Hello all!

I just finished the Ballantine Adult Fantasy compilation Hyperborea last night [first time I'd ever read any of Smith's Hyperborea stories -- I was happily surprised at the wonderful irony and humor that underpins most of them; heck, "Zeiros" reads like a dry run of Leiber's Fafhrd & Grey Mouser tales], but after reading this site today I found out that the version of "The Coming of the White Worm" it contained is apparently abridged. This upsets me more than just a smidge, for "Worm" is one of the best stories in the book (well, I think so, anyway). Does anyone know offhand the differences between the full uncut uncensored unsullied unexpurgated version and the one reprinted in Carter's tome? Are there major plot differences, or is it more a difference in tone? Is the abridged version noticeably shorter than the original?

Anyway, thanks so much for any help, and thanks for running this stupendous site!


Best wishes,

Andrew J. Breitenbach

Quote:

"I have not yet completed the IX Chapter of Eibon, but expect to bring it to some sort of conclusion before long. I have renamed it 'The Coming of the White Worm.' The story takes its text from the saying of the prophet Lith, which no man had understood: 'There is One that inhabits the place of utter cold, and One that respireth where none other may draw breath. In the days to come He shall issue forth among the isles and cities of men, and shall bring with Him as a white doom the wind that slumbereth in His dwelling.'"

But the story was rejected by Weird Tales as too poetic, and did not see print until the April, 1941, issue of Stirring Science Stories in a drastically pared-down form. It subsequently appeared in a Canadian pulp magazine, Uncanny Tales, December 1941.

From: The Book of Hyperborea Introduction

Word counts:
5235 Full
5256 Abridged

This seem at oods with drastically pared-down but there may be more than one a bridged version, I shall have to check.

7099 I think is the proper word count for the full version, makes more sense.

Since neither version is currently in print, both are now available on the site:


The Coming of the White Worm Full Version
The Coming of the White Worm Abridged Version

Boyd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Since neither version is currently in print, both
> are now available on the site:
>
>
> The Coming of the White Worm Full Version
> The Coming of the White Worm Abridged Version

Well, the "abridged" version is in-print in A RENDEZVOUS IN AVEROIGNE. Also, Greenwood Press is keeping STRANGE SHADOWS, which has the originally, unexpurgated version, in print as a semi-POD title; I think Gavin Smith has some in stock, which is good because GP doesn't offer a full trade discount.
Smith intended the story to be a study in deliberate archaism, as he did with "A Tale of Sir John Maundeville." Wright rejected it, so CAS rewrote it to eliminate most of the archaisms and make it more accessible to pulp readers. As such it was rejected by John Campbell for UNKNOWN WORLDS. Wright apparently accepted it, but William Delaney, publisher of WEIRD TALES, returned it when he fired Wright, feeling that it was repulsive. Don Wollheim published it in STIRRING SCIENCE STORIES, but this was a non-paying market and CAS didn't get zip for it.

Scott

Thanks everyone for your help!

I printed both versions out and examined them thoroughly. The major changes occur in the first third or so of the story. First, Evagh's two servants (Ratha and Ahildis) are missing. Second, every mention or allusion to the prophet Lith and the prophecy of the worm's coming is gone. Third, nearly all the specifics of Evagh using spells or sorcery are excised (and the spells and sorcery being used on him) -- only a few generic hints are left, with not a single familiar to be found.

Once Evagh gets on the island, though, there aren't any large chunks missing, usually it's an adjective or phrase here or there. Some noteable drops: 1) Some of the "logic" the Thulaskans use to explain why they aren't worried about getting gnawed by the worm -- this is too bad as the material adds to the believeability of the utter gullibility of the uber-powerful warlocks (you don't find yourself saying -- as I did once or twice when I read the abridged version -- "These people are idiots because the author requires them to be idiots"); 2) Some of the geography of the Hyperborean Earth as they toodle around freezing things -- I wonder how Lin Carter would have changed his overeager map if he had known of the original version's existance; and 3) All of the mentions of the ships getting trapped in the ice around the berg.

Anyway, I think the original's a much better story -- though I do think the story flows a little better with some of the prepositional phrase busting that occurred between versions (e.g., "the equivocal pledges of the worm" became "the worm's equivocal pledges"). But that's just me -- I realize that might violate Smith's desire for "deliberate archaism" that Scott Connors mentions above.

I'm pretty sure, though, that I would be violating something (like, say, good taste) if I referred to the story as Survivor: Yikilth.

In any event, thanks again everyone!


--Andrew J. Breitenbach



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 8 Apr 05 | 05:56PM by breity.