WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #95: SUCH STUFF AS SCREAMS ARE MADE OF By Robert Bloch

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In his “Author’s Afterword” Robert Bloch mentions his 69 stories published by Weird Tales. Bloch’s also asserts that he’s not just a “weird fiction” writer, he’s a specialist in “psychological suspense.” Actually, Bloch’s work blends the two elements. Take “The Weird Tailor” where a talented but cruel tailor takes on the task of making a custom suit made of unique material. Tension builds as the special suit displays strange characteristics. The startling conclusion reminds me of Bloch’s final scenes of Psycho.

My favorite story in Such Stuff as Scream Are Made Of is “Talent” which celebrates Bloch’s love of fantasy films. “I Do Not Love Thee, Dr. Fell” defines Bloch’s approach to psychological suspense.

In his “Introduction,” Gahan Wilson places Robert Bloch in the league of other Weird Tales writers like H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith. High praise, indeed…and deserving of it based on the quality of the stories in Such Stuff as Scream Are Made Of . Are you a Robert Bloch fan? GRADE: A

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23 thoughts on “WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #95: SUCH STUFF AS SCREAMS ARE MADE OF By Robert Bloch”

  1. Steve A Oerkfitz

    I read a lot of his stuff back in the 60’s. Not much since. I find him very hit or miss. I like his crime and horror fiction best. I never cared for any of his SF

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    1. george Post author

      Steve, Bloch’s crime and horror fiction make up most of SUCH STUFF AS SCREAMS ARE MADE OF. This volume could have been titled THE BEST OF ROBERT BLOCH.

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      2. george Post author

        Steve, good point! The Ballantine Books edition of The Best of Robert Bloch (1977) includes these stories:
        “Robert Bloch: The Man Who Wrote Psycho” [introduction] (Lester del Rey)
        “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” (from Weird Tales, Jul. 1943)
        “Enoch” (from Weird Tales, Sep. 1946)
        “Catnip” (from Weird Tales, Mar. 1948)
        “The Hungry House” (from Imagination, Apr. 1951)
        “The Man Who Collected Poe” (from Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Oct. 1951)
        “Mr. Steinway” (from Fantastic, Apr. 1954)
        “The Past Master” (from The Blue Book Magazine, Jan. 1955)
        “I Like Blondes” (from Playboy, Jan. 1956)
        “All on a Golden Afternoon” (from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jun. 1956)
        “Broomstick Ride” (from Super-Science Fiction, Dec. 1957)
        “Daybroke” (from Star Science Fiction, Jan. 1958)
        “Sleeping Beauty” (from Swank, Mar. 1958)
        “Word of Honor” (from Playboy, Aug. 1958)
        “The World-Timer” (from Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, Aug. 1960)
        “That Hell-Bound Train” (from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sep. 1958)
        “The Funnel of God” (from Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, Jan. 1960)
        “Beelzebub” (from Playboy, Dec. 1963)
        “The Plot is the Thing” (from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jul. 1966)
        “How Like a God” (from Galaxy Magazine, Apr. 1969)
        “The Movie People” (from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Oct. 1969)
        “The Oracle” (from Penthouse, May 1971)
        “The Learning Maze” (from The Learning Maze and Other Science Fiction, 1974)
        “Author’s Afterword: “Will the Real Robert Bloch Please Stand Up?”

  2. Jerry House

    Few people merged humor and horror as well as Bloch and his psychological suspense works (THE KIDNAPPER, THE SCARF, FIREBUG, PSYCHO, THE DEAD BEAT, etc.) are models of that genre. It was his short stories that resonated with me both as a kid and an adult and my great regret is that there are few left for me to experience for the first time. I agree with Steve that his SF was ot first-rate but I still found it enjoyable.

    You ask, “Are you a rbert Bloch fan?” How could I not be, both of the man and of his writing?

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    1. george Post author

      Jerry, I became a fan of Robert Bloch in the 1960s when I read the Pyramid short story collections of Bloch’s horror stories. I was so inspired by one of Bloch’s “deal with the Devil” stories, I wrote one of my own for my Ninth Grade English class. I sure got funny looks from the English teachers after they read my story!

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  3. Michael Padgett

    I certainly can’t say that I’m NOT a Bloch fan, but nearly all of his stuff that I read was long ago. I’m sure I read PSYCHO and maybe another novel or two. I’m also certain I read a lot of his stories, but the only title I remember is probably his most famous–“Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper”, which I noticed is not in this collection.

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    1. george Post author

      Michael, I’m sure you remember Bloch’s Hugo winning “That Hell-Bound Train.” Many of Bloch’s stories showed up on TWILIGHT ZONE and NIGHT GALLERY.

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  4. Fred Blosser

    One of the first paperbacks I ever bought was Bloch’s BOGEY MEN. By reference, it introduced me to Lovecraft, Howard, and WEIRD TALES via Sam Moskowitz’s short bio of Bloch that was included in the collection. I met Bloch in passing at a World Fantasy Con, a gracious man. Who can forget his remark: “I have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar in my desk”?

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    1. george Post author

      Fred, I remember reading BOGEY MEN back in the Sixties, too! That famous line would catch a lot of flak today from the Political Correctness crowd.

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      2. Todd Mason

        This volume was a companion, gathering Bloch’s horror and suspense stories, to the Ballantine THE BEST OF ROBERT BLOCH published in ’77…both were selected by Bloch himself, and the relative lack of horror in the BEST volume was rather well compensated-for in this one. I have recommended the two Ballantine titles as one of the two best two-volume introductions to Bloch, along with PLEASANT DREAMS and BLOOD RUNS COLD.

        I’d also suggest that while his sf was not the strongest subset of his work in total, such occasional stories as the surreal science-fantasy “The Funnel of God” (1959) are deservedly well-remembered (one of the arguable horror stories in THE BEST OF).

        “Lucy Comes to Stay” and “I Do Not Love Thee, Doctor Fell” were both major precursors of PSYCHO.

      3. george Post author

        Todd, thanks for confirming that SUCH STUFF AS SCREAMS ARE MADE OF is a companion volume to THE BEST OF ROBERT BLOCH. I also have PLEASANT DREAMS and BLOOD RUNS COLD around here somewhere.

  5. Jeff Meyerson

    I’ve always loved that line of Bloch’s too. I agree on the memorable short stories and I’ve read a few of his novels (PSYCHO first, of course), but nothing in recent years. Yes, definitely a fan.

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  6. Cap'n Bob Napier

    When someone commented that after seeing Psycho she couldn’t take a shower for a week, Bloch replied, “It’s a good thing I didn’t have her killed on the toilet.”

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  7. tracybham

    I am not a Robert Bloch fan… because I have not read anything by him. But I am sure I would like some of the stories here, even though I don’t like horror at all.

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    1. george Post author

      Tracy, Robert Bloch wrote dozens of great stories in crime, suspense, and horror genres. You would like some of his work. One of my favorites is Bloch’s “That Hell-Bound Train,” a story that inspired me to write my own “Deal With the Devil” story for an English assignment in High School.

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