Richard Ashton Books

This fun little graphic novel is a collection of some twelve short stories and poems that were all written by the greats of modern horror literature - H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Saki (pen name of Hector Hugh Munro), Jack London, and others. Just as heterogeneous as the authors are the illustrators. Each of the stories was illustrated by a different artist, who drew the story as he or she saw fit, each different from the others and each excellent.

Overall, I thought that this was an excellent book, with great stories and wonderful illustration work. I think that my favorites were Lovecraft's The Thing on the Doorstep, W.W. Jacobs' Monkey's Paw, and Clark Ashton Smith's The Beast of Averoigne, with Bret Harte's Selina Sedilia being too funny to miss. Yep, this is a great book, one that my fourteen-year-old daughter and I both enjoyed and both highly recommend!

Horror Classics is a graphic novel anthology that brings to vivid life those great tales of terror by Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and others. Each individual story is skillfully rendered into comic book format by a different artist, who uses black-and-white imagery to perfectly capture moments of terror. An engrossing introduction to the classics of horror for those new to the literary experience, and an exciting fresh take on great stories for those who have read them a hundred times before.

Horror has done well for the modern incarnation of the Graphic Classics, whose series has seen such luminaries as Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft brought to life by some extremely talented cartoonists. Whether it is the short-story nature, or the ready-made visually splendid imagery, there is something in the classic horror tales thats makes them well suited to the Graphic Classics treatment. Here, in the 10th volume, they have wisely continued this tradition, and assembled an anthology of classic horror stories to chill and delight.

"Horror Classics" brings together 12 authors, some of which, like HP Lovecraft , Jack London and Ambrose Bierce, have been previously honored with their own Graphic Classics collections. Others, like Clark Ashton Smith and Honre de Balzac, appear for the first time. All of the stories are well-chosen, and the artists's styles are well-matched.

This collection contains:

"The Mummy" - Ambrose Bierce - A short and witty poem, with a sharp illustration to match it.

"The Thing at the Doorstep" - HP Lovecraft - A brilliant take on one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. The artist manages to capture the "Innsmouth look" perfectly, and uses the author's original text combined with illustrations to great effect. "glub..glub...glub-glub..." You know what I mean.

"Some Words with a Mummy" - Edgar Allan Poe - A clever and light adaptation of a resurrected mummy bantering with a few scientists over which has the superior society.

"In a Far Off World" - Oliver Schreiner - An excellent, melancholy tale. One I have never read before, but am glad to be introduced to.

"The Thing at Ghent" - Honre de Balzac - Entirely dialog free, I am at a bit of a loss as to the actual story. Unfortunately, it is not such a familiar tale as to be able to divine the story from illustrations alone. The only disappointment in the lot.

"The Monkey's Paw" - WW Jacobs - Any fan of "The Simpsons" will recognize this one, although they may have never seen the original. The artist JW Pierard maintains the full weight of the original cautionary tale. Be careful what you wish for, and don't mess with unfamiliar magiks.

"The Open Window" - Saki - Another familiar tale, one that I have heard told but never knew the origin of. A clever almost-ghost story, well adapted in a simple Victorian style.

"A Day Dream" - Fitz-James O-Brien - Cartoonish musings on murder, and the high class going slumming in the Five Points.

"Keesh Son of Keesh" - Jack London - A dark and powerful tale of barbarian culture and blood-rights amongst the Native American tribes. Ryan Inzana's heavy woodblock illustrations perfectly compliment this heavy story.

"Professor Jonkin's Cannibal Plant" - Howard R. Garis - "Feed me, Seymour!" Another comedic adaptation, featuring a foolish professor and his frightening child.

"The Beast of Averoigne" - Clark Ashton Smith - A contemporary of Lovecraft, this tale of a wild comet, a haunted abbey, and the Ring of Eibon, is adapted with appropriate style.

"Selina Sedilia" - Bret Harte - A humorous look at love ever-after between two base villains. And of course, there is only one way to achieve love "ever-after."

This book is meant to be a tribute to the Chinese jujube. There is just is not another book out there that describes the Chinese jujube with such colorful pictures and details. The Chinese jujube is a great fruit that has not gotten much attention but will grow in most of this country(USA.) It is so easy to grow and produces such consistant crops of fruit with few problems. There are interesting stories about how the Chinese jujube came to be in America and about the "lost" jujubes. Interesting recipes are included for uses of jujubes so that you can enjoy jujubes yeararound with the preservation methods cited. The new varieties imported from China in recent years also make eating a fresh jujube a real treat.

