Peter A. Worthy

Several quite good stories (and poems!), and the rest are fine, too. Editing/typesetting is a bit rough. I mostly tracked this book down to read the two [[John Scott Tynes]] stories (“Ambrose” and “Broadalbin”), which are part of the broader King in Yellow mythos in [[[Delta Green]]] (as explored in great depth in [Incredible Landscapes]).

From the “Act I” in the title, you might imagine that there was supposed to be a second act, and apparently there was, but it was cancelled for some reason. There’s also a thread through several stories that feature or mention characters from the “Atheling” family and an agent of the play called Wake, suggesting that there was a larger storyline that we might have seen continued in the second volume.… (mehr)

This collection consists of "Tales of the King in Yellow," i.e. instances of the microgenre that I call the jauniste weird, dependent from The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers. The jauniste literary current is now most often regarded as an annex to the Yog-Sothothery (latterly-dubbed "mythos") of H.P. Lovecraft, although it came first: the imaginary text The King in Yellow (a play) served as an inspiration and model for Lovecraft's similarly dreaded and deranging Necronomicon.

Rehearsals for Oblivion is subtitled Act I, and the back cover boasts that it is "the first volume in a comprehensive set," but none further have appeared since 2006, as far as I can determine. It does have company, however. In 2012, the collection A Season in Carcosa was issued under the editorship of Joseph S. Pulver Sr. Both have materially unimpressive softcovers for their first (and so far only) editions. To contrast the contents of the two, editor Peter A. Worthy's earlier book Rehearsals for Oblivion is far more conservative in the way that the stories integrate the Carcosan tropes and themes. There are a handful of short poems as well.

Rehearsals successfully avoids the use of the so-called "Yellow Sign" graphic invented for games in the late 20th century. There is a sort of double-yod symbol at the foot of each selection which may be intended to suggest the "real" sign. Tim Wilson's cover painting is quite beautiful, and the fonts chosen for the texts meet my full approval.

My favorite Rehearsals included the Wilde homage "In Memoriam" by Roger Johnson and Robert M. Price, and Carlos Orsi Martinho's "Machine in Yellow," both of which trace attempts to produce the banned play on stage, in very different contexts. Other notable stories include the noir "Broadalbin" by John Scott Tynes, and "The Adventure of the Yellow Sign," in which G. Warlock Vance supplies a jauniste Sherlock Holmes tale.… (mehr)

Rehearsals for Oblivion, Act One is a book of fiction inspired by the stories of Robert W. Chambers, particularly The King in Yellow. This is a subgenre I have always been fond of, that I have most often encountered in collections of Lovecraftian stories. Purists would argue whether Yellow Sign works should be called mythos fiction (of course most HPL fans like most weird fiction, including Chambers' stuff, so this is where the audience is). HPL admired the Yellow Sign stories and briefly mentioned a few of the names and ideas in some of his own stories, but otherwise was not a big fan of Chambers' books. Most mythos fans know of the ambiguous use of the name Hastur, first as a pastoral spirit by Bierce, then as a place name as well as an entity name by Chambers, before it was co-opted as the Unspeakable name of Cthulhu's half brother by Derleth. Maybe this is why Yellow Sign fiction has ended up part of mythos collections? Compared to Cthulhu stories, the relative volume of Yellow Sign stories has been small in the past, but here we have an entire book of them, most of them new, labeled volume one (I don't know if this promises a second book or it's just being hopefull). Maybe we are on the edge of a Chamber inspired fiction deluge; the enterprising Rainfall Books has started a chapbook magazine called Death Songs of Carcosa devoted to this genre, and have also published some of Chambers' dark poetry and a chapbook by Pulver, Carcosa: Where the Long Shadows Fall. This is just like the way Clark Ashton Smith inspired fiction has previously been inextricably linked to the mythos, but is now finding its own niche in books like The Last Continent and Lost Worlds of Space and Time. Unfortunately I don't think any of Rainfall's titles are available through Amazon. I'm not sure why. Most readers attracted to this title don't need to be introduced to Chambers but those who do can find the Yellow Signs stories online for free. Another good source that also has some previous Yellow Sign fiction (including a great story by Karl Edward Wagner) is The Hastur Cycle from Chaosium, one of the best of the cycle books. I think it might be hard to come to this collection de novo, so new fans really should read the Chambers stories first. The current book is published by Dimension Books, an imprint of Elder Signs Press. I am a bit fuzzy about how this works; I think that Dimension Books is devoted to subgenres of weird fiction that may be of interest to the general horror or Lovecraft fan. Why ever it appears from Dimension Books instead of ESP is irrelevant however. It's a magnificent achievement and we must be grateful whatever the provenance. It is a handsome trade paperback, well made like all ESP titles. Page count of the stories and poems is a very generous 246. I wish there were authors' notes or an editorial introduction to put it all into context. It lists at $19.95 but is discounted to $12.21 on Amazon and available for free shipping if you get $25 worth of stuff. The marvelous cover art is by Tim Wilson, with the cowled, bloody and appropriately obscure face of the King in Yellow arising between the two moons of distant Carcosa. Editing by Peter Worthy was flawless. My only beef with the layout was that across the top of each of the facing pages was the book title: Act One and Rehearsals for Oblivion, rather than the title and author of the story occupying those pages. That wasn't very useful! Here are the contents:

The Curse of the King by Richard L. Tierney -poem
The Dream-Leech by William Laughlin
Ambrose by John Scott Tynes
In Memoriam by Roger Johnson & Robert M. Price
Cordelia's Song from The King in Yellow by Vincent Starrett - poem
Chartreuse by Michael Minnis
Cat With the Hand of a Child by Mark McLaughlin
Lilloth by Susan McAdam
Reflections in Carcosa by Mark Francis - poem
Broadalbin by John Scott Tynes
The Adventure of the Yellow Sign by G. Warlock Vance
Tattered Souls by Ann K. Schwader
What Sad Drum? by Steve Lines - poem
The Machine in Yellow by Carlos Orsi Martinho
The Peace That Will Not Come by Peter A. Worthy
The Purple Emperor by Will Murray
A Line of Questions by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr - poem.
Yellow is the Color of Tomorrow by Ron Shiflet

A quick review of the author list shows many names familiar to mythos fans. Here's another reason Yellow Sign fiction has always been in mythos collections before: the authors are part of the ever widening Lovecraft Circle! Susan McAdam created the artwork for Eldritch Blue, Steve Lines is an editor (maybe editor is too small a word for Mr. Lines!) and author for Rainfall Books and John Scott Tynes has given us much of the Delta Green fiction. Stories by Schwader, Minnis, Worthy, Pulver and Shiflet appear regularly in mythos collections. Robert Price is a veritable mythos maven. Mark McLaughlin gave us Shoggoth Cacciatore, and has storied in Warfear and Lost Worlds of Space and Time, Vol 2. Richard Tierney has published The Gardens of Lucullus and House of the Toad. G. Warlock Vance is relatively newer on the scene with a story in LWOSAT, vol 2 and Lovecraft's Disciples #3. The only other publication by Mark Francis I know is a poem in LWOSAT Vol 2. Vincent Starrett was the recipient of some letters from HPL, I believe, and his poem Cordelia's Song dates to 1938. William Laughlin is a new name for me but I think he's written a few horror stores here and there. I think of Will Murray as more of an HPL scholar than a fiction author, but maybe that's going to change? Carlos Orsi Martinho has a few stories scattered around in mythos magazines. Actually, of all the stories in the current volume I was most intrigued by his, set in Brazil. Just like Kurodahan Press has opened a window into Japanese mythos fiction for us, is it too much to hope that there is a mythos anthology by all Brazilian authors being kicked around out there somewhere?

OK, regarding the poems, they were of somewhat higher quality than the typical mythos-inspired work, but none of them are as evocative as Cassilda's Song by Chambers himself:

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.

The Pulver work that closes the book, however, must be singled out for praise. I am only briefly going to touch on the stories; actually as I progressed through the anthology I began to worry that maybe I was admiring it more than enjoying it. Then I reread the Tynes and the Minnis stories and was reassured. The level of craftsmanship for each of the stories was quite high.

*** Spoilers may follow ***

The typical (if there is a typical) Yellow Sign story relates to someone involved in either a new production of The King in Yellow, or watching a new production of The King in Yellow or reading a newly discovered copy/translation of The King in Yellow. The Dream Leech chronicles the motives of man dedicating his life to destroying copies of a certain play. Ambrose, however, is very different. It follows the life of a resident of Carcosa on his strange and lonely adventures. In Memoriam links The King in Yellow with its contemporary, The Picture of Dorian Gray (tell the truth now, don't you wish your local microbrewery had a lager called Dorian Gray so you could order a pitcher?). I thought it was OK, not too bad. Chartreuse by Minnis may have been my favorite story here; it follows a group of German soldiers in their long retreat from the eastern front (reminding me of the great classic book, The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer). The sniper has a worn out copy of a forgotten play...Mr. Minnis is fiendishly talented! Lilloth is also very original, telling how a child (or is she really a child?) comes to dominate the minds of the young preteens around her. Broadalbin is the story of a drugged out petty crook and murderer who hides out in a hotel with some odd guests, and thinks he does so of his own free will. Gosh, can John Tynes write! I am grateful for the two stories here but I'm greedy! I want more Yellow Sign, more mythos and more Delta Green from him! Maybe Broadalbin one was my favorite story. The Adventure of the Yellow Sign was an OK Sherlock Holmes story. Tattered Souls is one of the few previously published stories here; it was in Schwader's Strange Stars and Alien Shadows. It is a terrific little tale of a counselor who does past lives regressions. The Machine in Yellow is the wonderful Brazilian story, about a new production of The King in Yellow but with a mechanical actor for the king. The Peace That Will Not Come reacquaints us with the same government agents we met in Stacked Actors in Eldritch Blue, who are now investigating some long gone by happenings in an abandoned asylum. Unfortunately, as much as I liked this anthology and respect Mr. Worthy's efforts, this story just left me flat. Unlike most of the other tales here, Yellow is the Color of Tomorrow is set in the same time and world as the original story by Chambers. A bored bourgeois buys a book that has a profound effect on him. This effort by Ron Shiflet was very good indeed. A psychic in The Purple Emperor struggles to prevent the king from entering our world. OK for me, readable, nothing special.

So in summary, a marvelous collection. It is the only new anthology available devoted to fiction inspired by Chambers' masterwork and that makes it self recommending. You also be assured that it is a first class production in every way, with top flight stories by some of the best weird fiction authors writing today. What's more, it is heavily discounted by Amazon, so go for it!… (mehr)