tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post542655988755773203..comments2024-03-27T22:39:08.396-04:00Comments on Sweet Freedom: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: BLOOD RUNS COLD and PLEASANT DREAMS by Robert BlochTodd Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-19404274399538019922009-05-15T22:32:00.000-04:002009-05-15T22:32:00.000-04:00OK, correction already...not only is the Jove edit...OK, correction already...not only is the Jove edition in the Contento index at http://www.philsp.com/homeville/ISFAC/t113.htm#A2429<br />but also, "Catnip" is not in SCREAMS, but the BEST OF.<br /><br />And it was a decently adapted for the US tv series DARKROOM.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-76148771374106588922009-05-15T21:38:00.000-04:002009-05-15T21:38:00.000-04:00Wow, so I've sent along to Bill Contento this,...Wow, so I've sent along to Bill Contento this, about the differences between the original PLEASANT DREAMS and the Jove mass-market paperback:<br /><br />http://www.philsp.com/homeville/ISFAC/t13.htm#TOP doesn’t seem to include this variant:<br /><br />Pleasant Dreams Robert Bloch (Arkham House, 1960, $4.00, 233pp, hc) <br /><br />· Sweets to the Sweet · ss Weird Tales Mar ’47 <br />· The Dream Makers · nv Beyond Fantasy Fiction Sep ’53 <br />· The Sorcerer’s Apprentice · ss Weird Tales Jan ’49 <br />· I Kiss Your Shadow · ss F&SF Apr ’56 <br />· The Proper Spirit · ss F&SF Mar ’57 <br />· Catnip · ss Weird Tales Mar ’48 <br />· The Cheaters · nv Weird Tales Nov ’47 <br />· Hungarian Rhapsody [as by Wilson Kane] · ss Fantastic Jun ’58 <br />· The Light-House · ss Fantastic Jan/Feb ’53; completed by Bloch from a Poe fragment. <br />· The Hungry House · ss Imagination Apr ’51 <br />· Sleeping Beauty [“The Sleeping Redheads”] · ss Swank Mar ’58 <br />· Sweet Sixteen [“Spawn of the Dark One”] · ss Fantastic May ’58 <br />· That Hell-Bound Train · ss F&SF Sep ’58 <br />· Enoch · ss Weird Tales Sep ’46 <br /> <br /><br />Pleasant Dreams Robert Bloch (Jove HBJ, 1979, $1.75, 252pp, mm) <br /><br />7 · Sweets to the Sweet · ss Weird Tales Mar ’47 <br />17 · The Dream Makers · nv Beyond Fantasy Fiction Sep ’53 <br />49 · The Sorcerer’s Apprentice · ss Weird Tales Jan ’49 <br />63 · I Kiss Your Shadow · ss F&SF Apr ’56 <br />85 · The Proper Spirit · ss F&SF Mar ’57 <br />95 · The Cheaters · nv Weird Tales Nov ’47 <br />117 · Hungarian Rhapsody [as by Wilson Kane] · ss Fantastic Jun ’58 <br />129 · The Light-House · ss Fantastic Jan/Feb ’53; completed by Bloch from a Poe fragment. <br />147 · The Hungry House · ss Imagination Apr ’51 <br />171 · Sleeping Beauty [“The Sleeping Redheads”] · ss Swank Mar ’58 <br />187 · Sweet Sixteen [“Spawn of the Dark One”] · ss Fantastic May ’58 <br />209 · The Mandarin’s Canaries · ss Weird Tales Sep ’38 <br />223 · Return to the Sabbath · ss Weird Tales Jul ’38 <br />241 · One Way to Mars · ss Weird Tales Jul ’45 <br />--so the paperback drops four stories, perhaps/probably because they were included in the recent Ballantine/Del Rey retrospectives (“Catnip” in SUCH STUFF AS SCREAMS ARE MADE OF, the other three, “Enoch,” “Mr. Steinway” and “That Hell-Bound Train” in THE BEST OF RB—although those three are cited in the back-cover copy on the Jove paperback!), and adds the last three stories from THE OPENER OF THE WAY.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-54860615661325910872009-05-15T21:36:00.001-04:002009-05-15T21:36:00.001-04:00or even, to take either fact as a given.or even, to take either fact as a given.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-89817928652494763892009-05-15T21:36:00.000-04:002009-05-15T21:36:00.000-04:00Thanks, Kate. As usual, the typos and infelicities...Thanks, Kate. As usual, the typos and infelicities are now nagging at me. Writing these in the dead of night after work doesn't help one bit.<br /><br />Updike can be awfully Adorable, when not (at his worst) both cloying and misogynist (what novel could I be thinking of?), but I do like his better prose. And those little digs you cite (SF v. F, romance v. erotica) sadly predate the internet, of course...just took gathering at cons and/or bars, or mailing the fanzines, to make the interchanges more difficult than in the Now A Go Go era we find ourselves in.