Though her books don’t fall within my favorite niche of horror, I respect the hell out of Hailey Piper’s writing. The stories might not end up being personally beloved, but I can still recognize how effectively they will squarely hit for readers with experiences and appreciations that I just simply lack.
As many people should quickly recognize, Piper’s new novel draws its title (and at least a portion of its inspiration and plot/framework) from Robert W. Chambers’ classic story of a cursed book/play The King in Yellow. That classic has been referenced countless times, from other horror writers to True Detective to The Dead Milkmen, punk band from my homeland area of Philly. Piper’s novel also owes debt to Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Inhabitant of Carcosa,” which Chambers incorporated into his work. The King in Yellow also has elements that put it into taxonomical relation to Lovecraft. And this makes perfect sense for something for a cosmic horror author like Piper to draw from.
Piper’s A Game in Yellow may not have a focus on any abundance of monstrous elder Gods or eldritch horrors within it, but the existential vibe of the novel with its characters’ anxieties, depression, and bleak failures in full view entrench it in that cosmic horror vein. But Piper combines this with an intimate look at a trio of characters and their relationships with one another. And that element is blended into the narrative with strongly and responsibly written erotica.
Adding an erotic flair to horror, including cosmic horror, is not anything new, and certainly features in the film side of the genre that I’m more familiar with. While there may be a kink or non-standard edge to that erotica, the portrayals that I’ve seen still most often take an obvious heterosexual approach to the sex, dominated by the male gaze.
Not surprisingly to anyone who is familiar with her or her writing, Hailey Piper writes that erotica element of BDSM and other sexual practices extremely well, in a way that avoids cliches and simplification to focus on the dynamics these bring to a relationship, and what past experiences and psychology they can come from. While I personally could not relate to much of the character’s conditions, thoughts, or desires, Piper allows the reader to discover these attributes and connect to the characters far more effectively than I’ve seen other authors manage with characters who share a ton with who I am.
As the blurb to the novel mentions, Piper really combines the cosmic horror with the erotica and the psychology in an effective way that enhances all three aspects. The foundation of being able to pull that off, however, I think comes from her homing in on the core three characters whose personalities overtook Piper’s brain as she came up with this novel. The plot is there, largely something expected from the novel’s genre and inspiration. But it is the brilliantly drawn characters and their exceptionally written interactions that will really hold the reader’s interest.
The plot as summarized by the publisher’s blurb:
A kink-fixated couple, Carmen and Blanca, have been in a rut. That is until Blanca discovers the enigmatic Smoke in an under-street drug den, who holds pages to a strange play, The King in Yellow. Read too much, and you’ll fall into madness. But read just a little and pull back, and it gives you the adrenaline rush of survivor’s euphoria, leading Carmen to fall into a game of lust at a nightmare’s edge.
As the line blurs between the world Carmen knows and the one that she visits after reading from the play, she begins to desire more time in this other world no matter what horrors she brings back with her.
Carmen, Blanca, and Smoke each vividly come alive in the pages of the novel, each with their own particularities, shockingly wholly realized and playing off one another in interesting ways.
Though I found the characters compelling and interesting, and came to understand a little bit better representatives of people different from myself, the novel faltered for me in that I couldn’t ultimately fully connect with them as familiarity would do. And the inevitable hopelessness of cosmic horror represents a depression I’ve just never really felt. And that’s okay. Not every book has to be for me, and my ‘job’ is to connect people with good reads regardless. And I know there are readers out there looking for well written works (horror or not) that speaks directly to their experiences in a way that is familiar to them.
If you like cosmic horror, or are looking to discover more of it… If you like richly drawn characters and are looking for something that is not hetero- or cis-focused… Or if you just want to expand your reading of experiences beyond ones close to your own history and being… I recommend entering into A Game in Yellow, or checking out other works from Piper.
