Product Description
Strange Shadows opens a window into the dark, visionary worlds of Clark Ashton Smith, whose "verbal black magic" was a significant force in the American science fiction and fantasy movement of the 1930s. This annotated collection of his previously unpublished works provides a unique opportunity to savor the full range of Smith's literary contribution. Featuring fantasies and ironic short stories, prose-poems, plays, unfinished stories, and more than 100 story synopses, it offers valuable documentation and commentary on the work of one of the most distinctive and consistently interesting modern masters of the fantasy genre. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

THE WIZARD OF EIBON
Smith is one of the THE giants of the legendary WEIRD TALES authors, and deservedly so.No one else, including Poe and Oscar Wilde, has ever parleyed world-class poetry into world-class prose as successfully as CAS.Smith is not a writer for the timid reader.HIs work is dense, colorful, and inifnitely rewarding,but it is not a "fast" read.This book contains much material never published in Smith's lifetime, including the draft of his projected novel, which will make any reader wish he had completed it! Smith's fantasies are mordant, droll, lyrical, romantic, and skin-crawlingly horrifying by turns --- sometinmes all at the same time! ... Read more

Product Description
Clark Ashton Smith could well be considered one of the great poets of the twentieth century, and much of his verse explores the realms of fantasy, terror, wonder, and the supernatural. In this volume—the first major selection of Smith’s poetry in more than thirty years—editors S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz have presented an extensive array of poetic work that fully reveals Smith’s exotic language, imaginative range, and metrical precision. Including work from as early as the precocious Star-Treader and Other Poems (1912) and as late as the posthumously published The Hill of Dionysus (1962), The Last Oblivion features such celebrated works as "Nero," "Ode to the Abyss," and Smith’s exquisite elegies to his mentor George Sterling and to his colleague in fantasy, H. P. Lovecraft. Poems on Zothique, Averoigne, and Atlantis, realms in which many of his prose tales are set, are also featured. More than two dozen unpublished or uncollected poems, never previously included in any of Smith’s books, make The Last Oblivion a must for Smith devotees. Two full-color illustrations by Clark Ashton Smith and an exhaustive glossary of unusual words and names used in Smith’s poetry enhance the volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Strange...
maybe the best way to describe the poetry of C.A.S. But in a good way. Colourful and lively. Exotic and dreamlike. Other worlds and of this world lost in oblivion.

"One of the premier American poets of the twentieth century..."
5.5" x 8.5" softcover book. 194 pages.

Most people might know the name Clark Ashton Smith for his forays into short fiction. These endeavors placed him within the trinity of Weird Tales authors, a position shared with H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. Though few might recognize him as the "poetic prodigy on the order of Keats and Shelley" he was announced as in 1912 (at the tender age of 19) by "readers and critics alike". Under the guidance of George Sterling, at the time "the reigning literary figure of San Francisco", Smith blossomed into what he should be recognized as: "one of the premier American poets of the twentieth century".

Included within the pages of The Last Oblivion one finds Smith's full array of poetic work: the esoteric and exotic languages, the imaginative and fantastical landscapes, and the precise metrical tone harkening back to the classical masters of the field. Included aside Smith's various odes and elegies are poems regarding the fantastical realms of Zothique, Averoigne, and Atlantis; locales that Smith readers will surely recognize from his short stories.

Romantic & Otherworldly
Clark Ashton Smith isn't for everyone, but his romantic & otherworldly poems, full of sensual, exotic words and crammed with bizarre images, are, in my opinion, among the most underrated poems of the 20th century.Primarily remembered (if at all) for his stories and his association with Lovecraft, Smith was a highly original and idiosyncratic writer, visual artist and (above all) poet, a creative artist whose imagination puts him in a league with the likes of Goya, Baudelaire or Scriabin.Smith did not care about academic trends in poetry - not a modernist, he was more of an antimodernist.I guess you could classify him as a symbolist, but he mostly was concerned with expressing his inner visions, at making connections (like Lovecraft) between the human imagination and the cosmic.

This is an excellent selection of Smith's poetry - some favorites include "The Hashish Eater," ""The Witch in the Graveyard" and "A Vision of Lucifer."An added plus is the color reproductions of Smith's paintings, which are even harder to find than his poems.The editors and publisher are to be commended.

