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The Essential Robert Bloch
25 stories from the legendary author of Psycho, Robert Bloch. Also known for three classic Star Trek episodes he wrote (What Little Girls Are Made Of, Catspaw and Wold in the Fold), Bloch won a Hugo and an Edgar Allan Poe Award. Stories in this collection include Hell on Earth, Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, Catnip, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The Strange Island of Doctor Nork, The Unspeakable Betrothal, All Else is Dust, Let's Do It My Way, Girl from Mars, Tooth or Consequences, The Tin You Love to Touch, My Struggle, The End of Science-Fiction, The Tchen-Lam's Vengeance, The Past Master, You Could Be Wrong, Corn-Fed Genius, Founding Fathers, Before Egypt, Daybroke, This Crowded Earth, Comfort me, my Robot, The Black Kiss, The Old College Try and The Mannikin.
- GenresHorrorScience Fiction
527 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 1, 2020
123 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Robert Bloch
1,092 books1,285 followersRobert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer. He was the son of Raphael "Ray" Bloch (1884, Chicago-1952, Chicago), a bank cashier, and his wife Stella Loeb (1880, Attica, Indiana-1944, Milwaukee, WI), a social worker, both of German-Jewish descent.
Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, usually crime fiction, science fiction, and, perhaps most influentially, horror fiction (Psycho). He was one of the youngest members of the Lovecraft Circle; Lovecraft was Bloch's mentor and one of the first to seriously encourage his talent.
He was a contributor to pulp magazines such as Weird Tales in his early career, and was also a prolific screenwriter. He was the recipient of the Hugo Award (for his story "That Hell-Bound Train"), the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He served a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Robert Bloch was also a major contributor to science fiction fanzines and fandom in general. In the 1940s, he created the humorous character Lefty Feep in a story for Fantastic Adventures. He also worked for a time in local vaudeville, and tried to break into writing for nationally-known performers. He was a good friend of the science fiction writer Stanley G. Weinbaum. In the 1960's, he wrote 3 stories for Star Trek.
Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, usually crime fiction, science fiction, and, perhaps most influentially, horror fiction (Psycho). He was one of the youngest members of the Lovecraft Circle; Lovecraft was Bloch's mentor and one of the first to seriously encourage his talent.
He was a contributor to pulp magazines such as Weird Tales in his early career, and was also a prolific screenwriter. He was the recipient of the Hugo Award (for his story "That Hell-Bound Train"), the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He served a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America.
Robert Bloch was also a major contributor to science fiction fanzines and fandom in general. In the 1940s, he created the humorous character Lefty Feep in a story for Fantastic Adventures. He also worked for a time in local vaudeville, and tried to break into writing for nationally-known performers. He was a good friend of the science fiction writer Stanley G. Weinbaum. In the 1960's, he wrote 3 stories for Star Trek.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 6, 2021
3.5 Stars
This was mostly science fiction, as the subtitle suggests, but I'm a much bigger fan of Bloch's horror than his sci fi. There is some horror here, some very good including his Lovecraft inspired "Mannikin" and the famous "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper."
The sci fi ranged from dark to silly and most had a little of both. I think I was expecting more of a horror slant to the stories. Overall it was still a good read.
This was mostly science fiction, as the subtitle suggests, but I'm a much bigger fan of Bloch's horror than his sci fi. There is some horror here, some very good including his Lovecraft inspired "Mannikin" and the famous "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper."
The sci fi ranged from dark to silly and most had a little of both. I think I was expecting more of a horror slant to the stories. Overall it was still a good read.
December 7, 2020
This is a collection of Robert Bloch horror and pulp science fiction stories plus one science fiction novel (This Crowded Earth) that appeared in pulp magazines from 1942 to 1963.
The first five stories are from Weird Tales. The rest of the stories appeared in Avon Fantasy Reader, Amazing Stories, Fantastic Adventures and other magazines.
I didn’t realize that Robert Bloch wrote science fiction and I was surprised at the amount of humor some of his stories have. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it felt forced. I preferred the horror stories over most of the science fiction stories.
The novel had it’s moments but it was wordy and was slow going most of the time.
Hell on Earth (2/5)
Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (5/5)
Catnip (4/5)
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (5/5)
The Strange Island of Doctor Nork (3/5)
The Unspeakable Betrothal (4/5)
All Else is Dust (3/5)
Let’s Do It My Way (3/5)
Girl from Mars (4/5)
Tooth or Consequences (4/5)
The Tin You Love to Touch (3.5/5)
My Struggle (4/5)
The End of Science Fiction (3/5)
The Tchen-Lam’s Vengeance (3/5)
The Past Master (5/5)
You Could Be Wrong (4/5)
Corn-Fed Genius (3/5)
Founding Fathers (4/5)
Before Egypt (3.5/5)
Daybroke (4/5)
This Crowded Earth (2.5/5)
The Old College Try (4/5)
The first five stories are from Weird Tales. The rest of the stories appeared in Avon Fantasy Reader, Amazing Stories, Fantastic Adventures and other magazines.
