Midnight Pleasures:
A Conversation with
Robert Bloch (1988)
by Peter Enfantino
A Conversation with
Robert Bloch (1988)
by Peter Enfantino
The Weird Tailor; Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper; Enoch; Catnip.
The Skull of the Marquis de Sade; The Man Who Collected Poe…
Just half a dozen of the hundreds of short stories from the wit and pen of Robert Bloch, author of … well, you know what he authored. You’ve seen it hundreds of times, on all his books, but this man has written so much more than just the inspiration for PSYCHO, Alfred Hitchcock’s best work.
He writes with a sense of humor and crazy twists rarely found in modern horror fiction. From his early days writing for pulps such as Weird Tales, Fantastic Adventures, and Strange Stories, up to his most recent novel, Night of the Ripper. Bloch delivers not only the chills, but the occasional chuckle or two, as well. Take “The Night Before Christmas,” (published in Kirby McCauley’s Dark Forces). Carlos Santiago, a cruel, unfeeling man, hires an artist to paint a portrait of his wife, Louise. She falls in love with the artist and threatens her husband with divorce. The story concludes with Carlos decorating the Christmas tree with Louise—literally.
Robert Bloch wants it known that he is not a cruel, unfeeling man. In fact, he claims he has the heart of a small boy—he keeps it in a jar on his desk.
TSF: What was it like, writing for pulp magazines like Weird Tales during the ‘30s and ‘40s?
RB: (Writing during the ‘30s and ‘40s) was a hard way to earn a living. There were a lot of magazines, but a proportionally greater number of would-be contributors. Even a minor magazine like Weird Tales might get a minimum of a hundred submissions a week, so competition was always a problem.
TSF: Surely, this could not have paid well. Was writing a part-time job for you?
RB: I wrote full-time from 1934 through 1943, then part-time until 1953. I’ve been a full-time writer since then and expect to continue. Consider yourself warned!
TSF: What do you think of the current Weird Tales revival?
RB: The current Weird Tales revival naturally pleases me. I think those involved did a good job and hope they’ll find an adequate audience for their efforts.
TSF: Are there any current horror writers you enjoy?
RB: My problem with horror writers is that I know quite a few of them personally, so it’s difficult for me to assess their work objectively.
TSF: What has changed in horror since the pulp days?
RB: Horror has become more graphic over the years—sometimes pornographic as well. And films are about as gross as they get. Gratuitous gore—for that matter gratuitous anything—is by definition, unnecessary.
TSF: Do you find yourself adding gore to your newer works to fit in with today’s writers?
RB: No, I don’t add gore to my current work. In The Night of the Ripper, I used chapter headings concerning real-life atrocities, but for a legitimate reason. I wanted to point out that actual historical accounts offer far worse examples of violence than fiction can afford. But I don’t believe in gore for gore’s sake—it’s overkill.
TSF: Could you name a few of your favorite books by other authors?
RB: My favorite books are outside SF and Fantasy or Mystery/Suspense genres, at least for the most part. My all-time preference would be the works of Mark Twain, hardly a popular choice today!
TSF: How do you feel when writers, obviously influenced by your work, come along and make millions from one book?
RB: I’ve learned to shrug such things off. There's not much nourishment in eating your heart out!
TSF: I’ve read you are a gentle man, so how do you come up with such loathsome characters? Do you become your characters while writing?
RB: Of course I “become my characters while writing.” It’s a variation on acting, in that it involves role-playing. But don’t forget, I play the good characters too!
TSF: Was The Kidnapper controversial for its time, considering it deals with the killing of a child?
RB: Stories such as The Kidnapper were rather rare back in the early ‘50s; while not actually taboo, writers tended to avoid confronting the subject.
TSF: How did reprinting The Kidnapper come about? Will we be seeing the reprinting of other rare work, such as Spiderweb and The Will to Kill?
RB: Tor Books decided to reprint some of my earlier novels and chose The Kidnapper as the third of four (the first two being Night World and American Gothic, the fourth will be Firebug (Oct 1988—ed.), while at the same time, Scream/Press brought out a limited edition of three more under the title of Unholy Trinity (these novels being The Couch, The Dead Beat, and The Scarf—ed.). There is now talk of doing the other titles you mentioned. (The Will to Kill is probably the only one I’d care to see reprinted.), but if so, that will come in time, after I finish a new novel.
TSF: How has Hollywood treated Norman Bates?
RB: No comment.
TSF: If you could change your tabline from “by the author of Psycho,” what would it read?
RB: I’d like to change my tabline to “by the author of Hamlet,” but I’m told somebody has already used that!
TSF: What work of yours are you most proud of?
RB: My best creation is my daughter.
TSF: Are you currently involved in any film or TV projects?
RB: No, I’ve got contracts for three new novels and there just isn’t time for anything else. During the past year, I had to regretfully turn down a request for a Star Trek script and for a film to be produced in Australia. But that’s typical of a writer’s situation—it’s either feast or famine.
TSF: What can we expect from Robert Bloch in the near future?
RB: I’m two-thirds of the way through the first novel, and the second will be a collaboration (my first such effort) with Andre Norton. And the third, if I survive it, may be followed by an anthology. Meanwhile, Tor will publish a new collection of short stories, possibly by year’s end. And I’ve written introductions to several anthologies edited by others, to be published this summer.
TSF: Will you be writing any more Cthulhu Mythos stories in the future?
RB: No. Strange Eons is the end of the line for me. I wanted to do a Lovecraft story in my own style, and that’s enough.
TSF: What do you think of the Mythos stories published in recent years?
RB: Lovecraft’s style excels imitations, in my opinion. (That’s) something I learned the hard way, after I started out doing pseudo-Lovecraft stories in the ‘30s … Now it’s difficult enough just to be myself!
For a more detailed study of Bloch’s work, TSF recommends you check out: The Complete Robert Bloch and The Reader’s Guide to Robert Bloch, both by Randall D. Larson.
This interview, provided by Randall Larson, was originally published in The Scream Factory #1, Winter 1988 and kindly appears with the permission of Editor John Scoleri and Editor/interviewer Peter Enfantino.
The Skull of the Marquis de Sade; The Man Who Collected Poe…
Just half a dozen of the hundreds of short stories from the wit and pen of Robert Bloch, author of … well, you know what he authored. You’ve seen it hundreds of times, on all his books, but this man has written so much more than just the inspiration for PSYCHO, Alfred Hitchcock’s best work.
He writes with a sense of humor and crazy twists rarely found in modern horror fiction. From his early days writing for pulps such as Weird Tales, Fantastic Adventures, and Strange Stories, up to his most recent novel, Night of the Ripper. Bloch delivers not only the chills, but the occasional chuckle or two, as well. Take “The Night Before Christmas,” (published in Kirby McCauley’s Dark Forces). Carlos Santiago, a cruel, unfeeling man, hires an artist to paint a portrait of his wife, Louise. She falls in love with the artist and threatens her husband with divorce. The story concludes with Carlos decorating the Christmas tree with Louise—literally.
Robert Bloch wants it known that he is not a cruel, unfeeling man. In fact, he claims he has the heart of a small boy—he keeps it in a jar on his desk.
TSF: What was it like, writing for pulp magazines like Weird Tales during the ‘30s and ‘40s?
RB: (Writing during the ‘30s and ‘40s) was a hard way to earn a living. There were a lot of magazines, but a proportionally greater number of would-be contributors. Even a minor magazine like Weird Tales might get a minimum of a hundred submissions a week, so competition was always a problem.
TSF: Surely, this could not have paid well. Was writing a part-time job for you?
RB: I wrote full-time from 1934 through 1943, then part-time until 1953. I’ve been a full-time writer since then and expect to continue. Consider yourself warned!
TSF: What do you think of the current Weird Tales revival?
RB: The current Weird Tales revival naturally pleases me. I think those involved did a good job and hope they’ll find an adequate audience for their efforts.
TSF: Are there any current horror writers you enjoy?
