Matthew Phipps Shiel (1865-1947), was a prolific British writer of fantastic fiction, remembered mostly for supernatural and scientific romances, published as novels, short stories and as serials. He wrote under the pen name Gordon Holmes. After working as a teacher and translator he broke into the fiction market with a series of short stories published in The Strand and other magazines. His early literary reputation was based on two collections of short stories influenced by Poe published in the Keynote series by John Lane, Prince Zaleski (1895) and Shapes in the Fire (1896), considered by some critics as the most flamboyant of the English decadent movement. His first novel was The Rajah's Sapphire (1896), based on a plot by William Thomas Stead, who probably hired Shiel to write the novel. Shiel's lasting literary reputation is largely based on Notebook III of the series which was serialized in The Royal Magazine in abridged form before book publication that autumn as The Purple Cloud (1901). He also wrote The Lord of the Sea (1901).
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"Fantastic, weird, macabre . . . It is imaginative, fascinating, convincing, as some dreadful nightmare. . . . A remarkable piece of work, . . . head and shoulders above the average tale of fantastic adventure." -- The New York Times Book Review
"Students of early science fiction will welcome the University of Nebraska's Press series Bison Frontiers of the Imagination. This imprint has so far brought back into print sixteen texts from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including works by authors ranging from the well-known Jack London to the more obscure Mary E. Bradley Lane and J.D. Beresford. The publishers should certainly be congratulated in bringing The Purple Cloud by M. P. Shiel back to public attention once more. They have chosen to reprint the authors' own final expanded version . . . The 1929 version is vintage Shiel; the lush prose complements the epic theme and the grandiose and insane posturings of the pyromaniac protagonist.
"Students of early science fiction will welcome the University of Nebraska's Press series Bison Frontiers of the Imagination. This imprint has so far brought back into print sixteen texts from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including works by authors ranging from the well-known Jack London to the more obscure Mary E. Bradley Lane and J.D. Beresford. The publishers should certainly be congratulated in bringing The Purple Cloud by M. P. Shiel back to public attention once more. They have chosen to reprint the authors' own final expanded version . . . The 1929 version is vintage Shiel; the lush prose complements the epic theme and the grandiose and insane posturings of the pyromaniac protagonist.
Shiel was the most eloquent of the immediate successors to H. G. Wells, and even fans of The Last Man by Mary Shelley might admit that Shiel's account of the journeyings of the last man through a dead world is one of the most impressive treatments of this theme." -- TLS, December 29, 2000 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
About the Author
M. P. Shiel's (1865-1947) long, distinguished writing career included such works as "Prince Zaleski, The Lord of the Sea" and "The Yellow Peril." John Clute is the author of "Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia" (winner of the Hugo Award) and coeditor of "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" (winner of the Hugo and Locus Awards).
--This text refers to an alternate
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First Sentence
In May of this year the writer received as noteworthy a packet of papers as it has been his lot to examine-from a friend, Dr. Arthur Lister Browne, M A., F R C P.-consisting of four notebooks, crowded with those giddy shapes of "shorthand," whose ensemble resembles startled swarms hovering on the wing-scribbled in pencil, and without vowels: so that their deciphering has been no holiday. Read the first page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt
In May of this year the writer received as noteworthy a packet of papers as it has been his lot to examine-from a friend, Dr. Arthur Lister Browne, M A., F R C P.-consisting of four notebooks, crowded with those giddy shapes of "shorthand," whose ensemble resembles startled swarms hovering on the wing-scribbled in pencil, and without vowels: so that their deciphering has been no holiday. Read the first page
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
A fabulous book. The tale of a transcript turned book from papers sent to the author. The book centres around Adam, who by a strange turn of events avoids the purple cloud which wipes out every living thing. He goes on a descriptive journey all over the world, of a believable and eerie future, where we all want to survive, but wouldn't want to survive alone. Finally Adam settles in one place, documenting his building project, pyrotechnics and possession accumulation along the way, to the backdrop of an empty earth's weather upheaval. The reader can sense the madness which would creep in if we were to be so isolated forever......Adam goes through it all. An incredibly compelling book (with a nice twist at the end) which should be made into a film.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Welly
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
There are books that entertain and those that amuse, some shock and some amaze. This book grabs your core and swings it around the room until all the things you'd previously thought have to be revisited. It's, quite simply, a masterpiece and will knock your socks off.