I am a Jujube enthusiast. I have several trees on my property and often find myself giving the delicious fruit away to coworkers, friends and family. When I found out there was a book solely based on the growing of Jujubes, I had to buy it. It is a very comprehensive book on a plant that deserves more credit. If you are a hobby orchardist like myself, or just looking for a great fruiting or landscape tree, look into jujubes. and if you need a guide on growing and caring for your tree, as well as a sourcebook for some of the best jujube varieties buy this book!

Dick is a genius, and he and Bradford Ashton have pulled together a number of very fine contributions in this book. Still, they sum it up nicely in the concluding chapter: "The formal practice of developing technical intelligence in American business is only in its infancy." They have a nice appendix of sources on scientific and technical intelligence that is missing a few big obvious sources like the Canadian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) and the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) as well as the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) and several smaller sources. On balance, this technical intelligence community is, as Bradford notes, in its infancy. It is U.S. centric, does not yet understand operational security and counterintelligence, is weak of cost intelligence, relies too heavily on registered patents, and has too few practical successes stories. Especially troubling is the recent trend within DIA and the Air Force of cutting off all funding for open source exploitation of Chinese and other foreign S&T sources, combined with a dismantling by many corporations of their libraries and most basic market research functions. This book is an essential reference and I admire its authors greatly-sadly, they are part of a small minority that has not yet found its full voice.

This is among the most comprehensive, insightful and balanced books on CI that I have read. Although there is very little on the topic of CI in the scientic and technical communities, which the books editors accurately note, this book goes a long way to estabishing the basis for the field.

Among the things I like best in the book are: 1) the balance between the conceptual and the applied - both the theory and the management applications are covered, 2) The introduction to TI by the editors does a better-than-average job of setting up the field, and 3) the chapters by Herring on creating successful S&T Intelligence Programs, Tibbetts on technology scouting, and the future direction chapter by Ashton are among the best of their kind in the literature.

The things I liked less about the book (and there aren't many mate) include a bit too much introduction or overview material to basic CI in several of the chapters (the editors would have been helpful had they removed this overlap), and several of the chapters read far more like research studies and are too narrowly focussed to allow for much use(ex: Klavans chapter on research underlying TI, Penens' chapter on standards).

In sum, this book is clearly the best out there on technical intelligence for business. If this area is important to you, you will find value in many facets of this book. Being that the book was published in 1997, I hope that these authors will consider doing a follow-up so that we can see the field's development through the advances in the computer-mediated economy, globalization and evolving competition in S&T space.

My husband was diagnosed as terminally ill, he has lung cancer, copd, and a very weak heart. I received this book as a gift shortly after he was diagnosed, and I will be forever grateful. This book taught me how to take an active part in my husbands medical care, to not be afraid to ask questions, and one of the questions I became brave enough to ask, was about putting my husband on an oral chemo, that I had read about. The dr. patiently explained to me that this drug might help, but it also had relatively serious long term side effects. Considering my husband was only given six months to live, I felt this was a pretty good gamble. This drug has had my husband in remission for almost five years. Without this book, I would have never been brave enough to ask this question.

Nothing About Me, Without Me, is a very easy to read and understand. I would highly recommend this book. Remember, your dr is only human, and can make mistakes, with this book, you will know what kind of questions to ask, and many things to watch for. Recommend this book to all of the medical personnel that you deal with, and also all of your friends and family.

I understand that everybody makes mistakes sometimes, but I am not going to let my DOCTOR make a mistake with me! He doesn't know me like I do. "Nothing About Me, Without me" told me how to be an active part of my medical experience in order to ensure that these mistakes don't happen to me. There were also great tips on things like how to find a good doctor and how to make sure my kids are getting good care. It's also enjoyable reading! I definitely recommend refering to this book each time you go to the doctor or the hospital!

This book is Wagner's seminal essay where he fully explains his principles and opinions regarding opera and music. If you like his operas, this is the one book that is a must have on your reading shelf.

In 1893, the London Wagner Society published an English translation of Wagner's 8 volume collected works. This is volume 2 of that series. It contains the full text of "Oper und Drama", translated as "Opera and Drama". Our old friend, William Ashton Ellis, did the stilted but essential English translations.

Much of what Wagner wrote has nothing to do with music, and quite a large portion is pretty forgettable. However, this book is important, and goes a long way toward helping you understand his music.

Well, to sum it up I simply have to say: Wagner wrote it, so you should read it

What a man to admire. We should all make a pilgrimage to Beyreuth to pay our lifetime respects to this great man.

