The red fetish

"The Red Fetish" by Frank Belknap Long, Jr. is a horror short story that was published in the early 1930s. It delves into themes of survival and the primal instinct in a desperate situation. The narrative unfolds on a deserted island, where two men find themselves battling starvation, fear, and each other in a chilling exploration of the human psyche under stress. In the story, Bill Cullen and Wellington Van Wyck are left stranded on an isolated island, facing an overwhelming thirst and the lurking fear of cannibals. Bill's physical strength diminishes, while Van Wyck's cowardice exacerbates their dire predicament. As their desperation escalates, they propose a dangerous swim to find safety, only to encounter not only the threat of cannibals but also man-eating sharks. The narrative takes a darker turn when Van Wyck meets a gruesome fate at the jaws of a shark, leading Bill into the clutches of the cannibals, who, surprisingly, thank him for a mysterious object that had come ashore before him. The story culminates in madness as Bill, horrified by the fate of his companion and his own predicament, becomes part of the very culture he feared. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Frank Belknap Long Jr. was an American writer of horror fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, gothic romance, comic books, and non-fiction. Though his writing career spanned seven decades, he is best known for his horror and science fiction short stories, including contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos alongside his friend, H. P. Lovecraft. During his life, Long received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award (1977).