FREE E-BOOK AND WHAT ROBERT BLOCH HAD TO DO WITH IT

I don't give my books away for free, or I haven't before, because the public, and rightly so, perceives "free" as rather worthless. But since I have three titles in the Prime Select program at Amazon on the Kindle, I will now and then make a story or book free. If a person has a Prime account they can get those titles for free, but for those who do not have that special account I thought it would only be fair to offer a book to them free now and then.

It's almost Christmas so before the truly big rush, I thought I'd offer my readers a free copy of INTERVIEW WITH A PSYCHO on Kindle.com. (See link to your right.) It was written when I lived in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and the editor of the anthology PSYCHOS was alive. I was in the Horror Writers Association and they had luckily talked Mr. Bloch in looking over and editing an anthology for the organization. Many members submitted stories. INTERVIEW ended up being one of the chosen stories, along with a new short story (at that time) by Stephen King. 

During the compilation of this anthology, Mr. Bloch died. I was devastated. I had become pen-pal friends with Robert Bloch and we had written back and forth to one another a few times. I don't know why he bothered with me, a pretty unknown writer, but that was the sort of man he was--kind, good-hearted, a wonderful man. I wrote him in my excitement when I'd been nominated for the Edgar Award for my novel, NIGHT CRUISE. He was sincerely happy for me and mentioned, just as a side remark, that he'd never been nominated or won the Edgar. I sat reading his letter in stunned silence. The man who wrote PSYCHO that was turned into one of the most iconic movies ever, never was even nominated for mystery/suspense's highest award? How could that be? Who had made THAT mistake? I wrote back asking that, how could that possibly be? If anyone ever deserved that award, it was Robert Bloch. I felt bad about my own nomination because why would I deserve it, if even the inestimable Mr. Bloch hadn't received it? I knew that when the committee overlooked Robert Bloch, they really messed up. Not that it matters--the man was great and a terrific writer and he didn't need any nomination or award to prove that.

The last I heard from him was a postcard he sent me that arrived only days before his death. I have that postcard now and it's one of my possessions that I'd never part with. It was a private little message, a quip, what he was famous for with his tremendous sense of humor, and it made me smile. I stopped smiling when I discovered he'd passed on. RIP Robert, my old buddy.

So this story I'm offering for free download for three days has this kind of history behind it and that's one of the reasons I published it newly in e-book format. Catch the read and enjoy your Christmas present from me to you. It's not as good as what Robert Bloch did in his famous novel, PSYCHO, but it does pay him homage.