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:
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> 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

no Cthulhu Mythos/Hyporborean tales in this volume aside Seven Geases?



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2 Jul 07 | 03:20PM by alee.

alee Wrote:
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> no Cthulhu Mythos/Hyporborean tales in this volume
> aside Seven Geases?

Both "The Return of the Sorcerer" and "The Holiness of Azedarac" have been considered as part of Smith's contribution to the Mythos, and he said as much in a 1953 letter he wrote to GEorge Wetzel for the LOVECRAFT COLLECTOR'S LIBRARY (http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/nonfiction/26/on-tales-about-the-cthulhu-mythos). However, I personally am of the opinion that the Cthulhu Mythos is a posthumous framework imposed upon the stories of Lovecraft and others by August Derleth--who meant well, but didn't quite hit the bull's-eye. During HPL's lifetime he and CAS and Robert E. Howard would insert little references to each other's stories and mythologies, partly as in-jokes but also partly to give the WEIRD TALES readership the impression that there was a real mythology that all three writers (and writers like Adolphe de Castro, Zealia Bishop, and Hazel Heald, all of whom were revision clients of HPL's) were drawing upon for source material.

Scott

Thank you for the contents list of Wildside's BEST OF CAS, Scott. Several of my favorites are in this book, but do they honestly think "The Return of the Sorcerer", "The Hunters from Beyond" and "The Devotee of Evil" are superior to "Xeethra", "The Maze of the Enchanter", "The Coming of the White Worm", "The Colossus of Ylourgne", etc.?

And why continue to publish the yoked Singing Flame, since Weinberg probably has access to the separate tales? (And yes, I do happen to like the sequel, if only for the Striding Doom.)

Jim

They also omit "The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan" and "The Last Hieroglyph," to name two of my favorites, or even "The Seed from the Sepulcher." But that's the point, I guess, Jim--when we're talking about favorites, the criteria are by definition subjective, and that means that some startling results are highly probably: like they say, Your Mileage May Vary. I'm sure that somewhere out there is a Smith fan whose favorite tales include "An Adventure in Futurity," "The Supernumerary Corpse," and "Seedling of Mars." (I just hope that he or she is getting the professional help they so desperately need!)
The important thing about The Return of the Sorcerer: The Best of Clark Ashton Smith is that the brick and mortar stores have preordered several thousand copies on the strength of the cover painting. It has the potential of introducing scores of new readers to Smith, and could very well be as critical in furthering his acceptance as the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series was. Robert Weinberg is a very canny editor: say what you will about "The Return of the Sorcerer," it is one of Smith's most anthologized stories (I can't recall offhand if "The Seed from the Sepulcher" has been anthologized more often, but with the myriad editions of Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos I think that "Sorcerer" still has the edge). He is using the original magazine texts, except in the case of "The City of the Singing Flame," where he is using the text collected by CAS himself even if he didn't write the bridging narrative himself. (I don't agree with that reasoning, I just understant it.) Weinberg is also using stories whose language is perhaps more accessible to the reader than, say, the original version of "The Coming of the White Worm." I personally feel that this doesn't give the reader a true taste of Klarkash-Ton, but hey! it's worth a shot.
Am finishing up volume three of the Night Shade at present. One of these days I hope to be allowed to edit an annotated "best of" volume myself. It would contain "The City of the Singing Flame," "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis," "A Star-Change," "Master of the Asteroid," "The Dark Eidolon," "The Last Hieroglyph," "Xeethra," "Necromancy in Naat," "The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan," "The Coming of the White Worm," "The Seven Geases," "The End of the Story," "The Beast of Averoigne," "The Maze of the Enchanter," "The Double Shadow," "The Death of Malygris," "Genius Loci," "The Seed from the Sepulcher," "A Night in Malneant," "The Chain of Aforgomen," and "The Willow Landscape." I am sure that other Smith fans can suggest other stories more worthy in their opinion than these, but this is what my tastes suggest.

Best,
Scott

Scott,

That is pretty close to what my own list would be, give or take a tale. I agree with most of Weinberg's selections, if not all, and suspect that the "contemporary" horror stories may have been included in order to appeal to those who like Lovecraft's own tales in this vein. If the book gains more readers for Smith's other works - and there are enough stories from the major cycles to do so - it will have done its job. Too bad about Aihai and Xiccarph though.

Jim

Quote:

Scott Connors
I'm sure that somewhere out there is a Smith fan whose favorite tales include "An Adventure in Futurity," "The Supernumerary Corpse," and "Seedling of Mars." (I just hope that he or she is getting the professional help they so desperately need!)

But I actually like "An Adventure in Futurity" quite a lot! However, between classes today, I managed to finish reading "Seedling of Mars" and I have to admit that it was certainly one of the weaker of Smith's tales. As for "The Supernumerary Corpse," I haven't read it yet, but if it's leaning more in the "Adventure in Futurity" direction, then maybe it won't be as painful as "Seedling of Mars" once I get around to reading it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 29 Oct 07 | 01:59PM by ArkhamMaid.

Regarding "Seedling of Mars:" remember that the basic plot was by E. M. Johnson, not CAS. I found it interesting for the near-religious depiction of the Martian entity, as well as by the fact that the scientist-hero was obviously a CAS stand-in! I think that CAS let loose a lot of his frustration with the denser part of humanity in that story.
As for "An Adventure in Futurity:" I understand that it's Lou Dobb's favorite CAS story! (His favorite HPL tale is "The Shadow over Innsmouth.")
Best wishes,
Scott



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 29 Oct 07 | 09:13PM by Scott Connors.

You mean the Lou Dobbs? I didn't know that he even read Smith or Lovecraft, let alone talked about it! ;) Well, at least I know I'm not alone in my "Adventure in Futurity" insanity, after all.

Uh, I was being sarcastic about Lou Dobbs reading "An Adventure in Futurity" and "The Shadow over Innsmouth:" both stories may be read as being somewhat unfavorable towards immigration, so therefore Dobbs would perhaps find them of interest.

Scott

Scott Connors Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Uh, I was being sarcastic about Lou Dobbs reading
> "An Adventure in Futurity" and "The Shadow over
> Innsmouth:" both stories may be read as being
> somewhat unfavorable towards immigration, so
> therefore Dobbs would perhaps find them of
> interest.
>
> Scott

Ah, I should have known. ;) Needless to say, it did seem a little bizarre thinking of him reading poor CAS and Lovecraft. So wow: I still might be the only one on the planet who likes "An Adventure in Futurity!"

While retrieving some long-lost boxes of books and personal papers from a friend's basement after at least five years of storage, I came across my copies of The Book of Hyperborea and Tales of Zothique. I've read bits and pieces of Smith but am more acquainted with him as a Friend of Lovecraft. So it's time to read him in greater amount and detail. I'm about 106 pages in, about to start "The Coming of the White Worm," and I'm of two minds. I'm enjoying the book thoroughly, but it seems to fall somewhat flat in terms of impact. The ideas are grand, the images passable, but the writing's a little simple, even with his occasionally bizarre vocabulary. Feels like he's coasting. That said, I really liked "The White Sybil" and "The Ice-Demon." Once I'm done with this, I'll dive right into the Zothique collection. Glad to find this discussion forum!