Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

The King in Yellow is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published by F. Tennyson Neely in 1895.

The book contains nine short stories and a sequence of poems; while the first stories belong to the genres of supernatural horror and weird fiction,

The King in Yellow progressively transitions towards a more light-hearted tone, ending with romantic stories devoid of horror or supernatural elements. The horror stories are highly esteemed, and it has been described by critics as a classic in the field of the supernatural.

It has been called "an absolute masterpiece, probably the single greatest book of weird fantasy written in this country between the death of Poe and the rise of Lovecraft", and it was an influence on Lovecraft himself.

This seems like a great collection of stories! Anyone thinking out this one?

I've read these stories already and they are entertaining. Happy reading to everyone reading them for the first time.

I might reread these later in the month.

"for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask."

Interesting quote Book Nerd.

Black Stars hang in the heavens...

I just finished the first story, The Repairer of Reputations. Creepy, creepy, creepy... As a native New Yorker, I spent some time looking up some of the landmarks referred to in the story which added to the interest. Particularly interesting is Chambers prophesying the Mothball Fleet in the Hudson River! I hadn't thought about that for years! As to the story, I'll leave that to the readers!

Interesting how discussions or noted places will bring us to searching the internet for answers!!!

I may have to check this out. When I first saw the authors name I took a step back. The Preppy Killer?! A blast from the past. Of course it’s not him. Karen mentions that at least one story focuses on NYC landmarks so I’ll probably read it and enjoy it for that alone.

I liked all of these stories. Chambers is a gifted storyteller. I thought it was weird though how the stories shifted from the supernatural stuff at the beginning to Bohemian Paris through the second half. This was quite a jump in tone. Altogether it seemed to me Chambers is addressing the barriers that obstruct the consummation of romantic relationships. I talk about that more in my review, but that conflict was present in almost all of the stories.

I just finished this - it's been a crazy summer that it took me this long to read 149 pages! I don't enjoy short stories, by and large. They always end in the middle and I can rarely figure out who, what, why or where. I did enjoy the first few mawkish tales maybe through The Street of the Four Winds, excluding The Prophets' Paradise which I just didn't get. Some of the stories mentioned The King in Yellow, some didn't, also confusing. The last few stories seemed endless and didn't really appeal except as a snapshot of a period of time in Paris. I agree with John though; all of the stories seemed to deal with unrequited or damaged love relationships of one sort or another. It was interesting how the same characters and different perspectives kept cropping up in some of the stories. Not sure I "got it" but it was an interesting read.

I think there are a lot of different editions of this book that just throw in whatever Chambers stories they can. Mine didn't have The Street of the Four Winds or The Prophets' Paradise but it did have three weird "searching for extinct animals" stories at the end.
Yes, my favorites were the ones that directlt refer to The King in Yellow.

John Dishwasher will you post a link for your review. Be interesting to see!

I've just finished a re-read of the very creepy "The Yellow Sign".

Lesle wrote: "John Dishwasher will you post a link for your review. Be interesting to see!"

Sorry for the late response. Last couple of weeks were madness for me. :))

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thank you John! I always enjoy reading your reviews!!