View source for Carcosa

{{Short description|Fictional city}}
{{More footnotes|date=August 2007}}
[[File:Carcosa.png|thumb|Abstract interpretation of Carcosa]]
'''Carcosa ([[Help:IPA/English|/kɑːrˈkoʊsə/)]]''' is a fictional city in [[Ambrose Bierce]]'s [[short story]] "[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa]]" (1886). The ancient and mysterious city is barely described and is viewed only in [[hindsight]] (after its destruction) by a character who once lived there.

American writer [[Robert W. Chambers]] borrowed the name "Carcosa" for several of his short stories featured in the 1895 book ''[[The King in Yellow]]'', inspiring generations of authors to similarly use Carcosa in their own works.

==''The King in Yellow''==
The city was later used more extensively in [[Robert W. Chambers]]' book of short stories published in 1895, titled ''[[The King in Yellow]]''. Chambers had read Bierce's work and borrowed a few additional names from his work, including [[#Associated names|Hali]] and [[Hastur]].

In Chambers' stories, and within the apocryphal play titled ''The King in Yellow'', which is mentioned several times within them, the city of Carcosa is a mysterious, ancient, and possibly cursed place. The most precise description of its location is the shores of Lake Hali, either on another planet, or in another universe.

For instance:

{{poemquote|Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink behind the lake,
The shadows lengthen
::In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is
:Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the [[Hyades (mythology)|Hyades]] shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
:Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead,
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
:Lost Carcosa.|"Cassilda's Song" in ''The King in Yellow'', Act 1, Scene 2}}

==Associated names==
''Lake Hali'' is a misty lake found near the city of Hastur. In the fictional play ''The King in Yellow'' (obliquely described by author Robert W. Chambers in the collection of short stories of the same title), the mysterious cities of Alar<ref>"Yhtill" is the name of the city where ''The King in Yellow'' is set. In post-Chambers writings, the word means "stranger" in the language of Alar (a city in the play) and is the name used by the character wearing the "Pallid Mask". (Harms, "Yhtill", ''[[The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana]]'', p. 341;  cf. "The Repairer of Reputations", Chambers)</ref> and Carcosa stand beside the lake. Like Carcosa, it is referenced in the [[Cthulhu Mythos]] stories of [[H. P. Lovecraft]] and the authors who followed him.

The name Hali originated in Ambrose Bierce's "[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa]]" (1886) in which Hali is the author of a quote which prefaces the story. The narrator of the story implies that the person named Hali is now dead (at least in the timeline of the story).

Several other nearly undescribed places are alluded to in Chambers' writing, among them Hastur, Yhtill, and Aldebaran. "Aldebaran" may refer to the star [[Aldebaran]], likely as it is also associated with the mention of the Hyades star cluster, with which it shares space in the night sky. The Yellow Sign, described as a symbol, not of any human script, is supposed to originate from the same place as Carcosa.

One other name associated is "Demhe" and its "cloudy depths" − this has never been explained either by Chambers or any famous pastiche-writer and so it is not known what exactly "Demhe" is.

[[Marion Zimmer Bradley]] (and [[Diana L. Paxson]] since Bradley's death) also used the names "Carcosa", "Hali", "Lake of Hali", and "Hastur" in her ''[[Darkover series|Darkover]]'' series.

==Other appearances==
===Written references===
Later writers, including [[H. P. Lovecraft]] and his many admirers, became admirers of Chambers' work and incorporated the names used by Chambers into their own stories, set in the Cthulhu Mythos. ''The King in Yellow'' and Carcosa have inspired many modern authors, including [[Karl Edward Wagner]] ("The River of Night's Dreaming"), [[Joseph S. Pulver]] ("Carl Lee & Cassilda"), [[Lin Carter]], [[James Blish]], [[Michael Cisco]] ("He Will Be There"), [[Ann K. Schwader]], [[Robert M. Price]], [[Galad Elflandsson]], [[Simon Strantzas]] ("Beyond the Banks of the River Seine"), [[Charles Stross]] (in the ''Laundry Files'' series), [[Anders Fager]] and [[S. M. Stirling]] (in the ''Emberverse'' series).

