The Mind Parasites is a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 horror novel by author Colin Wilson

Colin Wilson

Colin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...

. It was published by Arkham House

Arkham House

Arkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House...

 in 1967

1967 in literature

The year 1967 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Influential science fiction anthology Dangerous Visions published.*Cecil Day-Lewis is selected as the new Poet Laureate of the UK.-New books:...

 in an edition of 3,045 copies. It was Wilson's first and only book published by Arkham House.

The book is based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos

Cthulhu Mythos

The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...

.

Publication history

The novel was published earlier in 1967 by Arthur Barker (London), but with a different introduction.

In 1986, an edition was produced by the Moscow-based publishing house Raduga, with 29 190 copies printed. The book was formally intended for learners of English. The edition includes a Russian-language afterword by V. Ivasheva as well as page-referenced endnotes (also in Russian) clarifying language usage, concepts, motifs, personal names and toponyms deemed difficult for the learner by the commentator E. M. Mednikova.

Plot summary

The story is about Professor Gilbert Austin's conflict with the Tsathoggua

Tsathoggua

Tsathoggua is a fictional supernatural entity in the Cthulhu Mythos shared fictional universe. He is the creation of Clark Ashton Smith and is part of his Hyperborean cycle....

ns, invisible mind parasites that menace the most brilliant people on earth.

Reprints

• New York: Bantam, 1968.
• St. Albans, UK: Panther, 1969.
• Berkely, CA: Oneiric Press, 1972.
• Moscow: Raduga Publishers, 1986.