Written in 1901 it has a tremendous gravitas that only writing of that era seems to own, it manages to be knowing and innocent and never fails to hit home with every magnificent, engrossing turn of the plot. The only danger is that the reader spends more time pondering what he would do in the circumstances described rather than concentrating on the book. It is rare that you finish a book and your main motive is to find a quiet corner and re-read it, but that's what the Purple Cloud will do to you. A dark, unforgiving, magestic masterpiece that puts the flimsy, gimmicky modern writers to shame. Buy it, read it, recommend it.
Written in 1901 it has a tremendous gravitas that only writing of that era seems to own, it manages to be knowing and innocent and never fails to hit home with every magnificent, engrossing turn of the plot. The only danger is that the reader spends more time pondering what he would do in the circumstances described rather than concentrating on the book. It is rare that you finish a book and your main motive is to find a quiet corner and re-read it, but that's what the Purple Cloud will do to you. A dark, unforgiving, magestic masterpiece that puts the flimsy, gimmicky modern writers to shame. Buy it, read it, recommend it.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The 'last man' story was not original to M.P. Shiel but "The Purple Cloud" is definitely one of the best examples of it. For me the most distinct and compelling aspect to this novel is how darkly it is written.
Most post-apocalypse style novels make the last man a hero, with a cause and driven by hope. Here, the lead character is already a money-driven murderer before the End of the World has even begun. Without money or fame to spur him on, he finds other reasons to travel the world, setting ablaze whole cities and finding that out of his initial anarchism comes a new structure.
Although the reason for the world's destruction has a faintly 'religious parable' feel to it and the lead characters' names being Adam and Eve, this is not a particularly religious story and if you were to read it as an allegory then it would certainly be an atheist one.
According to the foreword, this is actually the 'milder' version of the novel, that Shiel re-wrote in 1929- the 1901 version of the story is, apparently, rougher and includes extra elements such as cannabalism.
Most post-apocalypse style novels make the last man a hero, with a cause and driven by hope. Here, the lead character is already a money-driven murderer before the End of the World has even begun. Without money or fame to spur him on, he finds other reasons to travel the world, setting ablaze whole cities and finding that out of his initial anarchism comes a new structure.
Although the reason for the world's destruction has a faintly 'religious parable' feel to it and the lead characters' names being Adam and Eve, this is not a particularly religious story and if you were to read it as an allegory then it would certainly be an atheist one.
According to the foreword, this is actually the 'milder' version of the novel, that Shiel re-wrote in 1929- the 1901 version of the story is, apparently, rougher and includes extra elements such as cannabalism.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a classic book in apocalyptic fiction genre that you'll find in a lot of lists set up by fans on various web sites. It was written at the very beginning of the 20th century but the version I have was published in 1930 after some rewriting. Although most people rave over this book, although it was original at the time, it's nothing special now in my opinion as a lot of similar books have been written since.
The story features a man who goes on a voyage to the North Pole in order to fulfill a challenge and become rich in the process. Partly driven by his fiancee, he basically cheats and murders his way to be first to the pole and win the cash. Of course, in those days expeditions of this type took a long time and by the time he heads for home it's many months after he left England. Everyone he finds along the way is dead, presumably killed by a mysterious purple cloud that seems to have covered the entire globe except, luckily, the North Pole.
The rest of the book follows the man as he travels round the world slowly going crazy. That's essentially it, but it is more interesting than it sounds. The two things that spoiled the book for me were the rather dated language used (which isn't that hard to follow, to be honest), and the horrible personality of the main character, Adam (which for me is a big problem). I didn't get the feeling that he deserved to survive, but maybe that's the point.
If you like end-of-the-world stories then by all means try this book, but I have read a lot more than I found more enjoyable.
The story features a man who goes on a voyage to the North Pole in order to fulfill a challenge and become rich in the process. Partly driven by his fiancee, he basically cheats and murders his way to be first to the pole and win the cash. Of course, in those days expeditions of this type took a long time and by the time he heads for home it's many months after he left England. Everyone he finds along the way is dead, presumably killed by a mysterious purple cloud that seems to have covered the entire globe except, luckily, the North Pole.
The rest of the book follows the man as he travels round the world slowly going crazy. That's essentially it, but it is more interesting than it sounds. The two things that spoiled the book for me were the rather dated language used (which isn't that hard to follow, to be honest), and the horrible personality of the main character, Adam (which for me is a big problem). I didn't get the feeling that he deserved to survive, but maybe that's the point.
If you like end-of-the-world stories then by all means try this book, but I have read a lot more than I found more enjoyable.
1 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Mr Reviewer
Format:Paperback
I'm 3 quarters of the way through it, for the past 2 quarters I've been forcing myself to read it in the assumption that it was about to get good....it hasn't so far. It's just boring.
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