"The King in Yellow, a series of vaguely connected short stories having as a background a monstrous and suppressed book whose perusal brings fright, madness, and spectral tragedy, really achieves notable heights of cosmic fear in spite of uneven interest and a somewhat trivial and affected cultivation of the Gallic studio atmosphere made popular by Du Maurier's Trilby. The most powerful of its tales, perhaps, is The Yellow Sign, in which is introduced a silent and terrible churchyard watchman with a face like a puffy grave-worm's." - from the Introduction by H.P. Lovecraft.

The central cycle of macabre stories, set in a then-future 1920's Paris and America, center on a fictitious play "The King in Yellow" the reading of which drives one mad. The color yellow was an evocative element of the decadent movement-typified by the notorious literary journal The Yellow Book and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper." Chambers work bridges the gap between the decadent literature of the 19th century and the fantastic pulp fiction of the twentieth. Chambers can be viewed as a direct pre-cursor to H.P. Lovecraft and his particular style of fantastic horror. Lovecraft first read The King in Yellow in the late 1920's. The stories were highly influential on the younger writer-later incorporating references to them in his own works such as "The Call of Cthulhu" and his "History of the Necronomicon."

Obra-prima de Robert W. Chambers, O Rei de Amarelo é uma coletânea de contos de terror fantástico publicada originalmente em 1895 e considerada um marco do gênero. Influenciou diversas gerações de escritores, de H. P. Lovecraft a Neil Gaiman, Stephen King e, mais recentemente, o escritor, produtor e roteirista Nic Pizzolatto, criador da série investigativa True Detective, exibida pela HBO, cujo mistério central faz referência ao obscuro Rei de Amarelo.

O título da coletânea faz alusão a um livro dentro do livro — mais precisamente, a uma peça teatral fictícia — e a seu personagem central, uma figura sobrenatural cuja existência extrapola as páginas. A peça “O Rei de Amarelo” é mencionada em quatro dos contos, mas pouco se conhece de seu conteúdo. É certo apenas que o texto, em dois atos, leva o leitor à loucura, condenando sua alma à perdição. Um risco a que alguns aceitam se submeter, dado o caráter único da obra, um misto irresistível de beleza e decadência.

A edição de O Rei de Amarelo trazida ao Brasil pela Intrínseca reúne, além dos contos do Rei, seis outros que alternam entre o sobrenatural e a realidade, em épocas e geografias diferentes. A introdução e as notas do jornalista e escritor Carlos Orsi, um dos autores publicados na antologia americana Rehearsals of Oblivion, clássico tributo a Robert W. Chambers, ajudarão novos leitores a mergulhar na bem construída mitologia do autor.

The room was already dark. The high roofs opposite cut off what little remained of the December daylight. The girl drew her chair nearer the window, and choosing a large needle, threaded it, knotting the thread over her fingers. Then she smoothed the baby garment across her knees, and bending, bit off the thread and drew the smaller needle from where it rested in the hem. When she had brushed away the stray threads and bits of lace, she laid it again over her knees caressingly. Then she slipped the threaded needle from her corsage and passed it through a button, but as the button spun down the thread, her hand faltered, the thread snapped, and the button rolled across the floor. She raised her head.

In "The Street of the Four Winds", Robert W. Chambers tells the haunting story of an artist living in the bohemian quarter of Paris. One night, the artist encounters a stray cat that leads him to an unexpected discovery. This seemingly simple event unfolds into a darkly atmospheric exploration of isolation, mystery, and the supernatural as the artist is drawn deeper into the strange events surrounding him, culminating in a chilling and eerie conclusion.

The utter desolation of the scene began to have its effect; I sat down to face the situation and, if possible, recall to mind some landmark which might aid me in extricating myself from my present position. If I could only find the ocean again all would be clear, for I knew one could see the island of Groix from the cliffs. I laid down my gun, and kneeling behind a rock lighted a pipe. Then I looked at my watch. It was nearly four o'clock. I might have wandered far from Kerselec since daybreak.

"One night last winter I was lying in bed thinking about nothing at all in particular. I had been posing for you and I was tired out, yet it seemed impossible for me to sleep. I heard the bells in the city ring ten, eleven, and midnight. I must have fallen asleep about midnight because I don't remember hearing the bells after that. It seemed to me that I had scarcely closed my eyes when I dreamed that something impelled me to go to the window. I rose, and raising the sash, leaned out. Twenty-fifth Street was deserted as far as I could see. I began to be afraid; everything outside seemed so--so black and uncomfortable.

"Oh, thou who burn'st in heart for those who burn In Hell, whose fires thyself shall feed in turn; How long be crying-'Mercy on them.' God! Why, who art thou to teach and He to learn?" In the Church of St. Barnabe vespers were over; the clergy left the altar; the little choir-boys flocked across the chancel and settled in the stalls. A Suisse in rich uniform marched down the south aisle, sounding his staff at every fourth step on the stone pavement; behind him came that eloquent preacher and good man, Monseigneur C--.

Although I knew nothing of chemistry, I listened fascinated. He picked up an Easter lily which Genevieve had brought that morning from Notre Dame, and dropped it into the basin. Instantly the liquid lost its crystalline clearness. For a second the lily was enveloped in a milk-white foam, which disappeared, leaving the fluid opalescent. Changing tints of orange and crimson played over the surface, and then what seemed to be a ray of pure sunlight struck through from the bottom where the lily was resting. At the same instant he plunged his hand into the basin and drew out the flower. "There is no danger," he explained, "if you choose the right moment. That golden ray is the signal.""

