The purple cloud Published in 1901 M. P. Shiels The Purple Cloud is an early last man science fiction novel. Foretold by a priest as being against the will of God Adam Jeffsons Arctic expedition unleashes a terrible fate on the world a mysterious purple cloud that spreads far into the heavens and across the earth. Jeffson returns to the horror of finding the entire crew dead onboard his ship and as he gradually realizes the entire population of the planet has been wiped out