The Mask: An Excerpt from the King in Yellow: Magical Antiquarian, a Weiser Books Collection

by Robert W. Chambers, Lon Milo DuQuette

Master of modern occultism, Lon Milo DuQuette, (author of "Enochian Vision Magick" and "The Magick of Aleister Crowley") introduces the newest Weiser Books Collection - The Magical Antiquarian Curiosity Shoppe. Culled from material long unavailable to the general public, DuQuette curates this essential new digital library with the eye of a scholar and the insight of an initiate.New York in the future, military dictatorship, institutionalized suicide, and public "Lethal Chambers." The madness continues. Picking up where the first installment left off, and introducing the concept of alchemy, The Mask is a rosy-blushed cameo of nineteenth century science fiction at its most romantic and genteel--a perfect bonbon to savor with your bedtime brandy.

Genres: Short Stories, Horror, Fiction, Classics, Fantasy, American, Gothic

35 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.

Chambers was first educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute,and then entered the Art Students' League at around the age of twenty, where the artist Charles Dana Gibson was his fellow student. Chambers studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, and at Académie Julian, in Paris from 1886 to 1893, and his work was displayed at the Salon as early as 1889. On his return to New York, he succeeded in selling his illustrations to Life, Truth, and Vogue magazines. Then, for reasons unclear, he devoted his time to writing, producing his first novel, In the Quarter (written in 1887 in Munich). His most famous, and perhaps most meritorious, effort is The King in Yellow, a collection of weird short stories, connected by the theme of the fictitious drama The King in Yellow, which drives those who read it insane.

Chambers returned to the weird genre in his later short story collections The Maker of Moons and The Tree of Heaven, but neither earned him such success as The King in Yellow.

Chambers later turned to writing romantic fiction to earn a living. According to some estimates, Chambers was one of the most successful literary careers of his period, his later novels selling well and a handful achieving best-seller status. Many of his works were also serialized in magazines.

After 1924 he devoted himself solely to writing historical fiction.

Chambers for several years made Broadalbin his summer home. Some of his novels touch upon colonial life in Broadalbin and Johnstown.

On July 12, 1898, he married Elsa Vaughn Moller (1882-1939). They had a son, Robert Edward Stuart Chambers (later calling himself Robert Husted Chambers) who also gained some fame as an author.

Chambers died at his home in the village of Broadalbin, New York, on December 16th 1933.

Reviews

[Liam Mulvaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mask is a short story authored by the extraordinary Robert W. Chambers. This is the second time I've read it. I will continue to revisit this short story every year in October. It is pretty fascinating and heartbreaking, yet it makes me smile.

It is probably one of the best items I've read and could be classified as a tragic love story borne out of alchemy and experimental carelessness.

It's a haunting story about four friends, a love triangle, some chemicals, nightmares, The King in Yellow, and the mystery of the carving of the Fates, mentioned in Chamber's other short story: The Repairer of Reputations.

Read it!

5/5

[Althea Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Chambers' short story, 'The Repairer of Reputations,' a passing mention is made of a sculpture called 'The Fates,' crafted by a brilliant sculptor who died tragically young.

Here, we learn the sad and romantic tale of his death.

Not only is the young man a sculptor, but a chemist/inventor, it seems. He has come up with a solution which will turn whatever is placed in it to stone. At first, his experiments create 'stone' lilies and goldfish... but when we discover that he's filled up his home's pool with the solution, it's not hard for the reader to foresee that trouble is soon to come.

On top of that, the narrator is, admittedly, in love with the sculptor's wife. Yep. Trouble.

[Netanella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished House of Leaves this morning, a monstrously large book that also required a monstrously large effort to read. Huge pay out, of course. Incredible. So I needed a palate cleanser, something short yet vibrant, but still dealing with the dark horrors that come with the unknown.

Chambers' shorts from The King in Yellow would do nicely. I had already read the first book, "The Repairer of Reputations," so "The Mask," the second interconnected story, would do nicely as a follow up.

A trio of friends, artists all and well-to-do, lounge about in turn of the century Paris and practice their craft. There's a girlfriend, a sculptor, a painter. And a solution of unknown substance that can turn the living into frozen marble.

So, of course, the story is inevitable, but fun to read.

[Arianna Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a narrator for an audiobook gig, but my goodness, I’ll take any excuse to read Victorian horror. 😁 I love the writing style and concepts so much that it makes me want to read the rest of The King in Yellow, especially because it inspired H. P. Lovecraft so much.

My only gripe about this is, just like the fatal flaw of COUNTLESS horror movies and short stories I’ve watched/read in the past, it has a somewhat confusing ending. 🧐 Some of the biggest questions are not answered at the end, but instead lend themselves to become even bigger questions. This only works sometimes, but most times (for me, at least), I need things to be explained by the end in a sort of “ohhh, that’s why” way. A horror/thriller is just a spooky mystery—that’s what I always tell people. 👻🔎

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh this one was disappointing. As I was reading it I realized I had read it once before, two years prior and I guess found it so unmemorable that I forgot the whole thing. I liked the relationship dynamic with the love triangle, and I thought that was well fleshed out. Also it's an interesting idea with the solution that turns things to marble, but the overall story is too underdeveloped (just like repairer of reputations). Like... it could have been so spooky and it fell flat for me. For example, Jack Scott's horrible dreams, sense of dread, and frantic letters? That's creepy af and nothing came of it. I also didn't get the point of connecting it to The King in Yellow, except to prevent it from being a mediocre standalone. Overall, I'm bummed I didn't like it more

