Shambleau by C.L. Moore

This story first appeared in the November 1933 issue of Weird Tales and was Catherine Lucille Moore’s first paying story. She went by the moniker C.L. Moore to hide her author side hustle from her day-time banker job. It also might have had to with the fact that she wrote the story there. In order to stay busy during a lull she was practicing her typing speed. From memory she started typing the poem, The Haystack in the Flood. After a typo stating that there was a red running figure, she was so amused by the visual that she asked herself, why was the woman running and who was she running from. And with that she dove right in to the opening line of Shambleau.

Written review below. Video review here:

Weird Tales editor, Farnsworth Wright kept a tally on which stories were most popular. Shambleau was the second most popular story to ever be published in Weird Tales. The first being A Merritt’s “The Woman of the Wood.” – note to self. Find that story. Third was The Outsider by H.P. Lovecraft.

Here is what our man H.P. had to say about Shambleau:

Shambleau is great stuff, too. It begins magnificently, on just the right note of terror, and with black intimations of the unknown. The subtle evil of the Entity, as suggested by the unexplained horror of the people, is extremely powerful—and the description of the Thing itself when unmasked is no letdown. Like “The House of the Worm”, it has real atmosphere and tension—rare thing amidst the pulp traditions of brisk, cheerful, staccato prose and lifeless stock characters and images. The one major fault is the conventional interplanetary setting. That weakens and dilutes the effect of both by introducing a parallel or rival wonder and by removing it from reality. Of course, a very remote setting had to be chosen for so unknown marvel—but some place like India, Africa, or the Amazon jungle might have been used…with the horror made more local. I trust your revisions may make Mrs. Moore’s second story as striking and interesting as this one.

—H. P. Lovecraft to Farnsworth Wright, 21 Nov 1933, Lovecraft Annual 8.38-39

And now that you’ve had a master’s review, here is a novice review:

The basic premise: Interplanetary smuggler bandit Northwest Smith is kicking around a small Earth colony on Mars waiting for his connection to arrive. The cries of an angry mob yelling Shambleau pursue a young woman running for her life. Though he is no crusader, he feels for the girl and decides to step in. The mob, angry and confused as to why he would want to protect a Shambleau, eventually dispersed. The girl is shapely and attractive with brown skin, cat eyes, small sharp teeth and what appears to be red hair under her turban. She doesn’t really speak any languages, Smith knows so when he asks her why the mob was after her there is no reply. Northwest decides it’s too dangerous for her on the streets and takes her back to his hotel room. He leaves her there while he goes out to conduct business.

He comes back drunk and surprised to still see her. In his drunken state he revaluates the situation and her banging body in spite of those weird cat eyes. She is flirty. He goes in for the kiss and is simultaneously turned and completely repulsed. He shoves her away, throws some blankets on the floor and tells her, that’s where she’ll be sleeping.

Something is odd about the girl. Why were those town people chasing her? He is starting to doubt his decision in inviting this girl back to his room. She sits in the darkness. Never eats. Eye’s him strangely. Yet, he doesn’t kick her out. Who or what is this strange woman?

And that’s the set-up.

H.P. wasn’t kidding when he commented on the atmosphere and tension. First off it doesn’t feel like a science fiction story. This is horror story straight to the bone. I read that when she first envisioned the character Northwest Smith he was more of a Western character, and that is what this story feels like in atmosphere. Yes, there are Venusians, and we’re on Mars but it has a western flavor to it. Northwest, an infamous smuggler with questionable morality, all dressed in leather, carries his blaster…eh hem, I mean his heat beam gun, sorry I didn’t mean to insinuate that this is Han Solo because… it is. The more pulp I read the more I see the “inspirations.” But there the Stars Wars ends, and the story becomes an ancient mythic horror story.

The woman is mesmerizing. She’s odd but not creepy at first. She was a victim and Northwest saved her life. What is there to worry about? Moore slowly builds that tension though. This isn’t some monster on the edge of the darkness hunting you. This is something that shouldn’t even be a threat, five feet from your bed. Staring at you when your eyes open in the middle of the night. This story will make you uncomfortable. The ending reminds me of how Karl Kolchak would reflect on the story at the end of every one of his episodes. It is an exposition reflection that hints at the nature of addiction. Having something almost kill you, bring you pleasure and the fortitude to walk away.

Caedmon Records released a spoken word version of Shambleau read by C.L. Moore herself in 1980. They knew what they were doing because they even got paperback cover artist Kelly Freas to paint the cover. It goes for around $25-$35 but there is someone selling a Near Mint for $90.

Hear the record here:

Read Shambleau on the internet archive: Shambleau