and cinematic pacing are this collection's strengths. You're within your rights to throw the book across the room because of the ethnic stereotypes and misogyny, quite common in pulp fiction of this era. My favorites were "The Pin," an original take on the Grim Reaper, and "The Unspeakable Betrothal," which is sort of Cthulhu meets "The Yellow Wallpaper". The latter was the only story with a hint of some feminist consciousness: a young woman plausibly decides she'd rather have her brains taken to Yuggoth than stick around with her mansplaining fiance and patronizing doctor.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixture of horror and crime fiction, including one Cthulhu Mythos tale.

I feel like up through Psycho, Bloch just couldn't write a bad story, then, I dunno, the fame and success went to his head or something. Love his hard-hitting, spare and witty prose. He is a master of the goosebumps-raising twist at the end of the story.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

[NB: Stories overlapping with "Blood Runs Cold" have been deleted.]
The tunnel of love
*The unspeakable betrothal
*The girl from Mars
*The head hunter (aka Head man)
The weird tailor
Miss Lucy comes to stay --3
Luck is no lady
The screaming people
*Talent
Life in our time --3
*Underground (aka The living dead)
*A case of the stubborns
The head
What you see is what you get
*Nina

[H.V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this collection. The stories are (obviously) a little dated at this point, but Bloch is a gifted writer of the weird. Some of his stories were a little predictable, but many of them surprised me. I especially recommend "The Pin," the humorous "A Case of the Stubborns" and the shiver-inducing "Nina."

[Jordan Whitlock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved em all, but the story NINA is literally screaming for a CREEPSHOW or TALES FROM THE CRYPT adaption. C'mon Greg Nicotero!! Bloch is the King of short stories (even inspired the king himself, Stephen King) and you can't go wrong with this collection!

[Brian Rosenberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific collection from one of the masters of the short story and a personal favorite. Stand out stories include:

The Head Hunter – a tale of madness concerning an executioner in Berlin
The Weird Tailor – a tailor undertakes an unusual commission that proves tragic
The Pin – unbelievable power and responsibility is contained within a silver pin and woe to the person who welds it
The Cure – in Brazil, a thief learns firsthand the horror of what happens when something is lost in translation
Talent – Andrew Benson had talent; he could imitate anybody or anything
A Case of the Stubborns – it takes a visit to the Conjure Lady to convince Grandpa that he’s dead
Nina – Nolan learns the folly of fornicating with one of the Snake people

Highly recommended.

[Carol Greer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is great and the stories are varied -- some are apocalyptic, some horror, some parapsychological. The problem is the payoff at the end of each tale. I was never really surprised or amazed. Still, I thought it was an enjoyable book. Bloch knows how to write.