Robert W. Chambers

"I read it and reread it, and wept and laughed and trembled with a horror which at times assails me yet." The supernatural stories that make up Robert W. Chambers' classic piece of weird fiction are tied together by a play that brings madness to all who read it: The King in Yellow. It is a book that draws readers in with an irresistible yet innocent opening act, then drives them insane with the poisonous words of Act 2. It is a book that cannot be suppressed, spreading like a disease from city to city, continent to continent. An influence on writers from H. P. Lovecraft to Neil Gaiman, and a central reference in the hit TV show True Detective, The King in Yellow is one of the most important works of American supernatural fiction. In this dangerously unputdownable graphic novel adaptation, I. N. J. Culbard brings to life a thrilling tale of horror that will make you laugh and cry and tremble with fright… Read at your own risk.

"Eftersom alltihop verkar så osannolikt – så fruktansvärt omöjligt för mig, nu när jag sitter här trygg och vid mina sinnens fulla bruk i mitt bibliotek – tvekar jag över att skriva ned en episod som redan ter sig snarare grotesk än fruktansvärd. Men om den här berättelsen inte skrivs nu vet jag att jag aldrig kommer att våga berätta sanningen – inte av fruktan för att bli gjord till åtlöje, utan för att jag själv snart kommer att tvivla på det jag vet är sant. Emellertid har knappt en månad förflutit sedan jag hörde det dämpade knorrandet från sandbankens underströmmar – knappt mindre än en månad sedan jag med egna ögon såg det vars existens jag börjar betvivla, till och med nu. Och vad gäller hamnkaptenen – och det slag jag nu slår mot de gamla tingens ordning så … Men det skall jag inte tala om nu, eller senare; jag skall försöka berätta historien enkelt och sanningsenligt, och låta mina vänner intyga om min redlighet och förläggarna av denna bok bestyrka den." Ett av H. P. Lovecrafts mästerverk och en av hans mest lästa noveller är "Skuggan över Innsmouth", om den förfallna kuststaden någonstans i Massachusetts, befolkad av fiskmänniskor som dyrkar Dagon och den döde men drömmande Cthulhu. Tillkomsten av Innsmouths amfibiska invånare influerades av två noveller: Robert W. Chambers ”Hamnkaptenen” och Irvin S. Cobbs ”Fiskmannen”, som båda härmed presenteras i en volym, översatta och illustrerade av Jonas Wessel, som också skrivit ett initierat förord till texterna. Denna bok är en fascinerande inblick i det slags litteratur som Lovecraft uppskattade och hämtade inspiration ifrån när han skrev sina säregna berättelser; två noveller om det okända liv som dväljs i de vattenfyllda avgrunder dit ljuset aldrig når.

Robert W. Chambers klassiske novelle-samling 'The King in Yellow' oversat til dansk med titlen 'Kongen i gult'. Indeholder 'Reparat ren af omd mme', 'Masken', 'I dragens g rd', 'Det gule tegn', 'Profeternes paradis'

The Yellow Sign by Robert W. Chambers. When I first saw the watchman his back was toward me. I looked at him indifferently until he went into the church. Late in the afternoon, the day being warm, I raised the window again and leaned out to get a sniff of air. A man was standing in the courtyard of the church, and I noticed him again with as little interest as I had that morning. As I turned, my listless glance included the man below in the churchyard. His face was toward me now, and with a perfectly involuntary movement I bent to see it. At the same moment he raised his head and looked at me. Instantly I thought of a coffn-worm. Whatever it was about the man that repelled me I did not know, but the impression of a plump white grave-worm was so intense and nauseating that I must have shown it in my expression, for he turned his puffy face away with a movement which made me think of a disturbed grub in a chestnut.

The book is named after a fictional play with the same title which recurs as a motif through some of the stories. The first half of the book features highly esteemed weird stories, and the book is described by S. T. Joshi as a classic in the field of the supernatural. There are 10 stories, the first four of which, "The Repairer of Reputations", "The Mask", "In the Court of the Dragon" and "The Yellow Sign", mention The King in Yellow, a forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those who read it. "The Yellow Sign" inspired a film of the same name released in 2001.

The King in Yellow — recently featured in HBO's hit series True Detective — is a classic collection of 10 short stories, the reading of which will curse one to a terrible fate. You have been warned! This edition features an introduction by H. P. Lovecraft. As an added bonus, it includes "An Inhabitant of Carcosa," by Ambrose Bierce, another related story. H. P. Lovecraft wrote: "The King in Yellow, a series of vaguely connected short stories...whose perusal brings fright, madness, and spectral tragedy, really achieves notable heights of cosmis fear..."