The Shadow Out of Time
First Publication in Astounding Stories
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| Author | H. P. Lovecraft |
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| Cover artist | Howard V. Brown |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Horror, Science fiction short story |
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Publication date
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June 1936 |
| Media type | Print (Magazine) |
| Text | at |
| Published in Astounding Stories | |
The Shadow Out of Time is a novella by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.
The Shadow Out of Time indirectly tells of the Great Race of Yith, an extraterrestrial species with the ability to travel through space and time. The Yithians accomplish this by switching bodies with hosts from the intended spatial or temporal destination. The story implies that the effect, when seen from the outside, is similar to spiritual possession. The Yithians' original purpose was to study the history of various times and places, and they have amassed a "library city" that is filled with the past and future history of multiple races, including humans. Ultimately the Yithians use their ability to escape the destruction of their planet in another galaxy by switching bodies with a race of cone-shaped plant beings who lived 250 million years ago on Earth. The cone-shaped entities (subsequently also known as the Great Race of Yith) lived in their vast library city in what would later become Australia's Great Sandy Desert (22°3′14″S 125°0′39″E / 22.05389°S 125.01083°E).
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