Hello all,

I only recently discovered the joys of CAS and have been voraciously buying and reading anything I can find by him. I have a particular fondness for his Averoigne stories, and I was disappointed to learn that the versions of two of these stories that I have read (Mother of Toads and The Beast of Averoigne) were in fact heavily edited versions. I am told that the unedited versions do exist (I have seen them quoted on the net) but so far I am unable to discover where I can find copies of them.

If anyone here can point me in the right direction I would be very grateful indeed.

Thanks, and congratulations on a fine site.

Azmure wrote:

> I only recently discovered the joys of CAS and
> have been voraciously buying and reading anything
> I can find by him. I have a particular fondness
> for his Averoigne stories, and I was disappointed
> to learn that the versions of two of these stories
> that I have read (Mother of Toads and The Beast of
> Averoigne) were in fact heavily edited versions.
> I am told that the unedited versions do exist (I
> have seen them quoted on the net) but so far I am
> unable to discover where I can find copies of
> them.

There was a series called "The Unexpurgated Clark Ashton Smith" and I assume the full versions are appearing in some of the more recent collections of CAS's fantasy. Otherwise you can print those particular two from this site.

> If anyone here can point me in the right direction
> I would be very grateful indeed.
>
> Thanks, and congratulations on a fine site.

Yes, it's the best weird fiction(eer) site on the web.

Thanks Ghoti23, I will try to track down The Unexpurgated Clark Ashton Smith. I will print the stories off in the meantime, but it would be nice to have them in book form. I would love to see the Averoigne series collected in one volume in the way that the Zothique stories were.

Thanks again.

Night Shade Books 5 Volume set will have the original versions. The two stories you mentioned will be in volume 4 (The Beast of Averoigne) due April and 5 (Mother of Toads) due November

[nightshadebooks.com]