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In the Court of the Yellow King
There was once a play with the power to drive you mad... or to transport you into the bizarre world of Carcosa, and the King in Yellow. Banned, burned, yet never totally destroyed, the play lives on, eating away the fabric of society and rotting the veneer of civilization...
Come and enjoy new visions of the King, expanding and deepening the fragments glimpsed in the award-winning True Detective television series, penned for your delight by a host of master scribes eager to guide you to a new world of delirium, despair, and madness.
Come and enjoy new visions of the King, expanding and deepening the fragments glimpsed in the award-winning True Detective television series, penned for your delight by a host of master scribes eager to guide you to a new world of delirium, despair, and madness.
354 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2014
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716 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 5, 2015
Wow! To quote a line from Brian M. Sammons' story that is included in here, 'A Jaundiced Light', "Entropy is the only universal constant". This collection of stories based on Robert W. Chambers' "The King in Yellow" will not disappoint. Glynn Owen Barrass has edited a fine anthology of stories written by the likes of T.E. Grau, Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire, Jeffrey Thomas, Stephen Mark Rainey, and William Meikle to name a few. These stories epitomizes the horror and atmosphere that encompasses the power that the play and characters that Chambers started those many, many years ago. If anyone has read 'A Season in Carcosa', then you will know what I mean. A perfect companion to that book and a must for anyone that loves weird and forboding literature. Kudos to Mr. Barrass and all involved...you have shown us The Yellow Sign in a way that is hard to forget.
February 2, 2015
Excellent in every way! Uniformly high quality in concept and execution. Just really an amazing read.
July 30, 2015
Serendipity led me to In the Court of the Yellow King from two directions. For one, I stumbled on and enjoyed Calaeno Press’ second book, Beyond the Mountains of Madness, and figured their first must be worth a try. For another, I’ve been taking an interest in The King in Yellow recently and have a copy of the identically-themed anthology A Season in Carcosa lying around. No doubt all three books will have some points of comparison.
Some reviews will tell you this book is uniformly excellent. I cannot agree. For me it was decidedly hit and miss, and lacking the kind of ‘knockout blow’ of a story that would justify the whole collection on its own merits. Also, ‘The Mask of the Yellow Death’ by Robert M. Price is a contender for the single worst story I’ve ever read. Much as I admire the man’s anthologising and podcasting, this tale of a taboo orgy at the Playboy mansion wouldn’t pass muster as amateur erotic fiction, let alone masquerading (groan) as a mostly serious horror story.
I did enjoy the diversity of interpretations of the source material, which I would hope for since the King can apparently turn up wherever he feels like in the space-time continuum. This is evident from early in the book, wherein we go from ‘The Viking in Yellow’ by Christine Morgan (precisely what it sounds like) to a novel exploration of Elvis as an avatar of the King (groan again) in ‘Who Killed the King of Rock and Roll’ by Edward Morris. Shortly thereafter, ‘Grand Theft Hovercar’ by Jeffrey Thomas runs with the idea that even a virtual world is within the King’s remit.
Several stories contemplate an attempt to actually stage the forbidden play, while others focus on the universe aligning such that Carcosa itself creeps into our world in all manner of strange and invariably horrifying ways. For the most part I enjoyed them though they didn’t all strike me as convincing continuations of the Carcosa mythos or whatever it is we’re calling it. ‘The Yellow Film’ by Gary McMahon in particular came across as a standard torturing madman set up with the King in Yellow elements being little more than window dressing.
All told my favourites were the two longest and most ambitious stories at the end, being ‘Nigredo’ by Cody Goodfellow and ‘MonoChrome’ by T.E. Grau. Many stories of this type are more about atmosphere than narrative and characterisation, which is fine, but these longer ones benefited from taking more time to establish those elements and unfold the horror gradually.
As with his contribution to Beyond the Mountains of Madness, I found Goodfellow’s tale a little too bewildering for my taste on first read. Even so, he has a flowing style with snappy dialogue and a sheen of what I’d call casual coolness, more reminiscent of Hollywood screenwriting than traditional horror.
This was the polar opposite of what many writers in this genre and collection go for, which is a kind of measured, ponderous approach that attempts to impress upon the reader the gravity of each sentence. You would think the inevitability of doom wrought by the King would lend itself to that, and yet I find Goodfellow’s approach all the better for its stark contrast.
