Final Reckonings, Vol. 1 Book

I have never really read this giant of a suspense/horror/fantasy/sci-fi writer who is so famous for having written Psycho. But now I have obtained a number of books with his stories, so I can catch up:-)


April 25, 2009

"Frozen Fear":

A very short, but delicious supernatural tale where the distorted psyhological angle of the narrator is what makes it an interesting read; after all this revenge tale is essentially a rewrite of a classic theme. But thanks to Bloch's obvious writing skills (and insight into human nature, I think) it nonetheless works, even today.

April 26, 2009

"Almost Human":

Something in the way it was written made this story sound a little outdated to me. Even so it was a charming story about a robot with a mind/soul who is a fast learner--and more so than the unsymphatetic thug who teaches him many mean things about life suspects.

And the "love" part in the end is darkly twisted.

"Terror in the Night":

A mad woman frantically knocks on your door one night, telling you a paranoid tale of conspiracies against her and about an asylum working to actually get the patients ill. The one she just ran away from. She's gotta be lunatic, gotta be wrong. Right?

Right?;-)

"Constant Reader":

Probably the strangest, surreal sci-fi story I have ever read--but I liked it very much! As a confessed bibliophile, how can I not?;-)

A spaceship team of explorers try to find out if there's life on planet 68/5, and even though data indicate that there isn't soon something (beginning with a weird blackout) indicates that indeed there is intelligence on the planet...

Throw in that the only book reading guy in the story is also the one that connects the dots (although a little too easily) because he is the well-read guy of the group, add spices of Gulliver's Travels, The Odyssey and the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, then you can imagine why I enjoyed this tale so much.

April 27, 2009

"Lucy Comes to Stay":

I have a suspicion this story illustrates Bloch's mastery of the aspects of the mentally ill that Psycho showcases so shudderingly well. Not only is there a sureness in the way it's all written (even from the first person perspective of the insane narrator) but the believability is also impressive. And despite that I early on saw through the "twist" of the story it still held my interest all the way to the end; an end that closes like this [SPOILER ALERT:]: "After a minute, I began to laugh, too. And then the two of us were laughing together, we couldn't stop even when the doctor went away. We just stood there against the bars, Lucy and I, laughing like crazy."

Brilliant!

April 30, 2009

"The Shadow from the Steeple":

This was a fun read. Not so much because of the story (although it's entertaining enough) but because it's a homage to a game Lovecraft and other writers had among themselves in some of their stories, Bloch included.

In 1935 a teenage Robert Bloch killed off Lovecraft in the tale "The Shambler from the Stars." Lovecraft, who always enjoyed pokings and insider fun in tales, was charmed by this and killed off Bloch later the same year, in a very cosmic manner, in "The Haunter from the Dark," now a classic HPL story often highlighted as one of his best stories.

In "The Shadow from the Steeple" a friend of Robert Harrison Blake (HPL's fictive name for Bloch, in his story) tries to unearth what actually happened back then. He is especially--understandably--curious as to what really happened with the thing referred to as "the Shining Trapezehedron." When he finally manages to get in contact with one of the remaining witnesses to the events back in 1935, Dr. Ambrose Dexter, we learn that things have not ended as it was originally reported, whether by the official records or by the accounts of HPL;-)

Bloch seamlessly weave a tale where facts (e.g. that HPL wrote "Haunter" + that he died in 1937, right before the narrator--also a clever version of Bloch himself, I suspect--could visit him) and fiction blend so it's hard to tell which is which if one doesn't know beforehand. Doing this is the gentle homage from a writer who by the time of this story (ca. 1950) has established himself as an author in his own right to a mentor and inspiration now dead more than ten years before. It is fun how he changes a few facts to make the plot fit consistently with the earlier tales (e.g. now the place Blake lived is no longer HPL's apartment, as in the original story, but they are neighbors!), and explaining it (e.g. HPL changed a few facts in his story to create a higher fictive tension, and he didn't want to include himself, and his own part in the horrors, in his own story:-P).

Weird? Perhaps, but it doesn't read that strange, I can tell you. All this is only for those "in the know," really, and it all works well in the tale, even without this knowledge. A tale that is told straight and clearly. And while I didn't "buy" how the narrator suddenly--more or less out of the blue--deduced the connection of everything (SPOILER: Nyarlathotep from HPL's poem of the same name has a hand in this too!), I nonetheless felt entertained in a cozy manner.

That's all the author intended, I think:-)

Later same day;-):

"The Past Master":

A man appears, not out of the blue but from the ocean, naked and with odd questions re. the greatest artworks in history. What's this all about?

Through eyewitnesses' own accounts we learn what's going on, and when we reach the conclusion of the tale it has taken a surprising turn, where sci-fi elements lurk in the background and the US fear of Communism in the 1950s more than lurk in the fore of everything.

Very interesting and surprisingly gripping tale.

"I Like Blondes":

Hehe. Well, as the mysterious narrator says, "it's a matter of taste" and while this tale wasn't the best in the collection it was still entertaining enough. And the appearance of a UFO on the roof was a laugh.

Later still, same day;-):

"The Bogey Man Will Get You":

On a holiday the teenage girl Nancy so much wants to impress the handsome, eloquent man named Philip. But something seems odd... And after a while the suspicion arises: Is he a vampire?

Her mother doesn't believe her, of course, but Nancy is determined to demonstrate she's right, and it's not just because he turned her down one night.

In the end Philip convinces her that he's not a vampire, which he really isn't. Just a shame he's a werewolf!;-)

Nice little shocker.

May 2:

"A Good Imagination":

Warning: If you're married to one of Bloch's characters, do not cheat on your spouse! It is inevitable that your life will come to a horrible end--and one that also involves a lot of psychological horror; as the narrator says: "It's all a matter of knowing how to use your imagination."

I liked this one very much, and it was great that it turned out to be less obvious than I thought. And there are also nods to Poe.

May 3, 2009

"Dead-End Doctor":

A Twilight Zone-like story with sci-fi elements. We learn what happens to the poor, last psychiatrist on Earth now that there is no longer use for one with that profession, and the robots have taken over just about all kinds of work.

Thoughtful story. I liked it.

May 24, 2009

"The Thinking Cap":

A little psychedelic, but okay story. A writer has the famous writer's block and he is at an all-time low in his life. A woman enters his life, offers him a device he can put on his head and which is guaranteed to have him write successful stories. He accepts--and he becomes a successful writer.

Of course, no gift is without a price. He ends up trying to regain his own life, and not be so dependant on the "thinking cap," which includes sessions with a psychiatrist. Our protagonist discovers, though, that psychiatsts aren't always right;-) I liked the ending very much. It wasn't a surprise, but it was still handled in a way that satisfied.

The "dream scenes" (or whatchacallit) were weird and psychedelic but worked well. I am wondering if Bloch writes from experience here--both in terms of the infamous writer's block "syndrome" and having trippy dreams-that-can-be-turned-into-succesful-stories?

As always--more reviews to come, as I complete the stories;-)