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The King in Yellow / The Mystery of Choice
THE KING IN YELLOW
Robert W. Chambers was influenced by Ambrose Bierce and hailed by H. P. Lovecraft. He inspired such authors as Clark Ashton Smith, A. Merritt and Sax Rohmer. His works have been anthologized over the years in horror collections and his stories praised by such editors as Lin Carter, Hugh Lamb, Sam Moskowitz and Stephen Jones. Inspired by the Decadents, Chambers wrote about poisonings of the soul--taintings of the spirit--generating what Lovecraft referred to as "cosmic fear."
It started with The King in Yellow, a collection of vaguely connected stories tied together by a forbidden book, the reading of which induces madness in its readers. Written in 1895 while the author was a young artist in Paris, these stories exude a true Gothic sense, steeped in darkness and decay.
THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE
The Mystery of Choice from 1897 collects further tales of suspense and unease, also loosely connected by its characters and mood. But unlike the foreboding gloom that pervades the stories of The King in Yellow, the supernatural tales in The Mystery of Choice are lighter in tone, set more in the outside world--the world of nature--and offer an interesting contrast to the earlier collection.
This volume forms part one of "The Complete Weird Fiction of Robert W. Chambers."
Robert W. Chambers was influenced by Ambrose Bierce and hailed by H. P. Lovecraft. He inspired such authors as Clark Ashton Smith, A. Merritt and Sax Rohmer. His works have been anthologized over the years in horror collections and his stories praised by such editors as Lin Carter, Hugh Lamb, Sam Moskowitz and Stephen Jones. Inspired by the Decadents, Chambers wrote about poisonings of the soul--taintings of the spirit--generating what Lovecraft referred to as "cosmic fear."
It started with The King in Yellow, a collection of vaguely connected stories tied together by a forbidden book, the reading of which induces madness in its readers. Written in 1895 while the author was a young artist in Paris, these stories exude a true Gothic sense, steeped in darkness and decay.
THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE
The Mystery of Choice from 1897 collects further tales of suspense and unease, also loosely connected by its characters and mood. But unlike the foreboding gloom that pervades the stories of The King in Yellow, the supernatural tales in The Mystery of Choice are lighter in tone, set more in the outside world--the world of nature--and offer an interesting contrast to the earlier collection.
This volume forms part one of "The Complete Weird Fiction of Robert W. Chambers."
244 pages, Paperback
Published July 27, 2015
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50 people want to read
About the author
Robert W. Chambers
1,145 books581 followersRobert 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.
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.
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May 27, 2024Includes the stories:
THE KING IN YELLOW - Note: The entire collection The King in Yellow is not included in this edition, only the "weird fiction" stories from that collection are included
The Repairer of Reputations - 4/5 - a man descends into madness...or does he?
The Mask - 4/5 - artists in love
In the Court of the Dragon - 4/5 - a man is followed home after leaving church services
The Yellow Sign - 4/5 - a creepy watchman inspires nightmares
The Demoiselle d'Ys - 4/5 - love in another age
The Prophets' Paradise -
The Street of the Four Winds -
THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE -
THE KING IN YELLOW - Note: The entire collection The King in Yellow is not included in this edition, only the "weird fiction" stories from that collection are included
The Repairer of Reputations - 4/5 - a man descends into madness...or does he?
The Mask - 4/5 - artists in love
In the Court of the Dragon - 4/5 - a man is followed home after leaving church services
The Yellow Sign - 4/5 - a creepy watchman inspires nightmares
The Demoiselle d'Ys - 4/5 - love in another age
The Prophets' Paradise -
The Street of the Four Winds -
THE MYSTERY OF CHOICE -
July 16, 2023
The King in Yellow is a fantastic collection of spooky stories set in Art Nouveau era Paris and New York, with occasional stops in rural Brittany. They are influenced by the Hastur/Carcosa mythos from Ambrose Bierce, and then influence the cosmic mythos of HP Lovecraft. The dialog been characters is excellent as well as the vivid descriptions of city life and natural surroundings. This makes Chambers more approachable than Lovecraft in this respect. The this continues with the stories from the Mystery of Choice. The first half of the Mystery of Choice are interconnected stories taking place in the small Brittany town of St. Gildas with a supernatural horror element. In the second half ate two stories ("the white shadow", and "the key to grief") that take inspiration from "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Bierce, though I would say Bierce does it better. The final story "A Matter of Interest" is a goofy sci Fi story (with romance!) involving dinosaurs on a long island beach, and probably shouldn't have been included in the collection of supernatural stories.
The best stories in here are The Repairer of Reputations, The Yellow Sign and The Messenger. Gothic horror is a strong influence here, as are other movements from Chambers' day like the symbolists and the impressionists.
The best stories in here are The Repairer of Reputations, The Yellow Sign and The Messenger. Gothic horror is a strong influence here, as are other movements from Chambers' day like the symbolists and the impressionists.
December 2, 2021
Maybe like a 2.5 stars if I’m feeling generous.
