Someone up above asked if the bugaboo was the little girl. At the very end I thought it was, because after the man kills the thing he passes out and dreams of doing the things the creature did. i interpreted that to mean that he was still alive but his conscious mind was in a haze behind the outer monster. Also the monster was child-like size, and that would explain the affinity with the dog if the dog knew her when she was human.

I think we all have dreams where we can’t move or can’t get away, and to me, the poor guy’s situation made it all the more horrifying.

Kudos.

I wondered about that myself.

I wouldn’t say “noting but”, I assume it was meant to evoke the thing’s whiteness, a silvered paleness perhaps? But, as I said, I wondered the same thing.

Which… okay. That’s a demographic, too. Just not mine, I guess.

Only other nit: the title. “Ashy” implies nothing but dryness. Yet the “thing” was a study in ooze and goo and slime.

Confusing.

Over-all, though: better than most, enjoyed it muchly.

My only complaint would have to be the prose (it is a bit florid, like most Lovecraftian prose, but it goes slightly over the top, as another listener might have mentioned.

Still, one of my fav. stories here yet….

Thank-you!

It’s a rare writer who can take the old “The Thing” theme and make it work. Paul is one of those writers. In this he finds himself in the fine company of Stephen king and Clive Barker …

Made me shiver and retch at the same time - true visceral horror. Scott Sigler, Phil Rossi - take notes!

Another fantastic production from the premiere team in horror audio.

Extra points for not trying to explain what the thing was or where it came from, having an indeterminate ending and using a disabled character to good advantage. Also, plus points for the dog being neither hero nor villain, just a dog.

A few points lost for needing a little more editing - All that build-up, like an unimportant description of a picnic and a totally unnecessary sex scene, feels like padding when one reflects that the thing just shows up and attacks. Could have done with more tease from the actual threat. The description of the creature, while starting nicely pulpy, went a bit overboard in the florid writing area (did the author really intend to use the word “fecund”, meaning overly fertile, to describe some aspect of the creature?) and where were the editors when the paralyzed man with the severed spinal column feels the dog pass over his ankles (the bit where the dog is biting his foot was good, although written in a way that we can’t tell whether this was painful for him or just distracting, given the fact that’s he’s crawling after his wife).

I’m unsure about the Giger reference. Part of me thinks that any 19th century writer would just have easily referenced Bosch or someone and this is the modern equivalent of same. Part of me thinks that modern society, at least in America, is so culturally fractured that almost any reference to anything outside of the main-mainstream comes off as a bone thrown to a niche group. Undecided.

Nice monster story, though.

Thanks for listening.

“Demons are like obedient dogs; they come when they are called.”

Remy De Gourmont, “Pehor”