Matthew Phipps
Shiell was born in Montserrat in the West Indies in 1865. His
family were Irish on his father's side and it is assumed that his
mother was partly of African descent. Matthew was the first son
after many daughters and his proud father crowned him King of
Redonda, a small island off Montserrat, in 1880.
Educated in Britain,
Shiel (who dropped the last 'l' of his surname) fell under the
spell of Edgar Allen Poe around 1882, aged 17, and his
writing was deeply affected by the American author. Poe's
influence is apparent in Shiel's prose style, and in "Vaila" ("The
House of Sounds") he appears to have re-written Poe's"The Fall of
the House of Usher", while in "Xelucha", Shiel seems to draw
heavily upon "Ligea". Shiel's early short stories are very
luxuriant; his Prince Zaleski tales, for example, offer a
detective far more decadent than that other drug-taking dilettante
of the time, Sherlock Holmes.
As a young man Shiel
lived in London and Paris, for a time moving in a circle that
included Arthur Machen and Edgar
Jepson. After
around 1913, he does not appear to have written a great deal, but
took up his pen again from 1923. At some point he made the
decision to purge the excesses of his decadent, Poesque language
and sought a leaner means of expression, which disappoints many of
those who admire his early work. Indeed, he even re-wrote much of
that early work when it was republished, pruning it of many
adjectives and the more colourful flourishes of his style.
Although he had been
popular in his day, Shiel was unrecognised in his last years, and
only the efforts of the indefatigable John
Gawsworth
saved him from obscurity. In gratitude of Gawsworth's efforts
Shiel passed on to him the Kingship of Redonda . . . but that is
another story. . . .
(Includes
three of the most decadent detective stories, not supernatural:
The Race of
Orven,
The Stone of
the Edmundsbury Monks, The S.S.)
ditto, Roberts Brothers (U.S.), 1895
ditto, Tartarus Press, 2002
(The
Tartarus edition adds three more detective tales, the last of
which is unfinished: The Murena Murder, The Missing
Merchants,
The Hargen
Inheritance.)
Shapes in the Fire, John Lane, 1896
(Including:
Xélucha: Merimée meets a femme fatal who he realises is the dead
Xélucha. Vaila: A variation on Poe's The Fall of the House of
Usher, the narrator travels to his old friend's cursed family home
in the far north and witnesses the detruction of the house and
last of the family living there. Tulsah: A cursed man is doomed to
repeat his crime as he is reincarnatedthrough time.
Phorfor: The death of a friend and brother, and the
malign influence of Elder Theodore.)
(Non
supernatural stories are: "Maria in the Rose-bush". Also an essay:
"Premier and Maker", and a poem: "The Serpent-Ship",
"Phorfor".)
ditto, Roberts Brothers (U.S.), 1896
ditto, Tartarus Press, 2000
The Pale Ape, T. Werner Laurie,
[1911]
(Including: The Pale Ape: The ape of the story turns out to be Sir Philip.
Huguenin's
Wife: A woman
with strange powers over animals and a belief in transmigration
after death returns from the dead. The House of
Sounds: a
revised version of Vaila, the main difference is that the frenetic
language is toned down. The Spectre Ship: A prophecy that it is the
dead to be afraid of, not the living. The Great King: The madness of
Nebuchadnezzar and fraudulent and real supernatural events.
The
Bride: A
jilted bride commits suicide but still insists on consumating
their marriage.)
(Non-supernatural thrillers:"The Case of Euphemia
Raphash", "Cummings King Monk", "A Bundle of Letters".)
ditto, Tartarus Press, 2006
Here Comes the Lady, The Richards Press,
[1928]
(Including:
The Tale of
Henry and Rowena: The woman decides against a suicide pact but her
dead lover returns and ends her life anyway. Other supernatural
tales: "The Bell of St. Sépulcre", "The Primate of the
Rose", "Dark Lot of One Saul".)
(Non-supernatural tales: "The Tale of Hugh and
Agatha", "The Tale of Gaston and Mathilde", "No. 16 Brook Street",
"The Tale of One in Two", "The Tale of Charley and Barbara", "The
Corner in Cotton", "The Tale of Adam and Hannah.")
The Best Short Stories of M.P.
Shiel, Gollancz, 1948
(Including:
"The Race of Orven", "The Stone of the Edmundsbury Monks", "The
S.S.", "Xélucha", "Vaila", "Tulsah", "Phorfor", "Huegenin's
Wife", "Monk Wakes an Echo", "The Bride", "Dark Lot of One Saul",
"The Primate of the Rose".)
Xélucha and Others, Arkham House
(U.S.), 1975
(Including:
"Xélucha", "The Primate of the Rose", "Dark Lot of One
Saul", "The House of Sounds", "The Globe of Goldfish", "Many a
Tear", "The Bride", "The Tale of Henry and Rowena", "The Bell of
St. Sépulcre", "Huegenin's Wife", "The Pale Ape", "The Case
of Euphemia Raphash".)
Novels
The Rajah's Sapphire, Ward, Lock & Bowden
(London), 1896) with W.T. Stead
(A gem
haunts those who own it.)
ditto,
Highflyer Press, 1981 (Afterword by John D. Squires.)
The Purple Cloud, Chatto & Windus,
1901
(As Adam
Jeffson reaches the North Pole a cloud of purple gas kills all the
other inhabitants of the planet. He travels the world as its
master, destroying entire cities, and deciding that mankind has
only received what was its due. But he is not the only person
left.)
ditto, Gollancz, 1929 (revised edition, 105 signed
copies, half vellum)