Richard M. Titmuss's The Gift Relationship: From Human Blood to Social Policy has to be the best book that I have read this summer. It is hard to believe that this book was first published half a century ago and still holds true of the social and economical policies of life, metaphorically represented as blood. The first few chapters in this book that has recently been included in this edition illustrate the importance of how the concept of donating a non-substitute fluid of life presents various dilemmas in association with recent outbreaks like A.I.D.S. Originally, when I first purchased this book, I thought I would criticize how such social and economical policies have changed significantly over the fifty years. However, after reading this fascination and quite reflective book on our society and generosity today, I have realized that not much has changed since this book was first written. Yet, Titmuss does not accept or reject certain theories of the concept whether it is right or wrong to get paid to donate blood as opposed to voluntary donation. This book satiates the curiosity of how giving blood originated for the economics, anthropologist, philosopher, as well as for the average individual. Those who seek a challenge in trying to understand our health care system and H.M.O's will find this book as a great source of comparing how the giving of life has changed over the years, in the United States and abroad. Most of what Titmuss describes in his technical language is based on the H.M.S health care in England. However, the reader will hopefully realize the similarities and differences in socialized medicine compared to our managed health care as established today. If you are looking for an intellectually stimulating book questioning what is the gift of life and how much it is worth economically and socially, Richard M. Titmuss's The Gift Relationship: From Human Blood to Social Policy is the prescribed treatment for you.

Lost Worlds of Space and Time, Volume Two is the eagerly (well, by me) awaited second volume of fiction written based on, in tribute of or using themes and characters by the incomparable Clark Ashton Smith. I very much enjoyed Volume One. Just like its predecessor, Volume Two is a handsome trade paperback. Page count is 230, very generous, a little higher than Volume One. Like before the cover art is by Steve Lines, and is based on works by CAS. The aliens are different and facing a different direction. I like it better than I did Volume One a year ago; it's grown on me. The interior art was most welcome and also by Mr. Lines, who did the editing honors. On the whole, I am glad to have this book although I think Volume One is clearly stronger than Volume Two. Maybe the prose was more derivative across the board in Volume Two? Here is a bone I have to pick with these genre anthologies in general, not just with this book in particular. It is about publication history. Who is responsible for the copyright info and publication history? For example, Black Massif by Stanley Sargent is listed as a first publication, and © 2005. But I have a copy of Ancient Exhumations +2 by Sargent from Elder Signs Press, © 2004, and it contains Black Massif. Hmph.

Here are the contents. Again the atories are divided based on what work by CAS influenced them:
Introduction by Steve Lines
Xiccarph
The Lord of Xiccarph by Ron Shiflet (poem)
The Maze of Maal-Dweb by Steve Lines (poem)
The Reprisals of Maal-Dweb by Henry J. Vester III
The Death of Maal-Dweb by C. J. Henderson
The Legacy of Maal-Dweb by Ron Shiflet
Earth
The Gordian Knot by Robert M. Price
Orpheus at Sea by Mark Francis (poem)
The Cave Wizard by Richard L. Tierney (poem)
The Letter by Warlock G. Vance
The Night that Wins by Joel Lane
Aihai
Cavern of the Golden Fleece by Edward P. Berglund
Yihh
The Sarcophagus of Yiolh-Ngwehh by Simon Whitechapel
Xulthoom
The Xulthoom Dispatches by Scott Urban
Zothique
The Vainglorious Simulacrum of Mungha Sorcyllamia by Mark McLaughlin
The Fane of Mordiggian by Ann K. Schwader (poem)
At the Yielding of Twilight by Ann K. Schwader (poem)
Maraeva by Ran Cartwright
Plagues by Franklyn Searight (poem)
The Storming of Vrookhal by Laurence J. Cornford
Cincor During Necromantic Rule by Ron Shiflet (poem)
Deepness by Phillip Ellis (poem)
Gylas' Hymn to Mordiggian: A Fragment (poem)
The Villanelle of the Last Days by Phillip Ellis (poem)
The Black Massif by Stanley Sargent

I freely admit I was not won over by any of the poetry. Regarding the stories, they are each set in some corner of CAS' fantastical worlds. For example, note all the Xiccarph stories written loosely as sequels to The Web of Maal-Dweb.

The Reprisals of Maal-Dweb by Henry Vester was set in the future time when an earthly spaceship comes to Xiccarph and humans try to outwit/out fight the potent old sorcerer. This was OK, easy to read if not too inspired.