Grau’s effort wasn’t as flowing but it delivered a dose of genuine characterisation to an anthology otherwise short on it. The sense of knowing and slightly caring about the protagonist enhanced the impact, as did the broader sense of scope and scale, with the horror growing from a few isolated mysteries to the implication of something world-changing.
Now for minor quibbles. Unlike Beyond the Mountains of Madness, the chapters on the ebook version here were not set up properly. Each title page is a separate chapter to the story, and the story has no chapter title setup, hence leaving nonsense like ‘smiled at the canvas on’ to act as the chapter title at the bottom of a page. Also, amusingly enough ‘Future Imperfect’ by Glynn Owen Barrass appears to have the most typos, and he’s the editor!
All in all, this is a solid read for those already familiar with The King in Yellow and the types of works it inspired.
Some reviews will tell you this book is uniformly excellent. I cannot agree. For me it was decidedly hit and miss, and lacking the kind of ‘knockout blow’ of a story that would justify the whole collection on its own merits. Also, ‘The Mask of the Yellow Death’ by Robert M. Price is a contender for the single worst story I’ve ever read. Much as I admire the man’s anthologising and podcasting, this tale of a taboo orgy at the Playboy mansion wouldn’t pass muster as amateur erotic fiction, let alone masquerading (groan) as a mostly serious horror story.
I did enjoy the diversity of interpretations of the source material, which I would hope for since the King can apparently turn up wherever he feels like in the space-time continuum. This is evident from early in the book, wherein we go from ‘The Viking in Yellow’ by Christine Morgan (precisely what it sounds like) to a novel exploration of Elvis as an avatar of the King (groan again) in ‘Who Killed the King of Rock and Roll’ by Edward Morris. Shortly thereafter, ‘Grand Theft Hovercar’ by Jeffrey Thomas runs with the idea that even a virtual world is within the King’s remit.
Several stories contemplate an attempt to actually stage the forbidden play, while others focus on the universe aligning such that Carcosa itself creeps into our world in all manner of strange and invariably horrifying ways. For the most part I enjoyed them though they didn’t all strike me as convincing continuations of the Carcosa mythos or whatever it is we’re calling it. ‘The Yellow Film’ by Gary McMahon in particular came across as a standard torturing madman set up with the King in Yellow elements being little more than window dressing.
All told my favourites were the two longest and most ambitious stories at the end, being ‘Nigredo’ by Cody Goodfellow and ‘MonoChrome’ by T.E. Grau. Many stories of this type are more about atmosphere than narrative and characterisation, which is fine, but these longer ones benefited from taking more time to establish those elements and unfold the horror gradually.
As with his contribution to Beyond the Mountains of Madness, I found Goodfellow’s tale a little too bewildering for my taste on first read. Even so, he has a flowing style with snappy dialogue and a sheen of what I’d call casual coolness, more reminiscent of Hollywood screenwriting than traditional horror.
This was the polar opposite of what many writers in this genre and collection go for, which is a kind of measured, ponderous approach that attempts to impress upon the reader the gravity of each sentence. You would think the inevitability of doom wrought by the King would lend itself to that, and yet I find Goodfellow’s approach all the better for its stark contrast.
Grau’s effort wasn’t as flowing but it delivered a dose of genuine characterisation to an anthology otherwise short on it. The sense of knowing and slightly caring about the protagonist enhanced the impact, as did the broader sense of scope and scale, with the horror growing from a few isolated mysteries to the implication of something world-changing.
Now for minor quibbles. Unlike Beyond the Mountains of Madness, the chapters on the ebook version here were not set up properly. Each title page is a separate chapter to the story, and the story has no chapter title setup, hence leaving nonsense like ‘smiled at the canvas on’ to act as the chapter title at the bottom of a page. Also, amusingly enough ‘Future Imperfect’ by Glynn Owen Barrass appears to have the most typos, and he’s the editor!
All in all, this is a solid read for those already familiar with The King in Yellow and the types of works it inspired.
December 16, 2015
I’m not very fond of short stories, but this collection has a running theme connecting them all, which makes it more interesting. This is very similar to the way Lovecraft knitted together his universe piece by piece. You don’t learn a lot more about the mysterious Yellow King throughout the book though, maybe it would have been better if the authors collaborated more, putting more red strings through the stories would have helped, I think. It’s obviously a mixed bag, some stories stuck more than others.
Nevertheless, this is the kind of horror I want. This is unsettling, disturbing, the Yellow King is ominous, sinister and his presence is always lingering there. Black stars and impossible vistas.
