Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961), perhaps best known today for his association with H.P Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos, is in his own right a unique master of fantasy, horror and science-fiction. Highly imaginative, his genre-spanning visions of worlds beyond, combined with his profound understanding of the English language, have inspired an ever -increasing legion of fans and admirers.
For most of his life, he lived in physical and intellectual isolation in Auburn, California (USA). Predominantly self-educated with no formal education after grammar school, Smith wore out his local library and delved so deeply into the dictionary that his richly embellished, yet precise, prose leaves one with the sense that they are in the company of a true master of language.
Though Smith primarily considered himself a poet, having turned to prose for the meager financial sum it rewarded, his prose might best be appreciated as a "fleshed" out poetry. In this light, plot and characters are subservient to the milieu of work: a setting of cold quiet reality, which, mixed with the erotic and the exotic, places his work within its own unique, phantasmagoric genre. While he also experimented in painting, sculpture, and translation, it is in his written work that his legacy persists.
During his lifetime, Smith's work appeared commonly in the pulps alongside other masters such H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and E. Hoffmann Price and like many great artists, recognition and appreciation have come posthumously. In recent decades though, a resurgence of interest in his works has lead to numerous reprintings as well as scholarly critiques.
The Eldritch Dark is a site to facilitate both scholars and fans in their appreciation and study of Clark Ashton Smith and his works.
Re: Murder stories before 1950
18 Mar, 2024 5:02PM by Noivilbo
“Serial killers have been around forever, and the most notorious practitioners from the twentieth century were rank amateurs compared to the likes of Gilles de Rais and Elizabeth Bathory. There should be plenty for you to find if you dig for it. Jack the Ripper has definitely been storied pre-1950. Eusebius Pieydagnelle aka “The Blood… ”
Re: Murder stories before 1950
8 Mar, 2024 7:26AM by Dale Nelson
“Serial killers seem pretty much to be a phenomenon of the 20th-21st centuries, like antibiotics, LSD, high rises, smartphones, PDF publishing, airports, and transgender surgery.
The best example of what you're looking for would be fiction about the Thuggee cult, e.g. Taylor's Confessions of a Thug.
link )… ”
8 Mar, 2024 1:34AM by Minicthulhu
“Hello,
Does anybody know about stories published before 1950 that deal with the theme of murders and serial killers? Stories like "The Murders in The Morgue Street" (E.A.Poe), "The Lodger" (Marie Belloc Lowndes) etc.… ”
Re: "Squalid, malevolent, crazy" myths -- what was Machen thinking of?
19 Feb, 2024 4:48PM by Dale Nelson
“I really wonder what Machen had in mind. If he included not just "myths" but popular "legends," that could open up some possibilities. There was something about the Kitchener legend in the book -- I'd have to look it up -- but Machen seemed to dissent, as I recall. But I don't… ”
Re: "Squalid, malevolent, crazy" myths -- what was Machen thinking of?
19 Feb, 2024 11:37AM by Sawfish
“Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting speculations, Sawfish, and I could see
> Dracula in particular as being what he had in
> mind. Machen is on record somewhere about
> Jekyll/Hyde and not in a negative way.
>
> Dale
E.g., The Worm Ouroboros "myth" is not tawdry like any of the others I mentioned. These others lack any sense… ”