M. P. Shiel

I have been reading his stories lately. My favourite tale of his so far is Vaila. The consensus – and Lovecraft's opinion – seems to be that the revised version, published under the title The House of Sounds, is the superior tale, but I slightly prefer its original incarnation. Some of my favourite parts are excised from the latter version, which is certainly 'pacier' by many people's standards, but it is also less atmospheric and eccentric.

I also read Xelucha, The Pale Ape, The Case of Euphemia Raphash, Huguenin's Wife and The Great King. I have his short story The Bride and his novel The Purple Cloud left to go in this collection, then I have a collection of his Prince Zaleski detective stories lying around somewhere also.

So far, Vaila/The House of Sounds has been by far his best tale, transcending its attempt at cloning House of Usher and becoming its own great story in the process; nevertheless, I have enjoyed each of them, derivative as they are, and his prose style is a decadent delight, so I shall carry on. His stories lift from Poe to a very high degree, but they do so in a somewhat interesting manner which brings to mind how Brian De Palma would steal wholesale from Alfred Hitchcock's filmography, yet deliver his own worthwhile work in the process of cloning the overall plots.

How do TLOers rank Shiel and his work? Am I alone in preferring Vaila to The House of Sounds?

[marioneta]

I have an old Arkham House edition of M.P. Shiel stories XELUCHA and Others. I have not gotten around to reading it yet, but he certainly deserves a read, and soon by me (right now reading the weird classics of Robert Aikman). Alan Moore wrote, "What of M.P. Shiel, 'the gem-encrusted magus,' overweight and running from his health through London's twilight streets, wearing a vest of battery-driven lights to alert coachmen and pedestrians to his approaching presence?" The personification of decadence. This in the context of a litany on the classic writers of the weird: Machen, Hodgson, Poe, Blackwood, Lindsay.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Which printings contain the less purple revised texts?

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Crazy guy
M. P. Shiel | BizarreVictoria

Shiel was some bizarre mix of hack Poe rip-off merchant and decadent artist. The details of his crimes were depressing, but as he's long dead I don't feel as if I'm supporting him by having bought his books. Shapes in the Fire and The Purple Cloud are nice reads. Prince Zaleski is riotous shlock. His other novels I have read were poor/ridiculously racist. Content to stop there.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

This might sound bad... because while I recognize how much pain he must have caused people, I couldn't help laughing and being really amused by his biography because it's all just so absurd.

I think it's fair to say he was a ridiculous person.