I only discovered CAS a couple of years ago and I can't get enough. I think he is one of the finest examples of pure imagination I have ever known. I find myself beleiving his fantastic stories, pulled in and and taken for a ride through new worlds. His verse laces the pages of his prose creating beutiful worlds that no other can match. He did the best he could with the strict format of Weird Tales and other pulps and left the world with a legacy of creative inspiration. Though some say he modeled his stories after Lovecraft and Howard I feel he stood completely on his own two feet. I personaly do not like realism that much and feel if your gonna tell a story make it big, great and proposterous. Cas did that and more, modern writers could not hold a candle to the worlds he created. maybe since it was before man had unweaved all the rainbows he could still imagine that anything was possible and modern writers half to stay to some degree in the confines of known science. Though Lovecraft has now been reprinted in the American Library, writers like Dunsany, Hodgson, Howard, Blackwood have largely been ignored by the ivory towers of literary critics. I rather read a smith story than Hemingway anyday.
I have tried to read Edgar rice Burroughs and think he was a hack compared to CAS, REH and HPL. I have tried to read modern sci-fi and fantasy and just think it seems to have gone downhill since the height of weird tales and Arkham. Sometimes I feel some of these moderns are good stylist, they adhere to the chicago manual of style but just have a rather boring imagination. Sometimes I feel like they have to dumb it down for the unread audiences today. I do not mean to sound bitter but whats going on? where's the imagination? Bradybury is turning into a hack to, Heinlin was ok, Asimov had his moments but where are all the Clark Ashtons of today has any one read any modern fantasy that was any good. My favourites Are CAS, REH, HPL, Machen, Shiel, David lindsay (A Voyage to Arcturus, WOW!), Hodgson,Blackwood, Burke, Le fanu, Whitehead, Moore,. Yes I like Tolkein but I am just sick of it all as of late with the movie and all.If you guys can suggest any moderns that equal up to some of these writers let me know.

Oh and Smiths art mirrors his stories with extreme sense of the fantastic.

> If you guys can suggest any moderns that
> equal up to some of these writers let me know.

E.R. Eddison. Particularly The Worm Ouroboros, but also Mistress of Mistresses and any of his other books that you can find, really. I also particularly enjoyed The Well of the Unicorn by Fletcher Pratt. And as I've said, Tolkien's The Book of Lost Tales, Part One and Part Two and The Lays of Beleriand are amazing, and a far cry from his later, more famous material, and much closer to Eddison and Smith than anything. Regards.
--

Michael Falconer - [ulmo.mux.net]
"Because by fate even the gods are cast down, weep ye all with me."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 26 Oct 05 | 01:49AM by Falconer.

Thanks I have been meaing to read him. My lit guru told me once it is a life changing book.

Thanks

I would give the entire History of Middle-Earth a go, just to see how the work tht was later edited into the published Silmarillion, and TLotR, developed. Despite being fragmentary for the most part, it is--to me at least--fascinating to get this glimpse into the workings of one of the greatest fantaisistes of the last century.

*Author of Strange Gardens [www.lulu.com]


*Editor of Calenture: a Journal of Studies in Speculative Verse [calenture.fcpages.com]

*Visit my homepage: [voleboy.freewebpages.org]

You might want to check Jonathan Aycliffe as a modern ghost story writer in the Blackwood / MR James tradition. Sadly neglected by the publishing industry - all his books are out of print.

O.k. I will look out for him

If you like ironic humour, clever wit, and savor words in the English language with leisurely delight like taste for caviar, rather than looking for meat and potatoes, you might enjoy Ernest Bramah.

"Ernest Bramah wrought an imaginary Chinese world and sang of its marvels in a delicious prose - ornate, bejeweled, polished, and sparkling with the wit of a Jack Vance. His fantasy-China is peopled with droll rogues, absurd magicians, weird dragons, and fat, complacent mandarins. He is an amazing writer." -Lin Carter

Some of his best work can be found in:

Kai Lung's Golden Hours
Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat
The Transmutation of Ling

Has someone else here read Bramah? Any likes or dislikes?

I have only read the books above once, and truthfully I have only a few lasting impressions. At times though, his imagination is brilliant and bizarre. The language is compact, and he is best enjoyed in small doses.

But his imagination is certainly not as rich and genuinely grounded in real life experience, and cosmic visions, as is Smith's. Bramah's state of perspective seems to come much from academic sources.



( I am sad. Over the last few years I have had difficulties enjoying CAS, Lovecraft, and the other greats. Mundane issues have quenched it. I have been a victim of the multicultural society that has suddenly evolved here in Sweden (and the rest of Europe) over a very short time, with big numbers of foreign elements from culturally undeveloped lands; a gang of barbarians beat me down in an unprovoked attack. The emotional scars are difficult to shake off. And I can see how society here is falling apart more and more; the politicians are unable to handle the collapsed integration, which is not what they had envisioned. I see dark times ahead.)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 20 Nov 05 | 01:10AM by Ludde.

