Midnight Pleasures

Amazon.com: From Publishers WeeklyThis latest collection from Bloch, who has been writing professionally for 52 years, is a middling mix of crime, fantasy and horror stories. Two of the 14 selections are early works: a negligible, almost plotless humor piece, "But First These Words," and an unconvincing horror story, "The Totem Pole," interesting mostly for its vintageit's from a 1939 Weird Tales. The other 12 date from the past decade and include "The Spoiled Bride," a comic, if rather grim, tale of a future in which men can choose their mates from among the cryogenically frozen; a character study of a psychotic Nazi type who murders a little Jewish girl, "The Rubber Room"; and "Everybody Needs a Little Love," the all-too-predictable tale of a man who takes a store mannequin for a companion. Best in the book are a well-wrought tale of adultery and revenge, "The Night Before Christmas," and a deal-with-the-devil story, "Picture."Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.