In a previous thread asking Smith fans to list their favorites, "A Voyage to Sfanomoe" was curiously absent from most submissions. It is at the very least one of his most poetic short stories, with a superb opening paragraph and exemplary style. Dealing as it does with the end of Atlantis and the escape from earthly concerns, it has the thematic depth that characterizes his best work. It reminds me of Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" in a way. The planet Venus, according to cosmological cycles and obscure laws of time and space, could be as Smith describes in the millennia before the doom of Atlantis. There is an implication of a before/after universe present that is almost unique to this one story, overlooked by what some may view as sheer extravaganza, missing the Huxley-esque philosophical richness of the tale. It certainly deserves a reevaluation. Between this and "The Double Shadow", I can't say which is the better Poseidonis tale.

jkh

I would not put either on a "best of CAS" list. But my vote between the two would go to "The Double Shadow".

Both would be in my top 20 Smith stories. "The Double Shadow" is widely considered one of his best, being the title story of Smith's self- published chapbook of unpublished tales in 1933. Steve Behrends chose "The Death of Malygris" over it for the Arkham House collection (A Rendezvous in Averoigne), but it was included among 18 Smith stories in The Return of the Sorcerer (with an introduction by Gene Wolfe). "A Voyage to Sfanomoe" appeals strongly to me for its ironic tone and stylistic flourishes.

jkh



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 19 Oct 23 | 06:47AM by Kipling.