The King in Yellow

The first four stories are loosely connected by three main devices:A fictional play in book form entitled The King in YellowA mysterious and malevolent supernatural entity known as The King in YellowAn eerie symbol called The Yellow SignThese stories are macabre in tone centering in keeping with the other tales on characters that are often artists or decadents. The first and fourth stories “The Repairer of Reputations” and “The Yellow Sign” are set in an imagined future 1920s America whereas the second and third stories “The Mask” and “In the Court of the Dragon” are set in Paris. These stories are haunted by the theme: “Have you found the Yellow Sign?”The weird and macabre character gradually fades away during the remaining stories and the last three are written in the romantic fiction style common to Chambers later work. They are all linked to the preceding stories by their Parisian setting and artistic protagonists.