A Strange and Profound Gnosis
Excellent book! This is some of the best poetry you'll find anywhere, and its publication is a reason to rejoice! CAS excelled at a very dark and beautiful poetry and some of his best pieces are in here. It has some unreprinted material, as well as some poems that have seen very little light in the past. Great production values and three nice, full color paintings. I highly reommend it! ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from American Handgunner, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2006. The length of the article is 440 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The other dimensions.(REALITY CHECK: FIRST-PERSON THOUGHTS ON SURVIVING IN THE REAL WORLD)
Author: Clint Smith
Publication: American Handgunner (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 30Issue: 184Page: 36(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This new collection assembles some of the rarest fantasy and horror stories from the pen of Clark Ashton Smith. Included are "The White Sybil," "Chinoiserie," "The Raja and the Tiger," "The Justice of the Elephant," "The Kiss of Zoraida," "The Ghoul," "Something New," "The Malay Krise," "The Ghost of Mohammed Din," "The Mirror in the Hall of Ebony," "The Mahout," "The Primal City," "The Hunters from Beyond," "The Passing of Aphrodite," "The Tale of Sir John Maundeville," and "The Light from Beyond." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Clark Ashton Smith
I looked for CAS many years ago, even asking the publishers, but couldn't find anything.I'm just greatful someone took an interest in this great fantasy artist & brought him back!Thanks.

Magic as usual...
In this book you will find the following short stories:
The white sybil
The raja and the tiger
The justice of the elephant
The kiss of Zoraida
The ghoul
Something New
The malay krise
The ghost of Mohammed Din
The mirror in the hall of ebony
The mahout
The primal city
The hunters from beyond
The passing of Aphrodite
The tale of Sir John Maundeville
The light from beyond

Those shorts blends horror , arabian night ,action stories( à la Kipling ) and a lot of poetry. worth reading.But it is not his best stories. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review
In 1927, H. P. Lovecraft wrote about Clark Ashton Smith:"In sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception,Mr. Smith is perhaps unexcelled by any other writer dead orliving. Who else has seen such gorgeous, luxuriant, and feverishlydistorted visions of infinite spheres and multiple dimensions andlived to tell the tale?" If you relish horror or dark fantasy,and you have yet to discover Klarkash-Ton, you have a realtreat in store. This beautifully produced Arkham House collection is abejeweled corridor into the dark worlds of vampire-cursed Averoigne,Zothique of the dying sun, primordial Hyperborea (which, with itsblack, amorphous god Tsathoggua, is close in spirit to Lovecraft'sCthulhu Mythos), and others. Smith is a consummate stylistwhose evocations of lush exoticism and languid evil led critic BrianStableford to call him "the poet of American Decadence," andyet his tales are also humorous--in a wry, macabre way. ARendezvous in Averoigne collects 30 tales, with illustrations byJ. K. Potter and an introduction by Ray Bradbury. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

C.A. Smith scores big
For those unfamiliar with Clark Ashton Smith's writing, this will be a huge surprise and pleasure. He had his own entirely unique style, with an enormous and picaresque vocabulary. Fantasy lost a great author when he quit writing in his forties. I highly recommend this anthology.

A Mixed Collection
On a technical level as a writer, Clark Ashton Smith had no peers.His use of words, his sentence structure, and his vivid descriptions of alien worlds is always brilliant.Like his contemporaries Lovecraft and Howard, I enjoy his writing for the writing itself as much as for the actual stories.

What his stories in this collection often lack is the pay-off; that ironic twist at the end which brings the tale full circle.All to often , the story just falls flat at the end, leaving you wondering "what was the point?"A perfect example is the "The Seven Geas".

Still, when CAS gets it right, he knocks it out of the ballpark."The Planet of the Dead" is both sad and poiniant, as is "Necrcromancy in Naat" where two seperated lovers are finally reunited and "live" happily ever after.I also enoyed "The City of the Singing Flame" and "Genus Loci", where the protaganists embrace the horror."The Empire of the Necromancers" is very creepy.In my opinion, his Zothique stories are the most satisfying as a whole.

CAS is not as gifted a fantasy writer as Robert E. Howard, nor are his stories as horrific as H.P. Lovecraft's best.However, I would still highly recommend this collection.BTW, it is still in print, and available from Arkham House.

Get out your dictionary
There's nothing wrong with good reading that challenges your vocabulary.I think a lot of Lovecraft fans can make the jump over to Clark Ashton Smith; Lovecraft used verbiage to invoke an atmosphere, while Smith used his to evoke sensations.Neither one is stingy with their writing.I have been a Lovecraft fan for years but was never able to appreciate Smith - his work is hard to find.RENDEZVOUS IN AVEROIGNE collects representative stories from many of Smith's themes, perhaps as a sample of the Smith canon.From ancient Hyperborea to watery Atlantis to medieval Averoigne to decadent Zothique, Smith's prose does not disappoint. But don't expect to read it quickly - good writing is dense writing.

