The Yellow Sign ***
The Repairer of Reputations *****
The Demoiselle d'Ys ***
The Mask ***
In the Court of the Dragon ****
The Maker of Moons **
A Pleasant Evening **
The Messenger **
The Key to Grief **
The Harbor-Master *
In Quest of the Dingue *
Is the Ux Extinct? * ( )

I've heard Chambers described as "hysterical romanticism," and it's an accurate phrase for a couple of reasons. First it's implied periodization makes sense; Chambers' fiction fits neatly in between that of the nineteenth century romantics and twentieth century pulp, whose writers like Lovecraft or Howard cited Chambers as an influence. The phrase is also applicable to his writing. His stories deal with the idea that you can feel emotions so powerfully or that art can affect you so profoundly that it influences reality.
Only about half of the short stories in this collection are horror, there's also handful of poems, a short medieval time travel story, and vignettes about young artists in Paris. The connecting line between them, other than the play that drives everyone insane, is this overwrought emotionality. It's sometimes just too much. Lovecraft bolstered his hysterical romanticism by tying it with his own bleak neuroses and the uncompromising enormity of science. Howard created a character who delightfully spits in the face of hysteria. Without these tricks Chambers' prose comes across as a little silly.
I'll end on some positives. The Repairer of Reputations is the best of these, the only story where Chambers isn't afraid to develop a frightening and bizarre premise. Also the little snippets of the play The King in Yellow that we get are wonderfully creepy. ( )

This book was written back in 1895 and while I've read lots of stuff from this era, there was something about the style of Robert William Chambers that I struggled with. It took me awhile to get used to the style, but once I did I found the stories fairly interesting They took place in either New York or Paris and it was delightful to see the outdated ways in which the men of these cities courted woman at the turn of the 19th century. ( )

Five stars for the "King in Yellow" stories; minus one for the comparatively dull Paris stories. ( )

Outside of Poe and Lovecraft, "The Yellow Sign" may be the most influential horror story ever written. It is the bridge between Gothic, Decadent, and Modern in horror. Unfortunately Chambers killed a lot of other trees. One of the most popular authors of his time, he is almost forgotten except for the slim little volume known as "The King In Yellow." He wrote mainly unreadable sappy romances and unadventurous adventures. Lovecraft agonized over Chamber's wastage of his talent.

The Yellow Sign is probably THE one story I never get tired of re-reading. The rest of the stories in this book are good but not masterpieces. ( )