Joseph S. Pulver has written nearly 30 tales and poems that are based on and/or include Carcosa, The King in Yellow, or other elements from Robert W. Chambers. Pulver also edited an anthology ''A Season in Carcosa'' of new tales based upon The King in Yellow, released by Miskatonic River Press in 2012.<ref>{{cite book |first=Joseph S. Sr. |last=Pulver |url=http://miskatonicriverpress.com/products/asic.shtml |title=A Season in Carcosa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140816121948/http://miskatonicriverpress.com/products/asic.shtml |archive-date=2014-08-16 |publisher=Miskatonic River Press |year=2012 |access-date=27 June 2014 |isbn=978-1937408008}}</ref>

[[John Scott Tynes]] contributed to the mythology of Chambers' Carcosa in a series of novellas, "Broadalbin",<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Tynes
  | first = John
  | title = Broadalbin
  | publisher = [[Armitage House]]
  | year = 1995}}</ref> "Ambrose",<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Tynes
  | first = John
  | title = Ambrose
  | publisher = [[Armitage House]]
  | year = 1996}}</ref> and "Sosostris",<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Tynes
  | first = John
  | title = Sosostris
  | publisher = [[Armitage House]]
  | year = 2000}}</ref> and essays in issue #1 of ''The Unspeakable Oath''<ref>{{cite web
|archive-date=2007-10-16
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071016110734/http://tccorp.com/pagan/pp_tuo1.html#Hali
|url= http://www.tccorp.com/pagan/pp_tuo1.html#Hali
|title= The Road to Hali
|accessdate= 2008-06-20
|last= Tynes
|first= John
|date=December 1990
|work= The Unspeakable Oath
|publisher= Pagan Publishing
}}
</ref> and in ''[[Delta Green]]''.

In Paul Edwin Zimmer's ''Dark Border'' series, Carcosa is a city where humans mingle with their nearly immortal allies, the Hastur.

In [[Robert Shea]] and [[Robert Anton Wilson]]'s ''[[The Illuminatus! Trilogy]]'', Carcosa is connected with an ancient civilization in the [[Gobi Desert]], destroyed when the [[Illuminati]] arrived on Earth via [[flying saucer]]s from the planet [[Vulcan (hypothetical planet)|Vulcan]].

In maps of the world of [[George R. R. Martin]]'s ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', a city named Carcosa is labeled on the easternmost edge of the map along the coast of a large lake, near other magical cities such as Asshai. In ''[[The World of Ice and Fire]]'', it is mentioned that a sorcerer lord lives there who claims to be the sixty-ninth Yellow Emperor, from a dynasty fallen for a thousand years.<ref>{{cite book |first1=George R. R. |last1=Martin |first2=Elio M. Jr. |last2=García |first3=Linda |last3=Antonsson |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/book/108360/the-world-of-ice-fire-by-george-rr-martin-elio-garcia-and-linda-antonsson |title=The World of Ice and Fire |publisher=Bantam |year=2014}}</ref>

In the satirical novel ''Kamus of Kadizhar: The Black Hole of Carcosa'' by John Shirley (St. Martin's Press, 1988), Carcosa is the name of a planet whose weird black hole physics figures in the story.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/carcosa.html |title=John Shirley: Kamus of Kadizhar: The Black Hole of Carcosa |access-date=2015-08-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923212703/http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/carcosa.html |archive-date=2015-09-23 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Swedish writer [[Anders Fager]]'s "Miss Witt's Great Work of Art" features a Stockholm-based coterie known as "The Carcosa Foundation" that worships Hastur.

