'Ooze' - Anthony M. Rud



Page Count: 37 Pages

After the disappointment of 'Starship Traveller', I fancied something completely different and it doesn't get a lot more different than a tale taken from the very first issue of 'Weird Tales' back in March 1923. That and I'd heard that 'Ooze' was an influence on 'The Blob', a favourite film of mine. And so it was settled, last night was all about 'Ooze'...

Our narrator visits the ruins of a house in the swamp so that he can hopefully solve the mystery of the death of his friends so that their daughter (whom he has adopted) can know the truth when she is older. What he finds out though is far beyond anything that he ever expected to find...

'Ooze' takes its own sweet time to get going and given that the tale is only 37 pages long, that's a hell of a risk to take. I gave it a chance though and the approach does pay off to an extent, with Rud hiding revelations in plain sight and hopping back and forth, along the timeline, to fill in the gaps. It was an approach that kept me reading as elements of the plot became more clear. And you could argue that the ending is more socking given the almost sedate pace of the tale up to that point. All of a sudden, it all kicks off and we're being dealt a grim slice of horror, made all the more terrifying as we already know how it will end. Rud also really captures not only the inevitability of his monster but also just how mindless it is and that just makes it even more terrifying.

Not a bad read all in all then although personally, a little more zip at the beginning would have made a big difference to me. It worked though so I'm not going to complain too much ;o)

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