Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} by The Opener of the Way by Robert Bloch, Signed. The Opener of the Way SIGNED & INSCRIBED. Robert Bloch. Published by Neville Spearman (1974) About this Item: Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Hardcover edition of The Opener of the Way that is signed and inscribed by Robert Bloch. Robert Bloch inscribed this to L. Nieman with a brief message. 1974 Neville Spearman UK, 1st Neville-Spearman printing. Book is in very good condition has bumping to a couple of the corner and the top and bottom of the spine. An address stamp is present on the top of the page and twice on the interior front pastedown. Dust jacket is in good to good+ condition and has creasing, rubbing, peeling wear around the edges. Spine area also has rubbing present. Inscribed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # ABE-1588452786031. The Opener of the Way. Robert Bloch. Published by Neville Spearman Ltd, Jersey, UK (1974) From: JAC Books (Cortland, NY, U.S.A.) About this Item: Cloth. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Reg Boorer (illustrator). First British Edition. Neville Spearman, Jersey, UK, 1974. Blue Hardcover First British Edition in DJ, ix + 309 pp. This copy is SIGNED "Just for Openers - Robert Bloch" on a label on the FFEP. This is one of several Spearman reprints of rare old books (Arkham's "Opener" dates from 1941). These UK reprints themselves have become valued collector items and are difficult to find in good condition. This copy was purchased by me in the 1970s and has never been read. My name stamp is present (FFEP & top edge) and the unclipped DJ shows mild shelfwear. Otherwise this is a unusually fine, tight copy of a scarce collectible. Size: Octavo. Signed by Author. Private Press. Seller Inventory # 001007. The Opener of the Way. Bloch, Robert (SIGNED!) Published by Neville Spearman (1974) About this Item: Hard Cover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Thus. First printing in Near Fine condition with a Very Good unclipped Dust Jacket protected by a Mylar Brodart. Signed to previous owner on the first page by Robert Bloch. Previous owner gift inscription on inside front cover. Signed by Author. Hardcover. Seller Inventory # H13197. THE OPENER OF THE WAY. Bloch, Robert. Published by Spearman (1945) About this Item: First Edition. THE OPENER OF THE WAY, Spearman, 1974, first English edition, vg+ in like dust-wrapper. INSCRIBED by the author. Seller Inventory # 14927. FEDOGAN & BREMER: ---by Robert Bloch ---a Signed Copy ( Includes shambler from the Stars; Yours Truly Jack the Ripper; Enoch; House of the Hatchet, etc)( collects the ARKHAM HOUSE Titles Opener of the Way /and/ Pleasant Dreams Nightmares ) Bloch, Robert ( Signed )(aka Robert A Bloch, Bob Bloch, Tarleton Fiske, Will Folke, Keith Hammond, Nathan Hindin, E K Jarvis, Wilson Kane, Herbert Scanlon, Collier Young ) Published by Minneapolis, MN.: Fedogan & Bremer / F&B, 1994, 1st Edition, First Printing (collects the ARKHAM HOUSE Editions of The Opener of the Way and Pleasant Dreams Nightmares ), Minneapolis, Minnesota (1994) From: Leonard Shoup (BURLINGTON, ON, Canada) About this Item: Hard Cover. Condition: Fine (see description). Dust Jacket Condition: Fine (see description). Jon Arfstrom Cover Art (illustrator). First Edition. ------hardcover, a Fine example, small smudge mark on the bottom edge of the text block, small glue stain on front fixed endpaper (from the printer/printing company )in a Fine dustjacket, unread, one of 2300 copies, signed by Bloch on the title page without inscription, one of the last signings Bloch ever did so there are not a lot of signed copies avialble, ---Collects thirty-nine stories - all from his first two short story collections (''The Opener Of The Way'' and ''Pleasant Dreams'', both published by Arkham House, 1945 and 1960 respectively), plus three previously uncollected stories, contents include: the View from 1993 (essay); the Cloak; Beetles; the Fiddler's Fee; the Mannikin; the Strange Flight of Richard Clayton; Yours Truly Jack the Ripper; the Seal of the Satyr; the Dark Demon; the Faceless God; House of the Hatchet; the Opener of the Way; Return to the Sabbath; the Mandarin's Canaries; Waxworks; the Feast in the Abbey; Slave of the Flames; the Shambler from the Stars; Mother of Serpents; the Secret of Sebek; the Eyes of the Mummy; One Way to Mars; Sweets to the Sweet; the Dream Makers; the Sorcerer's Apprentice; I Kiss Your Shadow; Mr Steinway; the Proper Spirit; Catnip;; that Hell Bound Train; Enoch; the Bedposts of Life; the Grab Bag (written with ;) the Creative Urge; the Cheaters; Hungarian Rhapsody; the Light House; the Hungry House; Sleeping Beauty; Sweet Sixteen, any image directly beside this listing is the actual book and not a generic photo ///SIGNED ---GUARANTEED to be AVAILABLE/// Size: 5.75w x 8.5h Inches. Signed. NOT Price Clipped. Seller Inventory # 165546. The Vampire Stories of Robert Bloch. Robert Bloch (1917-1994) is one of the most fondly remembered and collected authors of crime, horror, , and science fiction of the 20th Century. Noted by many as the author of , Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over 30 novels. He was a member of the Lovecraft Circle and began his career by emulating H.P. Lovecraft’s brand of “cosmic horror.” He later specialized in crime and horror stories dealing with a more psychological approach. “The Shambler from