In [[David Drake]]'s ''[[Lord of the Isles (David Drake)|Lord of the Isles]]'' series, Carcosa is the name of the ancient capital of the old kingdom, which collapsed a thousand years before the events of the series.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://david-drake.com/2015/isles-map/ |title = Map of the Isles |website=David Drake}}</ref>

In [[S. M. Stirling]]'s ''[[The Emberverse series|Emberverse]]'' series, Carcosa is the name of a South Pacific city inhabited by evil people led by the Yellow Raja and the Pallid Mask.

In [[Lawrence Watt-Evans]]' ''The Lords of Dûs'' series, a character known as the Forgotten King, who dresses in yellow rags, reveals that he was exiled from Carcosa.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5J-84oiCbQC&q=carcosa | title=The Lure of the Basilisk | isbn=9781587155871 | last1=Watt-Evans | first1=Lawrence | date=November 2001| publisher=Wildside Press }}</ref>

In writer [[Alan Moore]]'s ''[[Neonomicon]]'', drawn by artist [[Jacen Burrows|Jacen Burrowes]], the character Johnny Carcosa is the key to a mystical Lovecraftian universe.

===Television===
In the [[HBO]] original series ''[[True Detective]]'', 'Carcosa' is presented as a man-made temple. Located in the backwoods of Louisiana, the temple serves as a place of ritualistic sexual abuse of children and child murder organized by a group of wealthy Louisiana politicians and church leaders. The main characters, [[Rust Cohle]] and Marty Hart, storm the temple in the final episode of the season, where they confront a serial killer, who is the most active member of the cult. It is understood that the cult worships the "Yellow King", to whom an effigy is dedicated in the main chamber of 'Carcosa'. The series hints at a larger conspiracy that continues beyond the show, which is in line with [[Lovecraftian horror]], as is a vision experienced by one character that underscores Lovecraftian themes like [[Cosmicism|cosmic indifference]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Oh, The Sin of Writing Such Words: The Infinite Horror Labyrinth of the Carcosa Mythos |magazine=Shudder Magazine |first=Derek |last=Fisher |date=August 25, 2020}}</ref>

In Part 3 of the ''[[Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV series)|Chilling Adventures of Sabrina]]'', the barker of the traveling amusement park and carnival is named Carcosa, and the carnival in turn named, presumably, after him. Throughout the season of the show, it becomes apparent that [[Carny|the workers at the carnival]] are all mythological beings of old, with Carcosa himself being the [[Pan (god)|god Pan]], his true form being that of a [[satyr]], in the show understood to be the [[Panic#Etymology|god of madness]]. The arc of the season revolves partially around the attempts of the carnival workers to [[Resurrection|resurrect]] an older deity identified as [[Green Man|The Green Man]]. Themes of madness, death, and resurrection parallel the works of Robert W. Chambers et al.

=== Other references ===
In the 1991 EP ''[[Passage to Arcturo]]'' by [[Rotting Christ]], the song "Inside The Eye of Algond" nominates the Mystical Carcosa as part of the singer's journey.

The second song of the 2015 album ''[[Luminiferous]]'' by the American metal band [[High on Fire]] is named Carcosa.

Swedish rapper [[Yung Lean]]'s third album [[Stranger (Yung Lean album)|''Stranger'']] features the closing track "Yellowman". Carcosa is mentioned in the song.

In 2016, [[DigiTech]] released a [[fuzz pedal]] called the Carcosa. The pedal featured two modes, named "Hali" and "Demhe".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digitech.com/en-US/products/carcosa-fuzz|title=DigiTech Carcosa Fuzz|website=DigiTech Guitar Effects|language=en-US|access-date=2016-07-20|archive-date=2016-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706094005/http://digitech.com/en-US/products/carcosa-fuzz|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the video game ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', there is a planet named Carcosa.

In the video game ''[[Elite Dangerous]]'', there is an inhabited star system named Carcosa.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.edsm.net/en/system/id/13729302/name/Carcosa|title=Carcosa System Summary|website=Elite Dangerous Star Map|language=en-US|access-date=2023-05-30}}</ref>

In 2001, the Belgian black metal band [[Ancient Rites]] released the album ''Dim Carcosa''. The title track's lyrics consist of excerpts from "Cassilda's Song".