I didn’t realize that Robert Bloch wrote science fiction and I was surprised at the amount of humor some of his stories have. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it felt forced. I preferred the horror stories over most of the science fiction stories.
The novel had it’s moments but it was wordy and was slow going most of the time.
Hell on Earth (2/5)
Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper (5/5)
Catnip (4/5)
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (5/5)
The Strange Island of Doctor Nork (3/5)
The Unspeakable Betrothal (4/5)
All Else is Dust (3/5)
Let’s Do It My Way (3/5)
Girl from Mars (4/5)
Tooth or Consequences (4/5)
The Tin You Love to Touch (3.5/5)
My Struggle (4/5)
The End of Science Fiction (3/5)
The Tchen-Lam’s Vengeance (3/5)
The Past Master (5/5)
You Could Be Wrong (4/5)
Corn-Fed Genius (3/5)
Founding Fathers (4/5)
Before Egypt (3.5/5)
Daybroke (4/5)
This Crowded Earth (2.5/5)
The Old College Try (4/5)
October 30, 2021
Robert Bloch (1917-1994) was a writer of the macabre, frequently with a sense of humor. It was he who said "I have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar, on my desk", which is often misattributed to others, and especially to Alfred Hitchcock and, more recently, Stephen King. Bloch is best known as (1) the author of the novel _Psycho_; (2) as the writer of three episodes of the original STAR TREK; (3) as a member of the original "Lovecraft Circle"; and (4) as a very funny toastmaster/MC at a number of conventions and such.
This appears to be an unofficial book; at least, when I went back to look for it on Amazon, it wasn't there, and the link from Goodreads goes to a "we couldn't find that" page.
That's a pity, because it contains a number of quite good stories, including one minor classic.
Some of the particularly good stories:
"Hell on Earth" -- a "scientific occultism" story in which a scientist manages to summon and imprison Satan. There are consequences.
"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" -- this is the classic I mentioned. It's about a hunt for Jack in (then) modern-day Chicago.
"The Stange Island of Doctor Nork" -- what if Dr. Moreau had been in it for the money?
"The End of Science-Fiction" -- it turns out, sci-fi really _was_ bad for you. It's a darn good thing nobody writes it anymore.
"Tooth or Consequences" -- vampire + bloodbank + ...dentist?
"Founding Fathers" -- a time-travel caper story.
There are also several straightforward crime stories, some that are at least loosely Lovecraftian, and one short novel, _This Crowded Earth_.
Published in _Astounding SF_ in 1958, _This Crowded Earth_ may not be the first serious speculative novel about overpopulation, but it's certainly a very early one, and the earliest I know of in which someone actually comes up with something -- other than war -- to do about it.
Harry Collins is an ordinary schlub who hates the way things are soo crowded in Chicagee (a megalopolis, and predecessor to things like "Boswash", "San Frangeles", and, of course, "the Sprawl"; there are several named in the story), and in America in general. Eventually he is forcibly kept from leaping from a high window and taken to a mysterious health facility. Here he is given a course of treatment that, ultimately, involves impregnating a couple of nurses, each of whom he never sees again. A mysterious stranger informs him that this facility is the testing ground for ... something ... which is surely an answer to global overpopulation.
Lots of plot (and civil war and such) later, it turns out that the "something" worked too well, and is on the brink of bringing the human race to its final end. This is in turn resolved, bringing the book to a satisfactory (in Campbellian terms, at least) ending.
It is a work of classic "Golden Age" science fiction, with problems, solutions, and consequences of the solutions that turn out to need their own solutions.
To sum up: since I can't recommend this collection because it has rather mysteriously ceased to exist, I can comfortably recommend its contents, wherever you may find them.
This appears to be an unofficial book; at least, when I went back to look for it on Amazon, it wasn't there, and the link from Goodreads goes to a "we couldn't find that" page.
That's a pity, because it contains a number of quite good stories, including one minor classic.
Some of the particularly good stories:
"Hell on Earth" -- a "scientific occultism" story in which a scientist manages to summon and imprison Satan. There are consequences.
"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" -- this is the classic I mentioned. It's about a hunt for Jack in (then) modern-day Chicago.
"The Stange Island of Doctor Nork" -- what if Dr. Moreau had been in it for the money?
"The End of Science-Fiction" -- it turns out, sci-fi really _was_ bad for you. It's a darn good thing nobody writes it anymore.
"Tooth or Consequences" -- vampire + bloodbank + ...dentist?
"Founding Fathers" -- a time-travel caper story.
There are also several straightforward crime stories, some that are at least loosely Lovecraftian, and one short novel, _This Crowded Earth_.
Published in _Astounding SF_ in 1958, _This Crowded Earth_ may not be the first serious speculative novel about overpopulation, but it's certainly a very early one, and the earliest I know of in which someone actually comes up with something -- other than war -- to do about it.