the Stars” “The Opener of the Way” “The Mannikin” “A Question of Identity” “The Cloak” “Unheavenly Twin” “Nursemaid to Nightmares” “Fear Planet” “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” “Black Barter” “Death Is a Vampire” “The Bat Is My Brother” “ of the Marquis de Sade” “The Bogey Man Will Get You” “Tooth or Consequences” “The Hungry House” “The Man Who Collected Poe” “The Light- House” “I Kiss Your Shadow” “Dig That Crazy Grave” “The Sleeping Redheads” aka “Sleeping Beauty” “Hungarian Rhapsody” “The Living Dead” “A Case of the Stubborns” “The Undead” “The Yougoslaves” “The Bedposts of Life” “The Scent of Vinegar” The Opener of the Way. The Opener of the Way is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer Robert Bloch. It was released in 1945 and was the author's first book. It was published by Arkham House in an edition of 2,065 copies. [1] A British hardcover was issued by Neville Spearman in 1974, with Panther Books issuing a two-volume paperback reprint in 1976. [2] An Italian translation, with the stories reordered, appeared in 1991. [3] The collection was never reprinted in the United States, but its contents (aside from Bloch's introduction) were included in the 1994 omnibus The Early Fears . [1] Horror is a genre of speculative fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle its readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length. which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere. Horror is frequently supernatural, though it can be non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society. Robert Albert Bloch was an 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. 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 . This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1945 . Contents. Contents Critical reception Trivia References. Most of the stories had appeared in the magazine in the 1930s and 1940s. Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, printed early work by H. P. Lovecraft, Seabury Quinn, and Clark Ashton Smith, all of whom would go on to be popular writers, but within a year the magazine was in financial trouble. Henneberger sold his interest in the publisher, Rural Publishing Corporation, to Lansinger and refinanced Weird Tales , with Farnsworth Wright as the new editor. The first issue under Wright's control was dated November 1924. The magazine was more successful under Wright, and despite occasional financial setbacks it prospered over the next fifteen years. Under Wright's control the magazine lived up to its subtitle, "The Unique Magazine", and published a wide range of unusual fiction. Contents. The Opener of the Way contains the following tales: "By Way of Introduction" "The Cloak" "Beetles" "The Fiddler's Fee" "The Mannikin" "The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton" "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" "The Seal of the Satyr" "The Dark Demon" "The Faceless God" "The House of the Hatchet" "The Opener of the Way" "Return to the Sabbath" "The Mandarin's Canaries" "Waxworks" "The Feast in the Abbey" "Slave of the Flames" "The Shambler from the Stars" "Mother of Serpents" "The Secret of Sebek" "The Eyes of the Mummy" "One Way to Mars" Critical reception. listed The Opener of the Way as one of Arkham House's "most important works". [4] Stephen Jones and Kim Newman included the collection in Horror: Another 100 Best Books , with Joel Lang noting that it demonstrated Bloch's "meteoric development from faux-Gothic pastiche to sour, elliptical portraits of urban damnation". [5] Don D'Ammassa stated that "Although some of the stories are crude by [Bloch's] later standards, there is a raw power to many of them that has ensured their continued popularity". [6] Stephen Edwin King is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy. His books have sold more than 350 million copies, many of which have been adapted into feature films, miniseries, television series, and comic books. King has published 58 novels and six non-fiction books. He has written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in book collections. Stephen Jones is an English editor of horror anthologies, and the author of several book-length studies of horror and fantasy films as well as an account of H. P. Lovecraft's early British publications. Kim James Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history. He has won the Bram Stoker Award, the International Horror Guild Award, and the BSFA award. Trivia. The creators of the game Half-Life 2 reference Bloch's work: the central villain, Dr. Wallace Breen refers to the player's character, Gordon Freeman in a televised speech saying "And yet, unsophisticated minds continue to imbue him with romantic power, giving him such dangerous poetic labels as 'the one free man, the opener of the way.'" Half-Life 2 (stylized as HλLF-LIFE 2 ) is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to 1998's Half-Life and was released in November 2004 following a five-year $40 million development. During development, a substantial part of the project was leaked and distributed on the Internet. The game was developed alongside Valve's Steam software and the Source engine. The Dungeons and Dragons Role-playing game features (in the third Monster Manual) a creature called Allabar, Opener of the Way. The Monster Manual ( MM ) is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons ( D&D ) fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1977 by TSR. It includes monsters derived from mythology and folklore, as well as creatures created specifically for D&D . It describes each with game-specific statistics, and a brief description of its habits and habitats. Most of the entries also have an image of the creature. Along with the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide , it is one of the three "core rulebooks" in most editions of the D&D game. Several editions of the Monster Manual have been released for each edition of D&D . It was the first hardcover book of the D&D series. Due to the level of detail and illustration included, it was cited as a pivotal example of a new style of wargame books. Future editions would draw on various sources and act as a compendium of published monsters. Related Research Articles. Arkham House is an American publishing house specializing in weird fiction. It was founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H. P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House editions are noted for the quality of their printing and binding. The colophon for Arkham House was designed by Frank Utpatel. Dark Carnival is a short story collection by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published October 1947 by Arkham House. His debut book, it has had numerous reprints. The Dunwich Horror and Others is a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was originally published in 1963 by Arkham House in an edition of 3,133 copies. Someone in the Dark is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by author August Derleth. It was released in 1941 and was the second book published by Arkham House. 1,115 copies were printed, priced at $2.00. In Thirty Years of Arkham House , Derleth implied that this title had sold out by the end of 1944. Out of Space and Time is a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories by American writer Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1942 and was the third book published by Arkham House. 1,054 copies were printed. A British hardcover appeared from Neville Spearman in 1971, with a two-volume paperback reprint following from Panther Books in 1974. Bison Books issued a trade paperback edition in 2006. Something Near is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer August Derleth. It was released in 1945 and was the author's second book published by Arkham House. 2,054 copies were printed. The collection has never been reprinted. Green Tea and Other Ghost Stories is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by Irish author J. Sheridan Le Fanu. It was released in 1945 and was the author's first book to be published in the United States. It was published by Arkham House in an edition of 2,026 copies. A much less extensive collection of Le Fanu stories was published under the same title by Dover Books in 1993. The Hounds of Tindalos is a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories by American writer Frank Belknap Long. It was released in 1946 and was the author's third book. It was published by Arkham House in an edition of 2,602 copies with cover art by Hannes Bok. A British hardcover was issued by Museum Press in 1950. Belmont Books reprinted The Hounds of Tindalos in two paperback volumes, The Hounds of Tindalos (1963) and The Dark Beasts (1964), omitting three stories; Panther Books issued a complete two-volume British paperback edition as The Hounds of Tindalos (1975) and The Black Druid (1975). Night's Yawning Peal: A Ghostly Company is an anthology of supernatural short stories edited by American writer August Derleth. It was released in 1952 by Arkham House with Pellegrini & Cudahy in an edition of 4,500 copies. The cover price on the first edition is $3.00. It is the second and last book that Arkham published with Pellegrini and Cudahy. The Mask of Cthulhu is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer August Derleth. It was released in 1958 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,051 copies. Nine Horrors and a Dream is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer Joseph Payne Brennan. It was released in 1958 by Arkham House in an edition of 1,336 copies. It was the author's first collection of stories to be published. Pleasant Dreams: Nightmares is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer Robert Bloch. It was released in 1960 and was the author's second book published by Arkham House. It was released in an edition of 2,060 copies. Dark Mind, Dark Heart is an anthology of horror stories edited by American writer August Derleth. It was released in 1962 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,493 copies. The anthology was conceived as a collection of new stories by old Arkham House authors. The anthology is also notable for including the first Cthulhu Mythos story by Ramsey Campbell. Mr. George and Other Odd Persons is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American author August Derleth, written under the pseudonym of Stephen Grendon. It was released in 1963 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,546 copies. Most of the stories had appeared previously in the magazine Weird Tales . Two appeared in The Arkham Sampler . The title story was dramatized for the Thriller TV series. Demons by Daylight is a collection of stories by English author Ramsey Campbell. Released in 1973, it was the author's second short story collection, after