<br /><br />Bloch was a genius and a gentleman and never expected others to either fact as a given.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-15289170262101307432009-05-15T19:32:00.000-04:002009-05-15T19:32:00.000-04:00No one should have to read Updike for any reason a...No one should have to read Updike for any reason and I don't recommend it. I have Kierkegaard's quote on my web page for a reason -- I hate all these boxes we get put into in order to market our words. I just hope the internet brings from freedom from all this marketing trash and allows good readers to find good writers. Of course all over the internet I see SF readers savaging F readers and romance readers savaging erotic romance readers, so maybe there's no hope anyway and my present obscurity should continue and keep me out of the fray, LOL.<br /><br />Good review, Todd -- Bloch is a good one.C. Margery Kempehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15910282257993793334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-70533923226866429542009-05-15T17:45:00.000-04:002009-05-15T17:45:00.000-04:00Well, if that was John D. MacDonald, or Ross Macdo...Well, if that was John D. MacDonald, or Ross Macdonald, you read at least one pulp writer. By which I mean, someone who wrote for the pulp magazines. at least on occasion (JDM more than RM). I think Georges Simenon wrote for the close French equivalents, but most of the others mostly got better-paid from early on.<br /><br />Yeah, I'd say Dwight Macdonald (they're everywhere!) might call most of those writers, fairly or not, Midcult. I tend to call most of what they have written "contemporary mimetic" ficton, though Atwood has written some science fiction and (my favorite of hers I'ver read so far) the metafictional romance LADY ORACLE, Updike initially wanted to be a mystery writer (decided he had no talent for it, and I understand his terrorist suspense novel is one of his weakest, though can't say yet for myself) and has written fantasies repeatedly over the decades (Judith Merril took one or two short ones for her BEST SF annual, and of course there's THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK), Louise Erdrich has frequently written fantasies. <br /><br />Meanwhile, the likes of Jim Thomspon came essentially too late for the pulps...and you seem to have been reading Charles Willeford for years. Did you really miss out on Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Johnson (who was barely a pulpster, having contributed at least once to ARGOSY when it was it was just devolving from king of the pulps to low-rent ESQUIRE analog), among all the other major pulp crime fiction writers, aside from JDM?<br /><br />For that matter, Edward Hoch got his start in the last of the cf pulps...did you ever read EQWM and/or his BEST DETECTIVE/MYSTERY STORIES OF THE YEAR volumes back when?Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-81978788151841338842009-05-15T17:04:00.000-04:002009-05-15T17:04:00.000-04:00Maybe I read middle-brow? The novels of Alice Adam...Maybe I read middle-brow? The novels of Alice Adams, Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, Ann Beatty, John Updike, Russell Banks, Richard Ford, Louise Erdrich, Tobias Wolfe Richard Yates, etc. If I read crime fictio, which I did a lot, it was Freeling, Sjowal and Wahloo, MacDonald, Simenon, Rendell, Marsh, Sayers, Tey, etc. None of these pulp writers. <br />This whole cast of characters eluded me.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-6319572496097763542009-05-15T11:55:00.000-04:002009-05-15T11:55:00.000-04:00The fact that William Faulkner, presumably drunk, ...The fact that William Faulkner, presumably drunk, threw a tantrum when he lost the Ellery Queen award to the brilliant Manly Wade Wellman in 1946, I think suggests just how Very Very Vast the chasm between the "literary" and the "commercial" isn't.<br /><br />Also notable that neither man was most at home in crime fiction, though both were comfortable.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-54423709155124689522009-05-15T11:44:00.000-04:002009-05-15T11:44:00.000-04:00An non-literary? It's hard to read a semi-lite...An non-literary? It's hard to read a semi-literate blogger, too...or at least one as usual in too much of a hurry.