Carcosa
Encyclopedia
Carcosa is a fictional city in the Ambrose Bierce
short story
"An Inhabitant of Carcosa
" (1891
). In Bierce's story, the ancient and mysterious city is barely described, and is viewed only in hindsight (after its destruction) by a character who once lived there.
Its name may be derived from the medieval city of Carcassonne
in southern France, whose Latin name was "Carcaso".
' book of horror short stories published in 1895
entitled The King in Yellow
. Chambers had read Bierce's work and had also borrowed a few other names (including Hali and Hastur
) from Bierce's work.
In Chambers' stories, and within the apocryphal play (also titled The King in Yellow) which is mentioned several times within them, the city is a mysterious, ancient, and possibly cursed place. The most precise description of its location given is that it said to be located on the shores of Lake Hali in the Hyades
. The descriptions given of it, however, make it clear that it must be located on another planet, or possibly even in another universe.
For instance:
(obliquely described by author Robert W. Chambers
in the anthology of short stories of the same title), the mysterious cities of Alar and Carcosa stand beside the lake. As with Carcosa, it is referenced in the Cthulhu Mythos stories of Lovecraft and the authors who followed him.
The name Hali originated in Ambrose Bierce's "An Inhabitant of Carcosa
" (1891
) in which Hali is the author of a quote which prefaces the story. It is possible that the Hali referred to is the Urdu
poet Maulana Hali
. The narrator of the story implies that the person named Hali is now dead (at least in the timeline of the story).
Several other, nearly undescribed places are alluded to in Chambers' writing, among them Hastur, Yhtill, and Aldebaran. "Aldebaran" may refer to the star Aldebaran
, likely as it is also associated with the mention of the Hyades star cluster, with which it shares space in the night sky. The Yellow Sign
, described as a symbol not of any human script, is supposed to originate from the same place as Carcosa.
One other name associated is "Demhe" and its "cloudy depths" - this has never been explained either by Chambers or any famous pastiche-writer and so we do not know what or who exactly "Demhe" is.
In some reference materials it is implied that the extraterrestrial lake Hali is not in fact composed of water, but of a gas such as air rendered semi-liquid due to the low temperature of its world (or for more inexplicable reasons). August Derleth's system of elemental attributions for the entities of the Mythos associates Hastur
, the inhabitant of Hali, with the element of Air, and this "lake of vapor" may be an attempt to establish the connection.
and his many admirers, became great fans of Chambers' work and incorporated the name of Carcosa into their own stories, set in the Cthulhu Mythos
. Robert W. Chambers
' creation The King in Yellow
and Carcosa have inspired many modern authors, including Karl Edward Wagner
("The River of Night's Dreaming"), Joseph S. Pulver
("Carl Lee & Cassilda"), Lin Carter
, James Blish
, Michael Cisco
("He will be there"), Ann K. Schwader, Robert M. Price
and Galad Elflandsson
.
Joseph S. Pulver
has written nearly 30 tales and poems that are based on and/or include The King in Yellow
, Carcosa, Thale, Cassilda, and other elements like the Court of the Dragon of Robert W. Chambers
. Joseph S. Pulver
is also editing an anthology of all new tales based upon The King in Yellow
. The collection is called "A Season in Carcosa". It will be released in 2012 by Miskatonic River Press.
Marion Zimmer Bradley
also used the name Carcosa for a city on her fictional planet Darkover
. According to her, this usage and the appearance of other distinctive names from Chambers' work dated from her own youthful fascination with "The King in Yellow" and her ambitions to produce her own reconstruction of the play on the basis of the fragments in Chambers' works. Only later did she transform those early fantasy writings into science fiction by relocating them from a parallel earth to a distant world under a red sun.
In the short story "More Light", in which James Blish
presented his version of a complete text of the play The King in Yellow, Carcosa was described as having four singularities: that it appeared overnight, that no one could tell whether it sat upon the waters of Lake Hali or beyond them on the unseen farther shore, that the rising moon
appeared to be in front of the city's towers rather than behind them, and that one knew the city's name to be Carcosa the moment one looked upon it. In Blish's version, Carcosa was created as a city of exile for the King in Yellow, because he was not "king in Aldebaran".
John Tynes
contributed to the mythology of Chambers' Carcosa in a series of novellas, "Broadalbin", "Ambrose", and "Sosostris", and essays in issue 1 of The Unspeakable Oath and in Delta Green
.