There may be better collections of Smith's writings still available - if so, I haven't found them.This collection has a real breadth of Smith's writing that isn't found in other collections; five different settings, and thirty stories total.I waited almost 6 months to get RENDEZVOUS IN AVEROIGNE and it was worth the wait.But I'd recommend that you get your copy while you can.

Reprint this!
If you made a list of the most influential science fiction/horror writers of the 1930s, Clark Ashton Smith would rank in the top three. Along with his protégés H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, Smith wrote bleak tales of mind bending horror set in weird, alien worlds. A man lacking an extensive education, he nonetheless made a name for himself writing poetry while living in a small cabin in California. In 1928, Smith contributed a short story to Weird Tales, that august publication that still influences writers of the macabre. Over the next decade, the author's stories gained legions of fans in love with Smith's opulent prose and lush atmospheres. After 1937 Smith, for reasons never adequately explained, suddenly dropped out of the limelight when he cut back on his dark fiction output. "A Rendezvous in Averoigne" gathers under one cover thirty of his Weird Tale stories, most from the 1930s but a few from the 1940s and 1950s as well, lumping them into five distinct categories: Averoigne, Atlantis, Hyperborea, Lost Worlds, and Zothique. No less a figure than Ray Bradbury wrote the introduction to the book, in which he credits Smith as a major influence in his decision to become a writer. Clark Ashton Smith passed away in 1961

The Averoigne, Atlantis, and Hyperborea stories could easily fit under one rubric as they are quite similar. Arguably the best Averoigne tale, "The Colossus of Ylourgne, describes what happens when an evil sorcerer seeks revenge against the residents of Smith's fictional French province. Probably the worst story in the book is unfortunately the first one, "The Holiness of Azedarac," where a monk in Averoigne travels back in time due to the plans of an evil officer of the church. The Atlantis stories, three in number, deal with activities taking place on the fabled lost continent. "The Last Incantation" and "The Death of Malygris" describe a powerful Atlantean sorcerer's quest to recapture his loved one and the men who wish to unseat him. "A Voyage to Sfanomoe" has as much to do with science fiction as it does with Atlantis. As the continent begins to sink beneath the seas, two super genius technicians build a spacecraft and fly to Venus. Finally, the Hyperborean tales explicate the unfortunate adventures of a greedy pawnbroker ("The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan"), the horrific yet highly humorous circumstances of a hunting expedition gone horribly wrong ("The Seven Geas"), the inherent dangers of robbing a religious temple in a plague cursed city ("The Tale of Satampra Zeiros"), and the emergence of a Lovecraftian god on an icy rampage ("The Coming of the White Worm").

The Lost World stories, nine in number, are a cut above the Averoigne, Atlantis, and Hyperborea stuff. You get a Lovecraftian tale about an author stepping into another dimension long enough to witness a singing flame that enchants anyone who hears it ("The City of the Singing Flame"), a doomed expedition on Mars ("The Dweller in the Gulf"), a reincarnation yarn with horrific consequences ("The Chain of Aforgomon"), and one of the best stories in the collection, "Genus Loci," about a possessed pond's sinister machinations and the painter who discovers them. The second Mars tale, the short "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis," reveals the inherent dangers of mucking around in a deserted alien city. "The Maze of Maal Dweb" is another evil sorcerer tale, this time involving the abduction of a young woman and the man who attempts to free her. "The Uncharted Isle" involves a shipwrecked sailor and the discovery of a civilization lost in time and space. The Lost World stories conclude with "The Planet of the Dead" and "Master of the Asteroid," about a futuristic civilization on the verge of destruction and a marooned spacecraft respectively.

Fans remember Smith most fondly for the Zothique cycle. All of these tales take place in the far future when the sun has changed into a red giant and the earth is about ready to take a permanent vacation. You get stories about sorcerers raising people from the grave, evil wizards taking terrible revenge on old enemies, an island full of torturers, and gardens full of human/plant hybrids. The best story included here is "The Dark Eidolon." In this magnificent yarn, we get a wizard whose revenge against those who wronged him as a child receive more than their just desserts. Imagine a magician so powerful that he calls forth demons powerful enough to level an entire metropolis. The story has an apocalyptic feel to it that doesn't appear in any of the other entries. With only ten stories in the Zothique section, you quickly wonder what the editors omitted. Sadly, "A Rendezvous in Averoigne" has been long out of print. I am not aware of any other collections of Smith stories available except for one in the United Kingdom. There is something fundamentally wrong about that.