<br /><br />Happily for her, Shirley Jackson was favored by Harold Ross and co., so she was "literary" and coul make a buck...SATURDAY EVENING POST wouldn't've cottoned to her much, and she'd be "stuck" with WEIRD TALES and her kids noted that her fine "One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts" wouldn't sell anywhere she'd submit it too, till Tony Boucher, legendary cf reviewer and writer, took it for F&SF. I suspect Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" follwed a similar path (only that would've been Robert Mills or Avram Davidson at F&SF, by then). Like that.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-86297858497308558962009-05-15T11:40:00.000-04:002009-05-15T11:40:00.000-04:00Because it's tough to read an non-literary nov...Because it's tough to read an non-literary novel?<br /><br />Nothing non-literate about Bloch. Even if Donald Barthelme did enjoy joking about Fredric Brown, the "distance" between the kinds of folks who were publishing in PARTISAN REVIEW and MANHUNT wasn't ever that great, and even less between THE PARIS REVIEW and FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION or EQMM...those who contended otherwise had a vested interest in one sort of snobbery or another, or otherwise felt the need to be willfully ignorant. Carol Emshwiller is another writer whose work I've been meanting to do in this series, and she's an example of someone not writing in any way vastly differently for EPOCH and for F&SF, NEW WORLDS and NEW DIRECTIONS. R. A. Lafferty another example, debuting more or less simultaneously in NEW MEXICO REVIEW and FUTURE SCIENCE FICTION. I can go on (as is obviou by now...).Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-75227070849925604882009-05-15T11:15:00.000-04:002009-05-15T11:15:00.000-04:00Why did I spend so much time reading the literary ...Why did I spend so much time reading the literary novels of the last half of the last century when I could have read writers like this?pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-48364641146025039152009-05-15T10:07:00.001-04:002009-05-15T10:07:00.001-04:00Indeed, it's the Harrington tekefilm I hope to see...Indeed, it's the Harrington tekefilm I hope to see some day.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-28681570840012636612009-05-15T10:07:00.000-04:002009-05-15T10:07:00.000-04:00Let's see, Cullen--THE PORTABLE BLOCH should inclu...Let's see, Cullen--THE PORTABLE BLOCH should include, at least:<br /><br />novels:<br />PSYCHO<br />THE KIDNAPPER<br />AMERICAN GOTHIC<br />(--I'm fond of NIGHT-WORLD but I'm not sure it's up to those)<br />...and I'd even suggest, as above, THE DEAD DON'T DIE is worth seeking out in one obscure form or another.<br />THE STAR STALKER was originally going to be the first of a trilogy or at least a triptych of novels, the inability (for reasons that are obscure to me at the moment) to go forward with that project was heartbreaking to Bloch.<br /><br />Contents of collections:<br />Well, the Citadel reprint of THE SELECTED STORIES OF ROBERT BLOCH, which makes a point of omitting some of Bloch's most important stories due to their availability elsewhere, I believe, is shamelessly mis-retitled THE COMPLETE STORIES OF ROBERT BLOCH...not by a longshot, nor is it even the best retrospective, which I suggest are the two-pronged Ballantine/Del Rey collections THE BEST OF ROBERT BLOCH (1977--mostly fantasy and sf, with some horror) and SUCH STUFF AS SCREAMS ARE MADE OF (1978--mostly horror and suspense). But there are few collections of Bloch that aren't worth reading, even if some of THE OPENER (as noted) and the heavily sfnal ATOMS AND EVIL (1962) are not my first choices among his work. But he never lost his touch...for example, the late collection FEAR AND TREMBLING includes the notably weak "Freak Show," but also the brilliant "The Yougoslaves"...among much other worthwhile fiction.<br /><br />And even his early Lovecraftian fiction evinced his sense of humor, and he encoraged it in HPL, too, as with the stories in WEIRD TALES in which each had the other killed...albeit Lovecraft called his doomed character "Robert Blake" (David Lynch probably approves, at least).Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-65044341220322884602009-05-15T09:58:00.000-04:002009-05-15T09:58:00.000-04:00Curtis Harrington made a pretty good movie out of ...Curtis Harrington made a pretty good movie out of THE DEAD DON'T DIE.<br /><br />Oh, I also read the Hard Case Bloch double-novel, both of which I liked a lot.Cullen Gallagherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14236957954996740924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-24652103432129926352009-05-15T09:48:00.000-04:002009-05-15T09:48:00.000-04:00"Train" is one of his best...there are dozens, inc..."Train" is one of his best...there are dozens, including "Final Performance" and "Sweets to the Sweet" (which leads off the paperback version of PLEASANT DREAMS), "The Weird Tailor" (adapted by Bloch himself for the best episode of the Boris Karloff-hosted tv series THRILLER, though the title pun of the story appearing in WEIRD TALES was lost in that context), any number of others. In fact, even it its abridged state (and notwithstanding the inclusion of the minor "Sweet Sixteen," also in the hc original), PLEASANT DREAMS remains one of the two non-career-spanning volumes of Bloch's I'd recommend to the beginning reader, along with BLOOD RUNS COLD. Though several others will do nearly as well...though I'd avoide the overly Lovecraftian first collection THE OPENER OF THE WAY at first, even if one wanted to pay the ridiculous prices for it.<br /><br />David--thanks. Even more than Leiber and Theodore Sturgeon, and John Collier and Shirley Jackson, though they too, I think this is fair assessment of Bloch's influence...certain his friends Henry Kuttner and Ray Bradbury (the latter also an assiduous student of Sturgeon) seemed to take his example to heart, as Bloch shook off his early Lovecraft-pastiche approach (Bloch was a teen when he became one of the corresponding friends in the "Lovecraft Circle," after all, unlike Leiber, already an adult when he joined in shortly before HPL's death). THE LOST BLOCH and such are fine collections to look into...though I'm particularly glad to have the original FANTASTIC ADVENTURES issue that features Bloch's THE DEAD DON'T DIE, with its illustrations that playfully make the protagonist Bloch himself; someday I hope to see the reportedly Not-Bad/Mezzo Mezzo television film made from this...the novella itself is excellent. Perhaps that will be my forgotten book-like thing some week soon!Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-28703341458250604192009-05-15T09:38:00.000-04:002009-05-15T09:38:00.000-04:00Really fantastic and insightful review. I've only ...Really fantastic and insightful review. I've only read "The Scarf" which I really liked, and I've wanted to read some of his stories, so I think I'll track down "Blood Runs Cold" and "Pleasant Dreams" if I can.<br /><br />And you're right about the first line of "Final Performance" - hah! Fiendishly wonderful. Can't wait to read the whole story.<br /><br />As far as novels go, I also have "The Will to Kill" on my shelf. What are his other essential reads?Cullen Gallagherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14236957954996740924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-88099971548355695672009-05-15T09:34:00.000-04:002009-05-15T09:34:00.000-04:00Patti, PSYCHO is the tip of the Bloch iceberg. Hi...Patti, PSYCHO is the tip of the Bloch iceberg. His short stories, especially "That Hell-Bound Train," are first-rate.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04546161337366365635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-88835851538527019652009-05-15T07:57:00.000-04:002009-05-15T07:57:00.000-04:00I often have trouble finding the covers. I think I...I often have trouble finding the covers. I think I've only read Psycho by Bloch.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8525415828746712027.post-5255757745431199922009-05-15T06:46:00.000-04:002009-05-15T06:46:00.000-04:00"Bloch is the Hammett/Hemingway/Heinlein figure in..."Bloch is the Hammett/Hemingway/Heinlein figure in horror fiction" is right on the money. I've never heard it put in those words but is so true. I'm never disappointed with a Bloch short story and I have plenty in various Hitchcock collections and old pulp magazines I own.David Cranmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04749857752139212888noreply@blogger.com