A good collection of tales set in the universe created by Robert W. Chambers in his Yellow King stories. A with those, the mood is often creepy and disturbing, hinting at the backstory rather than detailing it. There are scenes of visceral horror - notably in the very effective war story The Blood on the Walls of the Fortress, which could be a psychological parable set in the First or Second World War, and The Dog, where a student under the oppressive Castaigne regime discovers a creature in his cellar that leads him deeper into revolutionary action.



Full Bleed and Distressing Notifications are creepily Tales of the Unexpected-like, and Gaps is thoroughly disturbing. Pendulous is barely a genre story at all, with a single event putting it within the mythos and A Boat Full of Popes is a very effective attack on gay conversion therapy by way of alien infiltration. The only misfire is the final story, Fuck You You're Not Getting Out of This Car which is a single raging monologue I didn't get at all.



If you know the original stories, or enjoy the likes of Thomas Ligotti, I highly recommend giving these a read. ( )