Download or read book The Purple Cloud 1901 Text written by M. P. Shiel and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2018-09-11 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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

Download or read book The Purple Cloud written by Matthew Phipps Shiel and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "If now a swell from the Deep has swept over this planetary ship of earth, and I, who alone chanced to find myself in the furthest stern, as the sole survivor of her crew . . . What then, my God, shall I do?" The Purple Cloud is widely hailed as a masterpiece of science fiction and one of the best "last man" novels ever written. A deadly purple vapor passes over the world and annihilates all living creatures except one man, Adam Jeffson. He embarks on an epic journey across a silent and devastated planet, an apocalyptic Robinson Crusoe putting together the semblance of a normal life from the flotsam and jetsam of his former existence. As he descends into madness over the years, he becomes increasingly aware that his survival was no accident and that his destiny?and the fate of the human race?are part of a profound, cosmological plan.

Download or read book The Purple Cloud written by Matthew Phipps Shiel and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-04-25 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sheil's free-flowing and persuasive style of writing produces a convincing portrait of Adam Jefferson -- a man who, upon returning alone from an expedition to the North Pole, learns that a world-wide catastrophe has left him the last man on Earth.

Download or read book The Purple Cloud Illustrated written by Matthew Phipps Shiel and published by . This book was released on 2020-04-06 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Purple Cloud is a apocalyptic "last man" novel by the British writer M. P. Shiel. It was published in 1901. H. G. Wells lauded The Purple Cloud as "brilliant" and H. P. Lovecraft later praised the novel as exemplary weird fiction, "delivered with a skill and artistry falling little short of actual majesty."

Download or read book The Purple Cloud Illustrated written by Matthew Shiel and published by . This book was released on 2020-09-11 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story is about a man, Adam Jeffson on a polar expedition who discovers a mysterious and deathly Purple Cloud. In the wake of the massive global deaths wrought by the Purple Cloud, Jeffson becomes ruler of the world and builds a huge palace to his glory. He meets a young woman and the two become the heirs to the future of humanity.

Download or read book The Purple Cloud written by M. P. Shiel and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-07-31 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Purple Cloud" by M. P. Shiel. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Download or read book The Purple Cloud written by M. P. Shiel and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2021-02-05 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Well, the memory seems to be getting rather impaired now, rather weak. What, for instance, was the name of that parson who preached, just before the Boreal set out, about the wickedness of any further attempt to reach the North Pole? I have forgotten! Yet four years ago it was familiar to me as my own name. Things which took place before the voyage seem to be getting a little cloudy in the memory now. I have sat here, in the loggia of this Cornish villa, to write down some sort of account of what has happened-God knows why, since no eye can ever read it-and at the very beginning I cannot remember the parson's name.

Download or read book The Purple Cloud written by Matthew Shiel and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-12 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Purple Cloud is a "last man" novel by the British writer M. P. Shiel. It was published in 1901. H.G. Wells lauded The Purple Cloud as "brilliant" and H. P. Lovecraft later praised the novel as exemplary weird fiction, "delivered with a skill and artistry falling little short of actual majesty."The novel formed the basis for the 1959 American film The World, the Flesh and the Devil.The story, a recording of a medium's meditation over the future writing of the text, details the narrator, Adam Jeffson, on an expedition to the North Pole during the 20th century on board the Boreal.Jeffson's fiancée, the Countess Clodagh, poisons her own cousin in order to secure a place on the ship for Jeffson, because the expedition was known to be one of the best ever planned. A millionaire who died some years previously had provided in his will for the payment of $175,000,000 to the first person to stand at the North Pole.Before Jeffson leaves, he hears a sermon by a Scottish priest named Mackay speaking against Polar research, calling the failure of all previous expeditions the will of God, and prophesying a terrible fate for those who attempt to go against God's will. Jeffson at the same time remembers his meeting with a man who claimed that the universe is a place of strife between vague "powers", "The White" and "The Black", for dominance.Throughout the events of the polar journey, Jeffson gradually discovers that his course has been, for many years, guided by these forces, all the way up to the point when he reaches the pole. He finds a huge, clear lake of spinning water with a rock island inlaid with inscriptions. Upon seeing this, Jeffson falls into a faint. When he returns to his camp he, along with his dogs, feels nauseous after having smelled a peculiar peach-like odour. He also notices a moving purple cloud, spreading in the far heavens. During the progress of his journey, he discovers dead animals, all without the slightest sign of injury, and he gradually learns of the death of his entire crew on board the Boreal.The ship being fairly easy to operate,[15] he sets out by himself. First he travels towards northern islands, but upon seeing dead of all various races from around the world there (the result of an exodus, escaping the death-bringing cloud) and meeting ships crowded with corpses, he comes instead to the dead continent, walking through London, searching for news of the cloud. He looks for any survivors in shut mines, but finds all barricades broken through by mad crowds. Later, he goes to the house of Arthur Machen (an actual close friend of Shiel's), whom he finds dead, having been writing a poem until the very end. There, he finds the notebook into which he writes his whole narrative.The later parts of the book describe Jeffson's descent into mad pompousness: adopting Turkish attire, he declares himself monarch and burns down cities (including Paris, Bordeaux, London, and San Francisco) for pleasure. He then commits his life to one task, the construction of a huge and colossal golden palace on the isle of Imbros, which he means to dedicate as an altar to God and a palace to himself. He spends seventeen years on the palace, several times abandoning the work, until its completion, when he recognizes the vanity of it.While travelling through Constantinople, which he also burns down, he meets a twenty-year-old naked woman who is without the slightest knowledge of anything in the world. She continues to follow him, no matter how he mistreats her. Gradually, he accepts her, but forces her to wear a veil over her mouth. Her speed at ....

