Okay, it's been awhile, but we've turned in the corrected texts of the first CAS book in Night Shade Book's series. Here are the contents:
The End of the Story
by Clark Ashton Smith
Edited by Scott Connors and Ron Hilger
Table of Contents
Introduction [To be announced]
A Note on the Texts
To the Daemon
The Abomination of Yondo
Sadastor
The Ninth Skeleton
The Last Incantation
The End of the Story
The Phantoms of the Fire
A Night in Malneánt
The Resurrection of the Rattlesnake
Thirteen Phantasms
The Venus of Azombeii
The Tale of Satampra Zeiros
The Monster of the Prophecy
The Metamorphosis of the World
The Epiphany of Death
A Murder in the Fourth Dimension
The Devotee of Evil
The Satyr
The Planet of the Dead
The Uncharted Isle
Marooned in Andromeda
The Necromantic Tale
The Immeasurable Horror
A Voyage to Sfanomöe
Appendix 1: Notes
Appendix 2: The Satyr: Alternate Conclusion
Appendix 3: From the Crypts of Memory
The notes are quite substantial. We don't do a full-blown annotated version of the stories, but we do provide as much information as possible about their composition and publication as is possible, and includes copious quotations from both Smith's own letters and notes as well as correspondence from Lovecraft, August Derleth, Farnsworth Wright, David Lasser, and others.
I did make one error: I erroneously omitted "The Root of Ampoi," which should appear between "Marooned in Andromeda" and "The Necromantic Tale." I forgot to enter this on my master list--guess what my least favorite CAS story is--and so didn't order the mss copied. So it will appear in volume 2. Oops.
This is exciting. Any idea when it will be released?
It also looks like you can once again place subscription orders for these books on the Nightshade website. I already have my subscription ordered but my brother and some friends missed out and would jump at the chance to order a subscription.....so is that an error on the website or no?
Small change: I found the manuscript for "The Root of Ampoi" (didn't even realize that I had it, came across in a pile looking for some other material!), so it will be in volume 1. All's well that ends well, I guess!
Scott Connors Wrote:
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> Small change: I found the manuscript for "The
> Root of Ampoi" (didn't even realize that I had it,
> came across in a pile looking for some other
> material!), so it will be in volume 1. All's
> well that ends well, I guess!
>
> Red-faced,
> Scott
MORE great news! Thanks again, Scott. No need to be red-faced. :-)
Saw Jeremy Lassen of NSB this weekend, he says the first book should be out in July, bonus book in June. There are two titles ahead of it, and we still need to find someone with literary chops to write the intro. Everyone wants to, but are too busy at the moment :(
Scott
Tantalus Wrote:
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> Great news Scott! And To the Daemon is a wonderful
> choice to introduce the book(s)!
>
> "Tell me many tales, O benign maleficent
> daemon..."
>
>
> (BTW, Boyd, there are 2 minor errors in To the
> Daemon on the site.
>
> On the site page, in the third line the word
> "wear" should be "weary".
>
> In the first line of the second paragraph, the
> word "fore" should be "lore".
>
>
> I twice sent you emails about this in the past,
> but maybe you didn't get them. So I thought I
> would mention it here.)
>
Sorry I missed your emails, it happens sometimes.
BTW, we managed to come up with a manuscript for "The Root of Ampoi," so it made it into volume 1. Surprisingly, I didn't think it sucked as much upon this re-reading.... However, it is still deadlast on my ranking of Smith's stories.
So far plans are only for hardcovers, but anything is possible provided enough green is waved in front of the right noses. In the meanwhile, Bison Books has brought out two fine Smith collections in trade paperback, facsimile reprints of OUT OF SPACE AND TIME and LOST WORLDS. The texts are the old Arkham House/Weird Tales versions, but hey! they brought CAS to the party didn't they? :)