fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
and
horror
Horror may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Genres
*Horror fiction, a genre of fiction
** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction
**Korean horror, Korean horror fiction
* Horror film, a film genre
*Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...
short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
by American writer
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...
. It was released in
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
Januar ...
and was the author's first book. It was published by
Arkham House
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 publish hardcover collections of H. P. Lovecraft's best works, which had pr ...
in an edition of 2,065 copies. A British hardcover was issued by
Neville Spearman
Neville Spearman Armstrong (20 October 1913 – September 2008) was a British soldier, literary agent, and publisher. In the 1940s and early 1950s he was in partnerships with others, then from 1955 he operated his own publishing company called Ne ...
in 1974, with
Panther Books
Panther Books Ltd was a British publishing house especially active in the 1950s and 1960s, specialising in paperback fiction. It was established in May 1952 by Hamilton's Ltd and titles carried the line "A Panther Book" or "Panther Science Ficti ...
issuing a two-volume paperback reprint in 1976. An Italian translation, with the stories reordered, appeared in 1991. 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
''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 t ...
''.
Most of the stories had appeared in the magazine ''
Weird Tales
''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, prin ...
'' in the 1930s and 1940s.
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
"The Shambler from the Stars" is a horror short story by American writer Robert Bloch, first published in the September 1935 issue of'' Weird Tales''. It was later included as part of his first published book, ''The Opener of the Way'' (1945), a ...
"
# "Mother of Serpents"
# "The Secret of Sebek"
# "The Eyes of the Mummy"
# "One Way to Mars"
Critical reception
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
listed ''The Opener of the Way'' as one of Arkham House's "most important works". Stephen Jones and
Kim Newman
Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) 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 (1931 ...
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".
Don D'Ammassa
Donald Eugene D'Ammassa (born April 24, 1946) is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror critic and author.loch'slater standards, there is a raw power to many of them that has ensured their continued popularity".''Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction'', Infobase Publishing, 2009, p.27
Trivia
The creators of the game
Half-Life 2
''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and ...
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.'"
The
Dungeons and Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). ...
Role-playing game features (in the third
Monster Manual
The ''Monster Manual'' (''MM'' is the primary bestiary sourcebook for Monsters in Dungeons & Dragons, monsters in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'' fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1977 by TSR (company), TSR. The ''Monster Manual' ...