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Starting a reading group for Dakka in the OT section. Generally each month covers a different genre going from an old classic to a modern version. They should all be fairly cheap to get a hold of with a decent amount of time to do so. The King in Yellow and The Phoenix and the Sword are free online. I made this list awhile ago but lost it but found it on a thumb-drive recently so thought it would be fun to start it up.

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)

This is going to be awesome. I'm familiar with some of those books, but I assume that none of them are TOO difficult to read. I mean, I don't want to have to get through and formulate an opinion on something the level of Infinite Jest or Crime and Punishment or something like that in a month's span.

 daedalus wrote:
This is going to be awesome. I'm familiar with some of those books, but I assume that none of them are TOO difficult to read. I mean, I don't want to have to get through and formulate an opinion on something the level of Infinite Jest or Crime and Punishment or something like that in a month's span.

Yeah nothing to deep (as far as I know) as I was mostly going for genre past and present. Some I'm sure people have read, or read some time ago, while others may be new, but they should all be interesting reads.

I also forgot to add that if you have read it before please wait till the discussion to say something about a book or a piece. If someone needs King in Yellow or The Phoenix and the Sword let me know and I can get you a link to the free version, or a LMGTFY link.

yes.
I am want join.

What an awesome idea for a thread, man.

Just an FYI, in addition to whatever sources Ahtman has, the King in Yellow Kindle edition is on Amazon for free. You don't need a kindle, you can use the app to read it on your PC or on your phone or what have you.

Great list. I will try to join in, but I rarely get time to read anymore.

Hmmm this could be fun and get,me motivated into reading more. I'll say I'm in as long as I get the time to read the current book.

 daedalus wrote:
This is going to be awesome. I'm familiar with some of those books, but I assume that none of them are TOO difficult to read. I mean, I don't want to have to get through and formulate an opinion on something the level of Infinite Jest or Crime and Punishment or something like that in a month's span.

Dan Simmons' book will be a chore. He seems to have gotten worse over time, and that book put one of my friends off reading fiction for half a year. Even to this day, you can't say "polar bear" without setting him off on a rant.


Most of the others look good, though, although I'm a bit curious why we aren't covering the introductory books in the series, like Mieville's Perdido Street Station or Martinez's Gil's All-Fright Diner.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I'm a bit curious why we aren't covering the introductory books in the series, like Mieville's Perdido Street Station or Martinez's Gil's All-Fright Diner.

They are, for the most part, supposed to be stand alone texts and not series starters, other than perhaps in a general sense. We aren't selling series here!

For the first book, do we only want to read the 4 macabre stories or all ten stories? Or is there a certain King in Yellow story you had in mind?

Are we cool to bump in and out on this? Some of these I read the synopsis of and don't really care to read, but others look like stuff I'd enjoy.

I am down for at least half of them, so I also want to know if We can just sit out the ones that don't interest us?

I am grudgingly interested.

Easy E wrote:For the first book, do we only want to read the 4 macabre stories or all ten stories? Or is there a certain King in Yellow story you had in mind?

Since there are multiple stories and multiple free versions read whatever version you are using.

cincydooley wrote:Are we cool to bump in and out on this? Some of these I read the synopsis of and don't really care to read, but others look like stuff I'd enjoy.

This isn't school and you aren't required to read every single one. The only thing is that one can, or should, only comment on the ones they do read.

The king in yellow sounds very interesting. I'm cureently trying to get that free one off of amazon.

For a second I thought "The once and future king," by T.H White was on this list. I got excited.

Looks like a great list, I will check out the college library when I get stateside.

Is it time to start discussing The King In Yellow? I have a few thoughts.... for once.

If there are legal free editions of any of these books available, you can publish them in the thread.

Not hooky versions tough.

I still haven't finished it. I'm like half done lol. Been to busy.

Sorry for thread necro but I really liked the idea of this topic and I have managed to get to reading The King In Yellow, at least I am about half way through.

This book published in 1895 is a collection of short stories in a slightly Gothic horror theme linked by the presence of the fictional King in Yellow play which is mentioned frequently as a source of disquiet or inspiration by various characters.

This play clearly has Cthulhoid influences containing mentions of Hastur and the Yellow Sign among other things. I presume that Lovecraft was familiar with this book and incorporated some influences in his work.

The writing style is somewhat old-fashioned but if you can get past this there is an enjoyable and very cheap read to be had.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Sorry for thread necro but I really liked the idea of this topic and I have managed to get to reading The King In Yellow, at least I am about half way through.

This book published in 1895 is a collection of short stories in a slightly Gothic horror theme linked by the presence of the fictional King in Yellow play which is mentioned frequently as a source of disquiet or inspiration by various characters.

This play clearly has Cthulhoid influences containing mentions of Hastur and the Yellow Sign among other things. I presume that Lovecraft was familiar with this book and incorporated some influences in his work.

The writing style is somewhat old-fashioned but if you can get past this there is an enjoyable and very cheap read to be had.

What I thought was even more interesting is over half ot estories inteh book hav enothing to do witht he King in Yellow, or tradiaitonal gothic hooror. They were more romance stories and tragedies. A very broad scope of work really.

I was surprised about that too. Having finished the book today, the second half is completely different to the first half. It seems like two books merged together.

I actually liked the romance stories especially the Franco-Prussian War episode. It made me wonder if the author had been in Paris in the mid to late 19th century and picked up the atmosphere.

Anyway, I have downloaded a few more books from this author, also free on Kindle, and will have a look at them next week.

I am going to skip to China Mieville's Kraken for my next book club read.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
I was surprised about that too. Having finished the book today, the second half is completely different to the first half. It seems like two books merged together.

I actually liked the romance stories especially the Franco-Prussian War episode. It made me wonder if the author had been in Paris in the mid to late 19th century and picked up the atmosphere.

Anyway, I have downloaded a few more books from this author, also free on Kindle, and will have a look at them next week.

I am going to skip to China Mieville's Kraken for my next book club read.

Agreed the story about the "Last Shell on the Street" has very interesting description of a battle.

I cheated on the sequence and did another Robert Chambers book first:

Having read The King in Yellow I thought it would be interesting to look into some others of Robert W Chambers books, many of which are available free on Kindle. The Gay Rebellion appealed for its title though I have to say the contents were not what a modern reader might expect.

The Gay Rebellion is a four part comedy romance set in the early 20th century, at the time that the women's suffrage movement was becoming a big thing in the USA and UK but had not yet succeeded. In other words the pre-WW1 period.

The four chapters chart the fictional progress of the social rebellion of the women. The married ladies go on a sex strike, while the bachelorettes form a kind of eugenic purity league and hunt for genetically ideal husbands, then break out generally in the two countries, terrorising young bachelors, chasing them in the streets, hunting them in the forests and dragging them off for instant matrimony.

In each chapter a young man and a young woman have some contretemps related to this background, and finally find love with each other. At the end of the book, everything is resolved happily for society as a whole.

Written in 1913 this is an old-fashioned but fun read and recommended as a viewpoint into another social era.