The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants . Like the earlier book, it was published by Arkham House. The Height of the Scream is a collection of horror stories by author Ramsey Campbell. Released in 1976 in an edition of 4,348 copies, it was the author's third collection of stories to be published by Arkham House. The Jaguar Hunter is a collection of science fiction, fantasy and horror stories by American author Lucius Shepard. Illustrated by J. K. Potter, it was released in May, 1987 and was the author's first book published by Arkham House. It was originally published in an edition of 3,194 copies, with a second printing later in 1987 of 1,508 copies. Bantam Books issued a trade paperback edition in 1989, and Four Walls Eight Windows reprinted the collection in 2001. The first British publication came as a Paladin Books trade paperback in 1988, followed quickly by a Kerosina Books hardcover. A Rumanian translation appeared in 2008. Flowers from the Moon and Other Lunacies is a collection of horror and fantasy stories by American writer Robert Bloch. It was released in 1998 and was the author's third book published by Arkham House. It was published in an edition of 2,565 copies. The stories, selected by Robert M. Price, originally appeared in the magazines Weird Tales , Strange Stories and Rogue . The collection includes some Cthulhu Mythos stories. The Early Fears is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer Robert Bloch. It was released in 1994 by Fedogan & Bremer in an edition of 2,400 copies, of which 100 were signed by the author. The collection reprints the stories from Bloch's two earlier collections published by Arkham House, The Opener of the Way and Pleasant Dreams: Nightmares with three additional stories. The stories originally appeared in the magazines Unknown , Weird Tales , , Strange Stories , Fantasy and Science Fiction , Beyond Fantasy Fiction , Fantastic , Imagination and Swank . The collection includes Bloch's 1959 Hugo Award winning story, "That Hell-Bound Train." References. 12 Joshi, S.T. (1999). Sixty Years of Arkham House: A History and Bibliography . Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. p. 31. ISBN 0-87054- 176-5 . ↑ISFDB publication history The second paperback volume was titled House of the Hatchet . ↑ISFDB listing ↑ Danse Macabre , Simon & Schuster, 1981. chap. 2 ↑ Jones & Newman, Horror: Another 100 Best Books , Running Press, 2005, p.25 ↑ Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction , Infobase Publishing, 2009, p.27. Jaffery, Sheldon (1989). The Arkham House Companion . Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, Inc. pp. 11–12. ISBN 1-55742-005-X . Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998 . Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. p. 28. Nielsen, Leon (2004). Arkham House Books: A Collector's Guide . Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 54–55. ISBN 0-7864-1785-4 . Sheldon Jaffery was an American bibliographer. An attorney by profession, he was an aficionado of Weird Tales magazine, Arkham House books, the weird menace pulps, and related topics. The International Standard Book Number ( ISBN ) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. Protecting Project Pulp: The Opener Of The Way by Robert Bloch. Here’s a creepy tale by a then young disciple and contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft. Taking Egyptian mythology as his starting point Robert Bloch delivers a pretty good tale in the style of the master. Protecting Project Pulp No. 59 – The Opener Of The Way By Robert Bloch; Read by Simon Hildebrandt. 1 |MP3| – Approx. 42 Minutes [UNABRIDGED] Podcaster: Protecting Project Pulp Podcast: September 9, 2013 A tremendous tale about the dread doom that overtook an archeologist in that forgotten tomb beneath the desert sands of Egypt. First published in Weird Tales, October 1936. The titular appellation “The Opener Of The Way” has also recently turned attached to a monster named “Allabar” in the Dungeons & Dragons: Monster Manual 3 (which recommends you use it as a “climactic villain”). The TV Tropes entry “D&D Nightmare Fuel” describes this “monster” thusly: And then there is Allabar, Opener of the Way, the first 4th Edition living star … instead of a face, imagine dozens upon dozens of unblinking eyes, as well as hundreds of rope-like “growths” around its “body.” Think the moon, when it’s nice and big and clear, so you can see all of the faultlines, valleys and craters. Now imagine every faultline and valley is a huge, thrashing tentacle, and every crater, from the biggest to the smallest, is a never-blinking eye. Imagine that floating in the sky above you at night. Staring at you. Hating you. The Opener of the Way. Robert Albert Bloch (April 5, 1917 -- September 23, 1994) was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror, fantasy and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock. Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and 30 plus novels. His mentor was H. P. Lovecraft, one of the first to encourage Bloch's horror fiction writing. Bloch won the Hugo award for his story, That Hell-Bound Train, in 1959. In 1960 he won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Psycho and in 1994 he won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction for The Scent of Vinegar. Bloch was born in Chicago, Illinois. In 1994 he died of cancer in Los Angeles, at the age of 77.