Robert Albert Bloch (April 5 1917 – September 23 1994) was a prolific author of crime fiction, science fiction, and perhaps most influentially horror fiction, and a contributor to pulp magazines in his early career; also a prolific screenwriter. He was the recipient of the Hugo Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He served a term as President of the Mystery Writers of America.
Robert Bloch was also a major contributor to science fiction fanzines and fandom in general.
He was a friend and correspondent with H. P. Lovecraft, and was the author of a number of stories that were set in, and extended, the world of the Cthulhu Mythos. Bloch even appears, thinly disguised, as the character "Robert Blake" in Lovecraft's story The Haunter of the Dark.
He became most famous as the author of the novel Psycho, which was made into the film of the same name, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Bloch was born in Chicago. In addition to writing science fiction, he also worked in vaudeville and, along with Harold Gauer , helped to elect Carl Zeidler as mayor of Milwaukee in 1940.
His autobiography entitled Once Around the Bloch (ISBN 0-312-85373-4) was published in 1993.
Books and Media
Fiction
- Psycho
- American Gothic
- The Scarf
Non-fiction
- The Eighth Stage of Fandom
External resources