May I express my profound sorrow for your difficulties -- all of Europe, as can be seen in France at the moment -- is suffering from having opened their doors for the purpose of enlarging the tax base, without insisting that new people seriously become say "Swedish" or "French" before being granted citizenship. Where values are not homogenous, disregard for the sanctity of the person deteriorates exponentially.
Visiting certain sections of our great cities is like landing on another quite hostile planet. I never dreamed that I would not only applaud, but participate in the need to travel armed; yet in our work, it has proven valuable on several occasions, though, thus far, it has not been necessary to actually discharge the weapon - perhaps just having it puts a forbidding gleam in the eye that discourages the dilettante bad guy.
Have not read Bramah, but shall essay same in an idle moment.
Best wishes to you - Perhaps you and a few friends might tank up on a bit of Mead, and emulate your Viking ancestors as regards the invaders of your homeland. In Texas, "he needed killin'" is a valid defense in court. An increasingly attractive approach to the sub-species found roaming the streets these days making grunting sounds as an apparant attempt at communication.

calonlan Wrote:

> May I express my profound sorrow for your
> difficulties -- all of Europe, as can be seen in
> France at the moment -- is suffering from having
> opened their doors for the purpose of enlarging
> the tax base, without insisting that new people
> seriously become say "Swedish" or "French" before
> being granted citizenship.

I don't think "insisting" would have done much good.

> Visiting certain sections of our great cities is
> like landing on another quite hostile planet. I
> never dreamed that I would not only applaud, but
> participate in the need to travel armed; yet in
> our work, it has proven valuable on several
> occasions, though, thus far, it has not been
> necessary to actually discharge the weapon -
> perhaps just having it puts a forbidding gleam in
> the eye that discourages the dilettante bad guy.

It would be interesting to hear about CAS's attitude to and experiences of guns, if he had any.

> Best wishes to you - Perhaps you and a few friends
> might tank up on a bit of Mead, and emulate your
> Viking ancestors as regards the invaders of your
> homeland. In Texas, "he needed killin'" is a
> valid defense in court. An increasingly
> attractive approach to the sub-species found
> roaming the streets these days making grunting
> sounds as an apparant attempt at communication.

Yeek. But I won't say you're wrong.

Clark had a tidy little 22 rifle at the cabin, well worn stock. It had been his father's, and while we never shot or hunted together, Clark kept his place free of "varmints" (the area had a heavy skunk infestation in those days) - Locals at the "Happy Hour" considered him a crack shot. Whether he ever owned or fired anything large enough to bring down a deer, I do not know, yet it would have been highly likely in the earlier days since it would have been silly to neglect such an obvious and plentiful food supply. The population around him had risen to a point where bagging a deer out the kitchen window was not wise. Yet I knew him to always have around the place a number of excellent knives, and that he prided himself on keeping a good edge on them. I have no doubt he would have been more than adequately skilled in dressing meat, caring for the hide, and making venison jerky - these were fundamental skills for survival for anyone in the wild west of his era. Certainly his father would have had these skills, and Clark would have learned by observation alone, even when he was so ill in his childhood he could barely lift his head.

Thank you for your support. I appreciate it. And it's nice to hear someone who understands the basic requirements for a feasibly working immigration policy: that the immigrants should adapt to the basic values and culture of the country they move to, or else leave. Not everyone understands this, least of all the incompetent politicians in this country of mine. They want little Sweden to become a multicultural heaven where totally different cultures live side by side and mingle in perfect harmony; because "all men are eaqual", their guiding star. They are willing to sacrifice everything, any price is worth paying, to reach this noble goal. Critics of this naive and simplified view of mankind and cultures, and who warn about the future consequences, are silenced in media because their views are considered rasist. "If we don't accept other cultures among us, that would mean that "all men are NOT eaqual", and we can't have that" goes their logic. "We shall succeed with that which no other country has managed before us!"

"Perhaps you and a few friends might tank up on a bit of Mead, and emulate your Viking ancestors as regards the invaders of your homeland."

JAAAAA!!! DÖDA!!! (Translated: Yeees!!! KILL!!!) I would gladly bash in some skulls of the worst behaving elements. But I am afraid the goverment stands on the invader's side. They even silence news of their robbing, and systematic rape of girls, to maintain the picture of successful integration and to prevent rasism. Young barbarian rapists are offered free social welfare and a few months of therapy talk, instead of punishment. Then it's back to the street again. Furthermore we are not allowed to defend ourselves with weapons, girls can't even use pepper-spray (it's a criminal act). A few decades ago, when our country was homogenous, it was probably a good idea to refrain people from having weapons; but now with the changed situation we really should be allowed to have it. Anyways, I am currently searching Ebay for a nice baseball bat!

The brainwashed and submissive people (most accept the "all men are eaqual" mantra) will wake up sooner or later, and remove the established parties, but by then it will be too late to turn the situation without bloodshed.

Yes, I know, I rant on and on. But that's enough.

I wonder what CAS would have said if I told him these things. I imagine he would have agreed with my views, but at the same time kept a healthy distance as opposed to what I do; maybe becoming temporarily aroused, then brushed it aside as another shovel of earth, and noted some beauty in his surrounding.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 22 Nov 05 | 02:19PM by Ludde.

Most of you know what happens when we start to discuss politics here, so I'm closing the thread.