SHAPE FROM THE STREAMING DARK

SHAPE FROM THE STREAMING DARK

 "His vision blurred; her face melted as if tears had come across his eyes."

"Perrin wrenched his eyes from her face 'You're not real You're something which takes the shape of my thoughts. Perhaps you killed Seguilo...'"

"He had believed in the shape called Seguilo; he had believed in the transceiver—and both had slavishly obeyed his expectations. So had the girl, and he had sent her away..."

"No human hands could force the door; it would take the strength of a mastodon, the talons of a rock choundril, the ferocity of a Maldene land-shark..."

"He peered through the window, heart in his mouth. A tall shape, indistinct."

"He listened. It must be near the door now. It would be lifting a heavy warm, the talons would glint in the moonlight."

"He knew what he would see; A black shape tall and round as a pole with eyes like coach-lamps. A huge black arm shoved inside. Perrin saw the talons gleam as the fingers reached for the bolt."

"Tomorrow night the moons would call up no yearning shapes form the streaming dark."
Jack Vance, When The Five Moons Rise

This is one of my favorite kinds of creatures to draw. It's a creature that exists mostly in the protagonist's imagination and takes the shape of what they think of. It's the same style of story as Arthur C. Clark's A Walk In the Dark, which we've covered for Stories From the Borderland.

This story was first published in the March 1954 edition of Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine with a cover illustration by B. Safran and an uncredited interior illustration. The illustration shows various forms of the shape including the woman, Seguilo with a melted face and the giant taloned hand. I like the sketchy ethereal quality it has.

Up next tomorrow, a creep from a movie! And the last of this run of new monsters...for now.