Mysteries of the Worm

These stories very much parallel Lovecraft's own writing, with a different mad writer and tome. But that's okay, because that's what the Mythos is about. It wasn't intended to be great literature but a literary game. Bloch's early work has the same clumsiness as HPL's early work, and very similar atmosphere and plot elements. His middle stories are well-developed myhtos stories and are just as fun to read as Lovecraft originals... Read Full Review

I've been a fan of the Mythos for about 8 years and I can say with certainly that this book is one of my favorites. Bloch's vision of the Mythos is both faithful and innovative. He doesnt spasmotically drop spooky names (like Derleth) and he doesnt write with an overly complicated and hard to read style (like Carter). Of all of Lovecraft's cadre of friends, Bloch is one of my favorites. By all means pick this book up!

Mysteries of the Worm is a collection of early Robert Bloch stories, several of which had not seen print in over four decades, based on the Cthulhu Mythos cosmology created by H. P. Lovecraft. As a teenaged burgeoning author, Bloch attained a place in the lofty Lovecraft Circle in the two or three years before HPL's untimely death, and his early writing was heavily influenced by Lovecraft. The earliest of these stories dates... Read Full Review

These early stories show he growth of a master horror writer. The 1st few tales, although readable, are really imitations of Lovecraft and his circle of admirerers. As the stories progress over time, you see the reliance on the Cthulhu Mythos fading to the background as Bloch uses it as a strting point rather than as an end. So although you'll see mention of Yog Sototh and Nyarlohotep, these stories are accessible to readers... Read Full Review

No, these are not very sophisticated tales. They will never appear in a New Yorker anthology. But they are a lot of fun and have a certain innocence that is missing from a lot of Cthulhu Mythos fiction. Bloch may have grown and matured as a writer, but I prefer his early tales to his later works.