The first thing you will notice with these stories, if you are lucky enough to find a copy, is the ornate language. Clark Ashton Smith writes on a level that may at first dumbfound the casual reader. Not to worry, though, as persistence allows you to absorb his writings fully without constantly plumbing the depths of an Oxford English Dictionary. If you've read Lovecraft before, you already have an idea of what you'll find prose wise in "A Rendezvous in Averoigne." Horror writers today simply don't write like this anymore, excepting someone like Charlee Jacob, perhaps. I just thank my lucky stars the local library had a copy of this book, in great condition, with which I could spend a few magical days. Fans of the masters of the 1930s already know about Clark Ashton Smith; new readers pondering Lovecraft for the first time would do well to check this author out as well.

A good intro to CAS, but a bit lacking in story selection
Though his name is usually associated with HPL's Cthulu mythos, CAS is one of the most brilliant and unique fantasists of the 20th century.Unlike his peers, who set about creating gargantuan, multi-volume tomes, CAS works entirely within the short story format.CAS is as adept at world creation as Tolkien, LeGuin or Dunsany. His stories fall into major cycles based on the imaginary settings in which they are placed, such as Zothique, the last continent of an ancient Earth where decadent emperors and omnipotent necromancers bask in the glory of a dying sun, Hyperborea, an advanced ice-age civilization frequently terrorized by nightmare gods, and Averoigne, a province in medieval France where sorcery is rampant.The Zothique tales are particularly good; displaying a morbid fascination with decadence and decay not to be found in the pastoral settings and simplistic Good Vs. Evil themes of Tolkien-influenced fantasists.CAS writes in a highly atmospheric and poetic style, often utilizing severly archaic vocabulary (you'll need a good dictionary at hand to read him) and beautiful metaphors to evoke richly detailed and decadently exotic settings.His grim irony and morbid sense of humor are refreshing in a genre populated with bombastically self-important authors.
This collection is a good intro to CAS's work, including 10 tales of Zothique and 4 of Hyperborea, as well as some of his outstanding work in the SF and horror fields.However, this volume really reveals its inadequacies in story selection.An overly large portion is devoted to Averoigne, Smith's weakest major cycle.Hyperborea, perhaps Smith's second greatest cycle, is slighted by its relegation to a tiny section of the book, and gems such as "The Testament of Athammaus," "The White Sybil," and "The Door to Saturn" are not collected in this volume.One of the best tales of Zothique, "The Weaver in the Vault," is not to be found, and there are other notable omissions, such as "A Night in Malneant," "The Double Shadow," and "The Plutonian Drug," which are all passed over in lieu of some questionable choices in the Lost Worlds section.Also, the edited Weird Tales versions of Smith's manuscripts (which excise some of the violence, sexuality, and atmosphere from the stories) are reprinted here.All in all, a good introduction to Smith and one of the few volumes of his stories in print, but I would recommend The Emperor of Dreams for the Smith neophyte.It is available from Amazon UK, and the selection of tales is far superior to Rendezvous.Also, be sure to visit the excellent CAS website at www.eldritchdark.com. ... Read more

Product Description
Fantasy Classics presents Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," adapted by Rod Lott and Skot Olsen, with a prologue illustrated by Mark A. Nelson. Plus H.P. Lovecraft's epic fantasy "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath," by Ben Avery and Leong Wan Kok, and "Oz" author L. Frank Baum's "The Glass Dog," by Antonella Caputo and Brad Teare. Also Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter," adapted by Lance Tooks, and poems by fantasy masters Clark Ashton Smith and Lord Dunsany, illustrated by Rachel Masilamani. With a dramatic cover painting by Skot Olsen. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Here there be Monsters and Wizards
Tom Pomplun and the Graphic Classics team just keep getting better.This latest release is another anthology collection, bringing us some of the more obscure tales from famous authors like L. Frank Baum, as well as the grand slam home run of Mary Shelley. I love these anthology collections the best, for the chance to be introduced to some new authors as well as seeing adaptations of some of my favorite yarns.

"Fantasy Classics" is a good mix of long and short stories, with two major tales peppered with short poems and stories on a theme.There is no "High Fantasy" here, no knights or dragons, and perhaps "Fantastical" would be a better term.But no matter what you want to call it, there is some great stuff here.

This edition includes:

"After the Fire" - A short poem by Lord Dunsany, the man who was the inspiration for HP Lovecraft and all of the weird fiction authors to follow. Rachel Masilamani's illustrations cement the Lovecraft-connection with writhing tentacles.

