Quick question.

[green_dreams]

In "The Colour Out Of Space", there's a mutating effect on local plants and wildlife before they die; they're oddly deformed, and their tracks (and presumably their scent) frighten those who know what they *ought* to be like, even if it's never quite nailed down how they're different.

There's a similar effect in "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", where it's noted that Hyde's appearance practically screams deformity and yet no-one could put a finger on *how*, despite the fact that people loathe him on sight.[1]

Outside of Lovecraft, I can't at the moment think of similar situations in fiction--where being exposed to a unnatural substance (preferably indirectly, in a kind of background radiation sort of way)--causes a physical change that results in something indefinably unnatural.

Anyone?
---
[1] How very Promethean.

Comments

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

I can't think of a particular story, but I suspect that it may show up in something by Algernon Blackwood (http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a1370).

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Right. Now that you mention him, I'm also thinking I should have another look at Arthur Machen. I'm pretty sure "The White People" didn't cover people/things (other than the narrator) changing, but I thought he was incredibly effective at conveying the not-right of things.

[reyl.livejournal.com]

Why is it the first thing I think of related to this is Eerie Presence?

Damn you Whitewolf.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

* grin* 'tis the downside of a flexible and accessible horror system.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

When I read the description you wrote of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, my first thoughts did run to Frankenstein...


and as for your question... though my brain is in poor shape... Day of the Triffids comes to mind.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Unless I'm misremembering something, I don't think it fits. IIRC, neither Triffids nor humans were changed in an inexplicable way by an external unnatural force.

[sivi-volk.livejournal.com]

How about "The Midwich Cuckoos"?

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Weren't they a parasitical organism, rather than a natural organism weirdly warped?

I don't deny the creepy, but I feel it's lacking the mutated.

[sivi-volk.livejournal.com]

No, it's basically the plot from that comic you lent me. Mutated in the womb.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

... comic... that... Oh, Rising Stars. Yeah, I guess that is the plot, though I never thought to think of it in that way.

I can't find my copy of the book, but can I get back to you on that? Every review and summary of the book that I can lay hands on makes reference to *all* the women in the town of child-bearing age being pregnant; some even specifically mention that virgins are carrying children.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I remember a green dust falling from the sky.. and it blinded humans...

I forgot that it didn't make the Triffids, it just gave them their moment to attack.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

I remember it being a huge and beautiful green light show in the night sky, that everyone spent hours staring at. Kind of like the Northern Lights on steroids.

It's definitely a strange force that changes people, but it does so in an explicable way (bright astronomical phenomena -> eye damage) that doesn't turn them into something that makes you want to scream for no reason you can put your finger on.

[rusty76.livejournal.com]

If you can find a copy, Michaela Roessner _Vanishing Point_ might fit your bill...

[torrain.livejournal.com]

It seems to have the weird effect on humans, but not so much the distortion I'm looking for.

Still, I will take a look. When the worst thing any of the reviews have to say about a book is "her characters seem oddly nice", it bodes well.