In the early 2000s, a [[The Mysterious Package Company|Mysterious Package Company]] experience called ''[[The King in Yellow]]'' was introduced, heavily inspired by story and title. Later, a sequel experience entitled ''Carcosa: Rise of the Cult'' was created, obviously connected to this shared universe and connected to the original The King in Yellow.

In 2017, [[Fantasy Flight Games]] released an expansion for ''[[Arkham Horror: The Card Game]]'' titled "The Path to Carcosa" in which players investigate occurrences based on ''The King in Yellow''.

Carcosa is mentioned in the song "Strange and Eternal" of the 2022 album [[Netherheaven]] by the American technical death metal band [[Revocation (band)|Revocation]].

The 2025 exploration game [https://store.steampowered.com/app/3223390/BLACKSHARD/ ''Blackshard''] by French developers Redlock Studio borrows heavily from ''The King In Yellow'' in its concepts of a series of Signs; trapped chaos entities that seek to destroy the orderly world of the rigidly geometric Labyrinth, and open the door to a realm called Carcosa, bathed in yellow light.

The 2026 video game [[Saros (video game)|Saros]] by [[Housemarque]] is set on the planet Carcosa, where it is described as "a shape-shifting, hostile alien planet"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-09-24 |title=Saros launches March 20 on PS5, first look at gameplay from today’s State of Play |url=https://blog.playstation.com/2025/09/24/saros-launches-march-20-on-ps5-first-look-at-gameplay-from-todays-state-of-play/ |access-date=2025-09-27 |website=PlayStation.Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> and is in ruins, overrun with alien creatures and machinery. 

==Publishers using the name Carcosa==
Two different publishers have used the name Carcosa.

===Carcosa House===
'''Carcosa House''' was a [[science fiction]] specialty [[publishing]] firm formed in 1947 by Frederick B. Shroyer, a boyhood friend of [[T. E. Dikty]], and two [[Los Angeles]] [[Science fiction fandom|science fiction fans]], Russell Hodgkins and Paul Skeeters.  Shroyer had secured a copy of the original newspaper appearance of the novel ''[[Edison's Conquest of Mars]]'' by [[Garrett P. Serviss]] which he wished to publish.  Shroyer talked Hodgkins and Skeeters into going in on shares to form the publisher which issued the Serviss book in 1947.  Dikty offered advice, and [[William L. Crawford]] of [[F.P.C.I.]] helped with production and distribution.  Carcosa House announced one other book, ''Enter Ghost: A Study in Weird Fiction'', by Sam Russell, but due to slow sales of the Serviss book, it was never published.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

====Works published by Carcosa House====
* ''[[Edison's Conquest of Mars]]'', by [[Garrett P. Serviss]] (1947)

===Carcosa===
[[File:carcosa logo.png|thumb|right|Colophon for the Carcosa publishing company]]
'''Carcosa''' was a specialty [[publishing]] firm formed by [[David Drake]], [[Karl Edward Wagner]], and Jim Groce, who were concerned that [[Arkham House]] would cease publication after the death of its founder, [[August Derleth]]. Carcosa was founded in [[North Carolina]] in 1973 and put out four collections of [[pulp magazine|pulp]] [[horror fiction|horror]] stories, all edited by Wagner. Their first book was a huge omnibus volume of the best non-series weird fiction by Manly Wade Wellman. It was enhanced by a group of chilling illustrations by noted fantasy artist [[Lee Brown Coye]]. Their other three volumes were also giant omnibus collections (of work by [[Hugh B. Cave]], [[E. Hoffmann Price]], and again by [[Manly Wade Wellman]]). A fifth collection was planned, ''[[Death Stalks the Night]],'' by [[Hugh B. Cave]]; [[Lee Brown Coye]] was working on illustrating it when he suffered a crippling stroke in 1977 and eventually died, causing Carcosa to abandon the project. The book was eventually published by [[Fedogan & Bremer]]. Carcosa also had plans to issue volumes by [[Leigh Brackett]], [[H. Warner Munn]], and [[Jack Williamson]]; however, none of the projected volumes appeared. The Carcosa [[colophon (publishing)|colophon]] depicts the [[silhouette]] of a towered city in front of three moons.

