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Title: The King in Yellow Tales
Series: The King in Yellow Anthology #3
Editor: Joseph Pulver
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 249 DNF/125
Words: 77.5K DNF/39K
| Synopsis: |
From the Publisher
Collected within this substantial volume of madness, murder, and spectral tragedy are tales of Carcosa, the characters that inhabit the KIY “Play”, and Chambers’ cosmic horror. Pulver’s tales adhere to Chambers’ core ideas and themes, and they retain all the mystery of Chambers originals. Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. has been acclaimed by many notable editors, writers, and reviewers, as the contemporary heir to Robert W. Chambers’ “King in Yellow”. Have you seen the Yellow Sign?
“‘The King In Yellow’ reigns over the labyrinthine crossroads between the grand indifference of the cosmic Outside, and the inner wasteland of the tormented mind, so it’s no surprise to find Joe Pulver’s saturnine face so frequently behind the Pallid Mask. Joe plies the fathomless depths of existential nightmare breathing music and poetry, and brings back strangely beautiful salvage. That he has so lovingly and deeply explored Chambers’ bizarre pocket universe without destroying the merest scintilla of its mystery is ample testament to his painfully sharp craftsmanship and terrible wisdom.
| My Thoughts: |
It turns out this was a collection of madness in the form of frenetic poetry and fragments of prose. I thought I could make it through, surviving on the prose but at the 50% mark I simply couldn’t take any more.
I was bored, confused and feeling like someone was grinding broken glass into my earlobes. Not the feeling I want when reading a book. Heck, not the feeling I want, ever.
After the previous book, this was doubly disappointing.
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
Does seem weird that this would be such a big drop-off after you liked the last one so much. Different editor though?
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Yep, different editor. Makes a world of difference 😦
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Who’s saturnine face WOULD it have been a surprise to find so frequently behind the Pallid Mask?
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Meg Ryan. Probably would have made this mess better too!
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Is the correct answer.
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For some reason this went into the spam folder. I think Akismet might be on to our rioting and looting plan….
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I’m trying to erase that mental image of grinding glass against earlobes, since I find it more unsettling than a multi-tentacled monster from the darkest depths! 😉
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And now you know how this book felt 😦
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I will be sure to give this one a pass. Have you read anything by William Hope Hodgson?
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I do not think so. The name doesn’t sound familiar and when I checked calibre for that name, nothing popped up. Did he write King in Yellow stuff?
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He wrote early cosmic horror. Best know for House on the Boarder lands and The Boats of the Glen Carrig.
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I shall have to check him out then. Thanks.
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Good to know…I like the King in Yellow mythos but the quality of stories for it seems to vary wildly (even more than for the related Cthulhu mythos)
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I am having a VERY hard time finding KiY books to be honest. I wish there was a place that listed them all…
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They are hard to find. Have you read “The Hastur Cycle”? I can’t remember if it was good, but it’s one of the few collections I’m aware of.
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I had even heard of it. Thanks for the tip!
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Wow, getting to fifty % while feeling your ears bleeding is quite a feat…
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I really kept hoping it would get better, even a tiny bit. And it never did 😦
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Good that you can now cut ties with it and be on your merry way
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Onto other sources of cosmic horror! 😀
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Yeah, just gotta find more KiY stuff 🙂
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