Sometime, I would love a long novel dealing with this universe. It’s such a great concept, It’s Lovecraft without the silliness. This book introduced me to Carcosa and I am so going back there.
Nevertheless, this is the kind of horror I want. This is unsettling, disturbing, the Yellow King is ominous, sinister and his presence is always lingering there. Black stars and impossible vistas.
Sometime, I would love a long novel dealing with this universe. It’s such a great concept, It’s Lovecraft without the silliness. This book introduced me to Carcosa and I am so going back there.
Want to read
October 24, 2014Featuring stories by:
Glynn Owen Barrass
Tim Curran
Cody Goodfellow
T.E. Grau
Laurel Halbany
C.J. Henderson
Gary McMahon
William Meikle
Christine Morgan
Edward Morris
Robert M. Price
W.H. Pugmire
Stephen Mark Rainey
Pete Rawlik
Brian M. Sammons
Lucy Snyder
Greg Stolze
Jeffrey Thomas
and a stunning cover by Daniele Serra!
Glynn Owen Barrass
Tim Curran
Cody Goodfellow
T.E. Grau
Laurel Halbany
C.J. Henderson
Gary McMahon
William Meikle
Christine Morgan
Edward Morris
Robert M. Price
W.H. Pugmire
Stephen Mark Rainey
Pete Rawlik
Brian M. Sammons
Lucy Snyder
Greg Stolze
Jeffrey Thomas
and a stunning cover by Daniele Serra!
January 26, 2016
Two quick notes, as I begin:
I love The King in Yellow, and my review should be taken as being written from that POV
The print in this book is uncomfortably small.
Having finished this; it's a really solid collection, with a couple of new and clever takes on the play, and consistently creepy. I know I'm partisan, but I'd definitely recommend it for both fans of horror in general and of the Yellow Play in specific.
I love The King in Yellow, and my review should be taken as being written from that POV
The print in this book is uncomfortably small.
Having finished this; it's a really solid collection, with a couple of new and clever takes on the play, and consistently creepy. I know I'm partisan, but I'd definitely recommend it for both fans of horror in general and of the Yellow Play in specific.
September 18, 2018
As far as King in Yellow short story collections go, I think this is one of the better ones.
June 8, 2015
When Robert W. Chambers wrote his collection of short stories "King in Yellow" in the late 19th century, I bet he did not guess what kind of influence his visions would have for decades - century even. The thematically tied collection of short stories has influenced (and continue to do so) not only writers of horror fiction for over a hundred years, but makers of movies and television as well as games developers both for digital and table-top formats.
"In the Court of the Yellow King" gives us a wonderfully diverse collection of short stories spanning genres from Jeffrey Thomas' science fiction story "Grand Theft Hovercraft" to William Meikle's occult detective story "Bedlam in Yellow" to Christine Morgan's sword&sorcery story "The Viking in Yellow" all the way to cerebral cosmic horror in Glen Owen Barass' "Future Imperfect". Yet the stories are thematically exceptionally well tied to the key concept of the fictive play "King in Yellow" that Chambers unleashed upon us so long time ago. Some of the writers take their cues directly from Chambers' stories and some expand upon the writings of Chambers' early admirers (H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth). The stories themselves are simply love letters from a variety of modern horror fiction writers to the great old ones of the genre.
Get one thing straight: this collection is for adult reading. Period. The tone is crushingly depressing from the get go and the themes are incomprehensible to youngsters. While the stories do not revel (much!) in blood soaked guts, the madness, the bleakness and the hopelessness in these stories is mind-bendingly crushing and requires a stoic stoutness from the reader to withstand. The stories are not giving you epic battles of cosmic beings but instead works a lot like a terminal disease of the brain that eats away feelings of hope, gnaws out the good memories leaving only the warped ones, distorts taste, sound and sight to slimy grime and leaves behind a depraved rotting soul.
This collection is for adult horror fiction aficionados. I would recommend this only to those dark souls whose minds have already been tainted by the works of Robert W.Chambers, August Derleth and H.P.Lovecraft as the motives of Yellow Sign, Hastur, Carcosa and the dangerous play of "King in Yellow" are omnipresent in these stories and in fact are the cosmic fuel with which this collection consumes your mind as you flip through the pages.
