The Unofficial Robert Bloch Website

News

This page lists all news items that may be relevant to the readers and collectors of Robert Bloch's works.

Got any news related to Robert Bloch or his works? If so, email me!

• August 4, 2007 -- Hard Case Crime has announced the upcoming publication of Robert Bloch's double novel set Shooting Star / Spiderweb. Due to be published in April 2008, the Hard Case Crime website has a sample chapter of Shooting Star on line.

• August 3, 2007 -- The latest issue of Earl Kemp's fanzine eI 33 contains a long lost essay by by Robert Bloch on fandom -- Hitting the Fan. This follows the previous issue, eI 32, which contained Robert Bloch's San Francisco Confidential.

• August 2, 2007 -- While not news, Time has placed its April 15, 1940, article on Carl Zeidler, Milwaukee's Mayor, online. You can also read Reason's article on Milwaukee's Socialist mayoral history: Red Star Over Milwaukee.

• August 1, 2007 -- Tim Lucas of Video Watchdog has uncovered a true rarity -- the Groucho Marx television game show pilot "The Plot Thickens" (1963), which is an extra on the DVD set You Bet Your Life -- The Best Episodes. A true oddity (and probably unseen since it was pitched to potential sponsors), this program contained a ten minute mystery story (written by Robert Bloch) that the panelists were asked to solve. More information can be found at Mr. Lucas' Video WatchBlog.

• July 30, 2007 -- 31 Down recently produced Metronoma, a play featuring an imaginary meeting of H.P. Lovecraft and a young Robert Bloch. The script of the play can be found here.

• June 1, 2007 -- We belatedly note that Curtis Harrington, director of numerous films, including the Bloch-scripted telefilms The Cat Creature and The Dead Don't Die, passed away on May 6, 2007.

• March 20, 2007 -- We've been informed that Paul Walker, author of Speaking of Science Fiction: The Paul Walker Interviews, passed away on March 8, 2007, after a short illness. With the kind permission of his sister, Mr. Walker's interview with Robert Bloch will be posted on this site shortly.

• March 19, 2007 -- Word has reached us that Eleanor "Elly" Bloch, Robert Bloch's widow, passed away on March 7, 2007. From the Winnipeg Press obituary at the previous link:
  ELEANOR (ELLY) BLOCH (nee ZALISKO) Passed away peacefully on Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at the Betel Home in Selkirk, MB. Elly was born on July 10, 1915, the daughter of the late Julian and Mary Zelisko. She was predeceased by her husband Robert Bloch in 1994 as well as five brothers and four sisters. She is survived by her step-daughter Sally Francy of Los Gatos, CA; and sister-in-law Jean Zalisko of St John's, IN. She will be sadly missed by caregivers, Myrna Unik and Lorna Kazuk of Selkirk as well as three generations of nieces and nephews and her beloved cat BoBo. She will be missed by lifelong friends, Mary Kay Stearns, Anne Erickson and Lil Neville of Los Angeles, CA. Elly moved to Winnipeg from Los Angeles in 2002 to the delight of her Canadian family who came to cherish her beautiful heart, keen intellect and sense of humour, which remained until the end. Throughout her life Elly had a remarkable gift of making every person she met feel special. Each of us in some way were influenced by this talented, loving, strong woman. Her memory and her legacy will be cherished. A private family memorial service will be held after which family members will transport her ashes to be laid to rest with her husband Bob in Los Angeles. The family wish to thank Dr. Lindenschmidt and Dr. Demsas, the staff at Amber Meadows, the wonderful nursing crew at the Betel Nursing home, and roommate Shirley Kalawarny for their special concern. A special thank-you to Elly's friend Helen Christiansen. Gilbart Funeral Home, Selkirk in care of arrangements.

• February 18, 2007 -- After a short break, we are back with some news.
  The Fear Planet is officially sold out from the publisher, but can be purchased from Amazon.

