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Opening thread for discussion of The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers.

Okay, just bought it online.

Jonfaith wrote: "Okay, just bought it online."

Er... just mentioning that this is a book for free in the public domain by now, but I suppose you wanted an actual paper book (treebook)? Let me re-paste the link to a free ebook copy for those who don't mind e-books:

Did you watch the TV show True Detective, Jonfaith?

Oh, and are we going to read just the titular story, or did you people want to read all of them? (In which case I had better do a thread for each one.)

I found this one more interesting for its inter-textual connections; the stories did not fascinate me quite as they have so many others, but it is clearly an important work for the stream of things.

Here is some of the history:
1887: Gustave Nadaud wrote a poem in French called "Carcassone" (available online in English and French at ) This inspired (apparently) Ambrose Bierce, as well as Lord Dunsany and Faulkner, to write short stories.
1893: Ambrose Bierce wrote a very short story called "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" (available online at , collected in Can Such Things Be? which is on Project Gutenberg; at least, I think that's where I downloaded my copy from)
1895: Chambers published the subject of our interest, the first quartet of which is clearly inspired by Bierce's story (same place names).

I'm curious if anyone else has read the Dunsany or Faulkner stories? I wanted to for my read of this book, but I didn't have time.

I've not seen True Detective, but I find it fascinating that the quartet of stories focused on the King in Yellow has continued to inspire so much interest, from Lovecraft on down.

I also am wondering if anyone else can shed light on the organization of the book. The first four stories are interconnected and surround the King in Yellow, then there are two apparently independent stories, then another quartet of four interconnected stories with no relation to any of the previous stories. Is it just random, or is there a pattern from music or some such?

Traveller wrote: "Oh, and are we going to read just the titular story, or did you people want to read all of them? (In which case I had better do a thread for each one.)"

I don't think there is a title story, but the first four stories are the ones concerned with "The King in Yellow" (the play in the book). I don't think the rest of the book really matters that much.

Edited to add: That would be "The Repairer of Reputations," "The Mask," "In the Court of the Dragon," and "The Yellow Sign".

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I also am wondering if anyone else can shed light on the organization of the book. The first four stories are interconnected and surround the King in Yellow, then there are two apparently independent stories, then another quartet of four interconnected stories with no relation to any of the previous stories. Is it just random, or is there a pattern from music or some such? "

I admit I haven't done my homework on this yet. Just finished a work project for the first time in about a month, so been trying to catch up with Carmilla and City of Saints (The latter on which I have posted quite a lot today, btw, if you'd care to throw your eye over it...)

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I'm curious if anyone else has read the Dunsany or Faulkner stories? I wanted to for my read of this book, but I didn't have time."

Which specific Dunsany/Faulkner stories would that be?

Speaking of Dunsany, I have been looking for The Charwoman's Shadow for the longest time. Anybody know where I can grab a reasonable copy?

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Edited to add: That would be "The Repairer of Reputations," "The Mask," "In the Court of the Dragon," and "The Yellow Sign". ."

Okay, will do threads for those then. Thanks for all the info!

Traveller wrote: "(The latter on which I have posted quite a lot today, btw, if you'd care to throw your eye over it...)"

I deeply want to jump in, but I don't have my copy with me. As soon as I can get home and nab it I will be over there :)

Traveller wrote: "Which specific Dunsany/Faulkner stories would that be?"

Sorry got to typing too fast and left them out (fixed). Dunsany and Faulkner both wrote short stories called "Carcasonne" inspired by Nadaud's poem. Dunsany's is collected in A Dreamer's Tales and Faulkner's in These Thirteen. I will get to them eventually and report back when I do. They seem to have been written after Chambers wrote this volume, so I'm curious if there is any interplay or if they just went off in a different direction.

Traveller wrote: "Anybody know where I can grab a reasonable copy?"

It looks like AbeBooks.com has it for US $6.19 in good condition,

Traveller wrote: "Okay, will do threads for those then. Thanks..."

Sounds good. Thanks!

Thanks Amy!
...and since I like both Dunsany and Faulkner, I think I'd like to try and scrunch those in as well, perhaps a bit later on in mid-November. Please remind me to make a thread for them in association with our Yellow King threads if you get to read them before I do.

I am starting to get a feeling that The Yellow King needs a folder of its own. Don't worry, I can simply migrate this thread into it, so no worries that any posts will go missing. :)

Traveller wrote: "Please remind me to make a thread for them in association with our Yellow King threads if you get to read them before I do."

Will do!

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "1895: Chambers published the subject of our interest, the first quartet of which is clearly inspired by Bierce's story (same place names)."

Just for fun, I'll mention that a lot of those place names also get reused in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover—which is about as far from 19th century Weird as you can get!

Traveller wrote: "Oh, and are we going to read just the titular story, or did you people want to read all of them? (In which case I had better do a thread for each one.) "

As Amy says, there is no title story. It's a complete fiction (or is it??? I've never been quite the same since I found that slim leather-bound volume on my bookshelf...). If we only read one, the consensus in most reviews I've read would be the first one: "Repairer of Reputations", but if you want to do more, all four that Amy named belong together.

Yes Traveller - we viewed both seasons of TD, the 2d this last weekend.

I'm all about paper and this appears interesting, although likely not scary as such.

Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Just for fun, I'll mention that a lot of those place names also get reused in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover—which is about as far from 19th century Weird as you can get!"

Very intriguing! I have never been able to get into The Mists of Avalon. Is the Darkover series good?

Jonfaith wrote: "I'm all about paper and this appears interesting, although likely not scary as such."

I'd say creepy at most.

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Is the Darkover series good?"

If you like pseudo-scientific fantasy... which I do :-) It's all ostensibly set in a far-future galactic civilization, but it's positively medieval. Very much like Andre Norton. Or The Left Hand of Darkness.

Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Is the Darkover series good?"

If you like pseudo-scientific fantasy... which I do :-)"

Me too. I will throw it on the stack.

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "I don't think there is a title story, but the first four stories are the ones concerned with "The King in Yellow" (the play in the book). I don't think the rest of the book really matters that much.

Edited to add: That would be "The Repairer of Reputations," "The Mask," "In the Court of the Dragon," and "The Yellow Sign" ..."

I find the first story in the collection, "The Repairer of Reputations", to be the strongest and most intriguing story in the collection.

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Is the Darkover series good?..."

there are several novels that I've found to be pretty good. but because the series was written over the course of a long period of time, the quality of the novels really varies depending on when Bradley wrote them.

mark wrote: "because the series was written over the course of a long period of time, the quality of the novels really varies depending on when Bradley wrote them. "

Yeah, that was true the last time I read one—I was stunned just now to see how many more there are, since!

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Just for fun, I'll mention that a lot of those place names also get reused in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover—which is about as far from 19th century Weird a..."

I couldn't get into fMofA either, which was really disappointing -- I just loved the Darkover series. I'm curious now, I wonder if they would still appeal to me as an adult ....

Derek (Guilty of thoughtcrime) wrote: "Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "Is the Darkover series good?"

If you like pseudo-scientific fantasy... which I do :-) It's all ostensibly set in a far-future galactic civilization, but it's positively med..."

Andre Norton! I used to love her stories as a kid!

*a little later* ...and now I have followed your link, and felt a bit shocked at the... err prim-looking older lady she had become. In my mind's eye, she had always been this sexy, sultry figure sprawled sensually over a divan, much like some of the females you see adorning the cover art on her books! Ha ha ha silly me.

Jonfaith wrote: "
I'm all about paper and this appears interesting, although likely not scary as such."
Ah, okay, understood about the paper.

Jonfaith wrote: "Yes Traveller - we viewed both seasons of TD, the 2d this last weekend.
."
...and so, you are all in and primed on some of the influences this book has had...

Right, thread for the first story is here: /topic/show/...

Thanks, Mark and Ruth. (I am one of those cursed to read series from the beginning in order, or I would ask for recommendations on where to start.) I will definitely give Darkover a try.

Amy (Other Amy) wrote: "…cursed to read series from the beginning in order�"

I honestly don't know where the beginning of Darkover is. It's certainly not the first Darkover book published.

Ah. Apparently, the GR series link: Darkover puts them in chronological order (at Bradley's suggestion), while Darkover Publication is the publication order. I definitely started with the first by publication.

Look what I found!

I just found that site a couple days ago! I'm excitedto go through it.

Yes, there really seems to be a lot of material there. Btw, something that I wanted to mention re Chambers' KIY, and True Detectives, and even Lovecraft. The latter 2 seems to have somehow missed the very playful quality of Chambers' work, or whatamisaying?

I mean, all the time, Chambers is playing with us, playing with our heads! I can just see that big old smile on his face.

I think that site caught on to it, though. :)

Darkover. Carcassonne. (view spoiler)[ Most of the books mentioned I'm basically unfamiliar with. I do have Darkover Landfall, but if I've read it it was so long ago that I remember nothing about it.

So the spoiler is because there are board games with both these titles. Carcassonne is a quite popular European board game ().

Darkover (the game) is not nearly as well known. It is based on the novels, and was designed and produced by Eon Products, which I was at one time tenuously associated with. The picture at this site is from the box cover of the game, which I do have - but can't remember if I've ever played (with other people, at any rate). (hide spoiler)]

Scary that people can obsess enough about it to write a 1000 pages on the wiki. otoh, no doubt more than one English lit grad has produced that many pages in print for a thesis.

True, but if you think about how much has been written about the Chtulu mythos, for example, and you should see the fan lit for some video games!

I think that what makes this alluring is that it really lends itself to worldbuilding, and it's so vague and kind of unfinished, a hinted at world, that people couldn't resist wanting to fill in the gaps.

I just read a story that references a lot of Chambers, from character names to the dread play itself: Karl Edward Wagner's "The River of Night's Dreaming". brilliant story.

mark wrote: "I just read a story that references a lot of Chambers, from character names to the dread play itself: Karl Edward Wagner's "The River of Night's Dreaming". brilliant story."

Hey, thanks!

mark wrote: "I just read a story that references a lot of Chambers, from character names to the dread play itself: Karl Edward Wagner's "The River of Night's Dreaming". brilliant story."

Are you reading that in The Hastur Cycle, Mark? (I am wondering if the rest of the book is any good.)

I am not. it was included in The Mammoth Book of Terror. an uneven but still valuable collection.

Thanks :)

Oy vey! ..and now I will have a bunch of Mammoth Horrors, but no Mammoth Terror! Grrr at ya, Murphy!