The Death of Maal-Dweb by C. J. Henderson is a direct sequel to The Web of Maal-Dweb. Again, reasonably engaging, not disagreeable. CJ Henderson has written many other fine stories.

The Legacy of Maal-Dweb by Ron Shiflet is also a sequel to The Web of Maal-Dweb, although in a very different way than the Henderson tale. For whatever reason, this was my favorite of all the Maal-Dweb stories. The mordant twist would likely have brought a smile to CAS' face.

The Gordian Knot by Robert M. Price - Not bad! Price gives a very readable story of the real history behind the Gordian Knot, with some OK CAS imagery.

The Letter by Warlock G. Vance - OK! Now we're getting somewhere! A detective on a murder scene finds a letter written to him, years ago
by CAS. I found this story evocative and effective.

The Night that Wins by Joel Lane was a creepily effective story about a man who loses his family and seeks to understand what happened, and maybe get revenge.

Cavern of the Golden Fleece by Edward P. Berglund - Now here is a story that is a clear winner. I really enjoyed this from start to finish; Mr. Berglund really delivers the goods, with humor, grotesque touches and nifty prose.

The Sarcophagus of Yiolh-Ngwehh by Simon Whitechapel - an acolyte plans to steal a relic from a priest and doesn't realize that spells may be effective even if their caster moulders in his sarcophagus. Decent read, didn't knock my socks off.

The Xulthoom Dispatches by Scott Urban - Better than most of the other stories here, a young girl visits Xulthoom and does not enjoy the trip. I liked this story rather well but I found the mock photo at the end didn't really have much impact. Maybe a prose finish would have been better.

The Vainglorious Simulacrum of Mungha Sorcyllamia by Mark McLaughlin - Another nicely evocative tale about a man who longs for woman he cannot have, and then tries to cross to her dimension. This brief description does not do justice to the prose or world painting.

Maraeva by Ran Cartwright - I really wish I liked this story better. For me it was too derivative and the prose didn't hold up to the better stories here. On the other hand, the time travel paradox and denouement were handled nicely.

The Storming of Vrookhal by Laurence J. Cornford - Good story of a wizard and the advisors of a vain and foolish king who seeks to find an ancient magic that will give him eternal life. OK, the prose is no match for CAS but whose is? I liked it.

The Black Massif by Stanley Sargent - A decent effort by Sargent about wizards trying to circumvent the end of humanity in the last days of Zothique.

Am I being too harsh? I dunno, another person might be more favorably inclined. For the most part I just happened to like the stories in Volume One quite a bit better than most of the ones here. Certainly the Berglund story made me smile. There was nothing here I disliked; every story had some merits. I was engaged for the whole book and never set it aside until I was done, so there is some charm to it; I can safely recommend it to all CAS fans and fans of weird fiction. I just wish I liked it better. In any event, I sincerely hope Rainfall will give us a volume Three in the future.

Lost Worlds of Space and Time edited by Steve Lines was published by Rainfall Books in the UK in 2004, and is a collection of almost all newly published works based on or inspired by the works of Clark Ashton Smith. It is a handsome trade paperback, I think with the typical feel and look of small press publications these days. The cover art and interior art is also by Steve Lines; at least the cover is based on works by Clark Ashton Smith. It is an interesting depiction of two aliens and some weird plant like things suspending human skulls. Attractive but no wow factor. I enjoyed the interior art; it added to the overall quality of the book. There is a brief introduction by the editor and a few authors' notes after some of the stories. Otherwise there is no description of the authors', minibios or their thoughts about CAS. Page count is 205, so I thought it was a generous sampling of stories and poetry.

Contents:
Introduction by Steve Lines
Pegana:
The Empress Ygloriane by Robin Reed
Atlantis:
The Departure of Malygris by Steve Lines & John B. Ford
Hyperborea:
The Fear of Liqoimkh by Laurence J. Cornford
The Pool Above Nraqlommbeth by Simon Whitechapel
In the Court of the Crystal Flame by James Ambuehl
Star Spawn of Hyperborea by John Fultz
The Exorcism of Igsat by Joseph S. Pulver Sr.
The Forgotten Ritual of Mnar by Joseph S. Pulver Sr.
Fire by Randal D. Larson
Averoigne:
The Circumstances of Ghostly Cats by Mike Minnis
The Butcher of Vyones by Mike Minnis
Unhallowed Ground, Unholy Fetish by James Chambers
The Passing of Belzevuthe by Simon Whitechapel
Unknown Realms:
The Sorcerer Returns by Richard L. Tierney
The Oldest Dreamer by Walter C. DeBill
Rescue by Michael Fantina
Castle Keep by Michael Fantina
The Silver Cup by Michael Fantina
Villanelle of the Necromancer to His Love by Michael Fantina
Dream Lover by Michael Fantina

