Thursday, October 22, 2009

Robert Bloch's Weird Welsh Tale


This May, 1939, edition of American pulp magazine, Weird Tales, is notable for containing a Welsh story by Robert Bloch. Bloch, who would later go on to pen Psycho, was always a prolific producer of pulp fiction. His Welsh tale is entitled, The Dark Isle, and is set on Ynys Mon (Anglesey). Featuring bloodthirsty druids, sacred groves, and human sacrifice, it essentially retells the legend of how the Romans defeated the last stronghold of Welsh druidism. Whilst it was never going to win an outstanding literary achievement award, The Dark Isle, is nonetheless an interesting curiosity.