Hi,
I discovered Klarkash-Ton a few years ago and have been a huge fan since. I'm in the process of re-reading Tales of Zothique, my new favorite. Recently, after discovering that Chaosium had created a supplement for WotC's Dungeons and Dragons D20 system based on the fantasy world of Michael Moorcock's Eric of Melnibone, I wrote to Chaosium and suggested that they do a similar supplement based on Smith's lost worlds; Poseidonis, Hyperborea, and Zothique. I received an email back from one of the game designers saying that he had been trying for years to do something similar for Call of Cthulu without success and that maybe the lost worlds of CAS would lend themselves better to D&D.
I hope the designers from Chaosium actually do something along these lines. I personally would enjoy role-playing in Zothique.


I would also like to add that this is a great site. I have been visiting regularly for a couple of years now. Personally, I miss the sunflower-yellow hue of the home page.

One thing more... I wonder if Dr. W. C. Farmer has a manuscript entitled 'The Madness of Chronomage'.

Thanks.

Do not have such a manuscript, and never heard of it. "Chronomage" is

a term that does not sound like Clark (time-wizard). His term would

have been more esoteric and less obvious.

Dr. Farmer

In the postscript of the book Tales of Zothique published by Necronomicon Press. It mentioned that Smith had intended to write a tale entitled "The Madness of Chronomage", but had probably abandoned the story after having written "Xeethra" because the two stories were 'thematically similar'.

When I first read that postscript I found the idea that a 'lost' tale entitled "the Madness of Chronomage" might be floating around out there intriguing. And then when I read your post and discovered that there actually are 'lost' tales out there floating around, I just had to ask.

Charles,
You are of course right in the Postscript note.
My copy of Zothique was given to me by Carol Smith
many, many years ago, and, as is the way of
much-thumbed paperbacks, has disintegrated.
The conclusion you reach regarding Xeethra is
probably very good. I stand by my comment on the
use of the word "Chronomage" - For Clark to use
terms of transparent etymology is atypical.
Carol, on the other hand was an inveterate seeker
after "hidden meaning" in names - a perfectly
valid literary device; and in the last years she
was urging Clark to begin writing again, and,
as she was a prime mover in the publication of
this collection, certainly had some input. She
was a dear lady to me, but prone to hyperbole.
Several of us were hoping he would write again;
stories are more saleable than poetry - I, however,
was promoting a mature revival of his poetry --
I think it could have been quite amazing. But
America had swung so far from the roots that
held CAS upright as to be an unrecognizable
species to him. A poet who called his work
"Howl", and general celebrations of slime,
depravity, and filth were a thousand miles and
180 degrees out of sync with the spirit of a
"Star-Treader"--keep writing - new stuff will be out
when I can arrange it.

Dr. Farmer,
I have a big thick book from an old college lit class that contains Ginsburg's "Howl". I had to go retrieve it and re-read the poem after you mentioned it in your last post. I like some of the stuff done by the 'beat' writers; although, a lot of it seems very self-serving. The writers, that I've read, portray themselves as decadent hipster anti-heroes wandering through a surreal American landscape (sometimes mythic as in Kerouac's descriptions of America, sometimes hellish as in Ginsburg's "Howl") created and inhabited by other decadent hipsters. Trying to compare Howl to Star-Treader is like trying to compare Hip-hop music to Classical. You are right, Doctor, they occupy separate universes. I would much rather lose myself in one of Smith's short stories than make yet another attempt to finish Kerouac's Visions of Cody, especially if it is a Smith story never before seen. I am looking forward to reading your unearthed CAS material, whenever that may be.

I love the beats, for completely different reasons than I have for loving CAS. I asked earlier about his attitude to them as they share a common heritage (Baudelaire and the decadents)

Its interesting to see how common influences can turn out radically different successors.

Perhaps we can think of CAS as being the refined descendant and the beats being the barbarous ones.

Boyd.

P.S you don't 'know' Howl till you have heard Ginsberg read it.

I created a thorough map of Zothique earlier this year. If anyone wants it for gaming purposes, email me at geocorona@yahoo.com. Or if Boyd wants it for the site, I can send it to him.

George Hager wrote:
>
> I created a thorough map of Zothique earlier this year. If
> anyone wants it for gaming purposes, email me at
> geocorona@yahoo.com. Or if Boyd wants it for the site, I can
> send it to him.

yes please.

The map is now on the site here:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/art/inspired/zothique_complete.gif

its 163k 2550*1650.

Boyd.

Excellent map!

I second Francis' assessment of the map.

Jim

Outstanding!
This will be great for gaming and I've always wanted to use Zothique as a setting for D&D. Now I can.
Awhile back I had begun a tentative list of D&D monsters and creatures that would populate Zothique. I think I'll have to go back to it and make a serious attempt at finishing it.

The Eldritch Dark accepts RPG related CAS submissions.

Boyd.

P.S and CAS related RPG submissions.

Hello Boyd:

When did you hear "Howl" read by the poet?
I heard (and met briefly) Kerouac and Ginsburg in Berkeley in the 60's.
I was in graduate school in Berkeley from 61 - 63, and from 65 - 68.
I am afraid that I did not participate in the ethos that moved many
students younger than I in those days - ie, the "beat" generation, the
"free speech" movement, the "SDS", the "SLA" etc. ad infin. Tastes of
course vary greatly and for many reasons. I loved Clark first because he
was my friend, secondarily as an author. I remember first the man,
and the question to what extent and author may be known by his works
is a curious one and very much open to debate. The very nature of
the creative process (and why the ancients spoke of a "muse") is that
in that process, the artist very often generates and evokes wisdom and
truth on levels of which he not conscious. I well remember a lecture
by a very senior Robert Frost who had lived long enough for grad students
to be doing doctoral dissertatiions on his works, expressing amazement at
what meanings had been uncovered in his poems that he didn't know he
had put into them. He was being a bit sarcastic, but he had spoken
a great truth. The products of true creative genius are always greater
than the artist himself. The play (and film) "Amadeus" hints at this;
Dr. Lewis makes mention of it in writing about George Macdonald, and
Milton refers to it both in his writing and private correspondence.
"Howl" is a work forever frozen to a point in time, an era in American
history; "The Star Treader" moves on unencumbered across the cosmos.

You make some interesting points, Doctor Farmer, that I'd like to respond to:

"The very nature of the creative process (and why the ancients spoke of a "muse") is that in that process, the artist very often generates and evokes wisdom and truth on levels of which he not conscious."

I couldn't agree with this more.

" 'Howl' is a work forever frozen to a point in time, an era in American history; 'The Star Treader' moves on unencumbered across the cosmos."

With all respect, I don't think this is entirely accurate. "Howl," while in a sense a relic of a particular American era, is also among the works that consistently appeal to the particular mood of a particular age group, the alienation and sense of rebellion that is characteristic of adolescence and early adulthood. Among these works are the works of the Beats, particularly "On the Road," "Catcher in the Rye," "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "The Electric Kook-Aid Acid Test," and the poetry of Eliot and Rimbaud. I read most of these between the ages of 15 and 25, and found that most of my peers with any imagination and interest in literature were doing so as well. If you go into internet chatrooms, you will find people who are obviously college students talking about the same books. So I think that works like "Howl" will find an audience because they touch on a universal aspect of the human experience.