[Reader]

This was a pretty good change from the first story I had read by Chambers, the "Repairer of Reputations." I didn't expect this to be a compilation of poems, but it was very welcome. My favorites were "The Phantom," "The Sacrifice," "The Jester," and "The Love Test." I enjoyed "The Phantom" because of its problems with letting old things go, "The Sacrifice" because of illustrating how far someone will go for love, "The Jester" for desensitizing something so painful, and "The Love Test" for teaching the pains of love. Luckily, I read this two days before Valentine's, so it was really timely for me to read this now. Also, in "The Jester," it seriously almost brought me to tears (no joke, my vision was getting blurry while reading it).

[Angelo IG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δεύτερο διήγημα που διαβάζω από το The King in Yellow μετά το The Yellow Sign. Εκείνο μου είχε θυμίσει την ιστορία του Αδάμ και της Εύας ως εικόνα μιας γνώσης που, αν την αποκτήσεις, δεν υπάρχει γυρισμός. Το The Mask μου έφερε στο μυαλό άλλους μύθους, όπως του Πυγμαλίωνα ή της Νιόβης, όπου η ομορφιά και η επιθυμία οδηγούν σε μια μορφή απολίθωσης (κυριολεκτικής ή μη).

Το διήγημα είναι πιο ήρεμο και χτίζεται σιγά-σιγά, χωρίς ιδιαίτερη ένταση ή τρόμο. Είναι μικρό, κάπως παράξενο και έχει μια γλυκιά μελαγχολία που μου έμεινε. Το βρήκα ένα κλικ κατώτερο από το The Yellow Sign, αλλά μου άρεσε.

⭐ 3.5

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite of Chambers’s The King In Yellow stories. It doesn’t necessarily require having read the others to enjoy.

Spoilers start here:

Oddly enough, this story has little connection to the “The King In Yellow” play. It’s just mentioned briefly, but its mere presence casts an ominous light over the rest of the story. Although, if you’ve previously read The Repairer Of Reputations, the Fates statue may have already done that.

[Cramped Snow · Rating 2 out of 5]

The worst part with stories like these, is that they're just 'fine', you know? It's just a nothing burger.
The only reason I won't forget about it as fast is because the videogame 'Signalis' heavily references the King in Yellow. Signalis is not the first to reference these short stories nor will it be the last.

Anyway fuck this entire review and just play Signalis if you like survival horror videogames.

[William Cherico · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's very interesting how Chambers shifts focus from The Repairer of Reputations while staying firmly in the realms of the gothic. This one feels very openly about how unhealthy the decadent movement was for relationships and people in general, and while its love triangle dynamics are decent and the marble-alchemy is really cool I don't know how special this story is as a standalone work.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Between 3 to 3.5. Enjoyed it, but there wasn't as much unsettling spookiness to it. It does make me want to reread it again to see if I can see hints of madness though, so reread factor bumps up it's score.

[Matthew Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very quick and enjoyable read, for what it is it's near perfection. Great prose, red herrings that leave some awesome mystery. The ending was extremely abrupt but wildly intriguing. Only wish it where longer and we got some more creep factor for a Lovecraftian horror.

[Sharini · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for me.

While I liked the gothic setting, the relationships and the tale of grief, there were some parts that could have been more: The King in Yellow tie-backs, and a true hint of horror of the unknown other than grief.

[Chris Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tragic story of the death of a genius young artist, of unrequited love, of friendship, and a strange chemical concoction which turns anything into stone.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A disturbing little tale that leaves a gothic chill in its wake

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐

[Björn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes! Liked this one.

[Markakaraci Alakakaci]

Likas mad confusing

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a chiseler and white fragility.

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

weird, short story, by a master

[Taurus Londoño · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overhyped.

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roméo et Juliette avec en sous main le roi en jaune, pas ma nouvelle préférée honnêtement.

[Dalia]

Not as scary as firstbut i still love. Peak literature

[johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

super också 👏

[Richard Wills · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the end, I was left with more questions than answers. Undoubtedly, I will return to this story at some time in the future to try to see if I can find answers to some of them.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like it more, but the story just feels meaningless and very uninteresting. With "The Repairer of Reputations", I was at least fascinated by the vagueness around the story. But I couldn't care less for any of the characters here. Some things happened and some others were hinted at but all in all, I did not care for any of it, really.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romeo and juliet

[Alvaro_atm92 · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, the best tale in the King In Yellow collection. It is more a romantic story than a horror one... until the end. I love that one of the characters is mentioned in the previous tale, "The Repairer of Reputations", this is the story of one of the artists mentioned there. And wow, the ending is one of the best I have seen... never a happy ending was that dramatic and horrifying.

[michau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ciekawa historia. Znowu wątek romantyczny połączony z tragedią i weird fiction. Biel, żywe rzeźby, posągi, przyjaźnie, tajemnice. Nic dodać nic ująć.

[Stefany Sánchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Un final bastante encantador y trágico, pero realmente inesperado y al menos a mi me erizó jajsjs mi favorito de lo que he leído del autor.