5 Authors to check out on Hoopla
Robert Bloch- Bloch was an author of mystery, crime, horror and science-fiction. His fiction is spiked with his sinister sense of humor and surprise twist-endings. He also wrote for films and television. Most modern writers credit Bloch with being an early inspiration in their lives. If you only know Norman Bates from Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho, it’s safe to say you don’t know Norman Bates. Hoopla will get you caught up with Bloch’s original Psycho trilogy. (For the record, Psycho II was the first book that kept me up all night reading because I had to find out how it ended.)
Chet Williamson- Williamson has written his fair share of taut thrillers and horror tales. One of his most recent books is a crafty, intense crime murder-mystery featuring Robert Bloch’s most famous character. Written in the style of Bloch circa 1962, Williamson delivers a “lost” chapter in the life of Norman Bates. It works as an excellent homage to Bloch’s original and stands on its own as a pulse-pounding thriller. This story bridges the original novel Psycho with Bloch’s own follow-up Psycho II. It is an excellent read and respectful to Bloch’s creation.
Richard Matheson- His career spanned across seven decades, beginning with selling short stories to the Fantasy and Science-Fiction pulps and moving to novels, television (where he scripted many classic episodes of The Twilight Zone) and movies. His writing has had such an impact on popular culture, most don’t realize his significance. Even if you don’t know Matheson by name, you have no doubt seen a movie based on his work, whether it be TV’s Duel (1971), The Night Stalker (1972) or Trilogy of Terror (1975), or the big screen adaptations of his novels like The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), Somewhere in Time (1980), Stir of Echoes (1999), I Am Legend (2007) and Real Steel (2011).
Rod Serling- Without a doubt, Serling was considered, and still is, one of the finest television writers of all time. His stories, whether written for his influential Twilight Zone series or his fun 70’s series Night Gallery, or films like Planet of the Apes (1968), always rang true with characters we recognized and could relate to. Serling understood the truth and flaws of his fellow men.
Charles Beaumont- Another veteran of the pulp magazines and TV’s The Twilight Zone. Beaumont was known among his peers as one of the most prolific and fastest writers around, knocking out seemingly simple but complex stories and screenplays in no time. They assumed he never slept. He wrote a highly influential novel, The Intruder, about racism set in the 50’s, which he later adapted for the screen for director Roger Corman. It starred a young William Shatner.