The King in Yellow: I…don’t understand how this is such influential work, I’ve got to be honest. Only the first 4 out of the ten original stories were about the titular play and even then one of the four didn’t really match the others or make any sense. The other 6 stories seemed loosely connected to some characters of the others but they were all strange romance stories. Yeah, ultimately I’m not sure how the vague first four inspired so many other thriller/horror stories but okay. I’ll concede that the first of the four and the last were the closest to what I thought this collection would be, they were definitely strange and a bit unsettling, but beyond that I don’t see how this has gone so far as to seemingly traumatize people like the introduction suggests.
The Mystery of Choice: Once again, the first three followed one story line and then the rest had no real connections. Again, I liked the first three and fourth wasn’t too bad, but man I had to drag myself through the last bit.
All in all, I wish this guy had stuck with the two major storylines instead of weird (sometimes predatory sounding) romances. Was not for me overall but I can say I’ve read it so…
The King in Yellow: I…don’t understand how this is such influential work, I’ve got to be honest. Only the first 4 out of the ten original stories were about the titular play and even then one of the four didn’t really match the others or make any sense. The other 6 stories seemed loosely connected to some characters of the others but they were all strange romance stories. Yeah, ultimately I’m not sure how the vague first four inspired so many other thriller/horror stories but okay. I’ll concede that the first of the four and the last were the closest to what I thought this collection would be, they were definitely strange and a bit unsettling, but beyond that I don’t see how this has gone so far as to seemingly traumatize people like the introduction suggests.
The Mystery of Choice: Once again, the first three followed one story line and then the rest had no real connections. Again, I liked the first three and fourth wasn’t too bad, but man I had to drag myself through the last bit.
All in all, I wish this guy had stuck with the two major storylines instead of weird (sometimes predatory sounding) romances. Was not for me overall but I can say I’ve read it so…
September 20, 2025
(THIS REVIEW IS ORIGINALLY FROM STORYGRAPH, FROM 29TH JANUARY 2024.)
When I began this book, I had bought it from the King In Yellow section of stories. Some of them were very good, too. The Court of the Dragon, The Yellow Sign, The Mask, and The Demoiselle d'Ys - were all great in separate ways.
However, personally, I enjoyed RWC's Mystery of Choice collection as a whole to be stronger and more enjoyable a read. Especially The Purple Emperor, The Messenger, and The White Shadow. Something about how they were written and told stood out and captured me more than the King In Yellow.
I understand as well that some stories were left absent from the collection of King in Yellow stories present in this book. I've heard they're quite basic and seem to oddly have no obvious connection to the playscript of The King in Yellow which ties his stories together.
Nonetheless, RWC is a very talented writer, and his imagery is gorgeous. His romance-writing shows as the many relationships shown are tender, enjoyable, and sweet.
When I began this book, I had bought it from the King In Yellow section of stories. Some of them were very good, too. The Court of the Dragon, The Yellow Sign, The Mask, and The Demoiselle d'Ys - were all great in separate ways.
However, personally, I enjoyed RWC's Mystery of Choice collection as a whole to be stronger and more enjoyable a read. Especially The Purple Emperor, The Messenger, and The White Shadow. Something about how they were written and told stood out and captured me more than the King In Yellow.
I understand as well that some stories were left absent from the collection of King in Yellow stories present in this book. I've heard they're quite basic and seem to oddly have no obvious connection to the playscript of The King in Yellow which ties his stories together.
Nonetheless, RWC is a very talented writer, and his imagery is gorgeous. His romance-writing shows as the many relationships shown are tender, enjoyable, and sweet.
December 18, 2020
A volume that combines two volumes of Robert W. Chambers fiction. The first half reprints the King in Yellow and it's related stories but omits "The Street of the First Shell ", "The Street of Our Lady of the Fields and" Rue Barrée" which were printed in the original collection. The Mystery of Choice is reprinted in full, it gives a glimpse into Chambers later fiction after he had largely abandoned weird fiction in favour of a more realistic and popular style
January 20, 2024
The King in Yellow stories are absolutely amazing, the writing is superb, full of unreliable narrators, quite spooky and plot twists. I only managed to read the first tale in The Mystery of Choice and I did not like it, it was drawn-out and felt a bit pointless. I marked it so high because the first half is truly excellent and I highly recommend it
November 11, 2023
Came for the Lovecraft nerdy connections.
Stayed for the charming romantic literature.
Seriously, the King in Yellow is very original and interesting, but some of the tales of Mystery of Choice were extremely well written and very enjoyable.
Stayed for the charming romantic literature.
Seriously, the King in Yellow is very original and interesting, but some of the tales of Mystery of Choice were extremely well written and very enjoyable.
December 11, 2025
A print-on-demand version of Chambers' masterpiece The King in Yellow, presented with the first publication's original illustrations. The format leaves a lot to be desired, but is an accessible means to read this work, which is always a good thing.
January 9, 2021
Lovecraft has his moments. Chambers, unfortunately, does not.
February 24, 2024
Not what you might expect but extremely well written, and certainly subverts your expectations. The first two stories are my favorites for sure.
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