The King in Yellow is a short story collection by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published by F. Tennyson Neely in 1895. Its central motif — recurring through the first four stories — is an eponymous fictional play that induces madness in those who read it.
The work introduced the play, "a mysterious and malevolent supernatural and gothic entity known as the King in Yellow," and an eerie symbol called the Yellow Sign. Chambers borrowed the names Carcosa, Hali, and Hastur from Ambrose Bierce's stories.
H. P. Lovecraft read the collection in early 1927 and incorporated its elements, including passing references to the Lake of Hali and the Yellow Sign in later works such as "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1931).