"Fantasmagoriana" - A recreation of the famous ghost story competition that gave rise to one of the most famous monsters of all time.Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin all come to life in illustrations by Mark A. Nelson that resemble Victorian prints.

"Frankenstein" - The Monster in question appears, in a long 47 page adaptation by rod Lott.Skot Olsen interprets the tale with a delightful Gothic-cartoony feel that balances sympathy for the monster with its horrible nature.

"Rappaccini's Daughter" - Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of my favorite authors, and someone who really deserves the Graphic Classics treatment. This is a text-and-pictures adaptation telling the story of a sort of mad wizard of Science, his beautiful daughter, and the foolish man who loves her.Beautifully adapted by
Lance Tooks, my favorite of the Graphic Classics artists.

"The Glass Dog" - L. Frank Baum, best know for his Oz series, did other tales too, like this little yarn of a wizard who cares nothing for money, and a lonely glass blower who cares for little else, unless it be for the love of a bitter shrew. The two strike a bargain, and we get a funny tale of questionable morals. Illustrated by Brad Teare, it has a great scratchy feel that compliments the story.

"The Dream Bridge" - A short poem by Clark Ashton Smith and illustrated by Evert Geradts,It is a fanciful whimsy.

"The Dream Quest of the Unknown Kadath" - This is a new adaptation, different from the previous Graphic Classics adaptation.The second long yarn of the book, 47 pages, illustrator Leong Wan Kok takes us on a bizarre tour through Lovecraft's dreaming realms. It has the proper nightmarish feel, gugs and all.

An invaluable introduction to the worlds of fantasy
Volume fifteen in the Graphic Classics series, Fantasy Classics is an anthology of black-and-white comic adaptations of timeless fantasy (and horror) stories by great literary authors. Each adaptation is illustrated by a different artist with a fiercely individual style. The adapted literature selections are "After the Fire" by Lord Dunsany, "Fantasmagoriana" (a prologue to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, telling of a creative exchange of ghost stories Shelly once had with fellow writers), "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, "Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Glass Dog" by L. Frank Baum, "The Dream-Bridge" by Clark Ashton Smith, and "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" by H.P. Lovecraft. The resulting compilation is highly recommended as an invaluable introduction to the worlds of fantasy, wizardry, and dreaming that took root in humanity's collective psyche well before "The Lord of the Rings" established certain tropes as mainstream. Due to mature and often tragic themes, Fantasy Classics is recommended for readers who are at least twelve years of age.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Fantasy Classics!True Adventure

Eagerly anticipated, my copy of Fantasy Classics arrived in the mail today, and I was not disappointed.
From the Mark A Nelson Frankenstein cover to the fantastic 'Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath', this just may be editor Tom Pompluns' strongest book to date. Just how does fantasy rise from the imaginations of international writers? "Fantasmagoriana" answers that question as Shelley, Byron,Godwin, Claremont and Polidori pose the challenge of Fantasmagoriana-German ghost stories and the creation of ghost stories that rainy evening.
Frankenstein, illustrated by Skot Nelson, is not the Universal standard version, but rather an exaggerated, almost caricturized monster entirely suitable for the story.I loved this telling of the man made monster classic.Rappacini's Daughter is enchanting.The Glass Dog (by L Frank Baum) is delightful, and a hidden treasure from the overlooked author of the Wizard of oz series."Dream Quest" by Lovecraft is a cool exploration of the dream worlds we all have, yet are afraid to enter.There's no place like home could be an apt summary of the adventure, yet there is so much more to the Lovecraft piece.

As I said before, this may be the best edition yet.But, having read all of the books from Pomplun so far, I doubt it!

Www.graphicsclassics.com

Tim Lasiuta

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Klarkashton of Atlantis
If you like Howard and Lovecraft and Dunsany, you will like Clark Ashton Smith.His stories are little constructions for the most part with words as archaic and arcane as his subject matter.These stories should be read separately and from time to time.Too much could be an overdose.

A lot of imagery, not much plot
This collection consists of 15 stories:

A Star Change
Genius Loci
The Black Abbot of Puthuum
The Charnal God
The Colossus of Ylourgne
The Disinterment of Venus
The Eternal World
The Garden of Adompha
The Ninth Skeleton
The Phantoms of the Fire
The Primal City
The Saytr
The Weaver in the Vault
The Willow Landscape
Vulthoom

All of them are written in Smith's poetic/dramatic prose style which is at times beautiful and less often boring or even ridiculous.Some, like _The Colossus of Ylourgne_ or _The Garden of Adompha_ stay rooted in some fantasy realm of monsters and magic; while others, like _Vulthoom_ or _The Eternal World_ wander into space, dealing with timeless aliens and strange silent races.

