Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The King in Yellow

Quite by accident I discovered the new Wikisource site for Wikipedia and like a character in a story I am uncovering lost treasures.

For example, the work of Robert W. Chambers, known to readers of H.P. Lovecraft but unknown to me. His book of short stories, The King In Yellow, was apparently a big influence on Lovecraft and the invention of the Cthulu mythos. I've just started reading "The Repairer of Reputations", and in only a few pages I can see why it would appeal to Lovecraft and those who have followed in his footsteps (including James Blish and others).

Anyway, I feel like one of Lovecraft's characters stumbling on an ancient library of forbidden texts. What monsters, what curses will I unleash? Will I learn blasphemous truths but lose my sanity? Heh. Good times. You've got to love the internet.