Master of modern occultism, Lon Milo DuQuette, (author of "Enochian Vision Magick" and "The Magick of Aleister Crowley") introduces the newest Weiser Books Collection - "The Magical Antiquarian Curiosity Shoppe." Culled from material long unavailable to the general public, DuQuette curates this essential new digital library with the eye of a scholar and the insight of an initiate.

Part I - "The Repairer of Reputations"

The year is 1895, and you've just picked up a new book describing life in New York City 25 years in the future - a future United States that is prosperous, and the Federal government has evolved into a mild military dictatorship; a future where suicide is institutionalized, and publicly funded "Lethal Chambers" are constructed in all large cities to humanely terminate the existence of those sad and unproductive citizens for whom life has become intolerable, a future in which two very determined conspirators will risk everything to place the rightful King of America on his throne. Sound like a disturbing vision? The madness has begun. This is the book that inspired H.P. Lovecraft."

An alternative cover edition of 9781840226447 is available here

With an Introduction by David Stuart Davies.

'I read it and reread it, and wept and laughed and trembled with horror which at all times assails me yet'.

With its strange, imaginative blend of horror, science fiction, romance and lyrical prose, Robert W. Chambers' The King in Yellow is a classic masterpiece of weird fiction. This series of vaguely connected stories is linked by the presence of a monstrous and suppressed book which brings fright, madness and spectral tragedy to all those who read it. An air of futility and doom pervade these pages like a sweet insidious poison. Dare you read it?

This collection has been called the most important book in American supernatural fiction between Poe and the moderns. H. P. Lovecraft, creator of the famed Cthulu mythos, whose own fiction was greatly influenced by this book stated that The King in Yellow achieves notable heights of cosmic fear.

The King in Yellow

The Repairer of Reputations --

The Mask --

In the Court of the Dragon --

The Yellow Sign

Anticipada por notables precedentes (Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, R. W. Chambers, A. Machen, Algernon Blackwood) y enriquecida posteriormente por otros escritores, corresponde sin embargo a HOWARD PHILLIPS LOVECRAFT (1890-1937) el papel más importante en la invención de LOS MITOS DE CTHULHU, ciclo de narraciones de horror cósmico ambientadas en mundos primigenios de caos y espanto. El presente volumen, prologado y seleccionado por Rafael Llopis, ofrece una completa panorámica del desarrollo de los mitos y reúne las piezas fundamentales en la configuración de ese singular e inquietante universo que remueve en el interior del lector profundos terrores atávicos.

"Días de ocio en el país del Yann" (Iddle Days on the Yann, 1910), de Lord Dunsany
"Un habitante de Carcosa" (An Inhabitant of Carcosa, 1886), de Ambrose Bierce
"El signo amarillo" (The Yellow Sign 1895), de Robert W. Chambers
"Vinum Sabbati" (The White Powder, 1895), de Arthur Machen
"El Wendigo" (The Wendigo, 1910), de Algernon Blackwood
"La maldición que cayó sobre Sarnath" (The Doom that Came to Sarnath, 1920), de H.P. Lovecraft
"El ceremonial" (The Festival, 1925), de H.P. Lovecraft
"Los Perros de Tíndalos" (The Hounds of Tindalos, 1929), de Frank Belknap Long
"La Sombra sobre Innsmouth" (The Shadow over Innsmouth, 1936), de H.P. Lovecraft
"La piedra negra" (The Black Stone, 1931), de Robert E. Howard
"Estirpe de la cripta" (The Nameless Offspring, 1932), de Clark Asthon Smith
"En la noche de los tiempos" (The Shadow out of Time, 1936), de H.P. Lovecraft
"Reliquia de un mundo olvidado" (Out of the Eons, 1933), de Hazel Heald
"Las ratas del cementerio" (The Graveyard Rats, 1936), de Henry Kuttner
"El vampiro estelar" (The Shambler from the Stars, 1935), de Robert Bloch
"El Morador de las Tinieblas" (The Haunter of the Dark, 1936), de H.P. Lovecraft
"La Hoya de las Brujas" (Witches" Hollow, 1962), de H.P. Lovecraft y August Derleth
"El Sello de R"lyeh" (The Seal of R"lyeh, 1957), de August Derleth
"La sombra que huyó del chapitel" (The Shadow from the Steeple, 1950), de Robert Bloch
"La iglesia de High Street" (The Church of High Street, 1962), de J. Ramsey Campbell
"Con la técnica de Lovecraft" (Amb la tècnica de Lovecraft, 1956), de Juan Perucho

Anticipada por notables precedentes, como Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, R. W. Chambers, A. Machen o Algernon Blackwood, y enriquecida posteriormente por otros escritores, corresponde sin embargo a Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) el papel más importante en la invención de LOS MITOS DE CTHULHU, ciclo de narraciones de horror cósmico ambientadas en mundos primigenios de caos y espanto. El presente volumen, prologado y seleccionado por Rafael Llopis, ofrece una completa panorámica del desarrollo de los mitos y reúne las piezas fundamentales en la configuración de ese singular e inquietante universo que remueve en el interior del lector profundos terrores atávicos.