Book Club #3.....Robert Bloch, the man who wrote Psycho

He was yet another Wisconsin author who was greatly influenced and encouraged by H P Lovecraft (click). Robert Bloch wrote dark fiction for pulp magazines and later supplemented his income by working as a copy writer for the Gustavus Marx Advertising Agency. Along the the way he helped run Carl Zeidlers' successful 1940 Milwaukee mayoral bid and created the first ever (and soon to be copied all over the nation) "release the balloons from the ceiling at the convention hall" gag. Bloch continued his work as a writer into the 50's, and then Ed happened... The revelations that followed the arrest of Ed Gein in 1957 shook the entire world and pushed Bloch into writing the one book that changed his life..."Psycho." Alfred Hitchcock bought the rights and a new genre was born and Bloch was able to establish a prolific and successful Hollywood career. He was once asked about the mechanics of horror and weird fiction,"If you see a clown in a parade or at the circus, it's a normal occurence, however
if a clown comes to your door at midnight and knocks...."