Clark Ashton Smith Books

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 provides the only unexpurgated publication of this excellent fantasy/horror tale. Highly recommended.

Ijust glad someone brought this great fantasy writer back for others to enjoy.

If you know the work of Clark Ashton Smith only through his otherworldly -- and often acidically ironic -- short stories, then you've not seen his best, in my opinion. If you're a lover of language... an epicure of the fantastic in verse... then find a copy of Smith's SELECTED POEMS and buy it, whatever the price. This volume, more than any other of Smith's works, exemplifies his unending battle against all that is small and petty and mundane, and opens to the reader's soul vistas of unimaginable wonder. There have been many very fine poets of the outre: Lovecraft, Howard, Tierney, Bierce, Fryer, Brennan... but Clark Ashton Smith towers above them all. If I had to choose two books only from my not inconsiderable library, and see the rest consigned to flames, those two would be the Bible and Smith's SELECTED LETTERS. 'Nuff said.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ideal for introducing a whole new generation to one of the greatest fantasy authors ever to set pen to paper, A Rendezvous In Averoigne is an impressive collection of the classically horrific fantasy writings by Clark Ashton Smith, a man who wrote for "Weird Tales" alongside such legendary and groundbreaking authors as H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. The fantastic settings, the plottings of dire necromancers, the perilous quests, and the struggles to survive in mysterious and hostile worlds, fill the pages of this macabre yet inviting anthology. The short stories comprising A Rendezvous In Averoigne have superbly weathered the decades since their original publications.

I've known about Smith for years from reading Lovecraft, Leiber, Howard, etc, but this was my first experience. You can easily see his kinship with those other geniuses of the weird tale, but his style is his own, from whimsical to dreadful (in a good way :). Highly recommended as an entertaining intro to his work.

Fans of high fantasy in the style of Lord Dunsany get a treat in Clark Ashton Smith's The Double Shadow. One of the "big three" writers of pulp fantasy in the 1920's, along with H. P. Lovecraft and Robert Howard, Ashton Smith wrote numerous well-crafted, stylish, and decadent short stories in several series. The six stories in The Double Shadow are independent of these series, but just as stylish as any of the stories in them were.

"The Voyage of King Euvoran," an ironic tale of a king's quest for a missing crown, should please any fan of the Arabian Nights. "The Maze of the Enchanter" is a brooding tale of transfiguration that must have inspired some of the early tales of Jack Vance's Dying Earth. "A Nightfall in Malneant" is a tale of a spiritual journey through despair worthy of Poe himself. "The Devotee of Evil" follows a quest for the source of evil to its ultimate wellsprings of madness. "The Willow Landscape," on the other hand, is a delicately written Chinese fairy tale showing the breadth of Ashton Smith's skill as a writer. The title story, "The Double Shadow," is a masterpiece of dark fantasy, tracing in delicate, poetic, yet malific tones the course of a conjuring of the unknown.

In his work Ashton Smith plumbs all of the dark emotions of a decaying world. Perhaps nowhere else will a devoted reader of fantasy find such variety and value in so small a space as in the collection of six stories published by Wildside Press.

The first edition of this book - a drab, stapled booklet issued at the author's expense in 1933 - was an attempt by the poet and prose fantasist Clark Ashton Smith to save a few of his favorite tales from oblivion after submission of these tales had resulted in either rejection or requests for alterations the author was not willing (at that time) to make. "The Maze of the Enchanter" and "The Voyage of King Euvoran" are both vastly superior to the disembowelled versions published years later as "The Maze of Maal Dweb" and "The Quest of the Gazolba". Three of my favorite tales by Smith appear in this book - "The Maze of the Enchanter", "A Night in Malneant", and "The Double Shadow". Of these, only one, the heavily-edited "The Maze of Maal Dweb" - still impressive in plot, if less precise in action and almost devoid of atmosphere- appears in Arkham House's fine retrospective collection of Smith's work, A RENDEZVOUS IN AVEROIGNE. "The Devotee of Evil", an exercise in contemporary horror not dissimilar to such minor, early Lovecraft efforts as "From Beyond", disappoints, otherwise the contents are chilling, evocative, mournful, and sardonic by turns, with Smith's muse shaping the prose so cunningly that word, image, action, atmosphere, and speech all work toward the same otherworldly end.

