By Jeff Baker

For Day #6 of this Short-Story Month blog, about Fantasy stories, I’m thinking about “The Movie People,” a fine fantasy story by the great Robert Bloch. Bloch grew up in the era of the silent movies and this story evokes those days and brings up the notion that there may be more in an old movie than something we see at first. A fantasy story can score when there is only one element of the fantastic, rather than a whole slew of otherworldly events. “The Movie People” also shows Bloch’s sentimental, romantic side. Bloch was better known for his horror stories and his macabre sense of humor, and any of his stories is worth the time. “The Movie People” has been reprinted often and is in “The Best of Robert Bloch.”

There are a plethora of LGBT short-stories in Lethe Press’ fine yearly collections “Wilde Stories,” “Heiresses of Russ” and “Transcendent.” I studied the “Wilde Stories” anthologies (and bought them all) when I was figuring out how to write LGBT-themed fantasy stories of my own. They are all highly recommended.