  Fortunately, Stefan R. Dziemianowicz's follow-up volume, The Skeleton in the Closet -- The Reader's Bloch Vol. 2, is scheduled for publication by Subterranean Press in the near future (hopefully later in 2007). This volume is going to concentrate on Bloch's hitherto uncollected weird fiction, featuring some overlooked stories from WEIRD TALES, AMAZING STORIES, STRANGE STORIES, FANTASTIC, and other pulps and digests, and including Bloch's two earliest sales, "Black Lotus" and "Lilies," which were published in William Crawford's semi-pro magazines MARVEL TALES and UNUSUAL STORIES. The tentative list of contents is listed by Subterranean Press as follows: Black Lotus
  Lilies
  Never Trust a Demon
  The Last Plea
  The Strange Island of Dr. Nork
  Skeleton in the Closet
  The Bat is My Brother
  The Hound of Pedro
  Iron Mask
  The Red Swimmer
  Curse of the House
  Pink Elephants
  Unheavenly Twin
  Tooth or Consequences
  The Tchen Lam's Vengeance
  Fairy Tale
  The Mad Scientist
  The Tempter
  

  Cemetery Dance Publications recently published Mondo Zombie, a collection of stories of the walking dead, which contained an otherwise uncollected Bloch story ("Maternal Instinct"). Though out of print, it is supposedly available on Amazon. An exerpt of this story can be found on Cemetery Dance's website here.

  The January/March 1007 (No. 113) of Filmfax Plus (the issue has a Tarzan cover story) contains Part 2 of Matthew Bradley's retrospective on Bloch's television work, "Programming Bloch."

  Flipping through Cemetery Dance's website, I noticed that Beth Gwinn and Stanley Wiater's book Dark Dreamers is still available from the publisher. The book has a piece on Bloch. (Beth was the person who kindly granted me permission to host her picture of RB on the front page of this site.)

  Quite often, I get requests from readers for Bloch's October 1994 Omni essay, "The Other Side of the Bloch," in which Bloch ruminates on his upcoming death. That essay can be found here, and is well worth the time of any Bloch fan.

  Finally, as you may already know, Bloch friend and contemporary Wilson "Bob" Tucker passed away on October 6, 2006. Mr. Tucker was the author of such SF classics as "The Lincoln Hunters" and the Campbell Award winning "The Year of the Quiet Sun." He was also a fixture on the science fiction convention scene and a gentleman. He will be missed.

• June 3, 2004 -- Subterranean Press has renamed the title of the first volume of The Reader's Bloch -- it will now be called The Fear Planet and Other Unusual Destinations -- as well as a list of its contents, as follows:
  Introduction by Stefan Dziemianowicz
  Beep No More, My Lady
  The Old Switcheroo
  Have Tux--Will Travel
  Alternate Universe
  The End of Science Fiction
  Last Laugh
  The Tempter
  A Lesson for the Teacher
  Let's Do It for Love
  The Machine That Changed History
  The Man Who Walked Through Mirrors
  Red Moon Rising
  The Black Brain
  Murder from the Moon
  Secret of the Observatory
  Phantom from the Film
  The Fear Planet
  Grandma Goes to Mars
  Queen of the Metal Men
  The Tin You Love to Touch
  

  Subterranean Press is taking pre-orders for the book here. There will be a limited edition of 750 numbered hardcover copies signed by the editor available for $40, and a lettered edition of 26 deluxe traycased copies signed by the editor available for $150.

• January 7, 2004 -- Stefan Dziemianowicz has provided readers with an introduction to his new series (now a possible three volumes) of Robert Bloch stories to be published by Subterranean Press -- The Reader's Bloch!

• August 18, 2003 -- Author Harold Gauer, longtime friend of Robert Bloch, has announced both his new website and his new book, Keeping Track Of What Happened: A Journal of Events in the Lives of Some Interesting People. Mr. Gauer's book is part memoir and part Milwaukee cultural history, told in his own unique style. The book includes numerous Bloch-related anecdotes and rarely-seen photographs.