Wildside Press has not produced the most elegant edition of the book one could imagine. The binding is not sewn, the paper is thin, and half the title - the words "AND OTHER FANTASIES" - appears only inside the book, a detail which may cause some confusion among those not already familiar with Smith's work. Nonetheless, the book appears reasonably durable, the cover art is attractive, the text is laid out stylishly, and random checks for accuracy suggest this is more carefully proofread than are some of this publisher's earlier books. "The Maze of the Enchanter" in all its unexpurgated glory is alone worth the price of this book.

A delight to read, especially knowing that Smith wrote this in the late 1920's. Smith is very contemporary in his vision. In fact, "The Willow Landscape" must have influenced Rod Serling and his famous Twilight Zone series. My only complaint is that the book's title made no reference to the fact that it contains six stories, not just "The Double Shadow." The book contains "The Voyage of King Euvoran," "The Maze of the Enchanter," "The Double Shadow," "A Night in Malneant," "The Devotee of Evil," and "The Willow Landscape." Additionally, DiSilvio's cover art is as fantastical as Smith's prose, and sets the scene for "The Voyage of King Euvoran" even more mysteriously than the tale itself. A great artistic keepsake!

For an anthology "based" on the style and stories of CAS, I felt most of the stories in this book were as fascinating and strange as Smith's. Without the hamperings of technical descriptions and reasonings of a "Dying Sun" scenario, the stories just naturally fall into prosaic form, dealing in the macabre and and the darkly fantastic. Better than most of the "inspired by..." anthologies. A good read!

For lovers of fantastic literature, the name Zothique no doubt revives pleasant memories of hours spent reading the stories of one of the genre's masters, Clark Ashton Smith. Smith was truly sui generis--although his work contained echoes of Howard and Lovecraft, he was in a class by himself. His short stories are more accurately described as highly compressed novels--he conveyed in short, densely detailed narratives what it would take others hundreds of pages to accomplish.

Thus, I approached THE LAST CONTINENT: NEW TALES OF ZOTHIQUE with more than a little trepidation. My worries were unfounded, however--editor Pelan has done an admirable job in assembling stories from a diverse group of authors including Gerard Houarner, Brian McNaughton, Jessica Almond Salmonson, Don Webb, Gene Wolfe, Brian Stableford, Lucy Taylor and Karl Henrik Johnsson. Most contributors wisely avoided the temptation to mimic Smith's style; to do so most likely would have proved disastrous. Instead, they chose to seize on the energy of his ideas, using them as springboards for their own tales. The result: a truly entertaining batch of stories featuring necromancers, magicians, strange diseases (remember the Silver Death?) and even stranger beasts.

I won't belabor this any more, except to say that this is an excellent collection, a fine, eminently readable tribute that can be enjoyed by Clark aficionados and neophytes alike.

The Last Continent is a collection of new tales in the theme of Clark Ashton Smith's classic "Tales Of Zothique". Gathering up such talented writers as Gerard Houarner, John Pelan, Edward Lee, Charlee Jacob, and Mark McLaughlin, The Last Continent takes us on a journey through the last continent of Zothique that was originally created by Smith.

You will feel the weak red sun as it dies, taste the dust of deserts on your lips, and tremble in the wake of strange magics. The Last Continent crosses the fantasy/SciFi/horror genres like a savage bee pollinating blood-tinged flowers, and the memory of these tales will sting you in pleasing and painful ways, perhaps even hang around awhile like a lump of swollen, poisoned flesh.

Here are the stories you will discover in The Last Continent.

1 - To Wake The Dead In Nypholos by Gerard Houarner.
A strange woman with mystic abilities visits the city of Nypholos, charming her way past the city's guardian. But when her charms are diverted from him to the Xipe Uthala, the guardian proves he is true to his city over all others.

2 - The Decibel Circus by Rhys Hughes.
The last acolyte to the demon god Drigg journeys to a cold desert where stylites pose on pillars and speak in tongues that can arouse changes in men and earth. Ximbus must use these stylites to bring his god back to life before his own body fades from disease.

3 - The Benevolent Emperor by Brian McNaughton.
An arrogant emperor discovers the consequences of arousing the wrath of the Gods, and must watch his kingdom die.

