Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Got caught up a bit and forgot to start this yesterday but here it is with the usual boilerplate:

The rules:

1) All standard forum rules apply
2) One book a month
3) Three weeks to read with one week of Discussion
4) After the last week is up we move on to the next book.
5) No spoilers till the discussion week than go nuts.

Book List - Author - (week discussing it)

The King In Yellow - Robert W. Chambers - (January 25-31)
The Terror - Dan Simmons - (February 22 - 28)
The Phoenix and the Sword - Robert Howard - (March 25-31)
Kraken - China Mellville - (April 24-30)
The Sacket Brand - Lious L'Amour - (May 25-31)
The Rattlesnake Season - Larry D. Sweazy - (June 24-30)
I, the Jury - Mickey Spilane - (July 25-31)
The Zombie Room - RD Ronald - (August 25-31)
Redshirts - John Scazi - (September 24-30)
Soon I will Be Invincible - Austin Grossman - (October 25-31)
Emperor Mollusk vesrsus the Sinister Brain - A. Lee Martinez - (November 24-30)

I will let others start the conversation each week so take it away.

Well, I read read more than just the short stories tht related to The King in Yellow specifically.

Those stories were focus quite a bit about ex-pat American painters in Paris running into love with the local ladies. Typically some country bumpkin. It make sme wonder about why so many of the stories are romance stories typical of the time, a few macabre stories dealing with insanity and the fantastical, and some more of a war time drama. I guess in 1895 they didn;t have genre conventions yet.

Of all the non-macabre stories I found the "First Shell on The Street" to be the most intersting. I think my interest primarily came from the fact that it was set in the Franco-Prussian war, not a setting or war you hear much about. The description of the Sortie was both anti-climatic and chillingly real.

The thing about the King in Yellow short stories is the personal perspective of the writer. In the romantic ones he is the wide eyed lad that is amazed and impressed by the city lights (and Paris was at the time the only city of Lights). The wrinting is such that he really can bring the characters to life.
It just reads so much as a real experience.
Well, a absinthe fuelled one for the horror ones any way.
I agree with Easy E in that his writing is "chilingly" real. Just the right word i think.

I was pretty ill for a bit and fell behind on the reading. I have the King In Yellow just sitting there staring at me, but never got to finish it. I have some catching up to do on other things but will have it finished over the weekend. Not really how I wanted to start but It is my fault for setting it off long enough for illness to kick in.

To be frank, I started reading it shortly after you posted the idea thread and could not get into it. I love the idea of a Dakka book club but this title didn't really grab me.

 Ouze wrote:
To be frank, I started reading it shortly after you posted the idea thread and could not get into it. I love the idea of a Dakka book club but this title didn't really grab me.

It is the seminal nature of it, not the fact that it is THE BEST THING EVER WRITTEN, that got it on the list.

 Ouze wrote:
To be frank, I started reading it shortly after you posted the idea thread and could not get into it. I love the idea of a Dakka book club but this title didn't really grab me.

That happened to me, too. And next month's doesn't interest me, either.

I ran out of steam about halfway through; the Prophets' Paradise specifically. I skim read this way back when I was first getting into Lovecraft and didn't love it, but I gave it another chance at the price point.

I really liked The Repairer of Reputations and enjoyed In the Court of the Dragon, the rest didn't tickle my fancy.


The Repairer of Reputations was frankly so good that it really made me like the rest of the stuff less because it wasn't as awesome.

I'm about 3/4 the way through and dig some of it. I think I'm missing the point of this book though. These are stories on how people that read this book go mad or how it affects them rather?
Like I said some are cool, others not so much

I need to peruse it again, as I've been reading other things in the meantime, but one thing that struck me is that it's always a female interest that appears to lead the main character astray, at least, in the stories that feature one. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but there's the man who turns his back on getting home for the woman he just met until he "dies", there's the guy who is horrified by the King in Yellow until he receives the item that is supposed to be the Sign from the woman who didn't appear to know what it is. There's the knowledge of the woman bearing the child of another that appears to cause the man (Trent, I think it was) to go to war.

I will review and comment more (and perhaps amend this post) this weekend.

I read it about a year ago and didn't really care for it.

I was googling "yellow king theories", about True Detective and thought the book would be great reference material, as The Yellow King, Carcosa and other things are constantly referenced in that series. None of these short stories really grabbed me.