Thanks to a video by the channel American Strangeness, called "This story FREAKED. ME. THE. F. OUT.," I went and checked out this short story in the first issue of Amazing Stories, and while I think the video title by American Strangeness is a bit of an exaggeration, it's a good story nonetheless. It's called "The Thing from 'Outside'" and it was written by George Allen England. It's perhaps worth noting that this was not its first publication. Based on my research, it was first published in another of Gernsbach's magazines, Science and Invention, in April of 1923.
Anyway, this is a cool story of cosmic horror in the wilderness. Normally, if you get a wilderness story, you think of dangers of terrain, weather, wild animals, etc. But what if something from another reality, or "Outside" as England puts it, was stalking you... something you can't see, something much smarter than you, and something that perceives you like you might perceive an ant?
This is a good story on a solid cosmic horror idea. The handling of characters is a bit clumsy, with each character being identified by name sometimes, and profession at others, but the connections between names and professions is easy to miss, and moreover their professions have no real connections to their actions in the story.
The story builds a ghastly, dangerous atmosphere, not really subtle, but still effective. About two thirds of the way through the story is the main climax, and the action there gets a bit confused, with a hint of unreliable narrator and some large time gaps. The falling action gives us some strange reactions and behavior of the survivors, without full explanation for why they acted as they did.
It's a good, quick read, and it sits on a foundation as old as cosmic horror itself.
Read it here:
https://archive.org/details/AmazingStoriesVolume01Number01/page/n67/mode/2up
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