4 - Where The Past Lay Buried by David B. Silva.
When a man sets out on a journey to discover his beginnings, aroused by a prophetic vision, he discovers more than he bargained for and unleashes an unholy force on an innocent village.

5 - The Temple Of Captured Gods by David Niall Wilson.
Even a Priestess can be mistaken, and when coveting a contained God, even a King must listen first to his heart.

6 - The Connoisseur Of Corpses by Dan Clore.
A fantastic tale of a necrophiliac who gives his all to his God in order to become more involved with the dead, a deal that causes him to prosper in more ways than one.

7 - The Vainglorious Simulacrum Of Mungha Sorcyllamia by Mark McLaughlin.
Mark McLaughlin is one of my absolute favorite short story writers. He always manages to bring in a glimpse of humor to both his titles and his tales. In this tale, a gifted man becomes enamored by a painting made in his class, painted by a traveling girl with secrets to hide from him. Nevertheless, they fall in love, and Mungha eventually winds out using all of his gifts in order to see this sensual beauty once more.

8 - The Scarlet Succubus by Edward Lee and John Pelan.
Two of the most talented horror writers come together for this oddly surreal tale. One of the best in the collection. A vile King with dissatisfied vassals pushes them over the edge with his decedent indulgences. While Taquin Narr, the king's wizard, has the answer to uproot the vile king, he remains unaware of the King's secrets, passed on from generation to generation, secrets that keep the kingdom safe.
Spectacular achievement in scifi/fantasy/horror cross-genre.

9 - Hode Of The High Place by Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
A simple boy manages to infiltrate the strange, spiraled palace raised up on an impossible plateau in the midst of an ignorant, rural town. But in ignorance he rules his high place like a barbarian, and forgets from whence he came.

10 - Serenade At The End Of Time by Don Webb.
A thief or an acolyte, what will Fulbra be? Where will his desires lead him, and at what price will he be distracted?

11 - Blue Roses, Red Red Wine by t. Winter Damon.
One of my favorites. Cirdaith, strangely bound by magic to his harp called Shadowdreamer, sails off with his companions to find the City Of Blue Roses. Though they arrive in caution, they stay in decadence, indulging their physical and spiritual fantasies with the mysterious and irresistible nymphs they find there. Blood will flow and hearts will be broken, but the city will live forever with its hunger.

12 - A Traveler In Desert Lands by Gene Wolf.
Another favorite. The price of a jug of water in a desert wasteland turns into a lifelong prison of madness.

13 - Jolerarymi's Rose by Geoff Cooper.
Love knows no bounds, but can love also see through all treacheries? Stonecarver Jolerarymi wants only enough business to eek out a living and please his girl Sheleen. But Sheleen, greedy for the things Jolerarymi cannot buy her, prostitutes herself for goods and coin, making Jolerarymi very jealous. When Jolerarymi is given the contract of a lifetime, his visions of he and Sheleen together forever in a comfortable life are shattered by his murder. Sheleen takes Jolerarymi's corpse to a Necromancer to reanimate. But did she do it for Jolerarymi? Or for herself? Now that he's dead, will Jolerarymi know of her deceit?

14 - The Judgement Of Tsaran by Polagaya Fine.
A man finds his punishment to be incomprehensible, isolation on a deserted island with a strange altar that calls to him.

15 - Ashes Of Longing, Ashes Of Lust by Lucy Taylor.
Another favorite. Xi-Lan abandons his lover Gamede on their journey to the fearsome city of Cienta, leaving her in the middle of the night after a horrible nightmare. When Xi-Lan hears of Gamede's death, he vows to make the journey to collect her remains. Gamede's last wish was to have her ashes scattered from the Mountains of Arden, and for Xi-Lan the road from Cienta to Arden is fraught with horrible danger and unspeakable mutilation. In the end, will he travel with Gamede again?

16 - Love & Death At The End Of The World by Mark Chadbourn.
A band of cutthroats kidnap a beautiful girl to be used as a sacrifice to a demon isolated inside a tower of bones. But when Rathsamman decides that redemption is better than power or riches, he may discover that he is alone.