"In the Court of the Yellow King" gives us a wonderfully diverse collection of short stories spanning genres from Jeffrey Thomas' science fiction story "Grand Theft Hovercraft" to William Meikle's occult detective story "Bedlam in Yellow" to Christine Morgan's sword&sorcery story "The Viking in Yellow" all the way to cerebral cosmic horror in Glen Owen Barass' "Future Imperfect". Yet the stories are thematically exceptionally well tied to the key concept of the fictive play "King in Yellow" that Chambers unleashed upon us so long time ago. Some of the writers take their cues directly from Chambers' stories and some expand upon the writings of Chambers' early admirers (H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth). The stories themselves are simply love letters from a variety of modern horror fiction writers to the great old ones of the genre.
Get one thing straight: this collection is for adult reading. Period. The tone is crushingly depressing from the get go and the themes are incomprehensible to youngsters. While the stories do not revel (much!) in blood soaked guts, the madness, the bleakness and the hopelessness in these stories is mind-bendingly crushing and requires a stoic stoutness from the reader to withstand. The stories are not giving you epic battles of cosmic beings but instead works a lot like a terminal disease of the brain that eats away feelings of hope, gnaws out the good memories leaving only the warped ones, distorts taste, sound and sight to slimy grime and leaves behind a depraved rotting soul.
This collection is for adult horror fiction aficionados. I would recommend this only to those dark souls whose minds have already been tainted by the works of Robert W.Chambers, August Derleth and H.P.Lovecraft as the motives of Yellow Sign, Hastur, Carcosa and the dangerous play of "King in Yellow" are omnipresent in these stories and in fact are the cosmic fuel with which this collection consumes your mind as you flip through the pages.
January 17, 2016
Overall, I found this collection of stories centered around The King in Yellow more enjoyable (if that is the right word when it comes to the weird/horror genre) than the average Cthulhu mythos anthology. I appreciate that the King in Yellow motif is often a bit more cerebral than the giant alien tentacle-monsters of the better-known Lovecraft-pastiche side of "cosmic horror."
As with any anthology, some stories in the collection were better than others, and a couple were just plain stupid and/or perverted (the worst being the submission by Robert M. Price which seems to be nothing more than a juvenile, pornographic parody of Poe's The Masque of the Red Death). A couple had more profanity or sexual perversity than usually I care to read, but most of the authors stayed away from the lazy route of relying primarily on gore, profanity, and/or sex to proved the disturbing element of their story. Though not for the squeamish (or suicidal), this is definitely worth reading for fans of disturbing cosmic horror.
As with any anthology, some stories in the collection were better than others, and a couple were just plain stupid and/or perverted (the worst being the submission by Robert M. Price which seems to be nothing more than a juvenile, pornographic parody of Poe's The Masque of the Red Death). A couple had more profanity or sexual perversity than usually I care to read, but most of the authors stayed away from the lazy route of relying primarily on gore, profanity, and/or sex to proved the disturbing element of their story. Though not for the squeamish (or suicidal), this is definitely worth reading for fans of disturbing cosmic horror.
December 19, 2014
An interesting series of tales based upon the ever expanding exploration of King in Yellow themed fiction. There are a number of really outstanding stories in this collection and it is well worth the time for anyone with an interest in this sub-genre of cosmic horror. Some of the stories bring a very interesting modern sensibility to the time honored themes of decay, madness, and otherworldly horror first brought to us by Chambers. That being said one of my favorites was a piece set in the Dark Ages, The Viking in Yellow by Christine Morgan. There are many interesting tales to read in this collection!
November 22, 2014
There was once a play with the power to drive you mad... or to transport you into the bizarre world of Carcosa, and the King in Yellow. Banned, burned, yet never totally destroyed, the play lives on, eating away the fabric of society and rotting the veneer of civilization...
Come and enjoy new visions of the King, expanding and deepening the fragments glimpsed in the award-winning True Detective television series, penned for your delight by a host of master scribes eager to guide you to a new world of delirium, despair, and madness.
Come and enjoy new visions of the King, expanding and deepening the fragments glimpsed in the award-winning True Detective television series, penned for your delight by a host of master scribes eager to guide you to a new world of delirium, despair, and madness.
April 17, 2018
Woah.
What a doozy.
There were some really trippy and/or messed up stories in this collection. This anthology is definitely not for the young or squeamish. One thing I’ve found is that I’ve found most modern horror tends to go for the grotesque factor where there tended to be more subtlety and…. classiness(?) in the older Weird Fiction tales these modern stories are based on. I prefer the more classic approach, but it is nice to vary it up sometimes.
