The Color Out of Time [Mass Market Paperback]

Michael Shea (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: DAW (September 4, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879979542
• ISBN-13: 978-0879979546
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,841,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael A. Shea's writing career began when he was thirteen, and his published writing career commenced in 1973 with the publication of A Quest For Simbilis--an hommage to the great Jack Vance, and sequel to his Eyes of the Overworld. Shea callowly offered Mr. Vance co-credit if he allowed Shea to publish it. Mr. Vance, graceful and kind, assured the novice that he should sell it if he could, and the neophyte contented himself with an acknowledgment that introduced the text.

Shea quit his natal L.A. and repaired to Frisco's Mission District, where he met his life-mate, artist and author Linda Cesar. They lived by teaching, painting, and writing--preponderantly the former two. Through the years of their union, and the growth of their remarkable son and daughter, Shea produced his works of science fiction and fantasy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Enjoyable Lovecratian read, November 4, 2007

By 

Stanley C. Sargent "Stanley C. Sargent" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Color Out of Time (Mass Market Paperback)

As a Lovecraftian author myself, I was surprised by the high quality of writing, atmosphere and quality of this little book. I'm a tough critic when it comes to Mythos stories, including my own, so it is always a refreshing surprise to come upon a contemporary author whose work pleases me. Yes, this is an homage, and it is very much based on Lovecraft's "Color Out of Space," but Shea takes the theme further than Lovecraft did, and he did it very well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Mythos Novel, March 7, 2010

By 

W. H. Pugmire "I never can be tied to raw, ne... (Sesqua Valley) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Color Out of Time (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought this paperback when it first came out and I really enjoyed it. Like so many of those old paperbacks, I either gave away or lost my copy. Happily, I bought the awesome collection of Michael's work that was published by Centipede Press, THE AUTOPSY AND OTHER TALES, and therein I discovered the entire text to this short novel. I was shocked on re-reading it to find that Michael wrote the book in a style very unlike his more modern voice. The opening paragraph sets the tone:

"All the dire occurrences which I now set myself to report had for their setting a lake in the New England region--a dam-created lake which I shall not name. Let it--in the full force of that archaic formula against evil--REMAIN NAMELESS."

Michael evokes a wonderful sense of macabre place, as must be done with such a book concerning a haunted and tainted region. That such a region -- and that which infiltrates it -- can be called "evil" is entirely consistent with Lovecraft's own fiction. S. T. Joshi's knee-jerk dismissal of this novel is his wonderful book, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CTHULHU MYTHOS, is for me far too hostile. Lovecraft did convey a sense of the evilness of his cosmic Old Ones. They were not at all indifferent to the fate of humanity, as some would have us believe. Yog-Sothoth and the Whateley brood in "The Dunwich Horror" are actively plotting the extinction of humanity. This is indeed "evil," as we understand it in connection to humanity and its morals. (But then, Joshi also dismisses "The Dunwich Horror" as an "artistic failure," since it too evokes a sense of the evil that threatens humanity.)

THE COLOR OUT OF TIME captures that sense of evil superbly, It is a thing of cosmic disease that infiltrates and region and affects its horror. The creature is indeed an enemy to humanity, as Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu are enemies who thirst for human destruction and extinction. Shea's novel expertly catches this sense of cosmic threat. The introduction of the star-stones is always a bit problematic for me, they were so poorly used by Derleth and Lumley; but it must be remembered that it was Lovecraft himself who introduced this device, in AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS.

Those looking for a well-written novel of the Cthulhu Mythos, that has its roots in the wondrous fiction of H. P. Lovecraft, this is a book you may certainly enjoy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Worthy Effort!, October 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Color Out of Time (Mass Market Paperback)

A worthy homage to HPL, this short novel updates the
Mythos effectively. Shea does a fine job reproducing elements of HPL's prose "voice" while retaining his own
distinctive style. A must for any Mythos fans, if you can find it!