The Weird Tales of Robert Bloch: A Collection of 9 Stories

A selection of the Psycho author’s many macabre contributions to the great Weird Tales Magazine, as published between 1935 and 1952.

0:00:00 - Introduction

0:00:28 - The Suicide in the Study
The story first appeared in Weird Tales in its June 1935 edition. It tells of a modern sorcerer, and his efforts to obtain a state of 'dual personality'.

0:13:44 - The Mandarin's Canaries
This one first appeared in Weird Tales in its September 1938 edition. It tells of a torture-mad Chinese ruler, and his aptly named Garden of Pain.

0:43:30 - Death is an Elephant
Published under the pseudonym, Nathan Hindin, the story tells of the circus, and a series of deaths involving a sacred white elephant.

1:31:04 - The Ghost-Writer
The story first appeared in Weird Tales in May 1940, and tells of an ambitious weird fiction writer, whose insatiable desire for success leads to his doom.

2:12:50 - The Fiddler's Fee
First appearing in Weird Tales back in July of 1940, this one tells of a young musician who enters into an unholy pact in order to become the greatest fiddler that ever lived.

3:00:48 - Hell on Earth
This rare novelette, which debuted in Weird Tales in March 1942, tells of a strange experiment involving the Prince of Darkness atop a New York skyscraper.

5:01:28 - Black Bargain
The story first appeared in Weird Tales in its May 1942 edition. It tells of a situation involving a man who is quite literally afraid of his own shadow.

5:42:06 - The Strange Island of Doctor Nork
This one first appeared in the March 1949 edition of Weird Tales Magazine. A parody of H. G. Wells' "The Island of Doctor Moreau", the story tells of an eccentric doctor, and his 'comically' odd experiments...

6:32:32 - Lucy Comes to Stay
Debuting in Weird Tales back in January of 1952, the story was later adapted by Bloch as a segment of the 1972 anthology film, "Asylum", starring Peter Cushing. It tells the story of Vi and her friend, Lucy, who can only be described as a 'bad influence'.

6:45:55 - Further Listening

Narrated by Ian Gordon for HorrorBabble
Music and production by Ian Gordon & Jennifer Gill

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[gohboy]

I was a new kid on the Bloch but not anymore👻👽💀😱. Took me almost a day to finish this collection. Between Ian's superb narration and the contents, I have become addicted to HB. I was trying to ensure that I have not missed any tale, but I didn't take into account how prolific HB has been. O so many great scary readings, not enough hours in the day!

[justjones]

Bloch has a phenomenal writing style, he has a fantastic vocabulary, and uses it beautifully to deliver a richness of narrative that's all too lacking in many writer's material.
😁

[paullarge]

Cut my milk teeth on Robert Bloch stories. Love his black humour and terrible wordplay. Even his autobiography showed his sense of humour. Once Around the Bloch - An Unauthorised Autobiography. Lol. Quite funny when you know he wrote Psycho, about multiple personality. He asked that The Collected Works of Robert Bloch be engraved upon his urn.

[dp-lqsy]

Robert Bloch wrote the episode ' wolf in the fold' for the original star trek....about a creature who lives by creating fear and then feeding on it, it is defeated by laughter....timely.

[lizbmusic]

I love these and this author. Perfect for my long winter nights. Love from New Zealand 🇳🇿

[blixten]

I can't believe how many times I enjoy listening to this, over and over. The fact that you end with my favorite, "Lucy" (you know which one I mean) is always a great plus. Having compilations like this is such a pleasure in life!

[doctorpretorious]

Excellent. Whilst working in my lab late at night it is good to know that I am not alone in my outlandish and mayhap crazy experiments with reanimating the dead etc. There’s always fun to be had when listening like minded fiendish weird tales of mystery. Occasionally I get some good ideas. But never forgetting when laughing at that eureka moment to go full on loop loop loony maniacal bonkers otherwise I wouldn’t be me ! ☠️

[beverlyamarantes]

I go to bed every night listening to these well written tales. Over and over.

[gunnarjohnson]

Wow this turned out to be quite a long one, watching them all come out was fun, the consistency to which you upload narrations and the quality of those narrations (plus people can all watch these for free) never ceases to amaze me. Keep on doing what you love Ian Gordon, it makes me and many others very happy!

[natalya]

Who would not want to receive a warm welcome?
Nice narration.Thank you very much!

[RolandWieffering]

Yes, a beautiful collection of Mr. Bloch's stories, I hope you will consider Henry Kuttner for a coming collection of stories around a Thanks for these "lovely" tales.

[danbreeden]

A wonderful collection by one of the grandmasters of horror

[ninawalker]

London Calling. Absolutely Fantastic. Thank you 🙏

[KillMSoftly]

Some quality audio to listen to while at work keep it up!

[travershuff]

Robert blocks great talent continues to shine even today! He is a clear precursor to Stephen King, but on a vastly different track, which I enjoy. Let's hear it for Robert block!\

[pbr-streetgang]

Got to love R.B., thanks for the narration.👍🏼👍🏼

[rmooreg]

Excellent choice of an author perfect for anthologizing ( it must be a word, spellcheck didn't flag it!) Robert Bloch is one of the true masters of the short horror story. The quality material and the stellar narration make for truly rewarding entertainment, You do a great job and it's much appreciated. btw. Another prolific author whose work would fit nicely with the tone and spirit of Horrorbabble is Richard Mathiesen . I'm not sure of the spelling, but should be easy to locate. His best known work is probably "I am Legend" but he has dozens of short stories as well.

[dreamerofdelusions]

Thanks for all your hard work! Cheers mate.

[jennifermcdonald]

Thanks for the upload! I love listening to these!

[lunapatricesaxton]

I loved 'Psycho' but hadn't read much else from Bloch other than the Lovecraft Circle stories. Was skeptical... but I loved every story and very well narrated! 👏🏽I think I have a new writer to binge on☺️🖤 Thank You So Much! Y'all are awesome 🖤❤️