I would appreciate some advice on where to start with CAS. Ideally a book that is in print :-)

Many thanks
Phil

You can probably find Tales of Zothique on amazon - it's a paperback and has a great selection of stories.
The series that Scott and Ron are doing would be excellent but a little more costly.
A copy of Genius Loci might be on Amazon as well, stuff shows up there all the time - reprints are of course less than originals.
Enjoy the adventure.
The poems are on this site - browse through a few - The Dark Eidolon, Not altogether Sleep - are good starters.
Gavin = who corresponds here is a bookseller who specializes in this genre and can certainly find you some good stuff to read as a neophyte.
Drf

If you are looking for a single volume in-print selection of his work at a reasonable price, the best place to start would be Arkham House's A RENDEZVOUS IN AVEROIGNE. If the Necronomicon Press edition of TALES OF ZOTHIQUE were still available, I would agree with Dr. Farmer.

Jim

Smith's first two Arkham House titles, OUT OF SPACE AND TIME and LOST WORLDS, have been reprinted in trade paperback by the University of Nebraska Press, but these are the old texts. Also, Jeff VanderMeer's introductions tend to praise Smith with faint damns.

Scott

Or you can sample a variety with The End of the Story. If it really doesn't need to be in print (considering the age of the works, you might want to reconsider this) there is always ebay or AbeBooks, etc. I bought the Ballantine books in great shape for under $5 each and the two Lost Worlds books for around $7 apiece.

Scott Connors Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jeff VanderMeer's introductions tend to
> praise Smith with faint damns.

I haven't read these forewords but I suppose it has something to do with Smith's style. JV once told me, that was back in 2002, that he found Smith's style "so bad", but that he admired Smith's imagination. Many people are of the same opinion. Too bad the complex reasons that lead Smith to use the style he used are so often misunderstood or underestimated.

Phil

"I haven't read these forewords but I suppose it has something to do with Smith's style. JV once told me, that was back in 2002, that he found Smith's style "so bad", but that he admired Smith's imagination."

Got it in one, Phil, although I think JV also doesn't care for the fact that Smith was largely self-educated as well; he apparently is of the opinion that audodidactism leads to a lop-sided intellectual environment. (Guess he works for the NEA! Personally, I think Smith anticipated Pink Floyd's song "Another Brick in the Wall"....) Personally, I think that Smith's imagination and style went together quite well. It's when he was forced to rein his style, e.g. for the Gernsback stf pulps or for his more modern horror tales, that he tended to falter. I was listening recently to a CD performance/reading of "The Death of Malygris" (from Ziggurat Productions) and was struck once again how perfectly CAS' baroque style matched his imagination.

Scott

Are there any in-print books with the entirety of the Hyperborean Cycle stories included?

Try to look out for 'The Book of Hyperborea' by Necronomicon Press; should contain the whole cycle

The Necro Press site is down, and Amazon doesn't carry new copies. You folks can chime in on your preferences between Bison's Lost Worlds and Bison's Out of Time and Space?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 29 Jun 07 | 12:08PM by alee.

This might appear to be a good start then?
Out of Time & Space

The Book of Hyperborea went out of print about a decade ago, IIRC. Necronomicon Press doesn't have it. But it's not too uncommon in used book stores.

I just quickly looked at Ebay and Out of Space and Time, and Lost Worlds are both on for 10dollars or less.
dr farmer

Just curious, what stories are enclosed in this anthology?

The Return Of The Sorcerer: The Best Of Clark Ashton Smith (Paperback)
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Prime Books (April 15, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0809556650
ISBN-13: 978-0809556656
[www.amazon.com]

The Return of the Sorcerer
City of the Singing Flame (the combined version, the title story & its
sequel)
The Vault of Yoh-Vombis
The Double Shadow
The Monster of the Prophecy
The Hunters from Beyond
The Isle of the Torturers
A Night in Malneant
The Chain of Agorgomon
The Dark Eidolon
The Seven Geases
The Holiness of Azederac
The Beast of Averoigne
The Empire of the Necromancers
The Disinterment of Venus
The Devotee of Evil
The Enchantress of Sylaire