 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
"The Maker of Moons" is an 1896 supernatural short story by American writer Robert W. Chambers. It is the eponymous story of the collection The Maker of Moons .
The narrator states his wish to reveal all he can of Yue-Laou and the Xin.
He describes how he met his friend, Godfrey, at a gold-shop, where Godfrey showed him a golden chain. In the middle of the conversation they notice a strange creature crawling in Godfrey's pocket. Godfrey says:
It is, I believe, the connecting link between a sea-urchin, a spider, and the devil. It looks venomous but I can't find either fangs or mouth. Is it blind? These things may be eyes but they look as if they were painted. A Japanese sculptor might have produced such an impossible beast, but it is hard to believe that God did. It looks unfinished too.
Another friend arrives at the shop, a secret agent named Barris, who tells them that gold is a composite metal that can be made artificially, and that a large number of people have been making it.
A few days later the narrator, Barris, and Godfrey leave for Cardinal Woods by Starlit Lake on a hunting expedition. Barris wanders off to explore the area.
While hunting, the narrator stumbles on a hidden fountain in the middle of the forest, where he meets a woman named Ysonde. They talk, and the narrator learns that she comes from the fictional city of Yian. She suddenly disappears. He believes that she is just a phantom, and returns to the hunt. He meets Barris, who describes the progress of his operation to catch the gold-makers. At night, the narrator sees a Chinaman, whom others have previously seen in the region. He is disturbed that he cannot find the fountain where he met Ysonde, even though he knew exactly where it was. He resigns himself to the possibility that she does not exist. Then he finds her again, and is thrilled. He asks her more about her origins. She frequently mentions the city of Yian, but not in great detail. After he returns to his cabin, the narrator becomes ill. After he recovers he asks Barris where Yian is. Barris denies the existence of the city, but under pressure he recants.
"Yian is a city", repeated Barris, "where the great river winds under the thousand bridges – where the gardens are sweet scented, and the air is filled with the music of silver bells".
My lips formed the question, "Where is this city?"
"It lies", said Barris, almost querulously, "across the seven oceans and the river which is longer than from the earth to the moon".
Barris says that it is the center of Yue-Laou—the Maker of Moons—and his sorcerers, the Kuen-Yuin. Barris once lived there. He describes how he was tricked by Yue-Laou: the Maker provided him with a lovely woman with whom he fell in love, and then he took her away from Barris. Barris believes that Xangi, who "is God", is greater than Yue-Laou and that he shall bring him again to his beloved.
The narrator again searches for Ysonde (who is speculated to be Barris's daughter from the woman he lost). Evading hordes of fleeing animals, he finally finds her. They witness in horror as Yue-Laou brings forth the monstrous Xin. Barris arrives and shoots at Yue-Laou, but his body is never found.
The conclusion establishes that this is a story within a story:
"Ysonde bends over my desk--I feel her hand on my arm, and she is saying, "Don't you think you have done enough to-day, dear? How can you write such silly nonsense without a shadow of truth or foundation?"
The story was serialized several times in newspaper format in the United States., [1] [2] with illustrations by artists like J. J. Sheridan, [3] and Howard V. Brown. [4]
The story was received favorably abroad. [5]
Shroud Publications released it as a chapbook in 1954, [6] with the last two chapters omitted.
Front Page Challenge was a Canadian panel game about current events and history. Created by comedy writer/performer John Aylesworth and produced and aired by CBC Television, the series ran from 1957 to 1995.
The Moonstone: A Romance by Wilkie Collins is an 1868 British epistolary novel. It is an early example of the modern detective novel, and established many of the ground rules of the modern genre. Its publication was started on 4 January 1868 and was completed on 8 August 1868. The story was serialised in Charles Dickens's magazine All the Year Round. Collins adapted The Moonstone for the stage in 1877.
Strange Pilgrims is a collection of twelve loosely related short stories by the Nobel Prize–winning Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez.
Gu Dasao is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Female Tiger", she ranks 101st among the 108 Stars of Destiny and 65th among the 72 Earthly Fiends.
Dirty Beasts is a 1983 collection of Roald Dahl poems about unsuspecting animals. Intended to be a follow-up to Revolting Rhymes, the original Jonathan Cape edition was illustrated by Rosemary Fawcett. In 1984, a revised edition was published with illustrations by Quentin Blake.
