King Felipe, Shiel was purportedly the king of Redonda, a small uninhabited rocky island in the West Indies, situated a short distance northwest of the island of Montserrat, where Shiel was born. The Redonda legend was probably created out of his imagination by Shiel himself and was first mentioned publicly in a 1929 booklet advertising the reissue of four of his novels by Victor Gollancz Ltd. According to the story Shiel told, he was crowned King of Redonda on his 15th birthday in 1880. However, there is little evidence that Shiel took these claims seriously. His biographer, Harold Billings, speculates that the story may have been an intentional hoax foisted on the gullible press. At this late date, verifying or discrediting the story may be impossible. On his death, John Gawsworth became both his literary executor and his appointed heir to the "kingdom". Gawsworth took the legend of Redonda to heart. He never lost an opportunity to further elaborate the tale and spread the story to the press. Gawsworth supposedly kept the ashes of Shiel "in a biscuit tin on the mantelpiece, putting a pinch in the stew for special guests." Legacy Excluding the collaborations with Tracy, Shiel published over 30 books, including 25 novels and various collections of short stories, essays and poems. Arkham House issued two posthumous collections, Xelucha and Others (1975) and Prince Zaleski and Cummings King Monk (1977). The Purple Cloud remains his best known and most reprinted novel. It has been variously described as both a neglected masterpiece and the best of all Last Man novels. It was credited as the loose inspiration for the film, The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959), starring Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens, and Mel Ferrer. Stephen King cited it as an influence on his novel The Stand. Some of the short stories continue to be reprinted, but many of his other novels, including the middle period romantics, have been nearly forgotten. As of January 1, 2018, all of the works published during Shiel's lifetime have entered the public domain in the United Kingdom and all other countries with a copyright term of Life of the Author plus 70 years. Bibliography Novels The Rajah's Sapphire (1896), with uncredited W. T. Stead An American Emperor: The Story of the Fourth Estate of France (1897), uncredited, with Louis Tracy The Yellow Danger (1898); full title The Yellow Danger; Or, what Might