SPOILER ALERTS
This review has some spoiler alerts about the end of the main character. If you want to read Amalgamation before the end gets talked about here, do that now. And brace yourself!
I had blessedly forgotten I had read Drew Valdez’s short story Amalgamation. And then someone had to remind me. Then I remembered how much I enjoyed the squirmy feeling my first aptly-named “squelchcore” story sent my way. Amalgamation is the only story I have seen where the author challenges you to finish it. When a write like Drew issues such a challenge, it should give you pause for thought. A really long pause. Indefinite, I would say.
Let us assume you paused and decided to plunge in.
First, there are a lot of trigger warnings, and Drew is not joking about these. Heed them.
The first thing I really dug about the story is the main character: a below-average joe, and far from the saintly type. Drew Valdez colours this guy in with a detailed eye for the objectionable, to the point where I was sure I had met Alex’s twin brother in high school. Alex really is a piece of crap, which makes this story even more satisfying, even if disturbingly gross.
Drew Valdez has a gift for picking the right words to grab the emotion he is aiming for and yanking it as hard as he can. The scenes are described in gloriously decayed and foetid detail. “Wet plop,” the latter of which I do not recall reading in any other work, is an example the skin-moving quality of Valdez’s writing.
Amalgamation is almost a lesson in divine (or infernal) justice and the idea of reaping what you sow. The overall message of getting what’s coming to you is made all the more memorable through the viscerally challenging story of a douche-bag’s visit to his grandparents’ home.
If you are up to it, Drew Valdez has woven a story that is pure squeamishness, and he set out to do just that. I would say he has more than achieved his stated aim, and even excelled it by lightyears.
Give Amalgamation a try. If your stomach is up to it.
You can grab another of my stories, NeoTokyo Dead, from all fantastic platforms!
