The King in Yellow(en.wikipedia.org)
en.wikipedia.org
The King in Yellow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow
63 comments
I think the stories inspired by KiY, like James Blish's "More Light" are better than the ones in Chambers' book. Chambers' genius was in the creation of a work (the eponymous King In Yellow play) that induced insanity. This influenced a lot of later authors such as HPL with his fictitious Necronomicon.
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely add it to my reading list.
I feel the same. Feels like the concept is way better than execution.
Maybe it's because at the time it released it was novel, but now it's cliche?
Maybe it's because at the time it released it was novel, but now it's cliche?
Such a fascinating book. I remember first reading it because of True Detective season 1. I was pretty into Lovecraft at the time. The first short story is still great
"The Repairer of Reputations", is such a weird story. I love that fact that it takes place in 1920's NYC, 30 years in the future from when it was written (1985).
It's not quite science fiction, though. The descriptions of New York aren't dark or dreary, like one would expect from a short story that usually firmly placed in the horror/weird fiction category. There's these hints that something is not quite right, though. like the presence of these "Government Lethal Chambers" in Washington Square Park where, I guess one could kill them selves publicly. It's hinted at, but not really addressed further. it's these little details that color the story and make it uncomfortable. It seems tht United States that has embraced authoritarianism, and society social structure is heavily enforced by a militarized government.
EDIT: Written in 1895 not 1985!
It's not quite science fiction, though. The descriptions of New York aren't dark or dreary, like one would expect from a short story that usually firmly placed in the horror/weird fiction category. There's these hints that something is not quite right, though. like the presence of these "Government Lethal Chambers" in Washington Square Park where, I guess one could kill them selves publicly. It's hinted at, but not really addressed further. it's these little details that color the story and make it uncomfortable. It seems tht United States that has embraced authoritarianism, and society social structure is heavily enforced by a militarized government.
EDIT: Written in 1895 not 1985!
> it takes place in 1920's NYC, 30 years in the future from when it was written (1985).
Is it you, Marty?
(sorry, could not resist)
Is it you, Marty?
(sorry, could not resist)
I meant to type 1895! *ugh.
Yes, it is always fun to read things set in a future time from the author's perspective long after the future date is past. I remember plenty of SF growing up in the 1970s about the "future world" of the 1990s or even the year 2000. But KiY with its "future date" in the 1920s is the earliest I've encountered.
It's also one of the best examples I know of for "unreliable narrator".
"Book of the New Sun" will always be my favorite unreliable narrator story.
The Book of the Short Sun takes unreliable narrators to 11
I never got that far in the series, despite New Sun being one of my all time favorites. I'll give it a go. Thanks.
It is a sequel trilogy for The Book of the Long sun.
I read it not that long ago. I agree with the comments that the setting is deeply unsettling.
Yeah, its those underdeveloped details that actually make it awesome. It just hints a world that is quite different and _maybe_ that has everything to do with the play/book? Its quite uncomfortable indeed. I really like it.
I couldn't work out from the story whether it was really set in the 1920s, or whether that was a delusion on the part of the main character.
How is it related to TD1 was it the inspiration for the yellow king and carcosa?
Lovecraft remains an underrated sci-fi pioneer as well as a horror writer. His depictions of the alien are notable for being truly alien. A lot of his "eldritch horrors" weren't necessarily evil so much as so alien that their value systems, motives, and conception of morality are incomprehensible to human beings. This might well be the case if we meet real aliens. We'd be able to converse about objective things like math and physics but beyond that we might find our worldviews to be different to the point of near mutual incomprehensibility.
A lot of later sci-fi actually retreated to more human-like familiar notions of the alien. Very few sci-fi works have explored Lovecraftian aliens -- maybe Arrival (notable for the aliens being benevolent but Lovecraftian), The Expanse (though the alien machines use simulated human minds to talk to us, making them seem familiar), Alien (the Xenomorph), and a few others. Edit: the Blindsight series by Peter Watts is another.
The Alien franchise is a huge missed opportunity for failing to develop the Xenomorph as an alien race. I always thought it'd be neat if they turned out to be intelligent insect-like hive-mind aliens that just don't realize they're doing anything "bad" because they don't understand our concept of individuality. In their environment using some of the drones of another hive to reproduce would be fine, even a kind of social interaction, so when they do it to us think they're saying hello. Their apparent violence is just the ultra-utilitarian behavior of drones. Ripley's comment in Aliens about "I don't know which one is worse" might have been a hook for that. We might have eventually learned that our sociopaths were, in fact, quite a bit more "evil" than the xenomorphs, who are just very unlike us biologically.
I'm aware of some of Lovecraft's personal shitty views, but I think it's unfair to judge people from another time by the standards of this age. His views would not have been unusual for his place and time, and they only really show up at the edges of his works anyway. I read all his works and never really picked up on those subtexts until it was pointed out to me later.
