| Along with the editors' choices among Bloch's short fiction (and an excerpt from a screenplay adapting Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson's "Hoka" stories), "This tribute anthology contains short introductions, appreciations, and/or essays by the following: Ricia Mainhardt, Douglas E. Winter, Frederik Pohl, Peter Straub, Gahan Wilson, Andre Norton, Christopher Lee, William F. Nolan, Richard Matheson, Hugh B. Cave, Phillip Klass [aka William Tenn], David J. Schow, Randall D. Larson, Joe R. Lansdale, Jeff Walker, Harlan Ellison, Julius Schwartz, Melissa Ann Singer, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip Jose Farmer, Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, Bill Warren, Mick Garris, William Peter Blatty, Sheldon Jaffery, Stephen King, Stephen Jones, Neil Gaiman, and Ray Bradbury." |
Seeing Bloch's memoir ONCE AROUND THE BLOCH reminds me I found a copy of it at a book sale last year. It's still unread. I'm going to toss it in my carry-on before we leave for vacation. Been wanting to read it for a long time now.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty damned good...but--Bloch expected to be able to write another one, I gather, about his literary career primarily, which this one mostly isn't. And that second volume, if there was to be one, didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteBloch must have had a friendship with Mike Mignola. Block also wrote an introduction--in the character of Jack The Ripper--for Mignola's Batman vs Jack tale "Gotham By Gaslight."
ReplyDeleteMignola's a fan, and Bloch was an utter gentleman. Not to mention that Bloch's "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" is clearly the inspiration there, as it was for any number of other folks, many plagiarists...the story posits that the Ripper has found a means for literal immortality through his murders. Yes, Bloch was the first with that. (Among the sequels of sorts he himself wrote was the episode of STAR TREK which introduced the Chekhov character.)
ReplyDeleteGetting a postcard from Bloch about one of my zines twenty years ago floored me, even though he was famous his crammed postcards of comment (poctsards in fannish parlance).