Here's a pretty obscure book from 1895 that recently shot to the top of the Amazon best sellers list thanks to some references made to it by the new HBO hit, True Detective. I've watched a bit of that show and loved what I've seen, but it's a real slow mover and one I've let build up a backlog on the DVR. I figured I'd give this book a shot before returning, and while it's yet to be determined if reading this will positively influence my enjoyment of the show going forward, I'm pretty comfortable calling the book itself totally skippable.
It's a collection of ten short stories, of which the first four are eerie and macabre and share in common the idea of a fictional play called "The King in Yellow." The story is thus a "book within a book" except that we the readers never do get to find out what's written in "The King in Yellow;" only that it makes people go crazy with its absolute eye-opening truths. I got various mileage out of the different stories, and I give the book and its author credit for getting out in front of the "weird horror" genre - apparently this book and its mythos were a direct influence on H. P. Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos - but at the end of the day nothing ever grabbed me or pulled me in. So, yeah. The King in Yellow wasn't a total dud, and it may prove helpful in my enjoyment of True Detective, but it's far from essential reading. Worth the five bucks and three hours I spent on it, sure. Check it out if you want!
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