Strange Eons

Overview: Robert Albert Bloch (April 5, 1917 – September 23, 1994) was a prolific American fiction writer, primarily of crime, horror, fantasy and science fiction, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock. He wrote that "Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk," (a quote borrowed by Stephen King and often misattributed to him)] His fondness for a pun is evident in the titles of his story collections such as Tales in a Jugular Vein, Such Stuff as Screams Are Made Of and Out of the Mouths of Graves. Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over 30 novels. He was one of the youngest members of the Lovecraft Circle. H. P. Lovecraft was Bloch's mentor and one of the first to seriously encourage his talent. However, while Bloch started his career by emulating Lovecraft and his brand of "cosmic horror", he later specialized in crime and horror stories dealing with a more psychological approach. Bloch was a contributor to pulp magazines such as Weird Tales in his early career, and was also a prolific screenwriter and a major contributor to science fiction fanzines and fandom in general. He won the Hugo Award (for his story "That Hell-Bound Train"), the Bram Stoker Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He served a term as president of the Mystery Writers of America (1970) and was a member of that organisation and of Science Fiction Writers of America, the Writers Guild of America, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Count Dracula Society. What men know is called science; what they have not yet learned they call magic. But both are real.... — In the world of today and the near future, three people inexorably linked by a common interest in the work of H. P. Lovecraft, discover: — that the legendary creatures he created in his fantasies have hideous counterparts in reality... that his fiction is incredible fact... that his message is a warning...Bloch was a protège of H. P. Lovecraft, and, at the age of fifteen, the youngest member of the "Lovecraft Circle." This book, based on Lovecraftian themes, is his homage to the man.Of all the Lovecraft pastiches, Strange Eons most emphatically takes the bleak implications of his mythos to their logical conclusion.Cover Art by David Hada What men know is called science; what they have not yet learned they call magic. But both are real.... In the world of today and the near future, three people inexorably linked by a common interest in the work of H. P. Lovecraft, discover: that the legendary creatures he created in his fantasies have hideous counterparts in reality... that his fiction is incredible fact... that his message is a warning... Bloch was a protge of H. P. Lovecraft, and, at the age of fifteen, the youngest member of the "Lovecraft Circle." This book, based on Lovecraftian themes, is his homage to the man. Of all the Lovecraft pastiches, Strange Eons most emphatically takes the bleak implications of his mythos to their logical conclusion. Cover Art by David Hada