The American Robert W. Chambers was a pioneer writer of weird, fantasy and supernatural tales, whose seminal collection of stories ‘The King in Yellow’ has had a lasting influence on the horror genre. 
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
… It is well known how the book spread like an infectious disease, from city to city, from continent to continent, barred out here, confiscated there, denounced by Press and pulpit, censured by even the most advanced of literary anarchists… It could not be judged by any known standard, yet, although it was acknowledged that the supreme note of art had been struck in The King in Yellow, all felt that human nature could not bear the strain, nor thrive on the words in which the essence of purest poison lurked.
Read More
Interesting! I have to say I had a "Jim and Huck underwater" moment, reading your synopsis.
No doubt about it--I have to read these.
Pretty much as expected going into 2024, Nicola Griffith's Menewood was my pick for best book read in that year.…
Sounds intriguing!
[…] (Fantasy Literature): Horror authority Jack Sullivan, writing in the Jones & Newman book, tells us, regarding […]