Yesterday, I finally picked up my copy of The End of the Story at my Barnes & Noble -- and first off, I would like to thank Mr. Scott Connors and Mr. Ron Hilger from the beautiful effort both they and the rest of Night Shade Books put into compiling the book. This is one of the most handsome editions of any book I have ever seen; I love the cover art, particularly the decision to have Clark Ashton Smith as the young sorceror on the cover (will that be a running theme among all the covers of this series? I certainly hope so!). I also believe that it is a wise choice to compile these books in chronological order; not only is it helpful to anyone who wishes to compare Smith's earlier works with his later ones, but also because it avoids the fatal error that even the best of poor Robert Bloch anthologies commit: namely, leaving a story out! The paper quality is wonderful and Scott will be pleased to hear that thus far I have found no typographical errors. ;)
I also loved the picture of Clark Ashton Smith that was included in the front of the book; it was one that I had never seen before (which, at this point in my stage of fandom, is saying a lot!) and it proved once again that there never was an author who knew how to dress quite as well as our Mr. Smith. I do hope that each of the series has a picture included of him in the front leaves -- perhaps one of him in his twenties or thirties in one of the future volumes?

At any rate, thank you again, Scott and Ron, for the wonderful effort you both put into this book and the extensive notes and research that you wrote and put into the making of this book. It truly is an editorial masterpiece.

We have seen the darkness
Where charnel things decay,
Where atom moves with atom
In shining swift array,
Like ordered constellations
On some sidereal way.
--from Nyctalops

I can only agree with the previous speaker -- particularly when it comes to the chronological arrangement (that's one problem I have with the Arkham editions of Lovecraft -- the arrangement). And after 21 pages (plus editorial material), I have found only one certain typo and two that just might be typos. :-)

In all, a wonderful, WONDERFUL book, and even though I had to wait for 75 days while it was in the mail, and for almost two years before that, it was worth every damn'd second. I bow my head before Messrs. Smith, Connors, Hilger, Lassen, Williams, Van Hollander and everybody else involved in the creation of this volume.

Yrs
Martin