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 The Purple
Cloud
-
- by M.P. Shiel
-
- With Illustrations by J.J.
Cameron
- and an Introduction by Brian
Stableford
-
- What
would you do if you were the last man
on earth?
- The
Purple Cloud, an acknowledged classic of early
twentieth-century science fiction, explores this
perennial scenario of imaginative writing in flamboyant,
Decadent prose. After Adam Jeffson has become the first
human ever to reach the North Pole, the world is poisoned
by a mysterious purple cloud. Racked by horror and guilt,
Jeffson, a latter-day Job, must find a way of living in a
post-apocalyptic world piled high with the dead and their
abandoned riches. And there is always the chance that
somewhere, someone else has also survived.
-
- Shiel's
extraordinary inventiveness and admirably reckless style
have won him many literary admirers. H.G. Wells called
The Purple Cloud a 'Colossal . . .
brilliant novel'. H.P. Lovecraft wrote that the passages
in which Jeffson 'roams through the corpse-littered and
treasure-strewn cities of the world as their absolute
master, are delivered with a skill and artistry falling
little short of absolute majesty. Stephen King has
acknowledged the book as a major influence on his novel,
The Stand.
-
- This new
Tartarus edition reprints the original unrevised text of
the 1901 first edition, and reproduces J.J. Cameron's
twenty-four illustrations from the magazine serialisation
of the same year. Brian Stableford provides a splendidly
illuminating introductory essay, 'The Black-and-White
Mystery of The Purple Cloud'.
-
- The
Purple Cloud is a sewn hardback book of 286+xv pages.
Limited to 400 copies.
-
- Price
£30.00/$55 inc. p&p.
-
- Reviews:
- Tartarus has done us proud. This is a
beautifully made edition of a remarkable novel, together
with the original magazine illustrations finely
reproduced, and an ailluminating introduction.
Moreover, The Purple Cloud is worth reading
quite apart from its considerable literary merits, as an
important and influential genre work. - Reggie Oliver,
All Hallows
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- "An
acknowledged classic of post-apocalyptic science fiction,
Sheil's ode to human persistence and his harsh
physical/spiritual evolution marked a return to the
author's decadent style of composition!"-
William Simmons, Hellnotes
-
-
- Also available by M.P. Shiel published by
Tartarus Press
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Page updated 23rd March 2008
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