Paul Edwin Zimmer
also used Carcosa as the home of Istvan Divega—the great sword master in his Dark Border series, and a powerful race of benevolent beings known as the Hasturs. The series is set in a world where an ancient evil has been fenced in by mystic barriers maintained and watched over by the 'Hasturs'.
David Drake
uses Carcosa as the name of the capital city for the island of Haft in his Lord of the Isles
series. The Yellow King
is also referenced throughout the series and in fact, makes an appearance in Mirror of Worlds.
The album Dim Carcosa by the Belgian metal band Ancient Rites
is named after this city.
In 2002 Rainfall Records released a CD by "The Society of The Yellow Sign" (a name taken from a story by Joseph S. Pulver
). The CD is called The King in Yellow
. It contains spoken word pieces and songs based on Robert W. Chambers
' creations. Mr. Pulver also lends his voice to several recitations on this recording.
In 2008, Geoffrey McKinney published a new book of optional rules for the 1974 edition of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game
entitled Supplement V: Carcosa. Carcosa is the name of the land described in the book, where evil sorcerers enact heinous rituals to summon powers granted by alien gods. Inspired largely by the work of Lovecraft, the book also includes an extract of Chamber's poetry.
A character in the science fiction novel Appleseed by John Clute
laments the destruction of the planet Trencher with a reference to Carcosa: "My heart is breaking. To see advancing the anarch dark, O Trencher! Sad to see you go! Bye-bye, we must surmise. As of now-ish, an Eaten Land thou art, O memorious. God rot. I cannot forget Carcosa, where black stars hang in the heavens. O this is a savage downer."
Another character in the short horror story The Courtyard by Alan Moore
is named Carcosa and it's later revealed to be originally from another planet or dimension.
In Robert Shea
and Robert Anton Wilson
's The Illuminatus! Trilogy
, Carcosa is connected with an ancient civilization in the Gobi Desert
destroyed when the Illuminati
arrived on Earth via flying saucer
s from the planet Vulcan
.
In the stories of August Derleth
and a few others Carcosa is the residence of Hastur
, identified as a Great Old One rather than a location. Occasionally, Hastur will alter reality and merge parts of Earth into Carcosa, usually bringing along unwilling people as well.
, a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was built as the residence of Sir Frank Swettenham, the first British Resident-General of the Federated Malay States
, in 1896-1897. He named it after the city in The King in Yellow.
Joseph S. Pulver
is editing an anthology of all new tales based upon The King in Yellow
. The collection is called "A Season in Carcosa
". It will be released in 2012 by Miskatonic River Press.
specialty publishing
firm formed by Frederick B. Shroyer, a boyhood friend of T. E. Dikty
, and two Los Angeles
science fiction fans
, Russell Hodgkins and Paul Skeeters in 1947. Shroyer had secured a copy of the original newspaper appearance of the novel Edison's Conquest of Mars
by Garrett P. Serviss
which he wished to publish. Shroyer talked Hodgkins and Skeeters into going in on shares to form the publisher which issued the Serviss book in 1947. Dikty offered advice, and William L. Crawford
of F.P.C.I. helped with production and distribution. Carcosa House announced one other book, Enter Ghost: A Study in Weird Fiction, by Sam Russell, but due to slow sales of the Serviss book, it was never published.
Carcosa was a specialty publishing
firm formed by David Drake
, Karl Edward Wagner
, and Jim Groce who were concerned that Arkham House
would cease publication after the death of its founder, August Derleth
. Carcosa was founded in North Carolina
in 1973 and put out four collections of pulp
horror
stories, all edited by Wagner. A fifth collection was planned, Death Stalks the Night
, by Hugh B. Cave
; Lee Brown Coye
was working on illustrating it when he died, causing Carcosa to abandon the project. The book was eventually published by Fedogan & Bremer
. The Carcosa colophon
depicts the silhouette
of a towered city in front of three moons.
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...
short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
"An Inhabitant of Carcosa
An Inhabitant of Carcosa
"An Inhabitant of Carcosa" is a short story by 19th-century journalist, short-story writer and occasional horror-story author, Ambrose Bierce....
" (1891
1891 in literature
The year 1891 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Guy de Maupassant is officially diagnosed as insane.*Tristan Bernard has his first work published in La Revue Blanche....
). In Bierce's story, the ancient and mysterious city is barely described, and is viewed only in hindsight (after its destruction) by a character who once lived there.
Its name may be derived from the medieval city of Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
in southern France, whose Latin name was "Carcaso".
The King in Yellow
The city was later used more extensively in Robert W. ChambersRobert W. Chambers
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
' book of horror short stories published in 1895
1895 in literature
The year 1895 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Carlyle's House in Chelsea opens to the public.* Robert Frost marries Elinor Miriam White.* Ernest Thayer recites his poem, Casey at the Bat, at a Harvard class reunion....
entitled The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
. Chambers had read Bierce's work and had also borrowed a few other names (including Hali and Hastur
Hastur
Hastur is a fictional entity of the Cthulhu Mythos. Hastur first appeared in Ambrose Bierce's short story "Haïta the Shepherd" as a benign god of shepherds. Robert W...
) from Bierce's work.
In Chambers' stories, and within the apocryphal play (also titled The King in Yellow) which is mentioned several times within them, the city is a mysterious, ancient, and possibly cursed place. The most precise description of its location given is that it said to be located on the shores of Lake Hali in the Hyades
Hyades (star cluster)
The Hyades is the nearest open cluster to the Solar System and one of the best-studied of all star clusters. The Hipparcos satellite, the Hubble Space Telescope, and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting have been used to establish a distance to the cluster's center of ~153 ly...
. The descriptions given of it, however, make it clear that it must be located on another planet, or possibly even in another universe.
For instance:
- Along the shore the cloud waves break,
- The twin suns sink behind 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.
- —"Cassilda's Song" in The King in Yellow Act 1, Scene 2
Associated names
Lake Hali is a misty lake found near the city of Hastur. In the fictional play The King in YellowThe King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
(obliquely described by author Robert W. Chambers
Robert W. Chambers
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
in the anthology of short stories of the same title), the mysterious cities of Alar and Carcosa stand beside the lake. As with Carcosa, it is referenced in the Cthulhu Mythos stories of Lovecraft and the authors who followed him.
The name Hali originated in Ambrose Bierce's "An Inhabitant of Carcosa
An Inhabitant of Carcosa
"An Inhabitant of Carcosa" is a short story by 19th-century journalist, short-story writer and occasional horror-story author, Ambrose Bierce....
" (1891
1891 in literature
The year 1891 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Guy de Maupassant is officially diagnosed as insane.*Tristan Bernard has his first work published in La Revue Blanche....
) in which Hali is the author of a quote which prefaces the story. It is possible that the Hali referred to is the Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
poet Maulana Hali
Maulana Hali
Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali was an Urdu poet, and Writer. Hali occupies a special position in the history of Urdu literature. He was a poet, a critic, a teacher, a reformer and an impressive prose-writer...
. The narrator of the story implies that the person named Hali is now dead (at least in the timeline of the story).
Several other, nearly undescribed places are alluded to in Chambers' writing, among them Hastur, Yhtill, and Aldebaran. "Aldebaran" may refer to the star Aldebaran
Aldebaran
Aldebaran is a red giant star located about 65 light years away in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. With an average apparent magnitude of 0.87 it is the brightest star in the constellation and is one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky...
, likely as it is also associated with the mention of the Hyades star cluster, with which it shares space in the night sky. The Yellow Sign
Yellow Sign
The Yellow Sign is a fictional symbol or glyph, first described in Robert Chambers' book of horror short stories The King in Yellow .-The King in Yellow:The King in Yellow never fully describes the shape and purpose of the Yellow Sign...
, described as a symbol not of any human script, is supposed to originate from the same place as Carcosa.
One other name associated is "Demhe" and its "cloudy depths" - this has never been explained either by Chambers or any famous pastiche-writer and so we do not know what or who exactly "Demhe" is.
In some reference materials it is implied that the extraterrestrial lake Hali is not in fact composed of water, but of a gas such as air rendered semi-liquid due to the low temperature of its world (or for more inexplicable reasons). August Derleth's system of elemental attributions for the entities of the Mythos associates Hastur
Hastur
Hastur is a fictional entity of the Cthulhu Mythos. Hastur first appeared in Ambrose Bierce's short story "Haïta the Shepherd" as a benign god of shepherds. Robert W...
, the inhabitant of Hali, with the element of Air, and this "lake of vapor" may be an attempt to establish the connection.
Other appearances
Later writers, including H. P. LovecraftH. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
and his many admirers, became great fans of Chambers' work and incorporated the name of Carcosa into their own stories, set in the Cthulhu Mythos
Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is a shared fictional universe, based on the work of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.The term was first coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent of Lovecraft, who used the name of the creature Cthulhu - a central figure in Lovecraft literature and the focus...
. Robert W. Chambers
Robert W. Chambers
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
' creation The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
and Carcosa have inspired many modern authors, including Karl Edward Wagner
Karl Edward Wagner
Karl Edward Wagner was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into...
("The River of Night's Dreaming"), Joseph S. Pulver
Joseph S. Pulver
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. is an author and poet, much of whose work falls within the horror fiction, noir fiction / hardboiled, and dark fantasy genres...
("Carl Lee & Cassilda"), Lin Carter
Lin Carter
Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
, James Blish
James Blish
James Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling, Jr.-Biography:...
, Michael Cisco
Michael Cisco
Michael Cisco is an American writer and teacher currently living in New York City. He is best known for his first novel, The Divinity Student, winner of the International Horror Guild Award for Best First Novel of 1999....
("He will be there"), Ann K. Schwader, Robert M. Price
Robert M. Price
Robert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, including...
and Galad Elflandsson
Galad Elflandsson
Galad Elflandsson is an Canadian fantasy writer. In the 1980s, Elflandsson was a member of a group of fantasy writers who met at the House of Speculative Fiction bookstore in Ottawa, Canada, which he also managed. Other members of the group included Gordon Derevanchuk, Charles de Lint, Charles...
.
Joseph S. Pulver
Joseph S. Pulver
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. is an author and poet, much of whose work falls within the horror fiction, noir fiction / hardboiled, and dark fantasy genres...
has written nearly 30 tales and poems that are based on and/or include The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
, Carcosa, Thale, Cassilda, and other elements like the Court of the Dragon of Robert W. Chambers
Robert W. Chambers
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
. Joseph S. Pulver
Joseph S. Pulver
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. is an author and poet, much of whose work falls within the horror fiction, noir fiction / hardboiled, and dark fantasy genres...
is also editing an anthology of all new tales based upon The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
. The collection is called "A Season in Carcosa". It will be released in 2012 by Miskatonic River Press.
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series. Many critics have noted a feminist perspective in her writing. Her first child, David R...
also used the name Carcosa for a city on her fictional planet Darkover
Darkover
Darkover is the focus of the Darkover series of science fiction novels and short stories by Marion Zimmer Bradley and others published since 1958. According to the novels, Darkover is the only human-habitable of seven planets orbiting a fictional red giant star called Cottman...
. According to her, this usage and the appearance of other distinctive names from Chambers' work dated from her own youthful fascination with "The King in Yellow" and her ambitions to produce her own reconstruction of the play on the basis of the fragments in Chambers' works. Only later did she transform those early fantasy writings into science fiction by relocating them from a parallel earth to a distant world under a red sun.
In the short story "More Light", in which James Blish
James Blish
James Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling, Jr.-Biography:...
presented his version of a complete text of the play The King in Yellow, Carcosa was described as having four singularities: that it appeared overnight, that no one could tell whether it sat upon the waters of Lake Hali or beyond them on the unseen farther shore, that the rising moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
appeared to be in front of the city's towers rather than behind them, and that one knew the city's name to be Carcosa the moment one looked upon it. In Blish's version, Carcosa was created as a city of exile for the King in Yellow, because he was not "king in Aldebaran".
John Tynes
John tynes
John Tynes is a writer best known for his work on role-playing games such as Unknown Armies, Delta Green, Puppetland, and for his company Tynes Cowan Corporation. Under its imprint Pagan Publishing, Tynes Cowan Corp...
contributed to the mythology of Chambers' Carcosa in a series of novellas, "Broadalbin", "Ambrose", and "Sosostris", and essays in issue 1 of The Unspeakable Oath and in Delta Green
Delta Green
Delta Green is a setting for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game created by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, and John Tynes, aka the Delta Green Partnership, of the Seattle gaming house Pagan Publishing...
.
Paul Edwin Zimmer
Paul Edwin Zimmer
Paul Edwin Zimmer , was a noted poet and author. He was also an accomplished swordsman and founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism...
also used Carcosa as the home of Istvan Divega—the great sword master in his Dark Border series, and a powerful race of benevolent beings known as the Hasturs. The series is set in a world where an ancient evil has been fenced in by mystic barriers maintained and watched over by the 'Hasturs'.
David Drake
David Drake
David Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the premier authors of the military science fiction subgenre.-Biography:...
uses Carcosa as the name of the capital city for the island of Haft in his Lord of the Isles
Lord of the Isles (David Drake)
A series of books by author David Drake. In 1997 Drake began his largest fantasy series, Lord of the Isles, using elements of Sumerian religion and medieval era technology...
series. The Yellow King
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
is also referenced throughout the series and in fact, makes an appearance in Mirror of Worlds.
The album Dim Carcosa by the Belgian metal band Ancient Rites
Ancient Rites
Ancient Rites is a Flemish black metal band formed in 1988. Initially, the line- up consisted of guitar players Johan and Phillip, drummer Stefan, and Gunther Theys on bass and vocals. In 1990 the Dark Ritual demo was released in the underground scene, getting worldwide attention just as black...
is named after this city.
In 2002 Rainfall Records released a CD by "The Society of The Yellow Sign" (a name taken from a story by Joseph S. Pulver
Joseph S. Pulver
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. is an author and poet, much of whose work falls within the horror fiction, noir fiction / hardboiled, and dark fantasy genres...
). The CD is called The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
. It contains spoken word pieces and songs based on Robert W. Chambers
Robert W. Chambers
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer.-Biography:He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to William P. Chambers , a famous lawyer, and Caroline Chambers , a direct descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island...
' creations. Mr. Pulver also lends his voice to several recitations on this recording.
In 2008, Geoffrey McKinney published a new book of optional rules for the 1974 edition of the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
entitled Supplement V: Carcosa. Carcosa is the name of the land described in the book, where evil sorcerers enact heinous rituals to summon powers granted by alien gods. Inspired largely by the work of Lovecraft, the book also includes an extract of Chamber's poetry.
A character in the science fiction novel Appleseed by John Clute
John Clute
John Frederick Clute is a Canadian born author and critic who has lived in Britain since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part of science fiction's history."...
laments the destruction of the planet Trencher with a reference to Carcosa: "My heart is breaking. To see advancing the anarch dark, O Trencher! Sad to see you go! Bye-bye, we must surmise. As of now-ish, an Eaten Land thou art, O memorious. God rot. I cannot forget Carcosa, where black stars hang in the heavens. O this is a savage downer."
Another character in the short horror story The Courtyard by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
is named Carcosa and it's later revealed to be originally from another planet or dimension.
In Robert Shea
Robert Shea
Robert Joseph Shea was an American novelist and former journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy Illuminatus!. It became a cult success and was later turned into a marathon-length stage show put on at the British National Theatre and elsewhere. In...
and Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson , known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...
's The Illuminatus! Trilogy
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex-, and magick-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both...
, Carcosa is connected with an ancient civilization in the Gobi Desert
Gobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
destroyed when the Illuminati
Illuminati
The Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776...
arrived on Earth via flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
s from the planet Vulcan
Vulcan (hypothetical planet)
Vulcan was a small planet proposed to exist in an orbit between Mercury and the Sun. In an attempt to explain peculiarities of Mercury's orbit, in the 19th-century French mathematician Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier hypothesized that they were the result of another planet, which he named Vulcan...
.
In the stories of August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
and a few others Carcosa is the residence of Hastur
Hastur
Hastur is a fictional entity of the Cthulhu Mythos. Hastur first appeared in Ambrose Bierce's short story "Haïta the Shepherd" as a benign god of shepherds. Robert W...
, identified as a Great Old One rather than a location. Occasionally, Hastur will alter reality and merge parts of Earth into Carcosa, usually bringing along unwilling people as well.
Kuala Lumpur
Carcosa Seri NegaraCarcosa Seri Negara
Carcosa Seri Negara is a luxury hotel on two adjacent hills inside the Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur. It is owned by the Malaysian Government. The hotel includes two colonial mansions, one named Carcosa, the other Seri Negara.-Carcosa:...
, a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was built as the residence of Sir Frank Swettenham, the first British Resident-General of the Federated Malay States
Federated Malay States
The Federated Malay States was a federation of four protected states in the Malay Peninsula—Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang—established by the British government in 1895, which lasted until 1946, when they, together with the Straits Settlements and the Unfederated Malay...
, in 1896-1897. He named it after the city in The King in Yellow.
Further Reading
- Rehearsals for Oblivion: Act 1 - Tales of The King in YellowThe King in YellowThe King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
, edited by Peter A. Worthy, Elder Signs PressElder Signs PressElder Signs Press, Inc is a Michigan-based book publisher distributed through the Independent Publishers Group. It specializes in horror, science fiction, and fantasy titles.-History:...