• August 17, 2003 -- Forthcoming from Subterranean Press is a two volume set of never before reprinted Bloch short stories edited by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz. The first volume of this set, entitled Skeleton in the Closet and Other Dark Secrets: The Reader's Bloch Vol. 1 is now available for pre-order from Subterranean Press.

• August 16, 2003 -- After a year of no activity on this website, I'm pleased to announce my return. Updates will still be infrequent for the near future, but there is a bit of news I'd like to convey. First and foremost, Subterranean Press has now published all three volumes of the David Schow edited Lost Bloch series. While Volume 1 is now out of print, The Lost Bloch Volume 2: Hell on Earth and The Lost Bloch Volume 3: Crimes and Punishments are still in print and available. See details on contents below.

• January 4, 2001 -- The Lost Bloch Volume 2: Hell on Earth has been published and is still available from the publisher. The contents of The Lost Bloch Volume 3: Crimes and Punishments have been announced as follows:
  Introduction (or Foreword) by Gahan Wilson
  Foreword (or Introduction) by David J. Schow
  The Shambles of Ed Gein
  Hell's Belle
  The Finger Necklace
  The Noose Hangs High
  Dr. Holmes' Murder Castle
  Interview with Robert Bloch by Douglas Winter
  Douglas Winter's interview with Robert Bloch is the unexpurgated and full-length version of FACES OF FEAR interview, which was severely edited when originally published.

• September 18, 2000 -- NEW BLOCH BOOK! Subterranean Press has announced the publication during 2001 of The Lost Bloch Volume 3: Crimes and Punishments. The Lost Bloch Volume 2: Hell on Earth is scheduled to ship this week.

• August 20, 2000 -- The second volume of The Lost Bloch is delayed until October. Peter Ruber's new book "Arkham's Masters of Horror" (available from Arkham House) reprints Robert Bloch's "The Bat Is My Brother" and also includes a six page essay dealing with Robert Bloch and his relationship with August Derleth and Arkham House.

• June 3, 2000 -- SCIFI.COM's Seeing Ear Theatre has announced plans to webcast a new audio production of Robert Bloch's story, "A Good Knight's Work." As soon as more information is available, it will be noted on this page.

• February 3, 2000 -- NEW BLOCH BOOK! Subterranean Press has announced the May 2000 publication of the second volume of The Lost Bloch. Subtitled "Hell on Earth," this book will contain the following:
  Introductions by David J. Schow and Douglas E. Winter
  Hell on Earth
  The Miracle of Ronald Weems
  It's a Small World
  Once a Sucker
  A Never-Before-Published 1990 Bloch Interview (8000+ words!)
  This book is priced at US$40 (free shipping in the US) and can be pre-ordered via the Subterranean Press website, by telephone (visa/mastercard) at 810-232-1489, or by mail at:
  Subterranean Press
  PO Box 190106
  Burton, MI 48519
  

• June 15, 1999 -- Subterranean Press has announced that all copies of "The Lost Bloch" are now sold out from the publisher.
• November 4, 1998 -- Bokförlaget Replik has announced the publication of a Swedish edition of Bloch's classic "Psycho." Their website has a nice biography of Bloch (in Swedish, of course).
• October 12, 1998 -- NEW BLOCH BOOK! Subterranean Press has announced the publication of the first volume of a projected two volume set called "The Lost Bloch Volume One: The Devil With You!" A list of its contents can be found here.
• August 1, 1998 -- Robert Bloch's posthumous collection of short stories, "Flowers From the Moon and Other Lunacies," has been published by Arkham House. The book contains 20 stories (in 296 pages), mostly from the late thirties and early forties. A sizeable number of these stories have not been reprinted elsewhere. The book itself is a handsome hardback, and upon publication retailed for between $23 and $25. .

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