Today I’m delighted to share the press release for The Pallid Mask, which is the first part of a super exciting project I’ve been working on for a long time.
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Alternative Stories and Hawberk Press proudly announce THE PALLID MASK, a full-cast horror audio drama inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ cult weird fiction collection, The King in Yellow.
— LONDON, November 2026 —
131 years since its first publication, the seminal American story collection, The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, has a partial audio adaptation for the first time.
The Pallid Mask is a full-cast audio drama series produced by Alternative Stories – the creative minds behind the award-winning audio drama The Dex Legacy – for new independent publishers, Hawberk Press. Across a fifteen-part series, it features an adaptation of Chambers’ story, The Repairer of Reputations, nested within an original narrative written by British speculative writer Jordan Acosta.
Desperate to get back on the bestseller list, Dr. Molly Bedrook sifts through histories of banned literature for a topic worthy of her next book. She finds references to The King in Yellow, a stage-play so widely condemned that even she can’t get her hands on a copy. Instead, Bedrook and her colleagues uncover the unsettling stories surrounding it: stories littered with asylums, conspiracies, and untimely ends.
The Pallid Mask debuted over Halloween weekend 2026 with more than 1000 downloads across 46 countries, reaching #15 in Fiction and #3 in Science Fiction on the Apple Podcasts UK chart.
“I consider it a great privilege to write new stories in Chambers’ alternate history,” said show writer Jordan Acosta. “The King in Yellow has long been eclipsed by more famous tales from Bram Stoker and H.P. Lovecraft. It’s my hope that The Pallid Mask introduces a new generation of fans to this strange little volume that has cast such a large shadow on Western horror fiction for over a century.”
“Alternative Stories is proud to work with Jordan and our amazing cast,” said Sound Designer and director Chris Gregory. ”Since our inception, we’ve strived to produce immersive, filmic storytelling, and this show certainly falls into these categories. We know The Pallid Mask will intrigue and entertain audiences through its larger-than-life characters and settings: bringing new fans to the world of audio drama — a medium which fits into listeners’ increasingly busy lives.”
“Very few writers start out in audio drama,” added show director Emily Inkpen. “It’s a medium most discover later or fall into accidentally, and even fewer writers find that they’re good at it. Jordan is a rare example of a writer who made the transition from novelist to audio dramatist look effortless. He’s somehow managed to balance dedication to the source material with complete ownership of the story, which is a rare skill. Co-directing this show has been an absolute honour, and I can’t wait for listeners to be caught up in the twisted nightmare that is The King in Yellow.”
“At Hawberk Press our goal is to publish intriguing, genre-defying fiction”, said Michael Dodd, Publisher at Hawberk Press. “I’ve always loved strange, unconventional stories that burrow into your brain and refuse to let go, and I’m a huge audio fan too, so I can’t think of a better way to launch the press than with this incredible audio portmanteau inspired by The King in Yellow. Be warned though, once you’ve seen the Yellow Sign there’s no turning back…”
The Pallid Mask is out now wherever you get your podcasts, with new episodes airing Fridays.
You can find episode guides at thepallidmask.online, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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The Pallid Mask
For press enquiries and interviews: Chris Gregory at Alternative Stories at office@alternativestories.com
Hawberk Press
For press enquiries: Michael Dodd at editor@hawberkpress.com
Jordan Acosta is represented by John Baker at Peters Fraser + Dunlop (https://petersfraserdunlop.com/agent/john-baker/)
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Yes, that’s me – Publisher at Hawberk Press! What does this mean? Well, it means that I’ve set up a new, independent small press with my good friend Jordan Acosta, and that our first release is a multi-part, full-cast horror audio drama that you can listen to for free on your favourite podcast app! As I write this the first two episodes have already been released, with new episodes launching every Friday for the next few months.
You can check out the first episode on Spotify right here, or check this out for links to all sorts of places where you can listen to it.
If you’d like to know more about The Pallid Mask and/or Hawberk Press, check out our website at www.hawberkpress.com – I’d love it if you would sign up to our mailing list, to keep up to date with news as and when we have it.
For now I can’t say too much more about Hawberk Press, other than that I’m extremely excited about it. Jordan and I are working hard on not just The Pallid Mask but prose stories too, and as soon as we’re ready to go into more detail I’ll let you know!
I really hope you’ll give The Pallid Mask a try, and if you do check it out then let me know what you think!