2007 - "Strange Aeons 3" (an issue dedicated to The King in YellowThe King in YellowThe King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
, edited by Rick Tillman and K.L. Young, Autumn 2010 - The Hastur Cycle, edited by Robert M. PriceRobert M. PriceRobert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, including...
, ChaosiumChaosiumChaosium is one of the longer lived publishers of role-playing games still in existence. Founded by Greg Stafford, its first game was actually a wargame, White Bear and Red Moon, which later mutated into Dragon Pass and its sequel, Nomad Gods...
1993 - The Yellow Sign and Other Stories, edited by S.T. Joshi, ChaosiumChaosiumChaosium is one of the longer lived publishers of role-playing games still in existence. Founded by Greg Stafford, its first game was actually a wargame, White Bear and Red Moon, which later mutated into Dragon Pass and its sequel, Nomad Gods...
2004
Joseph S. Pulver
Joseph S. Pulver
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. is an author and poet, much of whose work falls within the horror fiction, noir fiction / hardboiled, and dark fantasy genres...
is editing an anthology of all new tales based upon The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow
The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published in 1895. The stories could be categorized as early horror fiction or Victorian Gothic fiction, but the work also touches on mythology, fantasy, mystery, science fiction and romance...
. The collection is called "A Season in Carcosa
Carcosa
Carcosa is a fictional city in the Ambrose Bierce short story "An Inhabitant of Carcosa" . In Bierce's story, the ancient and mysterious city is barely described, and is viewed only in hindsight by a character who once lived there....
". It will be released in 2012 by Miskatonic River Press.
Carcosa House
Carcosa House was a science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
specialty publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
firm formed by Frederick B. Shroyer, a boyhood friend of T. E. Dikty
T. E. Dikty
Thaddeus Maxim Eugene Dikty was one of the earliest science fiction anthologists.He started the first "Best of the Year" anthologies, called The Best Science Fiction, which ran from 1949 until 1957. In 1953, he married writer Julian May, and in 1957 the two started an editorial service for...
, and two Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
science fiction fans
Science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or "fandom" of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy and in contact with one another based upon that interest...
, Russell Hodgkins and Paul Skeeters in 1947. Shroyer had secured a copy of the original newspaper appearance of the novel Edison's Conquest of Mars
Edison's Conquest of Mars
Edison's Conquest of Mars, by Garrett P. Serviss, is one of the many science fiction novels published in the 19th century. Although science fiction was not at the time thought of as a distinct literary genre, it was a very popular literary form, with almost every fiction magazine regularly...
by Garrett P. Serviss
Garrett P. Serviss
Garrett Putnam Serviss was an astronomer, popularizer of astronomy, and early science fiction writer. Serviss was born in upstate New York, and majored in science at Cornell. He took a law degree at Columbia, but never worked as an attorney...
which he wished to publish. Shroyer talked Hodgkins and Skeeters into going in on shares to form the publisher which issued the Serviss book in 1947. Dikty offered advice, and William L. Crawford
William L. Crawford
William Levi Crawford was an American publisher and editor.-Career:During the autumn of 1933, Crawford proposed to start a non-paying weird fiction magazine, Unusual Stories, which was initiated soon afterward. About the same time he also published the magazine Marvel Tales. For Unusual Stories he...
of F.P.C.I. helped with production and distribution. Carcosa House announced one other book, Enter Ghost: A Study in Weird Fiction, by Sam Russell, but due to slow sales of the Serviss book, it was never published.
Works published by Carcosa House
- Edison's Conquest of MarsEdison's Conquest of MarsEdison's Conquest of Mars, by Garrett P. Serviss, is one of the many science fiction novels published in the 19th century. Although science fiction was not at the time thought of as a distinct literary genre, it was a very popular literary form, with almost every fiction magazine regularly...
, by Garrett P. ServissGarrett P. ServissGarrett Putnam Serviss was an astronomer, popularizer of astronomy, and early science fiction writer. Serviss was born in upstate New York, and majored in science at Cornell. He took a law degree at Columbia, but never worked as an attorney...
(19471947 in literatureThe year 1947 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Diary of Anne Frank is published for the first time.*Jack Kerouac makes the journey which he will later chronicle in his book On the Road....
)
Carcosa
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
firm formed by David Drake
David Drake
David Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the premier authors of the military science fiction subgenre.-Biography:...