Overall I would NOT suggest this as a starting point for aspiring C.A. Smith fans. Although it does give the feel for Smith's writing style, it doesn't seem to be the strongest collection 'plotwise'.Some of the ideas are good but are just not given enough detail to make them shine and others seemed less 'dark' than they could have been with a little extra effort. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Nice CAS collection
Hard to find hard cover CAS collections other than expensive Arkham House or Neville Spearman issuances that are mostly out of print. This is a welcome edition. Recommended! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Get This!Read This! Brag About It!
It's a crying shame that this volume is so unknown and so difficult to find.If you enjoy fantasy, especially dark fantasy, you should read this.

Zothique is the last known continent of a dying planet, presumably an Earth so distant that all record of our existence has been long lost, and under conditions so changed that gods haunt cities, necromancers rob the dead of their rest, and bizarre plagues fall from the stars.

Zothique is a place where bad things happen.

This collection of short stories explores the continent, and a few outlying islands, through the eyes of a simple shepherd boy, a newlywed groom, necromancers caught between cannibals and demons, and a king who's lost his hat, among myriad others.In all cases, they exist in a world where a simple misstep and bring down demonic retribution, and nobody really knows the rules, not that they'd help.

The volume begins with a single-page verse followed by sixteen short stories.It's worth noting that I rarely enjoy short stories, and I truly enjoyed this book.

And lastly, Zothique is a place where bad things happen, and while true love, genuine faith, and a sincere effort to help the innocent may go unrewarded, it just might also go unpunished, and in Zothique, that's often the best one can really hope for.

(I only paid $20 for my copy.Hunt for something less than $105, 'cos that's just ridiculous.)

Among the finest of the genre
Dark, horrific, funny, bleak, richly jeweled and ragged in a rotting shroud.

Prayers would be out of place under Clark Ashton Smith's sinister, dying red sun, but let us cast some spell that may lead to a new edition.

Excellent horror/fantasy stories!
Very memorable anthology of short horror/fantasy stories set in the mythical continent of Zothique.Elaborate, embellished
prose but they still retain a certain "Twilight Zone" quality.
Well worthwhile if you can find a copy of this scarce volume. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Think of the visions his stories conjure up as sendings, written in strange runes, transported from the sorcerer's lair by indescribable genii or winged spirits. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The stories get 5 stars, but...
Any story by CAS is worth the price of admission, but go with the Nightshade Press books. You get more stories for the buck. If you are a mentally defective copleteist (like me) get these books. Otherwise stick with Nightshade Press.

somewhat disappointing collection
hopefully, this isn't the best of clark ashton smith's work. this collection of 8 tales is disappointing overall. technically speaking, smith's effortless command of the language and attention to detail is impressive, but plot is often a weak point. what works in his favor is that smith does seem capable of being equally at ease with three categories of imaginative fiction horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. these tales might appeal to fans of h.p. lovecraft, but in truth, while interesting in an eerie, gothic way, smith's work is less intriguing and lacks the depth of that of his famous friend. it seems likely that this isn't really a sample of his best work, but more of a random overview of his output. i haven't given up on smith, yet i'm hoping that smith has other, better tales to justify his reputation as a talented creator of weird fiction..

Nice Variety of Tales
Smith offers a splendid bouquet of tales here in this very fine edition by Wildside Press. Their new releases of Smith's strange and alluring prose are nicely bound, and all feature fantastic cover art that beg the viewer to buy and open these treasure troves of pure fantasy. Highly recommended, as is the previous release of "The Double Shadow", so I really look forward to "The White Sybil" this Summer.

The perfect starter
Clark Ashton Smith was man with an unlimited imagination. His flowery tales of the fantastic and weird stand out as shining star for his time.

This book only scratches the surface of his vast collection of works, but it does offer a very diverse selection of his style.

For those who are familiar with Smith and his written works, this book will feel somewhat short and lacking.
On the other hand, If you are new to the work of CAS and would like to get a taste of his style without cleaning out your wallet in the process, then this book is for you.

It is the perfect CAS starter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good?Sure, I guess.
A collection of thirteen fantasy/horror short stories taking place on various different worlds, or stages of Earth during the sun's long decay.All were written between 1931 and 1960.

City of the Singing Flame : Writer discovers portal to another world.

The White Sybil : A wandering poet enamored with a ghost.

