I never had the honor of meeting Robert Bloch (I knew Harlan), but we exchange letters back in the late 70's. He sent me a hand written letter that I cherish (along with a letter from Fritz Leiber, and 2 letters from Ray Bradbury and Philip K. Dick). Robert Bloch was a very kind man indeed.

I love that comment from Kristine Kathryn Rusch: "It is the public's need to know of the death not of the dying." I couldn't agree more. Once again, timeless commentary from the Master. Thank you, Harlan.

Kudos to Harlan for leaning on SFWA like this- its unforgivable that people's life's work went ignored by the organization for the sake of absurd rules.

At least Harlan can take comfort in that the rule was changed to annual after this installment was released and there were no hard feelings after it because he received a GMA in 2006. There's more to do but at least he got the ball rolling after this.

Excellent encomium. Bloch is part of my youthful memories.

I just resumed watching these. Still great. Miss this man greatly but his work is immortal.

it´s true, always remember the people when they´r gone...not "in the living years".

It's a pity how much of a backlog of deserving authors are still waiting for SFFWA Grand Master recognition. James Blish, Phillip K. Dick, Frank Herbert, C. L. Moore, Theodore Sturgeon, James Tiptree, Jr., Roger Zelazny, and Octavia Butler are some of the deceased authors who missed there chance but still deserve recognition in my mind. There's still hope for some living authors if SFFWA could hurry up: Larry Niven, Ben Bova, Kate Wilhelm, Nancy Kress, Dan Simmons, William Gibson, C. J. Cherryh just to name a few.

@doktor_ghul

6 жыл бұрын

www.sfwa.org/grandmaster/ ...just to update on who has received a Grand Master Award.

This speach about celebrating them when they are alive I am going to take to heart, and champion Vandermeer and Ligotti wherever I can.

love u baby !!!!

Just re-read my ancient paperback: "Atoms and Evil" by Robert Bloch. Black Mirror owes him no small debt - cynical social comentary through dystopian Sci-Fi in standalone short stories.

Crazy to be watching this arc of Harlan shaming the SFWA into giving great authors their due, and it actually worked!

Spot on Harlan.

For the few of those who may stumble by here, by accident, and really not know the name: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_(novel) For the rest of us: It's entirely possible that HIS major gift to Western Civilization will not be his own brilliant prose, but his championing, to the general public, the work of those whom he admires.

Just checked to see if Bloch ever got the Grand Master award... Sadly he did not.

Another poignant piece from Harlan.

It's so sad. Ellison got one, but Bloch got one.

So, now in 2014 I wonder, did SFWA ever do the right thing, did they ever award those like Bloch, A.E. Van Voght, Vance, and the others Harlan mentioned nearly 20 years ago? I've got to check out their website to see what they are up to these days, a sneaking suspicion tells me they are *STILL* talking about this and what color the official SFWA tie should be!

Worse still, with the exception of one obvious example, Bloch's novels and collections are disgracefully out of print.

Good luck ever trying to borrow money from Ellison.

He’s so hot

@sentinel1814

Күн бұрын

he’s talking about his friend that passed on what are you doing.

Interesting. Harlan seems to be arguing from both sides of the argument. I guess the nuance would be in the details he won't discuss. For my money, I will say that Bloch was a worthy master -- I bought many of his books, and loved them -- but awards don't mean shit. Look at the rock n roll hall of fame if you lack a better example.