Oh, Rats!

De Ford, Miriam Allen, 1888-1975Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 20K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Oh, Rats! by Miriam Allen De FordAuthor: De Ford, Miriam Allen, 1888-1975,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Apr 13, 2016

Editor's review

Oh, Rats! is a short piece by Miriam Allen De Ford, released as an electronic text by Project Gutenberg. De Ford wrote science fiction, fantasy, and mystery short stories over many years, often with wit and dry humor. As the title suggests, this story turns on a clever device involving rats. It is concise, quickly establishing tension through situation and dialogue and closing with an unexpected turn, in the classic manner of a genre-magazine short story. It works as a light sample of mid-twentieth-century American genre short fiction and as a brief reading game for spare moments. Because it is a public-domain English text with no notes, readers need basic English reading ability; those expecting a complex world or deep character arcs may find it leaves them wanting more. Overall, it is a piece that prizes cleverness over heft.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers who enjoy short science fiction, fantasy, and light mystery
Fans who want a short text showing the style of early genre magazines
English self-learners looking for light reading in spare moments
Readers who appreciate dry humor and ingenious endings

Not a good fit for

Readers who read only Chinese and are not comfortable with English
Readers expecting long-form narrative and deep character development
Readers who need detailed background notes and author research materials

Reading tips

Ignore the hint in the title at first and read the text directly to see how the author shapes your expectations.
After the ending, look back at the title to see how the pun or foreshadowing relates to the conclusion.
Read it with other stories by the same author and compare the humor and the reversal techniques.
When you meet colloquial English, guess the meaning first and sort it out after finishing, so as to keep the rhythm.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a complete novel or a short story?

It is a short story, a public-domain electronic text from Project Gutenberg. It is meant to be read in one sitting, with the emphasis on the situation and the ending turn rather than lengthy development. For the full experience, read it straight through and then go back to the details.

Is "Rats" in the title meant literally?

The title carries a pun and a hint; what it points to only becomes clear in the text. Read the story first and then return to the title to appreciate how the author uses it to shape expectations and how the ending answers them.

How difficult is the English, and what level is needed?

The text is in English, short, and heavy on dialogue, so readers with basic English reading ability can try it. With colloquial or period expressions, guess from context first and check them after reading rather than stopping often.

Comments

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About the author

De Ford, Miriam Allen, 1888-1975 Author

Miriam Allen De Ford (1888-1975) is an author with limited publicly available biographical information in this Chinese book database, which holds five of her works: Oh, Rats!, The Eel, The Margenes, Where the Phph Pebbles Go, and One Way. These titles are classified here under inspirational and personal growth, though their names suggest short stories with allegorical and fantastical touches rather than straightforward didactic writing. Her style tends toward concise, slightly whimsical narration, using animals, place names, and unfamiliar images to create situations in which readers can reflect on growth and choice. Because public information is limited, her nationality, education, and full career cannot be confirmed; even so, these few works show her ability to condense imagination and meaning into short forms, appealing to readers who enjoy brief fantasy and gentle inspirational fiction.