A collection of poignant stories about art and artists, about those who love them and those who don’t. Every story in this book is about artists and disappointment. Three stories are Western, two of them set in Kansas and Wyoming, and the third is about a woman from Nebraska traveling through Boston.
Young Pierce Phillips, green, naive, opinionated and with little money, ends up in Daya, Alaska. Soon he is separated from the money by eloquent players. Now penniless, hungry and unable to reach the Klondike, he is forced to take a job delivering supplies to other would-be prospectors across the perilous Chilkoot Pass.
This story is about the Crown Prince. Most of the world is against him and what he stands for. He expresses surprise at the position of the United States. This attitude is the natural result of various causes, among which are the following: Distrust of any aggressor on the part of a peace-minded nation.
At that festival time, when the days are the shortest and the nights the longest, and when, therefore, it is the invariable practice of all intelligent men to turn night into day; when the ratio of business and pleasure is clearly in favor of the latter; when a magnificent carnival is held in London, and everything testifies to the predominance and influence of good humor.
When Professor Godfrey St. Peter and his wife move into a new home, he begins to feel dissatisfied with the new turn in life. He continues his scientific work in his dusty laboratory in an old house, trying to return to his old life. Two of his daughters get married and leave their home, two sons-in-law appear in the family. This provokes a midlife crisis, making the professor feel like he has lost his will to live due to a lack of purpose.
Lorne Murchison is the son of a respectable first-generation immigrant family. He is of Presbyterian Scottish descent and is running for office with his ideals of a renewed British Empire. An intelligent and insightful snapshot of provincial Canada as it enters the 20th century, torn between being alone in the world and strengthening imperial ties with the mother country.
The heroes learn about the fictional city of Karkos, where the King in yellow rules, and two suns shine in the sky, and this circumstance becomes the beginning of mystical changes in their destinies. Strange and terrible events in which reality and dreams are intertwined are illustrated by the outstanding Argentine artist Santiago Caruso.
