The Purple Cloud
About this audiobook
“Alone that same day I began my way southward, and for five days made good progress. On the eighth day I noticed, stretched right across the south-eastern horizon, a region of purple vapor which luridly obscured the face of the sun: and day after day I saw it steadily brooding there. But what it could be I did not understand.”
Adam Jeffson is the first man to ever reach the North Pole but, south of him, a deadly purple vapor spreads, passing over the world and wiping out all living creatures. The sole survivor on Earth, Adam embarks on an epic journey across the silent and devastated planet, piecing together a life from the flotsam and jetsam of his former existence. The Purple Cloud serves as one of Adam’s journals, and in it he documents his lonely adventures, his descent into madness, and his suspicion that this fatal event was no random act of nature: his survival was no accident, and his destiny—and the fate of the human race—must be part of a profound, cosmological plan.
Admired by such writers as H. G. Wells, H. P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King, The Purple Cloud is widely hailed as a masterpiece of science fiction and one of the best “last man” novels ever written.
About the author
Matthew Phipps Shiell (1865–1947), known as M. P. Shiel, was a prolific British writer of West Indian descent. His legal surname remained Shiell, though he adopted the shorter version as a de facto pen name. He is best remembered for his supernatural horror and scientific romances, published as serials, novels, and short stories.
Stefan Rudnicki is an award winning audiobook narrator, director and producer. He was born in Poland and now resides in Studio City, California. He has narrated more than three hundred audiobooks and has participated in over a thousand as a writer, producer, or director. He is a recipient of multiple Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as a Grammy Award, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Ray Bradbury Award. He received AudioFile’s award for 2008 Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Along with a cast of other narrators, Rudnicki has read a number of Orson Scott Card's best-selling science fiction novels. He worked extensively with many other science fiction authors, including David Weber and Ben Bova. In reviewing the twentieth anniversary edition audiobook of Card’s Ender's Game, Publishers Weekly stated, "Rudnicki, with his lulling, sonorous voice, does a fine job articulating Ender's inner struggle between the kind, peaceful boy he wants to be and the savage, violent actions he is frequently forced to take." Rudnicki is also a stage actor and director.