Harry Collins is an ordinary schlub who hates the way things are soo crowded in Chicagee (a megalopolis, and predecessor to things like "Boswash", "San Frangeles", and, of course, "the Sprawl"; there are several named in the story), and in America in general. Eventually he is forcibly kept from leaping from a high window and taken to a mysterious health facility. Here he is given a course of treatment that, ultimately, involves impregnating a couple of nurses, each of whom he never sees again. A mysterious stranger informs him that this facility is the testing ground for ... something ... which is surely an answer to global overpopulation.
Lots of plot (and civil war and such) later, it turns out that the "something" worked too well, and is on the brink of bringing the human race to its final end. This is in turn resolved, bringing the book to a satisfactory (in Campbellian terms, at least) ending.
It is a work of classic "Golden Age" science fiction, with problems, solutions, and consequences of the solutions that turn out to need their own solutions.
To sum up: since I can't recommend this collection because it has rather mysteriously ceased to exist, I can comfortably recommend its contents, wherever you may find them.
June 19, 2024
This book collects 25 of Robert Bloch's works in short fiction. They span from the 1930s into the 1960s and range from horror, thriller and speculative fiction to science fiction. For me it was kind of a mixed bag. I mostly enjoyed his horror and thriller works, which were mainly the earlier stories, better than the sci-fi which dominated the 50s onward. The two longest stories within were sci-fi ones, and just felt like they were droning on and on to the point where I couldn't be bothered to finish them. My favorite was probably the last one in the book, though not the last chronologically, "The Mannikan," which was a solid Lovecraftian story.
August 22, 2024
Mixed bag but I love these old fashioned stories from a time when mankind had things to wander about instead of looking at screens. Some really good ones are …
The past master
Catnip
Yours truly,Jack the Ripper
Old college try
Sorcerers apprentice
Comfort me ,my robot
The novelette ..this crowded earth is not bad but lacks focus to keep one interested . Too large a scope squeezed in a too simple manner …
The past master
Catnip
Yours truly,Jack the Ripper
Old college try
Sorcerers apprentice
Comfort me ,my robot
The novelette ..this crowded earth is not bad but lacks focus to keep one interested . Too large a scope squeezed in a too simple manner …
March 24, 2021
Excellent Collection
A collection of Bloch’s lesser known short stories and novellas, the subjects range from humor to science fiction to cosmic horror. Fans of Bloch will enjoy the variety and newcomers to the work of the author who wrote Psycho will enjoy the plethora of genres Bloch wrote in.
A collection of Bloch’s lesser known short stories and novellas, the subjects range from humor to science fiction to cosmic horror. Fans of Bloch will enjoy the variety and newcomers to the work of the author who wrote Psycho will enjoy the plethora of genres Bloch wrote in.
May 5, 2021
Mostly masterful
The stories in here give a view into what pulp looks like when it works. Yes, these stories are products of their times and sometimes the quality dips a bit. However, the book is mostly masterful and shows off a master of the short story craft and member of the Lovecraft circle after Lovecraft's death.
The stories in here give a view into what pulp looks like when it works. Yes, these stories are products of their times and sometimes the quality dips a bit. However, the book is mostly masterful and shows off a master of the short story craft and member of the Lovecraft circle after Lovecraft's death.
July 21, 2021
A Great Collection of SciFi Stories by Robert Bloch
I was unaware of Robert Bloch and I only borrowed the book (Kindle Unlimited) because the cover said he was the writer of the Hitchcock Movie Psycho which I loved. The short stories within this book are spellbinding and hard to put down.
I was unaware of Robert Bloch and I only borrowed the book (Kindle Unlimited) because the cover said he was the writer of the Hitchcock Movie Psycho which I loved. The short stories within this book are spellbinding and hard to put down.
December 13, 2021
A must for for fans of Pulp and all the genres it encompasses
The descriptive language brings each page to life. All of the stories compel you to turn the page.
The only thing I dislike is there weren't more stories. :)
I strongly recommend this to anyone who enjoys gripping and thought provoking short stories.
The descriptive language brings each page to life. All of the stories compel you to turn the page.
The only thing I dislike is there weren't more stories. :)
I strongly recommend this to anyone who enjoys gripping and thought provoking short stories.
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February 7, 2021Extensive collection of very good short stories.
March 6, 2021
I would love to Robert blocks movies his book is even better
December 8, 2022
Fun collection of stories.
January 18, 2026
There were a few clunkers interspersed through the mix ("Before Egypt" being foremost among these--boy, talk about a rehash!--and the novel seemed pretty silly as well, for as far as I got with it). But for the most part, the material proved a worthy successor to HPL.
March 19, 2022
Purchased this an an e-book...
A compilation of 25 short stories, taken from Unknown, Weird Tales, and other pulp novels. Several of the stories could be considered "space opera", and quite a few were horror stories....
I've been a big fan of Bloch since reading "Psycho" many years ago, and then started reading his short fiction....you won't be disappointed....
Jeff McIntosh
A compilation of 25 short stories, taken from Unknown, Weird Tales, and other pulp novels. Several of the stories could be considered "space opera", and quite a few were horror stories....
I've been a big fan of Bloch since reading "Psycho" many years ago, and then started reading his short fiction....you won't be disappointed....
Jeff McIntosh
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews