One of the best examples of Victorian-gothic horror, The King in Yellow is a collection of ten inter-related stories and a sequence of poems that explore the despair and madness that afflict characters who come into contact with the forbidden play. Published in 1895, The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers has inspired other horror-genre writers including H. P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt, Robert E. Howard, and other classic weird fiction writers.