Book Description

The Colour Out of Space is a science fiction/horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in March 1927. In the tale, an unnamed narrator pieces together the story of an area known by the locals as the "blasted heath" in the wild hills west of the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts. The narrator discovers that many years ago a meteorite crashed there, poisoning every living being nearby; vegetation grows large but foul tasting, animals are driven mad and deformed into grotesque shapes, and the people go insane or die one by one.Lovecraft began writing "The Colour Out of Space" immediately after finishing his previous short novel, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and in the midst of final revision on his horror fiction essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature". Seeking to create a truly alien life form, he drew inspiration from numerous fiction and nonfiction sources. First appearing in the September 1927 edition of Hugo Gernsback's science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, "The Colour Out of Space" became one of Lovecraft's most popular works, and remained his personal favorite of his short stories. It has been adapted to film several times, as Die, Monster, Die! (1965), The Curse (1987), Colour from the Dark (2008), The Colour Out of Space (Die Farbe) (2010) and Color Out of Space (2019).An unnamed surveyor from Boston, telling the story in the first-person perspective, attempts to uncover the secrets behind a shunned place referred to by the locals of Arkham as the "blasted heath." Unable to garner any information from the townspeople, the protagonist seeks out an old and allegedly crazy man by the name of Ammi Pierce, who relates his personal experiences with a farmer who used to live on the cursed property, Nahum Gardner. Pierce claims that the troubles began when a meteorite crashed into Gardner's lands in June 1882.The meteorite shrinks but does not cool, and local scientists cannot discern its origin. As it shrinks, it leaves behind "globules of colour" which are referred to as such only by analogy, as they fall outside the range of anything known in the visible spectrum. The stone is eventually destroyed by six bolts of lightning, and the lab specimens are destroyed when placed in a glass beaker. The following season, Gardner's crops grow unnaturally large and abundant. When he discovers that, despite their appearance, they are inedible, he becomes convinced that the meteorite has poisoned the soil. Over the following year, the problem spreads to the surrounding vegetation and local animals, altering them in unusual ways; the plants around the farmhouse become "slightly luminous in the dark. Gardner's wife goes mad, and he locks her in the attic. Over time, Gardner isolates his family from the neighboring farmers; Pierce becomes his only contact with the outside world.Shortly after the onset of Mrs. Gardner's madness, the vegetation erodes into a grey powder, and the water from the well becomes tainted. One of Gardner's sons, Thaddeus, also goes mad, and Gardner locks him in a different room of the attic. The livestock turns grey and dies off; like the crops, their meat is tasteless and inedible. Thaddeus dies in the attic. Merwin, another of Gardner's sons, vanishes while retrieving water from the contaminated well. After two weeks with no contact from Gardner, Pierce visits the farmstead and witnesses the tale's eponymous horror in the attic. Gardner's final son, Zenas, has disappeared, and the "colour" has infected Nahum's wife, whom Pierce puts out of her misery. Pierce flees the decaying house as the horror destroys the last surviving resident, Nahum.Pierce returns later that day to the farmstead with six men, including a doctor, who examine Nahum's remains. They discover both Merwin and Zenas' eroding skeletons at the bottom of the well, as well as bones of several other creatures. As they reflect upon their discoveries in the house, a light begins to shine from...