, Karl Edward Wagner
Karl Edward Wagner
Karl Edward Wagner was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into...
, and Jim Groce who were concerned that Arkham House
Arkham House
Arkham House is a publishing house specializing in weird fiction founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to preserve in hardcover the best fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham. Arkham House...
would cease publication after the death of its founder, August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
. Carcosa was founded in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
in 1973 and put out four collections of pulp
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
stories, all edited by Wagner. A fifth collection was planned, Death Stalks the Night
Death Stalks the Night
Death Stalks the Night is a collection of fantasy and horror and Mystery short stories by author Hugh B. Cave. It was released in 1995 by Fedogan & Bremer in an edition of 2,000 copies, of which 100 were signed by the author...
, by Hugh B. Cave
Hugh B. Cave
Hugh Barnett Cave was a prolific writer of pulp fiction who also excelled in other genres.-Life:Born in Chester, England, Hugh B. Cave moved during his childhood with his family to Boston, Massachusetts, following the outbreak of World War I...
; Lee Brown Coye
Lee Brown Coye
Lee Brown Coye was an American artist.Coye is probably best remembered for his black-and-white illustrations for pulp magazines and horror fiction, but he produced many other works in other media.-Biography:...
was working on illustrating it when he died, causing Carcosa to abandon the project. The book was eventually published by Fedogan & Bremer
Fedogan & Bremer
Fedogan & Bremer is a weird fiction specialty publishing house founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1985 by Philip Rahman and Dennis Weiler. The name comes from the nicknames of the two founders when they were in college....
. The Carcosa colophon
Colophon (publishing)
In publishing, a colophon is either:* A brief description of publication or production notes relevant to the edition, in modern books usually located at the reverse of the title page, but can also sometimes be located at the end of the book, or...
depicts the silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
of a towered city in front of three moons.
Awards
- 1976, World Fantasy AwardWorld Fantasy AwardThe World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
, Special Award - Non-Professional to Karl Edward WagnerKarl Edward WagnerKarl Edward Wagner was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into...
, David DrakeDavid DrakeDavid Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the premier authors of the military science fiction subgenre.-Biography:...
& Jim Groce for Carcosa.
Works published by Carcosa
- Worse Things WaitingWorse Things WaitingWorse Things Waiting is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by author Manly Wade Wellman. It was released in 1973 by Carcosa in an edition of 2,867 copies, of which 536 pre-ordered copies were signed by the author and artist...
, by Manly Wade WellmanManly Wade WellmanManly Wade Wellman was an American writer. He is best known for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains and for drawing on the native folklore of that region, but he wrote in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, detective...
(19731973 in literatureThe year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
) - Far Lands, Other DaysFar Lands, Other DaysFar Lands, Other Days is a collection of fantasy, horror and mystery short stories by author E. Hoffmann Price. It was released in 1975 by Carcosa in an edition of 2,593 copies of which 615 copies, that were pre-ordered, were signed by the author and artist...
, by E. Hoffmann Price (19751975 in literatureThe year 1975 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* August 12 — with the 20-year time limit stipulated by Thomas Mann at his death having expired, sealed packets containing 32 of the author's notebooks were opened in Zurich, Switzerland.* Writing under the...
) - Murgunstrumm and OthersMurgunstrumm and OthersMurgunstrumm and Others is a collection of horror short stories by author Hugh B. Cave. It was released in 1977 by Carcosa in an edition of 2,578 copies of which the 597 copies, that were pre-ordered, were signed by the author and artist...
, by Hugh B. CaveHugh B. CaveHugh Barnett Cave was a prolific writer of pulp fiction who also excelled in other genres.-Life:Born in Chester, England, Hugh B. Cave moved during his childhood with his family to Boston, Massachusetts, following the outbreak of World War I...
(19771977 in literatureThe year 1977 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Adams begins writing for BBC radio.*V. S. Naipaul declines the offer of a CBE....
) - Lonely VigilsLonely VigilsLonely Vigils is a collection of fantasy, horror and mystery short stories by author Manly Wade Wellman. It was released in 1981 by Carcosa in an edition of 1,548 copies, of which the 566 pre-ordered copies were signed by the author and artist...
, by Manly Wade WellmanManly Wade WellmanManly Wade Wellman was an American writer. He is best known for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains and for drawing on the native folklore of that region, but he wrote in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, detective...
(19811981 in literatureThe year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time...
)