Safe Return Doubtful

I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men’s thoughts lengthen in the afternoon… I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with the beautiful, stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth – a world which now trembles before the King in Yellow

The King In Yellow is a fictional play that is referred to in the first five of these stories, basically the first half of the book; reference is made to the play, which has been banned from bookstores and libraries owing to its inexplicable capacity to drive its readers insane, and even suicidal. Though the play’s contents are concealed, we do get to know that the King in Yellow is a demonic presence that rules over an ancient kingdom, called Carcosa.

Chambers, though popular in his day, fell away from public attention, this book occasionally being sought after when one of its influencees quoted it; for example in True Detective (season one of course). His own influences were the likes of Lovecraft, Poe, Machen and Dunsany. These stories of classic modern horror, in particularly the first five, are a great example of the new wave of weird fiction that came about around the turn of the century.

The stand-out is the first story, The Repairer of Reputations.

…for we do not know what beasts the night dreams when its hours grow too long for even God to be awake.

One of its most interesting one of its aspects is that it takes place in the 1920s, though written in 1895, and so being an alternate view of the future without knowldege of the events of the early 20th century. The USA is experiencing a period of post-war wealth and prosperity, its cities having grown hugely due to great technological advances. Suicides have risen so much, that the government now provides facilities in each town, called ‘Lethal Chambers’ where people can go and end their lives painlessly and without leaving any mess.
It’s strong stuff, and has several very quotable phrases, the one I use above being my favourite.

The second half of the book is not so memorable, and much more of an experimentation.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5