Monthly Archives: November 2021

Black Friday, Adventures Fantastic Style Extended -Bloch and Kuttner

I’ve wished for a long time that someone would publish some electronic collections by Robert Bloch. Or print collections that don’t just reprint the same handful of stories that are in most of the available collections.

My prayers have been answered. Sort of. The two stories I’m going to look at today come from a recently published collection entitled The Best of Robert Bloch, Vol. 3. There’s a volume 1, but as far as I’ve been able to find, there isn’t a volume 2.  This is a different book than the single volume of the same title that was published by Del Rey back in the 1970s.

(I’m not sure just how legitimate this book is. It and the first volume were published in October of this year, volume 3 just over a month ago as I write this. I’m not sure if Bloch’s estate authorized these books or receive any proceeds from the sale. The photo on Robert Bloch’s Amazon author page is someone else.) Continue reading

I’m Thankful for Poul Anderson

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. One of the things I’m thankful for today is Poul Anderson (1926-2001). It being his birthday (November 25), and all.

For today’s post, a few days ago I had decided to review Anderson’s “Son of the Sword”. It’s a straight historical adventure set in Egypt. Anderson did from time to time write historical adventure without any fantastic elements. This is one of those stories.

I didn’t do my due diligence on this one. “Son of the Sword” was originally published in 1951 in Adventure Magazine. The only reprinting was in A Light in the Void, back in 1991. It was this book where I read it. The copyright page in the book didn’t give any further detail than what I stated above, and the ISFDB on lists A Light in the Void under the story’s publication history.  If I had realized that, I would have found a different story to feature today. Continue reading

Happy Birthday, Bram

Abraham Stoker (1847-1912), better known as Bram, was born on this date, November 8. Of course, you’ve all heard of him. He wrote this little book about a vampire. No, not Varney. Dracula.

Anyway, even if he had never written anything else, (he did write other stuff, you know) he would be remembered for that one novel.

So happy birthday, Bram.