The Shadow Out of Time

by Howard Phillips Lovecraft

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 story describes time and space travel by mind transfer. The premise is that a person in a given place and time can switch bodies with someone who is elsewhere or elsewhen. Other writers have re-used this concept in later works, such as drinking tea from Red Forest leaves in the 12 Monkeys (TV series) and long-range communication stones in the Stargate SG-1 television series. As with other Lovecraftian works, this story features blatantly alien beings that aren't simply variations on humans or other familiar terrestrial animals.