17 - The Leper King by Charlee Jacob.
Another favorite. Lyrkatra is a young witch intent on building her powers. She is a homely girl, who lives with her goatherd lover Komtai in the mountains that rise up above a fetid leper colony. Where most witches seek knowledge to destroy, Lyrkatra is a gentle soul who seeks the knowledge to create. Komtai discovers a fortune in jewels hidden within the crags of the mountains, and leaves poor Lyrkatra to become a great and wealthy king. Years later, when Lyrkatra is brought before the king to entertain him, she is able to show Komtai that creation is the most powerful magic of all.

18 - The Light Of Achernar by Brian Stableford.
Wow. This is the first story I have read by Brian Stableford, and he has earned a healthy round of applause from me. One of the longer and more stylistic stories in this collection, The Light Of Achernar is a real treat.
`Light' is a complex story surrounding the astrologer/sorcerer Giraiazal, who was exiled to the Isle of Cyntrom. Here, he performs his predictions and declarations of fate for two merchant princes, who are in reality brutal pirates. At the prince's request, Giraiazal tracks down the heirs to the palace throne, two young men whom the prince's are confident they can control.
Lysariel, as the oldest, becomes king, and his brother Manazzoryn comes to live in the palace with him. The brothers each marry a daughter of the pirates.
But Giraiazal sees only misfortune in his readings of the stars, the fell star of Achernar holding its foul sway over the futures of the new royals. Giraiazal does what he can to prevent his predictions from taking place as this complex tale of magic, love, and fate unfolds. But Fate is a tempestuous mistress.

19 - The Triumph Of The Worm by Karl Henrik Johnsson.
This last story left me feeling as though the collection had suddenly flattened out, dropping away from its consistent splendor. One of the most irritating things about this last story is that it, outside of the others, was very poorly edited. Life was constantly misspelled as Fife, many times. And the author took Smith's flowing style and turned it into a chaotic and discordant mess. Each and every sentence was so long and drawn out that the prose lost its music.
In `Worm', Zothique finally dies, leaving only a long-dead and decomposing madman to witness the sun's last throes.

The Last Continent is an original reading experience, utilizing not only Smith's vision of Zothique but his stylistic, flowing prose. These authors, like Smith, were able to breathe life into this dying world.

The book has a nice introduction, "Grim News From The Far Future", by Donald Sidney-Fryer, beautiful cover art by Rob Alexander, and intriguing sketches within the pages by Fredrik King. It is a limited edition of 500 copies, numbered and signed by each author. The layout is very nice, a friendly format, with an easy to read font and tight binding.

While the price is a bit formidable, I have hopes that this book will be picked up by another publisher and made available to the general public at an affordable price. In the meantime, if you are into rare collectibles that have actual, enjoyable content, do not miss out on The Last Continent. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Enjoy!

This is a tribute anthology inspired by the works of Clark Ashton Smith. Having not read one piece of fiction by Smith, I anticipated missing some of the underlying themes. This was not the case. John Pelan has selected stories that while being in the tradition of Smith's stylings is easily accessible to those of us not entrenched in the ways of Clark Ashton Smith's fiction. As in all anthologies there are gems, good stories and a few dogs. This collection has a higher incidence of the first two.

David B. Silva's "Where The Past Lay Buried" is an effective meditation on guilt and the price it extolls. Geoff Cooper's "The Jolerarymi's Rose", a sculptor is betrayed by his wife and he enacts revenge. Edward Lee & John Pelan's "The Scarlet Succubus" waxes poetic on politics, betrayal and some evil aquatic monsters. This one takes you one way then twists the ending so you don't know which way is up. "Ashes of Longing, Ashes of Lust" is a fast moving, beautifully written selection that made me feel I was beside the characters. Here you find a man on a mission and the toll an old girlfriend's last wish takes on him. Mark McLaughlin spins a tale of obsession in "The Vainglorious Simulacrum of Mungha Sorcyllamia". Brian Stableford turns in a stellar novella of passion, love and betrayal in "The Light of Achernar".

Other standout tales are written by Charlee Jacob, David Niall Wilson, Gerard Houarner, Dan Clore, and Gene Wolfe. The book contains some outstanding cover art by Rob Alexander and some nice interior illustrations by Fredrik King and Allen Koszowski. Highly Recommended.

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!

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.

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.