The King in Yellow seems to be seeing a surge in attention the past couple of years, with a number of anthologies coming out related to the Yellow Mythos (a sort of sister to the Cthulhu Mythos) as well as the attention that True Detective gave it. Which makes me a happy little cultist. :D
That said…. I think overall this collection does a great job capturing the eeriness that surrounds the King in Yellow. There’s just so much creepiness and decadent madness surrounding KiY stories. I lurv it. It has an entirely different flavor to the Cthulhu Mythos (my literary love), which complements it and yet stands on its own.
The stories in here were a range from good to great, with maybe one or two that didn’t really jive with me. My favorites were the stories from Pugmire, Morgan, Snyder, Meikle (gonna have to check out more Carnacki stories now), Rawlik, and the appropriately apocalyptic concluding story by Grau.
I love it when anthologies expose me to new authors and series! I want to check out the first Fensmere story by Snyder and some of the original Carnacki stories by William Hope Hodgson now.
There are a lot of callbacks or references in here to Chambers’ original stories, so I would suggest reading “Repairer of Reputations”, “The Yellow Sign”, and “In the Court of the Dragon” before this if you want to get the full experience. Not necessary, but it’s fun and gives a sense of connection.
I would recommend this one for fans of Weird Fiction who want a different flavor from the currently popular Cthulhu Mythos anthologies.
Have you seen the Yellow Sign?
What a doozy.
There were some really trippy and/or messed up stories in this collection. This anthology is definitely not for the young or squeamish. One thing I’ve found is that I’ve found most modern horror tends to go for the grotesque factor where there tended to be more subtlety and…. classiness(?) in the older Weird Fiction tales these modern stories are based on. I prefer the more classic approach, but it is nice to vary it up sometimes.
The King in Yellow seems to be seeing a surge in attention the past couple of years, with a number of anthologies coming out related to the Yellow Mythos (a sort of sister to the Cthulhu Mythos) as well as the attention that True Detective gave it. Which makes me a happy little cultist. :D
That said…. I think overall this collection does a great job capturing the eeriness that surrounds the King in Yellow. There’s just so much creepiness and decadent madness surrounding KiY stories. I lurv it. It has an entirely different flavor to the Cthulhu Mythos (my literary love), which complements it and yet stands on its own.
The stories in here were a range from good to great, with maybe one or two that didn’t really jive with me. My favorites were the stories from Pugmire, Morgan, Snyder, Meikle (gonna have to check out more Carnacki stories now), Rawlik, and the appropriately apocalyptic concluding story by Grau.
I love it when anthologies expose me to new authors and series! I want to check out the first Fensmere story by Snyder and some of the original Carnacki stories by William Hope Hodgson now.
There are a lot of callbacks or references in here to Chambers’ original stories, so I would suggest reading “Repairer of Reputations”, “The Yellow Sign”, and “In the Court of the Dragon” before this if you want to get the full experience. Not necessary, but it’s fun and gives a sense of connection.
I would recommend this one for fans of Weird Fiction who want a different flavor from the currently popular Cthulhu Mythos anthologies.
Have you seen the Yellow Sign?
June 7, 2023
A pretty strong collection of King in Yellow stories. Dark. Embracing the whole Carcosa thing often seems to involve suicide and/or homicide.
Cosmic Horror, Deadly Book, Not a Mask.
Cosmic Horror, Deadly Book, Not a Mask.
April 6, 2018
Solid anthology and much, MUCH better than A Season In Carcosa. The stories are all above average at worst, which is no mean feat for an anthology, but I can't quite give it 5 stars because I feel like there's still a lot of untapped potential in Chambers' King in Yellow mythos that writers haven't fully embraced.
Thus, it leaves a lot of modern Carcosan fiction feeling a bit samey, with too many writers apparently feeling obligated to have every single story involve Act Two of the play, a woman named Cassilda crying, and someone who should be wearing a mask wearing no mask at all. And this collection is no exception.
It's still a fun anthology though, and it would be my currently-first recommendation for anyone who has read Chambers and wants to see what modern writers can do with his setting.
Thus, it leaves a lot of modern Carcosan fiction feeling a bit samey, with too many writers apparently feeling obligated to have every single story involve Act Two of the play, a woman named Cassilda crying, and someone who should be wearing a mask wearing no mask at all. And this collection is no exception.
It's still a fun anthology though, and it would be my currently-first recommendation for anyone who has read Chambers and wants to see what modern writers can do with his setting.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews