Episode 488 - The Street of the Four Winds

Chris here. YES! I remember. I read it to my youngest!

I always love an episode with a guest (and Ken is one of the best!). This kind of sounds like a back-handed compliment, but it's not meant to be -- your "host" abilities really shine through when you have someone visit the show. Really, I've just been meaning to comment and say I love you guys because, every time I post, I feel like it comes across kinda shitty (like my last one about Chris' digestion...sorry). So, I love you! Fav podcast easy.

I really hope I have some mad money before that gorgeous edition of the King in Yellow with Ken's annotation is sold out. It looks like a very covetable item.

Richard Horsman

Picked up a copy of Ken Hite's annoted King in Yellow at Necronomicon last year, and it is a gem. Also took the opportunity to give Ken a copy of the original 1927 Amazing Stories issue in which the "Colour Out of Space" first appeared as a small thanks for the years of enjoyable reading. (Chris - l dropped off one of my books for your son as well as a small thanks for all the great listening. Chad - I guess I owe you some shwag, otherwise I'm a preferential a-hole).

Which...kinda keeps up with the Poe influence Ken suggested.

Mandy Reznor (She_It)

Hey guys, thanks for making the best podcast OF ALL TIME lol. I've never commented before but finally felt compelled to share my experience with the King in Yellow stuff. I appreciate you and Kenneth addressing the curation of the compilation, and the Thanatos vs. Eros angle has me wanting to actually finish it, as I initially lost interest when the second half failed to yeild any of the juicy insanity nuggets of the first few tales. The best score of my recent book-collecting hobby was finding a 1902 edition of The King in Yellow at a local used bookstore, and the uniquely unsettling vibe of the first four-to-six tales moved me like nothing else before or since. The look and smell of my copy alone seemed to triple the efficacy of the content. I was so hooked that I continued reading super late into the night, getting frustrated that the stories past the half way mark had seemingly nothing to do with the mythos or feel of the first half. As the clock approached 4 am I was literally pulling my hair, desperate to read one more cool sentence before turning in for the night. I was seconds from throwing the p.o.s. across the room when it suddenly struck me: the last half of the book will drive you irreversably insane. Admittedly, the late hour probably didn't help, but I truly felt what you so accurately termed "solipsistic horror", and was totally convinced for all of a second and a half that I'd completely lost my marbles. Turns out I'm just a huge dork. Thanks for reading, hope you got a kick out of that... - Ian

Peepee la Poo

I can't be the only one who wondered why the cat hadn't started eating Silly's face.... Right..?

That is amazing! Thank you for sharing!

I interpreted this story quite differently to you guys. The cat was starving, gaunt, grimy and had chunks taken out of its fur, presumably from living on the streets for an extended period. This, when contrasted against the delicate and beautiful description of the garter as well as the dead woman's apartment being apparently pleasant and well kempt, seems to imply that the cat's owner has been dead for some considerable time. The woman is described as being 'pale', which suggests that she hadn't been dead very long, but a body starts to decompose quickly and there's no way that the cat would have gotten into such a bad state in such a short space of time. There's something that doesn't add up about what Severn is seeing here. There are various hints throughout the story that Severn might be a delusional fantasist. He spends a lot of time alone in poverty, talks to animals and has a habit of seeing things in a more idealised way than they really are; his description of milk as if it were wine and 'water fresh from the wood', which he couldn't possibly have obtained in urban Paris. My take is that the garter sparked Severn to visualise or invent some idealised fantasy woman, which he then projected onto the rotting corpse of the woman he discovered in her apartment. What are the odds that the dead woman should be identical in every detail to the fantasy woman he describes? Again, it doesn't add up. You read this as a tragic romance in which the protagonist implausibly happens to be reunited with a lost love under very odd circumstances. I read this as a delusional recluse breaking into someone's apartment and getting intimate with a rotting corpse.

Two things talk... money and listeners, usually in equal measure, and I'll give credit to Sirs Lackey and Fifer for listening to both.

Ilker Yucel

This isn't related to the story but I was looking into Chambers stuff and I found out that in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, about five hours drive from me here in Singapore, there's a very posh hotel named Seri Carcosa. (Edit- it was a hotel and is now somewhat in limbo. Apparently some Crazy Rich Asians scenes were filmed there). Back in the day it used to be the official residence of the British Resident General of the Federated Malay States and the Resident General who commissioned it, Frank Swettenham appears to have been a Chambers fan. I quote a letter from him explaining the name: SIR, In the April magazine your correspondent in Malaya asks me, in courteous terms, to tell him why I gave the name “Carcosa” to the house that was designed and built for me at Kuala Lumpur by the late Mr. C.E. Spooner, assisted by Mr. A.B. Hubback – as he was in those days – and I have no objection to answer the question even though the simple truth may spoil a number of excellent stories. When this house was finished and occupied I read a book which interested me. It was called “The King in Yellow” and at the beginning of this book there were some verses with a note explaining that they came from Cassilda’s song in “The King in Yellow”, Act 1, Scene 2. Here are two verses: - “Strange is the night where black stars rise, And twin moons circle in the skies, But the stranger still is Lost Carcosa.” “Song of my soul, my voice is dead; Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed Shall dry and die in Lost Carcosa.” I did not call the Resident General’s dwelling “Government House,” or “King’s House,” because neither seemed an appropriate name in Protected States. I did not give it a Malay name, because it was to be the residence of a British Officer; so I took a book name as has often been done before. As to the word Carcosa, I imagine it was the Castle of the King in Yellow, but the book explains nothing about either the place or its occupant. That apparently can be found in the play, to which there are only occasional allusions. Probably it is a word created by the author’s fancy, though it looks like a combination of the Italian words cara and casa and would mean “desirable dwelling,” as indeed I found it. The only curious fact is that this name was prophetic for, as I understand, the house has lost its name and is thus, “Lost Carcosa.” The occupant, I am told, is now styled “F.S,” instead of “R.G.” Yours obediently, FRANK SWETTENHAM 19 April 1936. — Letter to the Editor of “British Malaya”, published May 1936[4]

Chad August 2012 “Well Chris with The Yellow Sign done that is going to be it for this Chambers guy” Chris February 2020 “Hey Chad we have sponsors and Ken Hite ,how about a month of Chambers?”

HEY!!! Is Chambers dissing the semi-older woman?? That’s not right!! LOL!!! We older woman can be fantastic!!