The Tale of Satampra Zeiros : A pair of thieves burglaring an ancient temple get more than expected from the resident god.

The Theft of the Thirty-nine Girdles : Thieves and magicians use teamwork to steal famous girdles.

The Door to Saturn : A wizard and a priest, once enemies, visit Saturn and are forced into cooperation while dealing with the locals.

The Dark Eidolon : A dark wizard has a score to settle with an evil king.

The Black Abbot of Puthuum : While escorting the newest addition to the king's harem across a desert, two fighter-types are waylaid by the Black Abbot and his disciples.

The Garden of Adompha : A demented king and his pet wizard tend a grisly garden of alien plants and grafted body parts.

The Maze of Maal Dweb : A simple hunter braves the terrible maze to win back his stolen love from Maal Dweb, the mack-daddy of all evil wizards.

The Flower Women : Bored with life and power, Evil Wizard Supreme Maal Dweb visits another world to solve a mystery.

The Enchantress of Sylaire : A dreamer is seduced into another world by the sexy Enchantress, who may or may not be what she seems.

The Beast of Averoigne : A comet brings a visiting alien to wreak death and havoc on an abbey and the nearby cities.

The Hunters from Beyond : A sculptor of the grotesque, seeking living subjects from which to work, summons slavering, soul-eating beasts from hell.

Smith was a poet, and it shows in his writing; vivid description is laid on thick, while what dialog there is takes a formal tone.As for the stories themselves, magic features prominently; there is nearly always a sorceress, or magician, or someone dabbling in the arcane: raising demons, conversing with gods, or casting spells - usually for some grotesque purpose.

For the most part, the stories seemed to be written purely as an outlet for Smith to describe these strange locales and occult magics.

City of Singing Flame
This Book is an excellant Rendition of short stories from other books of CAS!Averoigne,Posiedonis,Xiccarph,Polaris and Zothique. It gives a Good Showing of Magic,Mystery,Adventure and pure Excitement from other Realms other Than that as we know it!Well worth laying your hands on if you can find a copy!The Earlier Paperbacks which came out in the Early Seventies are Extra hard to find and very Expensive!Smith is An Anomoly of Required Taste,And once you have tasted his forbidden Fruit You are his Forever!!!! Brian D Zaharia!!!!!!

Horror Fantasy that's not fantastically horrible
There's no getting around it, the man could write. This book is a collection of short stories classified by which, of the many world settings Smith wrote about, the story falls into. Expect irony, disgust, outrage, grim turns and twists, even the come uppance of chauvinists! The fantasy aspect almost seems like a ripoff of all those fantasy games like D&D, except that Smith's stories were written long before role playing games. These stories are not quake in your boots scary, but they do prompt an emotional reaction. The title story should be required reading, that is, if I believed in such a thing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Somber fantasy
Collected here are what many consider to be Clark Ashton Smith's best writing; the complete stories from his Zothique setting.The Zothique world is our own - albeit many millions of years in the future - where continents have fallen and risen again and "the science and machinery of our present civilization have long been forgotten, together with our present religions. But many gods are worshipped; and sorcery and demonism prevail again as in ancient days."In short, these are stories in the fantasy vein, with predominantly unhappy endings.Check out this sample, from "Necromancy in Naat": "No longer could he conceive the aims and objects of life; and the languor of death rose up around him like a black, stealthy sea, full of soft murmurs and shadow-like arms that were fain to draw him downward. Soon he came to envy the dead, and to deem their lot desirable above any other. So carrying that scimitar he had used at the slaying of Vacharn, he went into his father's chamber, which he had not entered since the raising up of Prince Yadar. There, beside the sun-bright mirror of divinations, he disembowled himself, and fell amid the dust and the cobwebs that had gathered heavily over all. And, since there was no other necromancer to bring him back even to a semblance of life, he lay rotting and undisturbed for ever after."Smith's byzantine prose never ceases to grab me by the throat, making this collection worth every penny!Also recommended is the amazing "The Last Oblivion: Best Fantastic Poetry of Clark Ashton Smith"! ... Read more

Product Description
Here is a collection of Clark Aston Smith's Cthulhu Mythos fiction, collected and arranged by Robert M. Price, with commentary for each of the stories. Included here are "The Ghoul", "A Rendering from the Arabic", "Ubbo-Sathla", "The Werewolf of Averoigne", and others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good for certain fans of the inimitable CAS
I agree with the previous reviewer about the typographical errors, and I was not going to write my own review, but then I thought there was some additional information a potential buyer might want to know.The Klarkashton Cycle is a decent trade paperback in the Chaosium cycle series, edited, as are most, by Robert Price.Mr. Price's introduction is pretty good but his notes on the stories at the end are priceless.I would not read them, however, until you read the stories, to avoid potential spoilers.The cover art by Stephen Gilberts is better than that on most cycle books, although not as good as some of his other covers in this genre.

