Charles Fudgemuffin

Although I enjoyed the story, I can't give it 4 stars. Maybe a solid 3.5. The idea was something I'd considered in the past, but fleshed out a lot more than I ever took the thought.

My first acquaintance with a story like this was the Vincent Price movie The Conqueror Worm (1968), which I saw at a drive-in as a kid. They often had double- or triple-features with those kinds of films. Quite a few from Hammer Studios.