Product Description

Best known as the author of "Psycho", Robert Bloch is world-renowned for his stories of horror, mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. Many of the 25 stories in this first volume of "The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch" have been unavailable for decades. The stories are in his classic style of gripping suspense, science fiction and fantasy.

As Bloch writes, "These stories in this collection have a common theme; they deal with monsters. Some of the monsters are human, some are not-- but all of them embody, in one way or another, the fears common to us in our dreams. We call these monsters by many names-- ghosts, vampires, extraterrestrials, changelings. But we recognize them for what they are; manifestations of the secret dreads and desires which lurk beneath the surface of consciousness."

"Bloch has become a virtual fixture on the popular culture landscape." --Publishers Weekly

"If you're not familiar with Bloch's short fiction, find someone to borrow this from; if you already are familiar, you know that you want to own these volumes." --Locus

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #150661 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-31
• Released on: 1998-08-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

A Bloch Party
Robert Bloch's first volume of complete stories is gruesome fun. Some of his most famous and chilling short stories can be found in this collection. Many of these stories were translated into either film by Amicus productions (The House That Dripped Blood, Asylum, Torture Garden, Tales from the Crypt, etc.) or made into a radio play. Among the great stories contained are "Mannikins of Horror" where an insane nueroscientist plays god and breathes life into clay; "Frozen Fear" tells of a Cajun curse that will chill you to the bone; "The Man Who Collected Poe" is a fantastic tale of a man's obsession going beyond the mortal realm; and "I Like Blondes" deals with an individual's taste in women. This collection contains 27 stories, all of which are a blast to read. If you enjoy horror short stories without all the ambiguous endings that seem to plague the current market, this is the collection for you.

Bloch's brilliant stories are required reading.
Despite being famous for a novel, Robert Bloch's greatest contributions to genre literature were arguably in the short story format. Whether writing for the pulps or the slick professional magazines, Bloch could be counted on delivering a unique and addictive blend of twisted shock and sarcastic black humor. These volumes are pretty much required in any genre fans library. Highly recommended.

Fantastic literature at its best
Most people only know Robert Bloch for 'Psycho', but his career is way beyond that. He was a prolific writer, and the youngest member of the so-called Lovecraft Circle. This collection encompasses some of his best works, some of them heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. I'd suggest this tome to anyone who is into the Mythos or any kind of fantastic literature and fiction. I enjoyed it quite a lot, and I'm sure you'll do too.