As I see it, there are three groups of fans who might want this book.Some are collecting all the cycle books, come heck or high water, and they already bought it.Some are Smith completists.There is a definite reason for them to get this book.Others, however, are new to the wonders of CAS and are considering this as an initial collection.In this book, there was no effort made to include just top drawer Smith; rather, the editor has included those stories he would categorize as Lovecraftian or Cthulhu mythos.This could lead to endless debate as to whether anything Smith wrote is Lovecraftian or is best not categorized as anything other than wholly original.I'm not persuaded that this is a good basic Smith collection for new devotees.Arkham House still has in print the hardcover A Rendezvous in Averoigne which has most of the Smith stories included in the three Chaosium books devoted to CAS' creations, as well as many others.However, there is not complete overlap.Also, the Arkham House book, while I highly recommend it, is dated 1988.CAS scholarship has accelerated in recent years and some of the stories are now seen in different forms.Annoyingly enough, at least for me, Mr. Price changed the titles of some of these stories (see below) to Smith's previous working titles, to avoid confusion with the more well known versions.Well this confused the heck out of me, because I thought I would be seeing something new.I was, but only different versions, enjoyable on their own merits, sort of like the different editions of Bruckner's symphonies.Buyers need to know that The Infernal Star is only a fragment (alas CAS never finished it).Oh, well, Price's notes explained everything.Absolute Smith completists are probably following the series from Nightshade Books in expensive, handsome hard covers.Otherwise I still would suggest A Rendezvous in Averoigne as a single basic Smith collection.The Tsathoggua Cycle is worth getting for the CAS stories, and also the other stories about Tsathoggua by different authors.The Book of Eibon is something else, mainly by Lin Carter, who attempts to write the actual Book of Eibon.I'm afraid I have not read it yet.I love Smith's prose but you must decide for yourself if the Klarkashton Cycle is the book to introduce it to you.What follows are the contents of the Smith stories in each of the Chaosium and Arkham House books.

The Klarkashton Cycle (Chaosium)

The Ghoul
A Rendering from the Arabic (alternate version of The Return of the Sorcerer)
The Hunters from Beyond
The Vaults of Abomi (alternate version of The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis)
The Nameless Offspring
Ubbo-Sathla
The Werewolf of Averoigne (alternate version of The Beast of Averoigne)
The Eidolon of the Blind (alternate version of The Dweller in the Gulf)
Vulthoom
The Treader of the Dust
The Infernal Star

The Book of Eibon (Chaosium - note only a few titles by Smith)

The Coming of the White Worm: History of Evagh the Warlock
The Light from the Pole: History of Pharazyn the Enchanter, by Lin Carter and Clark Ashton Smith
The Door to Saturn

The Tsathoggua Cycle (Chaosium, has stories by authors other than Smith)

From the Parchment of Pnom
The Seven Geases
The Testament of Athammaus
The Tale of Satampra Zeiros
The Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles

A Rendezvous in Averoigne (Arkham House hardcover, used copies are cheaper)

The Holiness of Azédarac
The Colossus of Ylourgne
The End of the Story
A Rendezvous in Averoigne
The Last Incantation
The Death of Malygris
A Voyage to Sfanomoë
The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan
The Seven Geases
The Tale of Satampra Zeiros
The Coming of the White Worm
The City of the Singing Flame
The Dweller in the Gulf ["Dweller in Martian Depths"]
The Chain of Aforgomon
Genius Loci *
The Maze of Maal Dweb
The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis
The Uncharted Isle
The Planet of the Dead
Master of the Asteroid
The Empire of the Necromancers
The Charnel God
Xeethra
The Dark Eidolon
The Death of Ilalotha
The Last Hieroglyph
Necromancy in Naat
The Garden of Adompha
The Isle of the Torturers
Morthylla

Typos, typos, typos
Clark Ashton Smith's excellent fiction deserves better than this. The volume is positively festooned with typos. On numerous occasions, the transcriber of these stories evidently forgot that we capitalize letters after periods in written English. Also, it appears that no attempt was made at proofreading the final product. Lines such as, "That formula was my last nope," and, "the dime, delirious horror of the vaults," are far too frequent in this volume. While Smith's work is, as I said, excellent, invest your money and time in a better collection. This one stinks. ... Read more