RB: My problem with horror writers is that I know quite a few of them personally, so it’s difficult for me to assess their work objectively.
TSF: What has changed in horror since the pulp days?
RB: Horror has become more graphic over the years—sometimes pornographic as well. And films are about as gross as they get. Gratuitous gore—for that matter gratuitous anything—is by definition, unnecessary.
TSF: Do you find yourself adding gore to your newer works to fit in with today’s writers?
RB: No, I don’t add gore to my current work. In The Night of the Ripper, I used chapter headings concerning real-life atrocities, but for a legitimate reason. I wanted to point out that actual historical accounts offer far worse examples of violence than fiction can afford. But I don’t believe in gore for gore’s sake—it’s overkill.
TSF: Could you name a few of your favorite books by other authors?
RB: My favorite books are outside SF and Fantasy or Mystery/Suspense genres, at least for the most part. My all-time preference would be the works of Mark Twain, hardly a popular choice today!
TSF: How do you feel when writers, obviously influenced by your work, come along and make millions from one book?
RB: I’ve learned to shrug such things off. There's not much nourishment in eating your heart out!
TSF: I’ve read you are a gentle man, so how do you come up with such loathsome characters? Do you become your characters while writing?
RB: Of course I “become my characters while writing.” It’s a variation on acting, in that it involves role-playing. But don’t forget, I play the good characters too!
TSF: Was The Kidnapper controversial for its time, considering it deals with the killing of a child?
RB: Stories such as The Kidnapper were rather rare back in the early ‘50s; while not actually taboo, writers tended to avoid confronting the subject.
TSF: How did reprinting The Kidnapper come about? Will we be seeing the reprinting of other rare work, such as Spiderweb and The Will to Kill?
RB: Tor Books decided to reprint some of my earlier novels and chose The Kidnapper as the third of four (the first two being Night World and American Gothic, the fourth will be Firebug (Oct 1988—ed.), while at the same time, Scream/Press brought out a limited edition of three more under the title of Unholy Trinity (these novels being The Couch, The Dead Beat, and The Scarf—ed.). There is now talk of doing the other titles you mentioned. (The Will to Kill is probably the only one I’d care to see reprinted.), but if so, that will come in time, after I finish a new novel.
TSF: How has Hollywood treated Norman Bates?
RB: No comment.
TSF: If you could change your tabline from “by the author of Psycho,” what would it read?
RB: I’d like to change my tabline to “by the author of Hamlet,” but I’m told somebody has already used that!
TSF: What work of yours are you most proud of?
RB: My best creation is my daughter.
TSF: Are you currently involved in any film or TV projects?
RB: No, I’ve got contracts for three new novels and there just isn’t time for anything else. During the past year, I had to regretfully turn down a request for a Star Trek script and for a film to be produced in Australia. But that’s typical of a writer’s situation—it’s either feast or famine.
TSF: What can we expect from Robert Bloch in the near future?
RB: I’m two-thirds of the way through the first novel, and the second will be a collaboration (my first such effort) with Andre Norton. And the third, if I survive it, may be followed by an anthology. Meanwhile, Tor will publish a new collection of short stories, possibly by year’s end. And I’ve written introductions to several anthologies edited by others, to be published this summer.
TSF: Will you be writing any more Cthulhu Mythos stories in the future?
RB: No. Strange Eons is the end of the line for me. I wanted to do a Lovecraft story in my own style, and that’s enough.
TSF: What do you think of the Mythos stories published in recent years?
RB: Lovecraft’s style excels imitations, in my opinion. (That’s) something I learned the hard way, after I started out doing pseudo-Lovecraft stories in the ‘30s … Now it’s difficult enough just to be myself!
For a more detailed study of Bloch’s work, TSF recommends you check out: The Complete Robert Bloch and The Reader’s Guide to Robert Bloch, both by Randall D. Larson.
This interview, provided by Randall Larson, was originally published in The Scream Factory #1, Winter 1988 and kindly appears with the permission of Editor John Scoleri and Editor/interviewer Peter Enfantino.