SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE DEATH PLANT

"The Death Plant" by Michael Gwynn  (first published in Terror by Night, edited by Christine Campbell Thomson, 1934; reprinted in The Not at Night Omnibus, 1937, and Still Not at Night, 1961, both edited by Thomson)

Christine Campbell Thomson was a literary agent, writer, and editor best known for a series of horror anthologies known as the "Not at Night" series for British publisher Selwyn and Blount.  There were eleven volumes in the series, published from 1925 to 1935.  The series was extremely popular, with the first volume having been reprinted at least seven times; many of the stories used were reprints from the American magazine Weird Tales.  Thomson also published a number of her own stories under the pseudonym "Flavia Richardson," as well as stories by her husband, Oscar J. Cook.  There was also compilation of 35 stories taken from the series, The Not at Night Omnibus, published in 1937, and three paperback compilations from Arrow books, 1960-1962.  An American edition, Not at Night, was compiled by Herbert Asbury in 1928 and contained 25 stories selected from Thomson first three volumes in the series.

The popularity of the Not at Night series led another British publisher, Philip Allan, to create the "Creeps Library," which included 14 anonymously-edited (by Charles Birkin) similarly themed volumes.  Allan's Creeps Library also included single author collection and full novels.

Both the Not at Night series and the Creeps Library included many forgettable tales, as well as a few stories that have stood the test of time.

Alas, the test of time has not done any favors for "The Death Plant."

The story features the mania of a German named Rheingelder, a rather insignificant man at first glance but one with a powerful force of determination, which gave him the nickname of "The Irresistible."  Rheingelder firmly believed in the existence of a legendary plant of two flowers which grew from the same stalk -- one the life flower and the other the death flower.  Plucking the life bloom from the stem would insure death; plucking the death bloom would halt one's death, making one immortal.  Rheingelder was determined to find this plant and become immortal.  To this end, he hires a boat and goes sailing among the South Pacific Isles in search of this marvelous vegetation, stopping at every uninhabited island he found.  Six months went by; the boat's crew grew tired of the search and jumped ship in Singapore.  The ship's captain had been told that he would also be able to pluck the death bloom off the plant when found and this also become immortal; he hired another crew.  More moths passed without success.  Finally, Rheingelder had run out of money and told the captain to return to port since the search could not continue.  The captain sold his ship and used the funds to continue the search in a smaller boat with only a Chinese Buddhist as crew.  Rheingelder finally found the flower.  He carefully repotted the plant and gave it to the loyal Chinese to take care and tend.

(This is where the story becomes a little vague.)

The Chinese crewman evidently pulls the life bloom off and dies.  Rheingelder pulls the death bloom and supposedly becomes immortal.  Rheingelder and the captain continue their search for another flower so the captain will also become immortal.  By the time they find it the captain realizes that Rheingelder is not a nice man and is only thinking of himself.  (There's not much evidence of this in the story, but who am I to argue?)  The captain begins thinking that it is not a bad idea to kill the German...

Basically, it's a story that is totally unbelievable and one that goes nowhere.  I hesitate even reporting on it except it is indicative of the poorer stories in the Not at Night series.  Perhaps I should have gone with one of the better stories by writers such as Mary Elizabeth Counselman, H. P. Lovecraft, H. Warner Munn, Frank Belknap Long, August Derleth, or Hugh B. Cave.  But sometimes it's just fun to point out the dreck.  So that's what I did.

As for the author, Michael Gwynn. I have no information about him except for his birth and death years as reported in the FictionMags Index:  1916-1976.  This is his only known short story and perhaps that's just as well.