Science Fiction Shiel, M.P.: The Purple Cloud. v1. 08 Jan 09

[Dr. Drib]

I put a great old cover on this book - from Famous Fantastic Mysteries, which lends atmosphere to this novel. The one that ran in FFM was an abridgment; my version is the complete version.

Lovecraft thought highly of M.P. Shiel's novel.

From Amazon, one critic writes:

"'The Purple Cloud,' according to Lovecraft, was weakened by the rather "conventially romantic element" of its third act, but I am not so certain. Fans of cosmic horror would perhaps do well to end their reading with the protagonist's personal revelation at the end of the first act, but those who continue on will find some of this collection's best writing. The novel turns into a character study in what isolation can do to man when he returns to civilization, expressing some insights that go much deeper than anything else here. It does also belabor its good versus evil theme, and append a rather tidy ending, but has a more chilling effect in parts than the grand guignol of the pyromania and "insanity" that precede it. For fans of King's "The Stand," this is a good example of what King does so poorly (and also an indication of the extent of his plagiarism), and collects most of the elements of that mammoth book into a much more successful and easier to read novel."

Another writer summarizes the book:

"In Shiel's novel, a man travelling in the Arctic survives a world-encompassing purple cyanide cloud. Upon his return to civilization he realizes that he is the sole survivor, and with no society to restrict him he becomes an all-powerful insanely destructive juggernaut, revelling in his deliberate razing of entire empty cities with explosives. In his saner moments, his travels take him to Istanbul, where he discovers a young female survivor. Questioning if humanity, perpetrator of the most awful crimes against its members, should indeed be resurrected, the man leaves her. When another holocaust threatens, he is shocked into returning to her."

I'm currently working on all of Shiel's remaining stories that are available. It shouldn't take too long...I need first to finish my Peruvian beer, a Cusquena.

This novel does, unfortunately, retain single quote marks, rather than the double. If there is a routine out there "intelligent" enough to bypass contractions, then I'll give this book a second pass specifically for that.

Em dashes, of course, are now mandatory in all my assemblages.

Like all the books I assemble on MobileRead, this too was assembled to reflect human intervention and artistic judgment.

I hope you enjoy it.

Don

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[Greg Anos]

Don, do you have any "intermediate" files so I can rebuild it into HTML?

Ralph Sir Edward

[Dr. Drib]

What would you like to do with it?


Don

[Greg Anos]

Read it on something other than a Sony e-book reader...

(That's right, Igor! A few more modifications and I'll bring it to life, LIFE!!!)

[Dr. Drib]

I'll be posting a prc version using MobiCreator, just as soon as I finish this current batch of Shiel. Plus, I just discovered a few more titles by him. If you don't see a version in a few days, please PM me.

For those reading Shiel, or discovering him for the first time, he wrote about 25 novels and quite a lot of short stories. He was very much admired by Lovecraft.

He wrote horror/fantasy/early Sci-fi influenced stories. Or, to put it differently, he wrote what is categorized as WEIRD FICTION.


Don