Premium Only Content

"The Mask" by Robert W. Chambers
This is just all the chapters put together into one upload. If you've been following along the whole time, there is nothing new to hear here.
You can support me on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/sststr
----
Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed it's time. We all have laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!
The King in Yellow, Act I, Scene 2.
----
0:00:00 Chapter 1
0:10:01 Chapter 2
0:17:27 Chapter 3
0:34:23 Chapter 4
----
Look at that - the book I'm reading from has footnotes for things the reader may not be familiar with. For example:
Mahl stick: A stick with a padded tip, used to support a painter's hand holding a paintbrush.
For the bit about the "Sanctus in Gounod's Mass", there is a footnote:
Charles Gounod, the French composer, wrote "St. Cecilia Mass" in 1855. The "Sanctus" is the fourth movement.
Boris Yvain is mentioned in passing in "The Repairer of Reputations", the first story in "The King in Yellow".
The bit about fossilization is also covered in Lovecraft's story "The Man of Stone".
Spinet = a small harpsichord with the strings set obliquely to the keyboard, popular in the 18th century
Jack's role in chapter 4 feels a bit ham-fisted to me. His role in prior chapters didn't feel entirely natural to begin with, and it was probably because he was inserted into the story only for this rather lame attempt at foreshadowing in chapter 4. But they can't just have him appear in chapter 4 out of nowhere, so he was forced into the story early on to be available for this use at the end of the story. Bleh.
And given how callous Boris was about turning living things to stone, it's just as well what happened to him in chapter 3 :-P
The pictures used are:
Chapter 1: a photo of a lilium longiflorum, commonly known as an Easter Lily taken by Matt H. Wade (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MattWade and https://twitter.com/thatmattwade) used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en).
Chapter 2: "Lanhydrock, Cornwall (NT) - The Smoking Room" by CharmaineZoe's Marvelous Melange, used here under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).
Chapter 3: photo "Michelangelo's Madonna and Child, Church of Our Lady, Bruges, Belgium." by Jim Linwood, used here under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).
Chapter 4: an old pic of Constantinople.
To follow along: https://gutenberg.org/files/8492/8492-h/8492-h.htm#THE_MASK
-
1:15:29
Game On!
23 hours ago $1.94 earnedThe BIGGEST TNF Game In Miami Dolphin's History!
72.1K5 -
8:05
Hollywood Exposed
13 hours agoRepublican Governor SHUTS DOWN Sunny Hostin’s Anti-Gun Rant on The View
64.1K32 -
9:29
Silver Dragons
19 hours agoI Have CHANGED MY MIND About THESE Silver Coins
32.4K7 -
15:51
TheRoyaltyAutoService
17 hours ago $1.57 earnedThis Honda Ridgeline Has Been Sitting For Over A Year… What Kept It Down So Long?!
26.7K1 -
2:02:11
BEK TV
1 day agoTrent Loos in the Morning - 9/18/2025
22.6K1 -
LIVE
The Bubba Army
23 hours agoJimmy Kimmel FIRED! - Bubba the Love Sponge® Show | 9/18/25
1,525 watching -
10:51
Degenerate Jay
16 hours ago $1.03 earnedWe Finally Have Proof That Metal Gear Solid V Was Unfinished
33.9K4 -
13:17
AndresRestart
20 hours ago $1.72 earnedThis Mario Galaxy 2 Remaster Is Better Than We Thought!
28.7K5 -
59:16
CarlCrusher
13 hours agoAncient Psionic UFO Contact in Skinwalker Territory with Vetted & WHY Files - Ep 3
23.1K4 -
25:17
Esports Awards
19 hours agoFrom Gamer to CEO: Cherrygumms’ Journey in Esports | Origins Podcast #29
21.5K4