Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper

Book excerpt: Robert Bloch's ground-breaking novel Psycho introduced the world (and renowned director Alfred Hitchcock) to Norman Bates, a killer who haunted a generation of readers hungry for psychological thrills. But Bates was not the only serial slayer to inhabit the shadows cast by Bloch's pen. Witness Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper, a collection of tales that bring to life the darkest criminal legend of them all. From the murky hell of London's East End to the far reaches of space, Bloch charts the wicked path carved by the Ripper's blade. Saucy Jack stalks the streets of 1940s Chicago in the title tale, while "A Toy for Juliette" (from Harlan Ellison's groundbreaking Dangerous Visions anthology) sends the Ripper through the gates of time to a cold and distant future. The decks of the Starship Enterprise become Red Jack's hunting ground in Bloch's original Star Trek script, "Wolf in the Fold." Plus, Bloch reveals the history of the Ripper's heinous crimes and explores the controversial theories concerning the Whitechapel murderer's true identity in a pair of essays and an original novel (The Night of the Ripper), all included herein. Close your windows to the encroaching fog. Lock your doors and turn up the gaslights. Robert Bloch awaits you and so does Jack the Ripper.