What is “To Play the King”?
Captain Cross is invited by a close family friend’s daughter, Cassie, to see if the old books in her attic are worth anything when he stumbles across a copy of The King in Yellow. Meanwhile, a group of crass amateur actors harass Cassie and her roommate while alluding to a dangerous secret the pair share.
Review
Note: I edited the Book of Hastur anthology so I’m a bit biased. Let the reader of this review beware. I liked it enough to print it.
Queerness and H.P. Lovecraft are two things not many people associate. What little we know about the author’s opinions of such was negative but it didn’t stop him from being friends with Samuel Loveman or Robert Barlow despite knowing they were gay. However, the themes of cosmic horror fit well into themes of queer identity and alienation from society that many authors have capitalized on. Authors like Alan Moore explore this theme in PROVIDENCE and others like Ruthanna Emrys draw direct parallels between the persecution of the alien with humanity’s own self-destructive tendencies.
David Hambling remains one of my favorite “New Wave” Cthulhu Mythos authors with his writing in the HARRY STUBBS series as well as the feminist barbarian time travel fantasy WAR OF THE GOD QUEEN. These tend to paint a somewhat different depiction of society in the post-war 1920s where parallels are drawn between the real life occult movements of the time, HPL’s Yog-Sothery, and the cultural changes going on underneath Providence. London as depicted by Hambling is a lot older than Arkham and a lot more cosmopolitan. Which is a roundabout way of saying that you might see non-white and queer people in his stories.
The Book of Hastur‘s “To Play the King” is a novelette that I’ve chosen to highlight for Pride month where Hambling weaves a tale of a lesbian couple, toxic masculinity, and the role of storytelling in creating heroes versus villains. More specifically, it is about a deranged theater kid who will absolutely not take no for an answer from the girl he likes despite her being already in a committed relationship.
Unfortunately, for said woman, it is the 1920s and her potential recourse for warding off an unwanted suitor is limited–especially when her committed relationship is with another woman. Throw in the fact that her stalker is possessed of The King in Yellow, a cursed play invented by Robert Chambers in real life (that the villain is named after), and things are especially dire.
The novelette might have been a story worth telling from the perspective of Cassie and Milly but it is perfectly serviceable from its actual protagonist, Captain Cross. In this case, Cassie’s godfather and a friend of her family that is coming to evaluate some of the young woman’s inherited books. He provides an interesting take on the situation as Cassie and Milly do everything in their power to prevent him from becoming suspicious to what is really going on in their household. Their relationship being as much a secret as any Mythos family hoping to conceal inhuman heritage or witchcraft.
Cross’ outsider perspective provides a fascinating mystery that I think works well for the protagonist to sort through, even as modern readers will get Cassie and Milly’s secret long before Cross himself. How he reacts to events and deals with the dangerous delusions of the short book’s villain is, of course, the story. I think fans looking for a relatively light touch on queerness in Lovecraft’s work and a lighter and softer take on cosmic horror will enjoy this story, though. The Books of Cthulhu have ever been a pulpier, more Dunwich Horror and Charles Dexter Ward-esque take, on the Mythos and this is no exception.
Which means those worried about a “Bury Your Gays” scenario can at least rest easy. It’s not that kind of story.
Thanks!
It’s no coincidence that the story is set in 1928, the publication year of Radclyffe Halls queer and much-banned classic “The Well of Loneliness” which provided both the inspiration for the love triangle and valuable insight into the culture and attitudes of the time., While Radclyffe Hall was wealthy enough to be part of a bohemian set which could ignore social convention, others were forced to conform at least to the appearance of roles which society demanded. So we already have a malignant, unstoppable force threatening the lovers even before someone decides to don the tattered mantel of the King in Yellow. Fortunately they find an ally in the Captain, whose own encounters with cosmic horror have led him to value any human love and stand with them in defiance, however futile, as the shadows of Carcosa loom over their cottage.