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 The Pale Ape and
Other Pulses
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- by M.P. Shiel
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- Introduction by Brian
Stableford
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- A
contemporary of Oscar Wilde, Arthur Machen and Count
Stenbock, Matthew Phipps Shiel could surpass any of them
in the sheer Decadent luxuriance of his writing.
Originally collected in 1911, the ten stories of
The Pale Ape and Other
Pulses date from the mid 1890s into the first
decade of the twentieth century, providing a fascinating
cross-section of Shiel's evolving literary work in a
rapidly changing cultural climate.
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- 'Pulses'
have been defined as 'a stroke; an impact; also an
attack'. Shiel's mastery of this subversive technique,
one of the hallmarks of the conte cruel, is amply
demonstrated in 'Huguenin's Wife' and 'The Spectre-Ship',
tales of relentlessly-unfolding doom, while 'The House of
Sounds' (an updated version of 'Vaila' from Shapes in the
Fire, 1896), and 'The Great King' are triumphantly
Poesque explorations of morbid decay. 'Cummings King
Monk' is Shiel's equally subversive take on the crime
story genre, while 'Bundle of Letters' and 'The Bride'
are warped romances hinging on confused identities and
dramatic transformations of personality. The title story,
'The Pale Ape', is a ghost story with a tragic denouement
set in an English country house, and also a magnificently
atmospheric adventure of confused identity and abnormal
psychology.
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- Acknowledged authority on the Decadent
movement, Brian Stableford provides a new Introduction to
this first republication of M.P. Shiel's The Pale
Ape, which will enhance the reputation of
one of the most original exponents of fin de
siècle Decadence.
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- Contents: 'Introduction by Brian
Stableford, 'The Pale Ape', 'The Case of Euphemia
Raphash', 'Cummings King Monk', 'A Bundle of Letters',
'Huguenin's Wife', 'Many a Tear', 'The House of Sounds',
'The Spectre-Ship', 'The Great King' and 'The
Bride.'
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- ISBN
978-1-872621-98-2
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- The
Pale Ape and Other Pulses is a sewn hardback of 211+
xiv pages. Limited to 300 copies.
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- Price
£30/$50 inc. p&p.
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- Reviews:
- Moments of terror-laden friction --
emotionally charged moments of explosion -- abound in
this collection. . . . this volume instils a sense of
both mysticism and earthly relevance to fantasies which
celebrate the outré in the truest sense of the
term, allowing imagination to run unfettered. The result?
Stories without genres, nightmares without
boundaries. - William Simmons, Infinity
Plus
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- Tartarus Press, a small UK imprint
devoted to weird and supernatural fiction of high
quality, after having reprinted Shiel's Prince Zaleski
and The Purple Cloud
presents us now with a new edition of
The Pale Ape, an elegant, hardcover
volume graced by a learned Introduction by Brian
Stableford, a renowned authority in the field of decadent
literature. - Mario Guslandi, Dark
Wisdom issue # 10, 2006
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- Attractive and intelligently
edited... - Jim Rockhill, All
Hallows
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- Also available by M.P. Shiel published by
Tartarus Press
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- The above stamp
has been issued by the author Mark Valentine and fantasy
artist Colin Langeveld for M.P. Shiel’s island of Rayba,
the setting for his story “The House of Sounds” which is
included in The
Pale Ape. Shiel,
himself the King of an uninhabited Caribbean island,
imagined a storm-wracked island in the far reaches of the
North Sea, somewhere between the Shetlands and the
Norwegian coast.
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Page updated
7th June 2009
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