A nameless artist has illustrated CAS' story "Sadastor" in the form of a digital comic.

[sadastor.neocities.org]

I can't say I like all of its creative decisions, but it's nice finding a sincere adaptation of CAS' work, especially a story so ripe for artistic interpretation. I'd enjoy seeing more of them from others.

It has a good sense for fabulous vistas, though the characters could use some touching up. I'll have more thoughts later when I look it over a second time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 7 May 22 | 08:53PM by Hespire.

I did not check carefully, but it seems to contain the entire text of the story.

The artist did a pretty good job on the flora, but the elf and dragon are a bit too cutesy for my taste. Isn't it supposed to be a water-lamia and a demon? The recent issue of Rock & Gem describes an endorheic basin in Death Valley. Water does not flow in or out, but has been lost thru evaporation over tens of thousands of years. It is called Badwater Basin and is mostly sodium chloride.

You're almost right Platypus. I didn't make any thorough comparisons, but I noticed a brief reference to female vampires was missing. Too raunchy perhaps. ;)

weorcstan Wrote:
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> The artist did a pretty good job on the flora, but
> the elf and dragon are a bit too cutesy for my
> taste. Isn't it supposed to be a water-lamia and a
> demon? The recent issue of Rock & Gem describes an
> endorheic basin in Death Valley. Water does not
> flow in or out, but has been lost thru evaporation
> over tens of thousands of years. It is called
> Badwater Basin and is mostly sodium chloride.


I agree about the characters. They'd be fine in a Jim Henson production, but for a Smithian story they look a little child-like. The demon Charnadis is rather meek for a cosmic Don Juan, and the female creatures are surprisingly conservative. From CAS' suggestions, I imagined the demon as a sly-looking devil in his prime, and the sirens as beautifully mature and curvaceous, with glints of mischief in their eyes even in sadness. They could have had some bold and passionate postures as well, fitting of a dramatic narrative, but these are the only criticisms I can think of.

Otherwise I enjoy seeing such a colorful project devoted to one of my favorite tales. I think a handful of CAS' stories have been turned into comics, though I haven't looked into them. One of them, "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis", can be read on this very site:

[www.eldritchdark.com]

I never heard of Badwater Basin until now. It looks profoundly like the surface of Sadastor. One of these days I should take a trip to Death Valley. I always liked Californian deserts.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 8 May 22 | 12:17AM by Hespire.

Sadastor = prose poem?

What is your opinion, EDers?

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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I'm sure the others have a better understanding of poetry and fiction, but I always felt "Sadastor" had the skeleton of a narrative and the flesh of prose-poetry. There's a story with a moral point, and characters who want something, but the bulk of the writing is devoted to the evocation of emotions and atmosphere through lyrical language. To most fictioneers, such evocations are useless, or at least they need to be shortened to get the plot rolling.

I think another difficult piece to interpret would be CAS' "The Passing of Aphrodite", which doesn't have much of a plot and yet features a cast of characters who journey through a beginning, middle, and end:

[eldritchdark.com]

I wish CAS had written more of these vague prose-poem-narratives; they have an energy unlike so much of fiction. I assume he had to drift a little from that style because of editors and audience demands.

Hespire Wrote:
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> You're almost right Platypus. I didn't make any
> thorough comparisons, but I noticed a brief
> reference to female vampires was missing. Too
> raunchy perhaps. ;)

Noticed a few other changes, though I can't recall all of them.

One was another reference to Charnadis' sexual exploits being snipped (though mating with basilisks stays in).

Another does not really count, and was just "said Charnadis" being snipped as unnecessary, in light of the speech baloon.