The King in Scarlet is the final act of Mark Teppo's first collection, The Court of Lies. These five stories leap with utter abandon from the cliff of the real, journey far north the frozen top of the world, rattle along old train tracks, and urge you to ingest suspect psychedelics. These are stories of liars, heartbreakers, and fabulists; the way they see the world is undoubtedly the way it truly is.

At least one sentence of the previous paragraph is true. There is no escaping The Court of Lies. The horned King beckons you to approach his throne . . .