Download or read book The Purple Cloud written by Matthew Phipps Shiel and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2021-04-02 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Book Excerpt: e will--'the man who first reached': and from this loose method of designating the person intended had immediately burst forth a prolonged heat of controversy in Europe and America as to whether or no the testator meant the Chief of the first expedition which reached: but it was finally decided, on the highest legal authority, that, in any case, the actual wording of the document held good: and that it was the individual, whatever his station in the expedition, whose foot first reached the 90th degree of north latitude, who would have title to the fortune.At all events, the public ferment had risen, as I say, to a pitch of positive fever; and as to the Boreal in particular, the daily progress of her preparations was minutely discussed in the newspapers, everyone was an authority on her fitting, and she was in every mouth a bet, a hope, a jest, or a sneer: for now, at last, it was felt that success was probable. So this Mackay had an acutely interested audience, if a somewhatRead More

Download or read book The Purple Cloud Esprios Classics written by M P Shiel and published by Blurb. This book was released on 2022-02 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Prince Zaleski written by M. P. Shiel and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2010-05 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Purple Cloud written by M P Shiel and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2012-07-26 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dark, desolate and fantastical, The Purple Cloud was a pioneer in the genre of apocalyptic novels, and the first great science fiction work of the twentieth century. It inspired authors such as H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King. The Purple Cloud tells the grandly bleak story of Adam Jeffson: the first man to reach the North Pole and the last man left alive on earth. A sweet-smelling, deadly cloud of poisonous gas has devastated the world, and as Jeffson travels the stricken globe in search of human life, he slowly succumbs to madness, and unleashes fire and destruction on his planet. John Sutherland's introduction discusses M. P. Shiel's dissolute life, the originality of his book and its place within the context of 'last man' novels. This edition also includes a chronology, notes and further reading.

Download or read book The Purple Cloud written by M. P. Shiel and published by Buccaneer Books. This book was released on 1976 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Download or read book The Lord of the Sea written by M. P. Shiel and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2019-11-29 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lord of the Sea by M. P. Shiel is a thrilling novel that explores the power dynamics and intrigue surrounding maritime politics and the struggle for control over the world's oceans. Shiel's vivid storytelling and well-crafted characters make this a captivating and thought-provoking read for fans of nautical fiction and adventure.

Download or read book The Last Miracle written by M. P. Shiel and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-08-13 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reproduction of the original: The Last Miracle by M. P. Shiel

Download or read book The Purple Cloud written by M. P. Shiel and published by . This book was released on 2020-08-12 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Well, the memory seems to be getting rather impaired now, rather weak. What, for instance, was the name of that parson who preached, just before the Boreal set out, about the wickedness of any further attempt to reach the North Pole? I have forgotten! Yet four years ago it was familiar to me as my own name.Things which took place before the voyage seem to be getting a little cloudy in the memory now. I have sat here, in the loggia of this Cornish villa, to write down some sort of account of what has happened--God knows why, since no eye can ever read it--and at the very beginning I cannot remember the parson's name.He was a strange sort of man surely, a Scotchman from Ayrshire, big and gaunt, with tawny hair. He used to go about London streets in shough and rough-spun clothes, a plaid flung from one shoulder. Once I saw him in Holborn with his rather wild stalk, frowning and muttering to himself. He had no sooner come to London, and opened chapel (I think in Fetter Lane), than the little room began to be crowded; and when, some years afterwards, he moved to a big establishment in Kensington, all sorts of men, even from America and Australia, flocked to hear the thunderstorms that he talked, though certainly it was not an age apt to fly into enthusiasms over that species of pulpit prophets and prophecies.

Download or read book The Purple Cloud written by M. P. Shiel and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-01-28 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sheil's persuasive style of writing produces a convincing portrait of Adam Jefferson -- a man who, upon returning alone from an expedition to the North Pole, learns that a world-wide catastrophe has left him the last man on Earth. Dystopian Classic Editions publishes works of dystopian literature that have survived through the generations and been recognized as classic works of literature. A dystopian society is an imagined society in which the people are oppressed, however the government propagandizes the society as being a utopia or a perfect society. Typical themes in dystopian literature include public mistrust, police states, and overall unpleasantness for the citizens. Authors of dystopian works strive to present a worst-case scenario and negative depiction of the way things are in the story so as to make a criticism about a current situation in society and to call for a change. Each Dystopian Classic Edition selected for publication presents such a story.