The Plant-Thing, by RG MacReady (1925)

 “The Plant-Thing” by R.G. MacReady appears in the July 1925 issue of Weird Tales.  It is MacReady’s only story to be seen in The Unique Magazine, and despite having a wonderful title (as always, “Thing” in a title always grabs my attention), is a rather humdrum weird tale that doesn’t really explore much new ground.  It has an interesting antagonist, which is unfortunately spoiled by editor Farnsworth Wright on the contents page, but that’s hardly enough to save the story from being more or less unmemorable, and quite possibly the reason that MacReady wasn’t seen again.

The story occupies a scant four pages and details a reporter who is tasked with checking in on a local doctor who has been accused of vivisection by local farmers who’ve been sending far too much livestock his way.  Turned away from the compound by the typically foreign manservants, the reporter slips over the fence and encounters the titular monster.  He passes out and awakes to discover the beautiful daughter of the mad scientist watching over him.  They bond, falling in love almost instantly, and the reporter is kept around – though not to be murdered.

They hang about the plantation for a short while as the existence of the beast is explained – an experiment to bridge the gap between animal and plant – and to see the carnivorous thing attack it’s former master.  Then the tale ends.

The various pulp tropes one would expect from such a thing are all on display here.  The plant thing is monstrous, the servants are all Asians, the daughter is beautiful, the reporter daring, and the scientist…surprisingly bland.  Hardly the mad scientist we’d expect (which might have made the tale better) with hardly a reason for keeping our reporter “hostage” (laid up while his broken rib mends).  It seems MacReady may have needed to flesh out his narrative a little more, particularly when the shock of what the beast is is revealed in the middle of the tale.

Not exactly worth a read, but not offensively bad either.  “The Plant-Thing” lacks much in the way of punch or originality, but it does hold one bit of trivia for Weird Tales – the author was deaf, though he never makes any mention of such things in the tale.  There seems little else available regarding his life, and I can’t find any other mention of his tales (if he even dabbled beyond this one), but for a fan of weird tales (as he must have been), it truly must have been an honor to appear in the July 1925 issue alongside Lovecraft, a debuting Robert E Howard, E Hoffman Price, and Seabury Quinn.