The King In Yellow by Robert W. Chambers (1966 Ace Books edition)

For those unfamiliar with it this is a book of short stories some of which revolve around a play called The King In Yellow. It's also famous for being an inspiration of a writer named H. P. Lovecraft.

I debated where to put these nits. Why? Because some of the stories are set 25 years after the date of publication (1895), & therefore could be considered Science Fiction. (Admittedly there is no hard & fast rule for what is & is not SF.)

The Repairer Of Reputations
The predictions for the year 1920 state that America has recently had a war with Germany.
This was the only correct prediction I could find.

Of course the cause of the war was Germany's invasion of the Samoan Islands & Germany landed troops on US soil, so it's a flawed prediction.

Also predicted was a consolidation of power in the Executive Branch. The banning of foreign-born Jews. Mention of a Secretary of Fine Arts. A play called The King In Yellow has been driving people mad. The legalization of suicide & the creation of Lethal Centers for those who wish to kill themselves.

The Lethal Centers interested me because of later fiction that utilizes similar things, The City Of Lead And Gold's Place of Happy Release, A Taste Of Armageddon's disintegration booths & Futurama's Suicide Booths.
If it were possible to trace back authorial inspiration would this book be the source of those?

Most references refer to The King In Yellow in the story as a book, which is technically true, but the book itself refers to The King In Yellow as a play, which would seem to have some problems.
Yes, some people do read plays as books, but a play is intended to be performed on a stage & yet some of the descriptions of what is in the play would seem to be tough to do on a stage.
So far all references to the play in the book refer to reading it, not performing it. Has the meaning of the word play changed since 1895? Did it once mean what we now call a book?

The book's 1920 also lacks technical innovations made in reality. The Calvary still rides on horseback, the description of some of the ships sounds Civil Waresque & the west still sounds somewhat untamed.

The Mask
Not sure what the title is supposed to refer to in the story.

Unlike the first story where The King In Yellow played an important part, here you could remove all references to it & the story would stand on its own.

NNANJAO. The main character starts to read The King In Yellow, then puts it down. Apparently not everyone is driven mad by the book, or maybe he just didn't read enough? (He did have some dreams with TKIY imagery, but that's it.) Also interesting that it's his friend's book & the friend doesn't seem mad.

In The Court Of The Dragon
The protaganist is apparently human, but the ending makes it seem like he was something more by indicating that he had done something to Death himself. Could have been a little clearer on what exactly was going on.

The Yellow Sign
NANJAO. This story makes reference to the previous story & the protagonist appeared in The Mask, tying the stories closer together.

Page 96. "the skirt of her costume, curiously wrought with arabesques in silver, fell to her angles."
I think the author meant ankles, not angles.

The introduction said that H.P. Lovecraft felt this was the most powerful story in the collection.
Welllllll, the main part of the story is about average. The part which is really effective is the ending itself which has a really nice punch. Sadly the last part of the story also creates the ICBN for the story.
Near the end the protagonist mentions that he began writing this story after the attack & that he is writing it on his deathbed.
That's a hell of a story to write as you lay dying. No rough draft, lots of fancy frilly adjectives. Most people who are dying would probably rush the story to get the most important parts out, but not this guy.

The Street Of Our Lady Of The Fields
Page 194. "The she stole a look".
Then, not The.