The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

Another tight vote, Purple Cloud won by 1. I'm really looking forward to reading this one, I just gotta track down a copy!

The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel is available from Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11229

Amazon.com also has a couple of Kindle editions, one of which is free.

Thanks Buck - I picked up the free copy from amazon (hopefully it's the full version and I'm not missing out on anything!). I am really glad I didn't even read the synopsis on this one. Only half done and my knowledge of the types of boats has quadrupled!

I am also constantly surprised how well this book is keeping my attention with so few characters! So many questions! - my own internal dialogue throughout my reading is doubling the word count of a relatively short book. Regarding 'group discussion' are there certain guidelines or nuances we should be focusing on to better discuss this book once we're done, or should I just keep blissfully reading on??

Happy reading to all and enjoy this beautiful day! :) Michelle

I too have just started reading and am really enjoying it.

Dan: I know you've said before that we can discuss anything at all about the book once the thread is open, but I'm wondering....last month there wasn't much discussion about War of the Worlds and maybe it was because people were afraid of reading spoilers in the thread? I know I waited until I finished the book to add my thoughts. Maybe we should try to make use of the 'hide spoiler' options in the discussions?

So, I am a little over half way through. I just want to note that Adam Jeffson is kind of a horrible person with no self awareness. (view spoiler)[ What with his killer girlfriend, him shooting everybody, and burning everything up all the time. (hide spoiler)] What the hell, dude?

This is a slow read - Day 5 and I'm only about a third into it.

Although the book was written in the early twentieth century, the writing style is nineteenth century verbose. It is told fourth-hand by the author, Shiel, who translated Dr. Arthur Brown's shorthand transcription of Mary Wilson, who under hypnosis traveled into the future and read the writings of Adam Jeffson, the first person protagonist of the story - an oddball literary device.

Early in the book there is the author's scientific speculation of conditions at the north pole that seem pretty silly today: "It was now that we began to encounter a succession of strange-looking objects lying scattered over the ice, whose number continually increased as we proceeded. They had the appearance of rocks, or pieces of iron, incrusted with glass-fragments of various colours, and they were of every size. Their incrustations we soon determined to be diamonds, and other precious stones....Clark grumbled something about their being meteor-stones, whose ferruginous substance had been lured by the magnetic Pole, and kept from frictional burning in their fall by the frigidity of the air."

I've finished this now and it's a very strange book. In some ways it seemed like three separate parts/ideas. Have to agree that the main character was horrible which made a peculiar read. In the second half of the book (view spoiler)[ where he descends into insanity it's difficult to follow. Sailing round the world burning cities and building a palace ? I really couldn't relate to the section at the end where he meets the girl. I guess it only works if you believe in his total insanity. (hide spoiler)] Not really decided how to score this yet.

I started shortly after it was picked and I just forced myself to finish it last week.
Jo - Stating that Adam Jeffson is a horrible person is a kindness he does not deserve. There are numerous terms for describing Adam that came to mind while trudging through this mess and none of them are fit for print.
I enjoy older SF, contrasting the notions of the time with what we know today is half the fun for me. So to that end that portion of the story was enjoyable.
There was quite a bit of preaching that was dated and excessive. I could have got past this our hero had any redeeming qualities. For me Adam Jeffson was one of the most reprehensible, least sympathetic characters I have ever read.

Jeff, It's true the main character is awful. I think that's part of the reason I couldn't really relate to the book. I like old sci-fi and things being dated is not a problem. I admit I prefer my sci-fi to have a certain sense of plausibility or at least something I can understand. Here, certainly I couldn't put myself in the place of Adam Jeffson and that's why I struggled with the second half of the book.

I just can't do it. Jeffson is an ass and I cannot convince myself to finish the book. I am about 60% through, and I know (view spoiler)[ he's going to meet a girl soon (hide spoiler)] but I don't care. This middle part is too much of a slog for me. Back to The Count of Monte Cristo.

Well, I finally finished it, though I can't say I much enjoyed it. I don't know if Adam Jeffson was insane, but he surely was nuts, not a sympathetic protagonist at all. After not having seen another human being for twenty years, his impulse on seeing a naked girl is to murder her. Certainly not what one would expect of a normal man. Other things that he did, his passion for burning cities, were hard to figure. Jeffson's motivations are inexplicable, but that is not what ruined the book for me. It was the writing. Much too long and tedious in a stilted style that I think was already long dated by the time in which the book was written.

I had not heard of this book before we selected it for our monthly read, nor of M.P. Shiel. I think there is good reason for the lack of notoriety. This book couldn't have had more than a miniscule effect on science fiction that was written in the decades following.

Certainly not well liked this book! I agree with Buck the writings stilted but it did make me wonder how much people like books with an unlikeable protagonist. Can only think of The Demolished Man off hand but there are clearly more.

I guess I didn't miss much by not reading this one. I think people would have enjoyed The Iron Heel a little more and surprisingly it came in last. I started reading it a year ago and got pulled away from it even though I was enjoying it. There were interesting political things in it that spoke to what's going on today. I've also always been attracted to it because I think Norman Spinrad probably was inspired by the title when he wrote The Iron Dream. The two books have always shared space in my head because of their similar titles,

I read "The Iron Dream" years ago & recall liking it.

I thought the book was rather interesting though it was sometimes hard to slog through at the beginning. I think he tried to just put to much detail into the book i.e. ships and measurements to the house and the repetitive search of England. I honestly think this could of been better presented as a novella. I thought Adam was interesting as a person because you get a good look at a person loosing his grip on his sanity as he is dealing with this world holocaust. So he flips and burns some cities, we all have inner demons, and who could say how they would react to the situation he was presented. I was disappointed in his attitude toward Leda though I could understand his reasoning for keeping himself from her. I am happy though how it ended, one cannot escape their destiny lol!