Jocelyn Brando was an American actress, best known for her role as Katie Bannion in the film noir The Big Heat (1953). She was the sister of Marlon Brando.
The Red Thread of Fate, also referred to as the Red Thread of Marriage, and other variants, is an East Asian belief originating from Chinese mythology. It is commonly thought of as an invisible red cord around the finger of those that are destined to meet one another in a certain situation as they are "their one true love".
The Whisperer in Darkness is a 26,000-word novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written February–September 1930, it was first published in Weird Tales, August 1931. Similar to The Colour Out of Space (1927), it is a blend of horror and science fiction. Although it makes numerous references to the Cthulhu Mythos, the story is not a central part of the mythos, but reflects a shift in Lovecraft's writing at this time towards science fiction. The story also introduces the Mi-Go, an extraterrestrial race of fungoid creatures.
Devil Beside You is a 2005 Taiwanese drama starring Mike He, Rainie Yang and Kingone Wang. It is based on the Japanese manga Akuma de Sourou, The Devil Does Exist, written by Mitsuba Takanashi. It was produced by Comic Ritz International Production with Chai Zhi Ping as producer and directed by Lin He Long. The series was first broadcast in Taiwan on free-to-air China Television (CTV) (中視) from 26 June to 18 September 2005 and cable TV Eastern Television (ETTV) (東森) for 20 episodes.
Sword of the Yue Maiden, alternatively translated as Yue Maiden's Sword, is a wuxia novelette by Jin Yong based on the legend of Yuenü. It was first serialised in January 1970 in the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao Evening Supplement. Although this is the last wuxia short work by the author, its historical setting, in the Spring and Autumn period, is chronologically the earliest among Jin Yong's works.
Nellie Verne Walker, was an American sculptor best known for her statue of James Harlan formerly in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol, Washington D.C.
The Legend of Qin, also Qin's Moon, is a CG Chinese animated wuxia TV series produced by Robin Shen (沈乐平), and directed by Chen Qianyuan (陈乾元). The story is based on novel of the same name by Taiwanese writer and entrepreneur Sayling Wen. It is China's first 3D animation, produced by Sparkly Key Animation Studio in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The series was first broadcast around Chinese New Year in 2007.
Yue Lao is a god of marriage and love in Chinese mythology. He appears as an old man under the moon. Yue Lao appears at night and "unites with a silken cord all predestined couples, after which nothing can prevent their union." He is immortal and is said to live either in the moon or in the "obscure regions", the Chinese equivalent of Hades. His legends serve as the basis for the Red thread of fate.
Fairyland is a series of fantasy novels by Catherynne M. Valente. The novels follow a 12-year-old girl named September as she is spirited away from her average life to Fairyland.
A Supplement to the Journey to the West is a Chinese shenmo (fantastic) novel written around 1640 CE by Dong Yue. It acts as an addendum to the famous 16th century novel Journey to the West and takes place between the end of chapter sixty-one and the beginning of chapter sixty-two.
Sound of the Desert is a 2014 Chinese television series based on the historical romance novel Ballad of the Desert by Tong Hua. It stars Liu Shishi, Eddie Peng and Hu Ge. The series aired on Hunan TV from 1 October to 27 November 2014.
Eternity: A Chinese Ghost Story (倩女幽魂) is a Chinese period drama series produced by Taiwanese station CTS in collaboration with several other countries. It is loosely based on several famous folktales such as the love story of Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caicheng from Pu Songling's novel Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (聊斋志异), the legend of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye and others. The cast consists of actors from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.
Wu Xin: The Monster Killer is a 2015 Chinese streaming television series based on Ni Luo (尼罗)'s novel of the same title. The drama is produced by Chinese web streaming company Sohu TV and stars Elvis Han, Gina Jin, Ian Wang, Chen Yao, Zhang Ruoyun, Mike D. Angelo and Sui Yongliang. The series was first aired for 20 episodes on 6 July 2015 via Sohu TV web streaming site.
Collected Short Stories is a 1994 collection of stories by the English author Patrick O'Brian. It was published in the US under the title The Rendezvous and Other Stories.
The Maker of Moons public domain audiobook at LibriVox 