The Purple Cloud (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: M. P. Shiel
- First Published: 1901
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fantasy—theological romance
- Time of Work: The early twentieth century
- Setting: Various, including the North Pole, England, and the Aegean island of Imbros
- Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: Twentieth century, England or English people, Islands, Prophecy or prophets, Volcanoes, North Pole
- Locales: Earth
The Plot
Adam Jeffson joins an expedition to the North Pole—members of which have been promised rich rewards for its success—after his fiancée, Clodagh, murders one of the original members. He, too, becomes a murderer as the expedition nears its goal, and he becomes the only member of the party to reach the pole, a pillar engraved with unreadable characters, surrounded by a lake of living fluid.
He has heard a preacher prophesying disaster should anyone reach the pole, and the prophecy comes true. When he makes his way south again, afflicted by visual and olfactory...
[The entire page is 1027 words long]
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