Chan must outwit Fin Fang Foom
Story Information:
Fin Fang Foom: Chan Liuchow lives in the Island of Formosa with his father and brother where they are under attack by the Communist. Chan’s father is disappointed that Chan doesn’t do anything active like his brother to save their land. Chan concocts a plan to rid the Communists his own way, by awakening the monster Fin Fang Foom. Chan has the herbs to awake the monster and also put him back to sleep, and goes to the crypt in the Inland where the Monster sleeps. He succeeds in waking up the monster, but can he use the monster to destroy the Communists?
The Future: Ted Jason is a quiz master in a television program. One evening, as he is on his way to work, he notices his surroundings being different. As he drives, the visibility of the road becomes poor and the sky has a strange pink glow. The radio announcer mentions traffic, but the road is completely empty. His work building seems different with neon tubes instead of elevators, and secretary and office look completely different as well. What is happening to Ted Jason?
The Green Things: Martin Kastle is a retired businessman whose life now revolves around the plants in his greenhouse. He nurtures and takes care of them like they are his most prized possessions. One night, the chauffeur he recently fired, enters his home and points a gun at him, asking for money. Martin refuses and the robber hits him. But the robber has a surprise in store when Martin’s possessions start taking their revenge on him in Martin’s defense.
The Touch of Midas: Simon Kluge is a very rich and equally mean spirited man. He doesn’t care about anything in the world except his riches. He is obsessed in getting the Midas touch as he wants everything he touches turn to gold. He finally finds the Well that would give him the Midas touch if he washes his hands in it. Will Simon’s selfish plan work successfully?
Pros:
Fin Fang Foom: I liked reading this story. It was well written, fast paced and showed that you don’t need physical superpowers just to outwit a monster, rather just having good knowledge and being smart. The story was like a Folklore Tale, which I enjoyed reading.
The Future: Written as a two page short story, I loved this story and thought it had a very Twilight Zone feel to it, since the protagonist suddenly finds himself in a strange surrounding and doesn’t know what to do about it.
The Green Things: A very clichéd, yet fun to read story about nature coming to life to protect its loved ones. I also thought the ending was done well as it allows the reader to decide what the plants could have done to the robber.
Cons:
The Touch of Midas: While I found the plot of the story interesting, the conclusion seemed a little ridiculous, only because I had already suspected something like that would happen, and was expecting more. I felt that something even more horrible should have happened to mean old Simon as a payback for his rotten behavior. However, I did enjoy the concept of the story.
Verdict:
Overall, I thought this was a very good issue of Strange Tales.