====Awards====
* 1976, [[World Fantasy Award]], Special Award – Non-Professional to [[Karl Edward Wagner]], [[David Drake]] and Jim Groce for Carcosa.<ref>{{cite web| title =1976 World Fantasy Award Winners and Nominees| publisher =World Fantasy Convention| url =http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/1976.html| accessdate =2008-04-05| url-status =dead| archiveurl =https://web.archive.org/web/20080509121049/http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/1976.html| archivedate =2008-05-09}}</ref>

====Works published by Carcosa====
* ''[[Worse Things Waiting]]'', by [[Manly Wade Wellman]] (1973)
* ''[[Far Lands, Other Days]]'', by [[E. Hoffmann Price]] (1975)
* ''[[Murgunstrumm and Others]]'', by [[Hugh B. Cave]] (1977)
* ''[[Lonely Vigils]]'', by [[Manly Wade Wellman]] (1981)

==Places called Carcosa==
In 1896–97, the Carcosa mansion was built as the official residence of the Resident-General of the [[Federated Malay States]] for the first holder of that office, [[Sir Frank Swettenham]]. It was in use as a luxury hotel, the [[Carcosa Seri Negara]], from 1989 to 2015 and has been abandoned since then.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.carcosa.com.my/history/ |title = Carcosa Seri Nagara official web site|access-date=2020-11-28}}</ref> Swettenham took the name from ''[[The King in Yellow]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Barlow |first=Henry S. |date=1995 |title=Swettenham |location=Kuala Lumpur |publisher=Southdene |page=479}}</ref>

In the Quebec-based geopolitical/live-action role-play game ''[[Bicolline]]'', Carcosa is a kingdom in the west. It was established upon principles of freedom and is populated by pirates, nomads, escaped slaves, and religious exiles.

==References==
* {{cite book | last1=Chalker | first1=Jack L. | authorlink=Jack L. Chalker | first2=Mark | last2=Owings | title=The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923–1998 | location=Westminster, MD and Baltimore | publisher=Mirage Press, Ltd. | pages=136–139 | year=1998}}
* {{cite book|last=Harms|first=Daniel|title=The Encyclopedia Cthulhiana|edition=2nd|publisher=Chaosium|location=Oakland, CA|year=1998|isbn=1-56882-119-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediacthu00dani}}

{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Rehearsals for Oblivion: Act 1—Tales of [[The King in Yellow]]'', edited by Peter A. Worthy, [[Elder Signs Press]] 2007
* ''Strange Aeons 3'' (an issue dedicated to [[The King in Yellow]]), edited by Rick Tillman and K.L. Young, Autumn 2010
* ''The Hastur Cycle'', edited by [[Robert M. Price]], [[Chaosium]] 1993
* ''The Yellow Sign and Other Stories'', edited by [[S.T. Joshi]], [[Chaosium]] 2004

==External links==
* {{librivox book | title=An Inhabitant of Carcosa | author=Ambrose Bierce}}
* {{librivox book | title=The King in Yellow | author=Robert W. CHAMBERS}}

{{Robert W. Chambers}}

[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos locations]]
[[Category:Fictional populated places]]
[[Category:Book publishing companies based in North Carolina]]
[[Category:Fantasy book publishers]]
[[Category:Horror book publishing companies]]
[[Category:Small press publishing companies]]
[[Category:Publishing companies established in 1947]]
[[Category:Publishing companies established in 1973]]
[[Category:1973 establishments in North Carolina]]
[[Category:Robert W. Chambers]]