The Lure of Madness
Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed, it’s time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
—Robert W. Chambers, “The Mask”
“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
—Oscar Wilde
There’s something seductive about madness, isn’t there?
Culturally, we have a macabre attraction to stories that give evil a beguiling persona, that ascribe ominous importance to color, or which feature mysterious strangers who serve as omens of death and destruction. We also seem to have a dark pull towards stories of madness, the contradictory idea that we are most truthful when we are wearing a mask, or where characters are irresistibly drawn to otherworldly regions of their own psyche—perhaps indulging in these stories of madness is how we as a culture choose to cope with the ever-changing world around us, and surrender ourselves to our powerlessness over that world.
In 1895, at the time of the initial publication of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, the world was full of terrifying change—the art and literature of the time reflected both the social mores and cultural fears born of the changing world. Symbolism reigned in Victorian literature, seductive evil was one of the primary motifs in art of the Fin de siècle, the Gothic horror of Edgar Allan Poe was established enough to have influenced a new generation of authors, and the 19th century was coming to a close. The eerie romanticism of Chambers’ stories is one that is iconic of the era of its creation, and this weird blend of the macabre and the irresistible is arguably what makes the first four stories of The King in Yellow a classic in the canon of supernatural literature, the main text from which the subgenre of cosmic horror was born.
Most of us find The King in Yellow through the oeuvre of H.P. Lovecraft, or, more recently, the HBO series True Detective. Think of it as the cosmic horror equivalent of discovering Brian Eno’s Here Come the Warm Jets after listening to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. By this I mean that the artist who “did it first” isn’t always the one who brings it to a larger audience—and that’s okay, because once the audience is there, the author has their rapt attention. So what is it about these four stories that makes their intertwined narrative one that is enduring, and not a relic of a lost time in literature? Cultural isolation, the destructive nature of art, the idea that we are only able to tell the truth when we wear a mask, and the idea that the madness comes from within are all powerful themes which the contributors to this issue of NonBinary Review chose to examine within the world of The King in Yellow.
In this issue, you’ll read fusion pieces that marry the styles of cosmic horror with hard-boiled noir fiction, with early 20th century feminist fiction, and with contemporary Southern Gothic fiction—you’ll read poems that feel timeless, experience art which captures the tension of the narrative’s sense of isolation, and stories where the creeping madness feels urgent, encroaching upon your mind, word by line by paragraph. In this issue, we’re also really proud to bring you more diversity than is generally seen in the horror genre—this issue features a broad cross-section of authors, with diversity and gender equality influencing both the tone and tenor of the multi-textured stories they add to the King in Yellow universe.
So what is it about Carcosa that’s so alluring, that it unlocks the madness inside of a person—what is it about the King in Yellow, that even knowing the risks and the evil, these characters cannot resist the urge to discover the secrets of the Yellow Sign? If we assume that horror stories are the indulgences of authors in the things that culturally frighten us, then we can reasonably assume that one of the qualities that makes the stories of The King in Yellow as relevant in 2015 as they were in 1895 is that the world around us is in a constant state of flux, and we have less power than we like to believe to exert our influence over it. This changing world is full of real-life madness—this is the subject material of many of the stories in this issue of NonBinary Review. If this world isolates us and leads us to feel powerless against its forces, Carcosa, then, is its dark twin, a reflection of our world. Except we choose Carcosa, we voluntarily embrace the madness within ourselves, and we manifest that madness as the King in Yellow, who allows us to feel powerful in our powerlessness. Seductive, isn’t it, this madness?
We invite you to read this collection, and to revel in the eerie vignettes this collection of authors brings you. We hope that you find yourself turning on every light in your house as you read every twist on the suite of stories and feeling profoundly uneasy in empty rooms. We want you to be haunted by the ways these authors interpret the source texts, leaving their own indelible mark on the stories that will linger in your mind for days after you finish the last line. As you prepare to jump into this collection of strange stories from talented new authors, I’d like to leave you with these lines from “Cassilda’s Song”, Act 1, Scene 2:
Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.
Embrace the madness within. Have you seen the Yellow Sign?
Allie Marini

The King in Yellow (cover)
MANDEM is the art name for Maize Arendsee, an art instructor and Studio Art MFA student at Florida State University, and her life-partner, Moco Steinman-Arendsee. MANDEM’s artwork is described as an exercise in categorical violations, simulation, and narrative. With an academic background in classical mythology, gender studies, and critical theory, MANDEM works across media and materials (painting, assemblage/collage, film, sculpture, and book-making), intentionally destabilizing genre in terms of content and media. MANDEM’s artwork has been widely exhibited in art galleries and museums, and it has been featured in over 100 publications.

Claws That Pierce the Amber Veil
Glynn has written over a hundred short stories and edited for Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu fiction line and Dark Regions Press—Eldritch Chrome, Steampunk Cthulhu, Atomic Age Cthulhu, and World War Cthulhu.

Floats With Grace, Hidden in Green, Enforced, Paper Masks
Eleanor was the CIWEM Young Environmental Photographer of The Year. Her photography has been published in British Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

Performance of The King in Yellow
Tantra’s fiction appears in Women Writing the Weird I and II, Strange Little Girls, Triangulation: Parch, Zymbol, Holdfast, Surreal South. She inhabits Berkeley.

The Yellowed Press of an Ancient Power
Carina wrote travel articles and books about the Southwest. These days, she spends her time crafting twisted fairy tales and cross-pollinated mythic fiction. She is currently at work on the first novel in her five-book Elements series.

Sign Bearer
Dmitry’s drawings and sculptures have been exhibited at the National Arts Club (New York), BrechtForum (New York), ISE Cultural Foundation (New York), and the State Russian Museum (Saint Petersburg).

Hate, Courage and Blood
Richard is the author of forty fantasy and horror books including Blind God’s Bluff, The Reaver, and Dissolution. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies.

Fungal Night, Uninteresting
Kelda is a new born entity. Her work has appeared in the Lovecraft E-zine, Journal of Unlikely Acceptances, Dreams from the Witch House and in the Bram Stoker Award winning After Death anthology.

Strength of My Fathers
Randall has published in Stupefying Stories and the anthology Songs of the Great Cycle, by Long Count Press. He has won honorable mention in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest.

Sacrifice in Hali
Amelia is a computer science student in Minnesota. She has a story in Innsmouth Free Press’s anthology She Walks in Shadows.

The Yellow Script
Robert is a writer, theatrical director, and performer. He’s published in Duende, Carcinogenic Poetry, and Dead Snakes.

Bloodied Nail Beds
Deborah writes for Massage and Aromatherapy.

Of Kings, Queens, and Knaves
David finished his first novel (querying), and is working on a second. He published “Madness is in the Eye of the Beholder” with Morning Rain Publishing, winning 3rd place in a “Freaky Fiction” contest.

Return of the Son
Marilyn is a technical editor in Silicon Valley. Her short stories have appeared in publications such as Blotterature and Marathon Review.

This Yellow Balloon
Caroline has two poetry chapbooks, Where the Street Ends and My Mother’s Artwork, and has published poetry in DuPage Valley Review, Chicago Tribune, The Quotable, and others.

Preacher Man
Linda is a musician and choir director working in Richmond, Va. She has taken poetry classes at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Studio School and has a poem posted on the VMFA Blog.

Shards: A Drama in Four Acts
Dominique’s non-fiction has been featured in Eye-Ai Magazine, a magazine about Japanese culture for expatriates living abroad. Her fiction has been featured in The Horror Zine.

Cassilda
David’s novellas, The Prophetess, ShadowCity, Strange Brew, and The Last Minstrel, and his novel, The Sorceress of the Northern Seas, are all available through Amazon.

The Queen in Yellow
Christine is a New Englander by birth, a New Yorker by choice, and an Austinite by happenstance. Her debut novel, Wake Up, Maggie, can be found on Amazon.

The King (A Masquerade)
M.W. studied Theatre at Washington State University. He currently lives in Portland, OR.

A Romantic Evening With a Cthulhu Figurine
Kaela has been published in Anthropoid and The Miscellany. She works as the prose editor for Sling Magazine while interning at VIDA: Women in Literary Arts.

An Excerpt From The Professional Donor
Frankie is the author of A.P.C., The Anarchist’s Blac Book of Poetry and The Professional Donor. He is published in Kerouac’s Dog Magazine, Unlikely Stories, Carcinogenic Poetry/Virgogray Press.

A Waking Fever Dream in Yellow
Geoff is a quiet and humble freelance writer and artist that resides in a heavily fortified compound in Savannah, GA. His current graphic novel, The Mick, can be found on Amazon.com and other outlets.

The development of multiple cognitive deficits manifested by both:
Rose has a Creative Writing MFA from the University of British Columbia. Her work can be found in As It Ought to Be and RiverLit, in print in Contemporary Verse 2 and forthcoming in the Mississippi River Anthology, Down a Dark River.

Down Cancer Orchard Way
Konstantine short stories have been published in the AE Canadian Science Fiction Review, Cycatrix Magazine and the Battle Royale Slambook by Haikasoru.

The Next Emperor
L. E. works as a press assistant while trying to get a PhD in Sociology. He writes primarily Sci-Fi, fantasy and horror. His favorite authors are Anne Rice, Lovecraft, King, Gaiman, Clarke, Asimov and Tolkien.

The Pallid Mask
Steph is the author of A Tree Born Crooked. Her short fiction is in Haunted Waters: From the Depths, The Round-Up, and Stephen King’s Contemporary Classics. She lives, writes and teaches in St. Petersburg, Florida.

He Is Coming
James’s stories have appeared in Canopic Jars: Tales of Mummies and Mummification, Dark Hall Press Cosmic Horror Anthology, Alter Egos Vol. 2, and Barbarians of the Red Planet from Rogue Planet Press.

The Traveller
Erica lives in northern New Jersey with her husband and an assortment of pets. She writes, teaches, bakes, runs, and reads many odd things. She has previously been published in Rose Red Review, Cæsura, and Bookends Review.

Interview Excerpted From a Blog Site Dedicated to Supernatural Investigations
Julio hails from Toronto, Canada. His work has been published by Innsmouth Free Press, Acidic Fiction, Tigershark Publishing, The Lovecraft Ezine and Static movement.

The Outcasts of Carcosa
Jon is a Pittsburgh writer that likes to dabble in yellow.

Smoke Signs
Steve is an author and archaeologist living in North Yorkshire and occasionally Munich, Germany. His story “Call Out” has recently been published in the Best Horror Of The Year Anthology 6.

A Song of Chaos and Eternal Night
Nathan’s work has appeared in Calliope Magazine, The Tishman Review, NonBinary Review, North West Words, and others. He is also the author of Junk Mail of the Heart, and The Dog Stops Here.

In the Company of Mr. King
DJ is the person behind Atlantean Publishing, has been published in Dialect Poetry, Memento Mori, Bones, Cyaegha, Carillon, The Pen, Scifaikuest, Tigershark and Anthology 29.

Miasma
Dawn is a short fiction author and editor. She runs a craft business, helps edit Mad Scientist Journal, and tries to find time for writing. She lives in Seattle with her awesome husband (and fellow author), Jeremy Zimmerman.

listen
Hope’s poetry has appeared in The North American Review, Kalyani Magazine, Fjords Literary Journal, Potluck Magazine, Ruminate Magazine, Salamander Journal, Literary Mama, Weave Magazine, Cease Cows, and Split This Rock

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