First, here's a Call for Papers that's perfect for the Halloween season. A terrific colleague of mine is seeking submissions for a new collection Exploring the Dark Shadows Mythos.
Now on to today's main fare. This month one of my "can't miss" podcasts, The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast, is celebrating "Bloch-tober" -- that is, hosts Chad Fifer and Chris Lackey are devoting each weekly episode in October to one of my favorite members of the H.P. Lovecraft Circle, the father of Psycho himself, Robert Bloch.
You can read my review of Robert Bloch's collection Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper here. I also discuss several of his works in my three-part StarShipSofa podcast segment on "Science Fiction and Jack the Ripper" (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3).
This is an excerpt from his short story "Enoch" (published in Weird Tales in September 1946), which you can read in full here.
It always starts the same way.
First, there's the feeling.
Have you ever felt the tread of little feet walking across the top of your skull? Footsteps on your skull, back and forth, back and forth?
It starts like that.
You can't see who does the walking. After all, it's on top of your head. If you're clever, you wait for a chance and suddenly brush a hand through your hair. But you can't catch the walker that way. He knows.
- "Enoch," Robert Bloch