As you can see, the stories are grouped together by the particular realm of CAS in which they are set or that inspired them. Right from the get go the editor acknowledges the one problem for this collection that cannot be surmounted. That is, all of these stories are written in the incomparable shadow of the prose of Clark Ashton Smith, an inimitable master. Anyone who tries to adopt his style can end up reading like a bad mimic. I have A Rendezvous in Averoigne, the hardback by Arkham House as my basic Smith collection. I urge all readers who have not done so to seek out this volume. It has a cherished place of pride on my bookshelf. Of course there is the Nightshade books 5 volume collection of Smith's fantasies that is slowly being released. If it is anything like their William Hope Hodgson collection, then it will have all of CAS' works edited in the context of the most up to date scholarship, in utterly beautiful hardcover editions. However the subscriber price is pretty expensive. Lost Worlds of Space and Time is not the first such CAS inspired anthology. There is The Last Continent, in a gorgeous hardcover edition by Shadowlands press edited by John Pelan. It has stories set in Zothique. I had read 2-3 stories in that when I loaned it away; it is now next on my reading stack. Rainfall Books, publisher of this volume, has an interest in CAS inspired fiction and releases a few chapbooks per year devoted to such stories. I am grateful for collections like this packed with brand new stories of weird and wonderful fiction. Overall I was favorably impressed with this book. Note that many of the authors here have also witten Lovecraftian and Yello Sign fiction.

Minor spoilers may follow.

The Empress Ygloriane by Robin Reed - Enjoyable tale of an empress who maintains her power and youth with noxious magics, and whose downfall is plotted by her servitors. Meanwhile a patient, unaware and indifferent sentience takes no notice of her comings and goings.

The Departure of Malygris by Steve Lines & John B. Ford - A strange and nicely creepy tale of how the ennui of an ancient sorcer is finally overcome, not to the betterment of the surrounding city. Very engaging read.

The Fear of Liqoimkh by Laurence J. Cornford - Never underestimate a magician! A bold and scheming bandit overlooks one of the basic maxims of being an evil overlord and leaves his enemy alive to gloat at him. An engaging read.

The Pool Above Nraqlommbeth by Simon Whitechapel - Forlorn love story, with hope and love intermingled with death and dispair. Another good read.

In the Court of the Crystal Flame by James Ambuehl - I have read this before and this time around I enjoyed it even more. It is a sequel of sorts to the well know story by CAS of Satampra Zeiros' adventures in the temple of Tsathoggua. If REH, Fritz Leiber or anyone else had created such a marvelous thief, they would never have just used him in one story. He simply cries out for his own series of tales. So James Ambuehl takes up the gauntlet. What really set this story into its proper context for me was the author's note, acknowledging the more appropriate antecedents of REH and Sword & Sorcery as opposed to CAS. Vivid and fun to read.

Star Spawn of Hyperborea by John Fultz - this owes as much to HPL as CAS, as a little band of adventurers tries to prevent Cthulhu from gaining freer access to our world. Perhaps the canvas is too broad or the story too long. Also owes more to REH than CAS. Still a decent read.

The Exorcism of Igsat and The Forgotten Ritual of Mnar by Joseph S. Pulver Sr. - I think these 2 were supposed to be like brief excerpts from the Book of Eibon. They did nothing for me.

Fire by Randal D. Larson Excellent story! A sorceror reaches into our time to find an ally.

Averoigne - This whole section was highly superior, moving from strength to strength, with great plotting and prose. I won't go into details but all 4 of these were outstanding, and probably had the most CAS-like feel, particularly the story by Whitechapel. I am also a big Mike Minnis fan.

Unknown Realms - This was all poetry. I think writing poetry is terribly difficult. In school we are weaned on the best the English language has to offer. Thus I mostly don't enjoy mythos poetry. Maybe someone else will like it.

So in summary a terrific anthology. Reasonably priced, with good production values, I found it a great way to while away some hours lost in worlds created by CAS, a true master. I heartily recommend it to all readers. Best of all, it is volume 1.

This book a case study for the new possibility of growing sweet cherries in Southern areas with low winter chilling. In the past sweet cherries could only be fruited in areas with cool to cold winters and mild summers. Now with new varieties and cultural techniques, as explained in this book, it is possible to grow sweet cherries in some of our Southern areas which have mild winters and hot summers.