A lot of later sci-fi actually retreated to more human-like familiar notions of the alien. Very few sci-fi works have explored Lovecraftian aliens -- maybe Arrival (notable for the aliens being benevolent but Lovecraftian), The Expanse (though the alien machines use simulated human minds to talk to us, making them seem familiar), Alien (the Xenomorph), and a few others. Edit: the Blindsight series by Peter Watts is another.
The Alien franchise is a huge missed opportunity for failing to develop the Xenomorph as an alien race. I always thought it'd be neat if they turned out to be intelligent insect-like hive-mind aliens that just don't realize they're doing anything "bad" because they don't understand our concept of individuality. In their environment using some of the drones of another hive to reproduce would be fine, even a kind of social interaction, so when they do it to us think they're saying hello. Their apparent violence is just the ultra-utilitarian behavior of drones. Ripley's comment in Aliens about "I don't know which one is worse" might have been a hook for that. We might have eventually learned that our sociopaths were, in fact, quite a bit more "evil" than the xenomorphs, who are just very unlike us biologically.
I'm aware of some of Lovecraft's personal shitty views, but I think it's unfair to judge people from another time by the standards of this age. His views would not have been unusual for his place and time, and they only really show up at the edges of his works anyway. I read all his works and never really picked up on those subtexts until it was pointed out to me later.
Lovecraft is not underrated though, I wonder why people keep calling well regarded famous authors or artists underrated.
There was a long period of time where he _was_ ignored and underrated, up until 1981, when Stephen King gave him a shoutout in his book about horror writing (Danse Macabre) and the Call of Cthulhu RPG was published. Until then, his books were entirely an underground phenomenon, and even then it wasn't until the early 2000s or late 1990s that Cthulhu was anything but a shibboleth for ultra-nerds.
He was sort of a perfect fit for the generation of kids raised on computer games and RPGs that had voracious appetites for new mythologies.
It is funny how once you get tagged with "underrated" it just stays with you forever, though.
He was sort of a perfect fit for the generation of kids raised on computer games and RPGs that had voracious appetites for new mythologies.
It is funny how once you get tagged with "underrated" it just stays with you forever, though.
Right? If you have an entire genre named after you[1], you're not underrated
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraftian_horror
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraftian_horror
Underrated? No. Underdiscussed or undertaught, yes. His overt racism makes open discussion difficult. But anyone who reads horror seriously very much appreciates his work.
I understand that Lovecraft, like Poe, was always more appreciated by the French audience than the US one, for years after their death.
It is possibly a religious thing. The puritan/protestant influence on american culture tends towards down-to-earth fiction that avoids discussion of fantastic situations that rub up against religion. Lovecraft's basic mythology is that there are things older than the earth. That conflicts with creationism and so would be a shunned in 18/19th century america. Such things certainly would not be found in school libraries.
The old people here might remember the anti-magic push in the 90s, the satanic panics and efforts to stop Halloween. Midi-chlorians were part of this, removing magic in place of scientific explanations. Then harry potter swept the movement away.
The old people here might remember the anti-magic push in the 90s, the satanic panics and efforts to stop Halloween. Midi-chlorians were part of this, removing magic in place of scientific explanations. Then harry potter swept the movement away.
AIUI France took sci-fi somewhat more seriously than the anglosphere did from earlier on (maybe due to Verne?); in English-speaking countries it was really seen as pure genre fiction with negligible literary merit until quite recently.
For anyone who wants to read it, (the first three stories are quite good). https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/robert-w-chambers/the-king...
Also on Project Gutenberg: https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/8492
Its always reminded me of Arthur Machen's "The White People". If you enjoyed "The King in Yellow", Machen might be worth a read.
Pelgrane Press has a wonderful Yellow King role-playing game (tabletop) that would be worth checking out if you're a fan of TTRPGs, stories and other related media.
I learned about this through “ The Call of Cthulhu” table top rpg. Great book.
I've only been able to play the solo (single player) RPGs of that publisher. There is a sample one as well that is pretty awesome. I wish I had a group to play the full RPG with.
Heard about this from signalis, cool game inspired by a cool book.
Remember your promise...
I really like this book actually, not sure why but I do keep going back to it too. Also there are strong references to it and the sentiments of it in a video game called Signalis actually.
It can be a bit of a hard read though sometimes too I find.
> not sure why but I do keep going back to it too.
Well.
> "If I had not caught a glimpse of the opening words in the second act I should never have finished it, but as I stooped to pick it up, my eyes became riveted to the open page, and with a cry of terror, or perhaps it was of joy so poignant that I suffered in every nerve, I snatched the thing out of the coals and crept shaking to my bedroom, where I read it and reread it, and wept and laughed and trembled with a horror which at times assails me yet. This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth—a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow."
Well.
