The Opener of the Way is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories written by Robert Bloch. It was published by Arkham House and released in 1945. This was the author’s first book.

Stephen King listed the anthology “The Opener of the Way” as one of Arkham House’s “most important works”. Authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman included the collection in Horror: Another 100 Best Books, with Joel Lang noting that it demonstrated Bloch’s “meteoric development from faux-Gothic pastiche to sour, elliptical portraits of urban damnation”. Critic Don D’Ammassa stated that “Although some of the stories are crude by [Bloch’s] later standards, there is a raw power to many of them that has ensured their continued popularity”.

Weird tales described the title story “The Opener of the Way” as

“A tremendous tale about the dread doom that overtook an archaeologist in that forgotten tomb beneath the desert sands of Egypt”.

Tonight, we present the title story from the anthology. An archaeologist and his son stumble onto the tomb of an ancient Egyptian god. In their reach of forbidden knowledge, they awaken ancient evil. A horrible outcome occurs when they awaken the slumbering “Opener of the Way”.

Who is the Opener of the Way? What horrors await our intruders disturbing his tomb?