Bøker av M. P. Shiel

"Prince Zaleski" is a collection of supernatural and mystery stories written by British author M. P. Shiel, whose full name is Matthew Phipps Shiel. First published in 1895, the collection features a series of tales centered around the mysterious character Prince Zaleski. The stories typically involve mysterious and supernatural occurrences, often with a dark and eerie atmosphere. Prince Zaleski is portrayed as a brilliant and unconventional detective who investigates and solves unusual and otherworldly cases. M. P. Shiel's writing is known for its imaginative and atmospheric qualities, and "Prince Zaleski" is no exception. It offers readers a blend of mystery, the supernatural, and elements of the fantastic, making it an intriguing choice for those interested in late 19th-century supernatural fiction and detective stories.

Bewildered, frantic, he wandered along a nightmare trail, in one last, strange, terrible search through a silent planet----to find a single living soul---or die!

"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.

This work is part of a relatively new literary genre, the British speculative future war novel. Interpretated in many ways - fin-de-siecle, technophobia, critiques of British imperialism - they anticipated modern science fiction.