> "If I had not caught a glimpse of the opening words in the second act I should never have finished it, but as I stooped to pick it up, my eyes became riveted to the open page, and with a cry of terror, or perhaps it was of joy so poignant that I suffered in every nerve, I snatched the thing out of the coals and crept shaking to my bedroom, where I read it and reread it, and wept and laughed and trembled with a horror which at times assails me yet. This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with this beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth—a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow."
...where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask
Good author: don’t tell, show.
Very good author: don’t show, _suggest_.
Very good author: don’t show, _suggest_.
This is one of the best cases of "username checks out" that I've ever seen.
There is something about this story, isn't there? Even among Lovecraftian lit, it stands apart. Not exactly a god-like monster, just a presence. Something malignant, whatever it is, wherever it is, that just gets mentioned from time to time. And it's yellow of all colors.
I'm confident that the Frenzied Flame / Chaos [0] in the game Elden Ring is loosely based on it, yellow themed, Eye of Yelough, etc. May chaos take the world!
[0] https://eldenring.fandom.com/wiki/Frenzied_Flame
[0] https://eldenring.fandom.com/wiki/Frenzied_Flame
I also knew this book from Signalis which is now one of my favorite. I even made a copy of this book[0] based on the in-game one.
[0]: https://x.com/phqb1/status/1840023494060585237
[0]: https://x.com/phqb1/status/1840023494060585237
I love this book. I have a a music project thats based on the themes around this particular book, and the metafiction inside the stories in this book. (90's Warp Records influence Braindance/IDM)
https://open.spotify.com/artist/45ZZhnjk2a243ivXUijsIX
https://open.spotify.com/artist/45ZZhnjk2a243ivXUijsIX
I get an error when clicking your link. "No healthy upstream"
https://open.spotify.com/track/5gAKMlDrJZaDBrFlwVpWk7?si=e93...
^ That "should" work. links to a track though, not the artist.
^ That "should" work. links to a track though, not the artist.
That did it. Thanks.
I'm afraid I need someone to explain to me why it's a good book. :(
Genuinely, I remember reading first four stories after playing Signalis and I was very unimpressed. Especially with the first story, where I felt it was rambling for the sake of rambling.
I'm genuinely asking, really. If it matters I've been reading it in translation.
Genuinely, I remember reading first four stories after playing Signalis and I was very unimpressed. Especially with the first story, where I felt it was rambling for the sake of rambling.
I'm genuinely asking, really. If it matters I've been reading it in translation.
Not related to the actual book, but from the Wipedia article I see:
> has been described by critics such as E. F. Bleiler, S. T. Joshi, and T. E. D. Klein as a classic in the field of the supernatural
Why all three critics have initials in their names? I don't think this is common in the average population. Is this a trend or something?
> has been described by critics such as E. F. Bleiler, S. T. Joshi, and T. E. D. Klein as a classic in the field of the supernatural
Why all three critics have initials in their names? I don't think this is common in the average population. Is this a trend or something?
This book doing the rounds again reminds me of the ever relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/610/ Everyone likes to think of themselves as special somehow, so authors of fiction write stories to play up to that.
"He is here, he is here!" The lunatics rave.
"In the wind! In the walls! In the young bride's grave!"
"In the seams of the scenes on the television screen.
In the silence in the air after a church bell's ring,
Hangs a shudder of a whisper of a presence unseen.
The echo of the terror of The Yellow King!"
He travels in dreams - In poisonous screams
A plague on mankind. A plague on mankind
The fall of man. Death in the Fall
The man in the mirror is no man at all
See Hali's clear scrying face round which acolytes assemble
Tremble when as one they bellow: "Behold, the King in Yellow"
"In the wind! In the walls! In the young bride's grave!"
"In the seams of the scenes on the television screen.
In the silence in the air after a church bell's ring,
Hangs a shudder of a whisper of a presence unseen.
The echo of the terror of The Yellow King!"
He travels in dreams - In poisonous screams
A plague on mankind. A plague on mankind
The fall of man. Death in the Fall
The man in the mirror is no man at all
See Hali's clear scrying face round which acolytes assemble
Tremble when as one they bellow: "Behold, the King in Yellow"
Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink behind the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.I see one who has visited Carcosa!
For those who haven't read the King in Yellow:
https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Carcosa
For those who haven't read the King in Yellow:
https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Carcosa
[deleted]
It was introduced to me as some kind of proto-lovecraftian fever dream exploring the strange faraway lands of the titular King in Yellow, and it started out like Lovecraftian stories often do - upper society gentlemen of impeccable pedigree getting tangled up in the strange and occult. But after a few stories, of having hinted of the strangeness to come, the whole occult business was dropped, and the rest of the book was bog-standard Victorian romantic short stories.
I'd say you can get as much from the Wikipedia article and the poem, as you'd from getting the book.'
If you want the experience of exploring a weird and strange realm, I'd recommend 'The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath' from the man himself.