M.P. Shiel
Born
in Montserrat
July 21, 1865
Died
February 17, 1947
Genre
Influences
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The Purple Cloud
by
5 editions
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published
1901
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Prince Zaleski
49 editions
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published
1895
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Xelucha
3 editions
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published
1896
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Xélucha and Others
7 editions
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published
1975
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The Bell of St. Sepulcre
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The House of Sounds and Others: Including the Purple Cloud
5 editions
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published
2005
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The House of Sounds
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The Lord of the Sea
91 editions
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published
1901
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Prince Zaleski and Cummings King Monk
6 editions
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published
1977
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Shapes in the Fire
38 editions
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published
1896
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“The habit is now confirmed in me of spending the greater part of the day in sleep, while by night I wander far and wide through the city under the sedative influence of a tincture which has become necessary to my life”
― Xélucha and Others
― Xélucha and Others
“...the special quality of works of Art being to produce the momentary conviction that anything else whatever could not possibly be so good.”
― The Purple Cloud
― The Purple Cloud
“To be in love with pain-to pine after aching-is not that a wicked madness?”
― The House of Sounds
― The House of Sounds
Polls
What would you like to read this summer? (Likely June/July depending on votes) Please ONLY vote if you WILL return to discuss, to be fair to those who participate. Otherwise, feel free to join us anytime.
The Passengers by John Marrs
4.07 stars, 2019, 400 pages
At the library, $5.99 Kindle, $16.74 paper.

4.07 stars, 2019, 400 pages
At the library, $5.99 Kindle, $16.74 paper.

"Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide.
When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course.
The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife - and parents of two - who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem?"
The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey
4.19 stars, 2024, 422 pages
At the library, $14.99 Kindle, $19.99 paperback.

4.19 stars, 2024, 422 pages
At the library, $14.99 Kindle, $19.99 paperback.

"A spectacular new space opera that sees humanity fighting for its survival in a war as old as the universe itself.
How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end. The Carryx – part empire, part hive – have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin. Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them. They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure. Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to learning to understand – and manipulate – the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins."
The Future by Naomi Alderman
3.85 stars, 2023, 432pages
At the library, $14.99 Kindle, $13.89 hardcover.

3.85 stars, 2023, 432pages
At the library, $14.99 Kindle, $13.89 hardcover.

"When Martha Einkorn fled her father’s isolated compound in Oregon, she never expected to find herself working for a powerful social media mogul hell-bent on controlling everything. Now she’s surrounded by mega-rich companies designing private weather, predictive analytics, and covert weaponry, while spouting technological prophecy. Martha may have left the cult, but if the apocalyptic warnings in her father’s fox and rabbit sermon—once a parable to her—are starting to come true, how much future is actually left?
Across the world, in a mall in Singapore, Lai Zhen, an internet-famous survivalist, flees from an assassin. She’s cornered, desperate and—worst of all—might die without ever knowing what's going on. Suddenly, a remarkable piece of software appears on her phone telling her exactly how to escape. Who made it? What is it really for? And if those behind it can save her from danger, what do they want from her, and what else do they know about the future?
Martha and Zhen’s worlds are about to collide. An explosive chain of events is set in motion. While a few billionaires assured of their own safety lead the world to destruction, Martha’s relentless drive and Zhen’s insatiable curiosity could lead to something beautiful or the cataclysmic end of civilization."
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress
3.48 stars, 2012, 189 pages
At the library, $9.99 Kindle, $13.50 paperback.

3.48 stars, 2012, 189 pages
At the library, $9.99 Kindle, $13.50 paperback.

"The year is 2035. After ecological disasters nearly destroyed the Earth, 26 survivors—the last of humanity—are trapped by an alien race in a sterile enclosure known as the Shell.
Fifteen-year-old Pete is one of the Six—children who were born deformed or sterile and raised in the Shell. As, one by one, the survivors grow sick and die, Pete and the Six struggle to put aside their anger at the alien Tesslies in order to find the means to rebuild the earth together. Their only hope lies within brief time-portals into the recent past, where they bring back children to replenish their disappearing gene pool.
Meanwhile, in 2013, brilliant mathematician Julie Kahn works with the FBI to solve a series of inexplicable kidnappings. Suddenly her predictive algorithms begin to reveal more than just criminal activity. As she begins to realize her role in the impending catastrophe, simultaneously affecting the Earth and the Shell, Julie closes in on the truth. She and Pete are converging in time upon the future of humanity—a future which might never unfold.
Weaving three consecutive time lines to unravel both the mystery of the Earth's destruction and the key to its salvation, this taut post-apocalyptic thriller offers a topical plot with a satisfying twist."
The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel
3.38 stars, 1901, 296 pages
At the library, $10.99 Kindle, $7.25 and up paper.

3.38 stars, 1901, 296 pages
At the library, $10.99 Kindle, $7.25 and up paper.

"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."
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