If you’ve been with me a while now, you know I’ve become a fan of The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers. First published in 1895, the important stories in the collection (and the best ones) revolve around a play called The King in Yellow, which is so twisted that reading it can drive you mad (or make you a slave to the titular entity, if you believe he’s real). The collection has proved influential and has been touted as a classic by many horror writers, including HP Lovecraft, as well as being partially integrated into the latter’s Cthulhu Mythos.
I read the collection after hearing about it last year, and since then, I’ve become a little obsessed. I bought my own copy of the collection, I wrote a short story called “The Dedication of the High Priestess” that combines the character and the lore with ballet (this story will be narrated on the Tales to Terrify podcast some time before the year is out), I created some AI art of the figure, and now, I am the King in Yellow. For Halloween, at least.
What do you think? I went with something more simplistic than I originally planned (big white gloves, an ornate crown resembling antlers and tree branches), and boiled it down to a robed figure with a mask. However, that’s basically the things that most people agree upon when it comes to the character’s appearance, so it works. And I even got a photo of me holding my copy of the collection like it’s the play itself. I think that’s a nice touch.
Credit for the photos go to my sister, Adi, by the way. She did a great job taking the photos this afternoon.
Anyway, I look forward to wearing this costume to events like A Night of Horror at the Bexley Public Library and the Local Author Book Fair at the Licking County Library, as well as hopefully to a party or two (my exact plans for Halloween are still up in the air). And even if people don’t know who the character is, this might get them to read the collection, or at least look him up. But hopefully the former, because it makes for some great Halloween reading.
Speaking of which, if you’re looking for something spooky to reading this Halloween season, might I recommend some of my books? I have four books out now and they’ve all been received well. Some readers have even found them quite terrifying. I’ll include a quick summary of the stories and links to check them out below.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope you liked my Halloween costume. But tell me, what are you planning to dress up as this Halloween season? Do you have any big plans? Let’s discuss in the comments below.
Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares and only 43 days till All Hallows Eve!
The Pure World Comes: A maid goes to work for a mad scientist and gets wrapped up in his experiments. Terror ensues. Gothic horror novel. Very Frankenstein meets Crimson Peak.
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, Goodreads, Audible, Chirp, BingeBooks, LIbro.Fm, Storytel, Google Play
Rose: A young woman gets turned into a plant/human hybrid (and that’s just the start of her problems). Fantasy-horror. Very Kafkaesque and has a lot of Japanese mythology mixed in.
Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Audible, B&N
Snake: A serial killer hunts mobsters in New York City. Who is he and why is he killing? Slasher horror. Think John Wick, Taken and Friday the 13th got smooshed into a horror novel.
Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo
The Quiet Game: Five Tales to Chill Your Bones: Five creepy tales from my early writing and publishing career that will entertain as well as scare you. They’re weird, eerie and a lot of fun. You know, like their author.
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo.
Rami Ungar The Writer 
Very creative. I’ve never heard of this book or author. I’ll need to check it out.
No Halloween plans here, but we are going to try making our own candied apples this year. We also grew our own pumpkins. 🙂
Nice! I hope you like the book if you read it. And what are you going to do with the pumpkins? Make Jack-o’-lanterns? Or will you do something else with them? For instance, I bought a pumpkin to make pumpkin wine with.
Not sure yet if we will carve them, or leave them for the animals. They are mainly for decoration–and to make sure we have a sincere pumpkin patch so the Great Pumpkin will visit. (Charlie Brown reference. :-))
I remember the Great Pumpkin. Though honestly, I would prefer it if Jack Skellington paid me a visit. We could scare my enemies together!
I love it! Really striking – both regal and terrifying. I particularly love the photo of you descending the stairs. Something about it embodies the king in yellow for me.
My Halloween plans include releasing a special Halloween novelette and possibly reading The King in Yellow (if I don’t read it before then). I might put costumes on the dragon bats and release them to eat – I mean terrify – the neighbors.
Sounds great! We could talk about the book together! Also, be sure to pass out dragon bat warding sprays to the little trick or treaters so they don’t get devoured.
Yes! We must!
Do I have to hand out the sprays? It’s so fun watching them being eaten.
Yeah, but the cops might saddle you with charges AND clean up duty.
True. Thank you for being the voice of reason.
Someone has to be. 😂
It’s a great costume! We will stay home and hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. But this is our first Halloween here, so we don’t know how many we’ll get… and that’s okay because we can always eat the leftovers.:-)
I hear that! My neighbor tells me we don’t get a lot of trick or treaters either. I’ll still decorate the front yard to be super terrifying and have candy on hand.