Fear Planet and Other Unusual Destinations: The Reader's Bloch, Vol. 1

From Publishers Weekly
While now best known for his horror fiction, prolific pulp writer Robert Bloch (1917–1994) also often contributed to AmazingStories and other magazines that helped define SF's Golden Age. Critic and anthologist Dziemianowicz (Rivals of Weird Tales) has done a real service by collecting 21 Bloch stories from this era, many never before reprinted, in the first volume of a new series devoted to Bloch's short fiction. Because Bloch's science fiction typically featured loony characters and a bunch of gags with a few technical terms tossed in, his work in this vein has dated less than much of the more serious, speculative SF of his contemporaries. Gems include the embarrassingly hilarious "yellow peril" story "Secret of the Observatory"; "Beep No More, My Lady," in which space has been taken over by advertising; and the preposterous "Queen of the Metal Men," an H. Rider Haggard spoof with Lovecraftian touches. As Dziemianowicz so aptly observes in his introduction, "By his own admission Bloch never was a power hitter in science fiction—but maybe it was because he didn't regularly swing for the fences that he managed to connect as often as he does in these stories." Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Bloch may be best known for his horror stories, but the first volume of the Reader's Bloch (typically Blochian pun) proves he was just as capable at sf. These stories are from the pulps, but they're not stereotypical space-opera stuff. They range from "Beep No More, My Lady," with its funny but creepy insight about the lengths TV execs will go to, and the obvious solution to a rampaging alien's problem in "How Bug-Eyed Was My Monster" to the touching story of a fifties househusband who finds love in the form of a household cleaning robot in "The Tin You Love to Touch." Pulp expectations are sometimes fulfilled, as by "The Secret of the Observatory," in which a newspaperman discovers a fiendish plot to spy on U.S. military fortifications from Canada; and elements from Bloch's horrific imagination creep in, such as the bizarre creation of a monster through an experimental new film technique in "Phantom from the Film." If this stuff is overlooked Bloch, thank God someone has stumbled on it. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Buy from Amazon     Compare Prices

While now best known for his horror fiction, prolific pulp writer Robert Bloch (1917-1994) also often contributed to Amazing Stories and other magazines that helped define SF's Golden Age. Critic and anthologist Dziemianowicz (Rivals of Weird Tales) has done a real service by collecting 21 Bloch stories from this era, many never before reprinted, in the first volume of a new series devoted to Bloch's short fiction. Because Bloch's science fiction typically featured loony characters and a bunch of gags with a few technical terms tossed in, his work in this vein has dated less than much of the more serious, speculative SF of his contemporaries. Gems include the embarrassingly hilarious "yellow peril" story "Secret of the Observatory"; "Beep No More, My Lady," in which space has been taken over by advertising; and the preposterous "Queen of the Metal Men," an H. Rider Haggard spoof with Lovecraftian touches. As Dziemianowicz so aptly observes in his introduction, "By his own admission Bloch never was a power hitter in science fiction-but maybe it was because he didn't regularly swing for the fences that he managed to connect as often as he does in these stories." Agent, Chris Lotts at the Ralph Vicinanza Agency. (Nov. 3) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.


Buy from Barnes & Noble     Compare Prices