I read these stories all the time. Robert Bloch is the master.

Robert Bloch's short stories were very good reading! He was a master of the short story in my opinion...and I know that is a very difficult genre to write well in. Loved "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper," and "Catnip."

Robert Bloch deserves to be much better known for his print work than he is. this collection is a good demonstration of why. We have a whimsical (and very funny) Lewis Carroll tribute, a pastiche of Poe, the terrorist thriller "The Oracle" (damn, I think the scheme could work), assorted horror stories, the post-apocalyptic "Daybroke" (pure indulgence in scene-setting, but he sets the scene very well) and the Hugo-winning "Hellbound Train." There's even a utopian story, which is not at all what I...

The Best of Robert Bloch is the old Del Rey edition "Best of" edition of SF master's short stories. If you were an active reader in the Seventies you will probably recognize the cover style. This collection is fairly lightweight, 22 short stories that range from a few pages to several pages. Bloch had a considerable range as a writer but perhaps is best when communicating sardonic tales featuring the best and worst of human nature. My personal favorites were Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, The Lea...

Wished I discovered Robert Bloch sooner! SCI FI, Fantasy, Horror he writes it all and it's all good!

Excellent read! I highly recommend!“Enoch” and “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” are often mentioned as favorites of fans of Bloch. I can see why. They were both creepy tales. However, I also found “Catnip” and “The Hungry House” to be exceptionally scary as well. I take that to be quite a feat with the latter story because I find most haunted house stories to be not all that scary. “The Hungry House” was definitely creepy. It ranks up there with Shirley Jackson’s novella The Haunting of Hill House...

This volume's title is as good as its worth. Beside some excellent horror and science-fiction stories, some of Bloch's shorter works included here, for example "How Like a God", "Daybroke" and "The Funnel of God", transcend mere genre boundaries and represent the finest and most intense pieces of literature in general.

The best of the BEST EVER. When it comes to short stories, Bloch has no equal. He's the king of the twist, way before M Night Shyamalan came along. Can't recommend this author more. My favorites of this batch were ENOCH, THAT HELL BOUND TRAIN, THE MAN WHO COLLECTED POE, THE PAST MASTER, and DAYBROKE. But really, there was not one bad story here. Go read the master!

It amazes me that so many fans of horror and short stories have never encountered Bloch.

What an amazing author. This is one of the best short story collections I've ever read. Bloch just knows his craft. This collection is over 35 years old with some of the stories over 65 years old. Whatever. This guy could write circles around Steven King. Too bad he's no longer with us. Highly recommended book if you like getting goose bumps.

Besides Psycho Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories in the mystery/crime, horror and s.f. genres. This is ostensibly a collection of his s.f., but most of his best work was in other genres and this collects a lot of that good work: "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper"; "Enoch"; "That Hell-Bound Train"; "The Hungry House" (Jeff and Ann Vandermeer's selection for The Weird). If you haven't read Bloch and you can get your hands on this, it's a good introduction to one of the premier horror story writers...

A fairly good collection of stories, the ‘short with a twist’ kind that got me into reading when I was in my early teens. None were earth-shattering, none were particularly memorable, but each one was a welcome diversion at coffee break time.

Ah yes I remember. I used to be such a happy girl because I had this book and it was a fave... And then I moved and some jerk from the moving service figure it was a great book too and it never made it to my home. Curse him. Yes there is great inventive to this stories, I used to read them all the time and marvel at the genious, it has something to do with the voice, with the tone you try reading this out loud and you might convince yourself they're all so plausible like a tale that happen to a

Who is Robert Bloch? Many people know his work without knowing who he is. Most of his work is seen on screen, with scripts for The Twilight Zone, the Outer Limits, Tales From the Dark Side, and other TV shows. He's also written hundreds of short stories for magazines and collections. He's also written several novels (including a little gem called Psycho). If you ask the casual reader, they can name many of Bloch's works, but likely are not able to call up his name.What also makes things interest...

This has been sitting on my shelf forever, so I'm happy to have finally gotten to it. A wonderful collection of science fiction, spec fic, horror, comedic horror, and fantasy, all under one roof. Many of these stories would've made excellent Twilight Zone episodes; indeed, they are of the essence of the Twilight Zone, made of the same stuff.Some of the stories are slightly dated in technological descriptions, and in terms of masculine/feminine characterizations. Even so, the stories here run the...

A good, but uneven collection of quiet horror and "weird" fiction stories. Sometimes the weird fiction seems a bit repetitive.

Like any other genre, horror and science fiction can get predictable, repetitive and dull. So imagine my surprise when I picked up 'The Best of Robert Bloch' with stories ranging from the early 40s to 70's and with but a few exceptions was enamored with originality of each of the stories in this collection. The references within the stories may be dated, but the tales themselves aren't. One tale, The World Timer, includes String Theory (before there was String Theory) and we developed socially.

Some gems in here, and some decent ones. Better than the average horror/SF collection for sure. The stories are brief with O.Henry twists a plenty, and a definite mid-century short story vibe. I happen to like that in my horror tales so it works well for me. There is a sad element of sexism which creeps in here or there, but generally better than others in the period. I particularly liked the Poe story.

Robert Bloch byl dobrý spisovatel, psát uměl, o tom není pochyb, ale pokud od knihy „Vlak do pekla a jiné povídky“ čekáte, že zjistíte, jak byl autor skvělým hororovým spisovatelem, tak docela ostrouháte. Je zde pár hororových povídek, ale třeba ta s Jackem rozparovačem je dost obyčejná a nijak Blochovo mistrovství neukazuje. Jeho schopnosti spíše ukazují jiné povídky, ty z ranku sci-fi a ty přemýšlivé. Právě to, jak dokázal o některých aspektech přemýšlet, to z něj dělá zajímavého autora. Z hle...