According to the latest R'lyeh Report from Chaosium, The Klarkash-Ton Cycle is finally coming (touch wood):

[www.chaosium.com]

However, please note that the Report is referring to "eleven mythos tales by Clark Ashton Smith". The proposed table of contents contains thirteen stories. I wonder which ones were dropped?

Yrs
Martin

Chaosium has posted a page of the contents now:

[www.chaosium.com]

It seems as if "The Holiness of Azedarac" and "The Chain of Aforgomon" are the ones that have been dropped. And "The vaults of Abomi" must surely refer to "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis"?

Has anyone seen this yet? If so, what can you tell us about the title change of (I presume) "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis"? Since my last post I've found that "The Vaults of Abomi" was an early title, used in the synopsis, so it is (sort of) a genuine CAS title, but why the change?

I cannot think why this change was made, Martinus. I would be interested to read more about the new KLARKASH-TON CYCLE. The most recent Clark Ashton Smith book which I have read, is "The Sword of Zagan" (edited by Dr. W. C. Farmer and with an introduction by S. T. Joshi). As you may know, it contains other stories too. What do other readers think of this compilation? I think that it is great one, and look forward to re-reading it many times. Although it was published as long ago as 2004, I did not find out about this title until relatively recently. Looking forward to your replies.

Regards

Julian L Hawksworth



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 1 Aug 08 | 07:19AM by Raven10.

Raven10 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I cannot think why this change was made, Martinus.
> I would be interested to read more about the new
> KLARKASH-TON CYCLE.

My guess is that Price wants to differentiate between two versions of "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis" -- but if so, he'd have to change "Yoh-Vombis" to "Abomi" throughout the text, and I can't see that happening. I guess I'll know in the next couple of weeks, whenever The Klarkash-Ton Cycle reaches my FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store).

> The most recent Clark Ashton
> Smith book which I have read, is "The Sword of
> Zagan" (edited by Dr. W. C. Farmer and with an
> introduction by S. T. Joshi). As you may know, it
> contains other stories too. What do other readers
> think of this compilation? I think that it is
> great one, and look forward to re-reading it many
> times. Although it was published as long ago as
> 2004, I did not find out about this title until
> relatively recently. Looking forward to your
> replies.

Oh yes, that's a great little book. But right now the books I'm looking forward to are the two new poetry collections.

Yrs
Martin

> Oh yes, that's a great little book. But right now
> the books I'm looking forward to are the two new
> poetry collections.
>
> Yrs
> Martin

Same here!

To answer my own question: Yes, the title of "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis" was changed because Price used the original, longer version of the story.

Other textual details:

* "A Rendering from the Arabic" is "The Return of the Sorcerer" with the original ending (apparently the first time that the story has been published in this form)
* "The Werewolf of Averoigne" is the version of "The beast of Averoigne" published in Strange Shadows
* "The Infernal Star" is not the same as the one published in Strange Shadows, but an earlier version

I wonder where Reverend Bob got the version of "The Infernal Star" he's using in this collection, since AFAIK there is only one complete typescript of this uncompleted novel in existence, and that's the version included in Strange Shadows. As for "The Werewolf of Averoigne:" there are no existing versions of this story under that title, and while the plot synopsis so entitled arguably provides some of the ur-DNA for "The Beast of Averoigne," I feel that to call it a werewolf story is to do it a disservice.
With the above exception, all of the stories included in this collection are included in the Night Shade Books edition, including variants such as the original ending of "The Return of the Sorcerer" as well as the material that was excised from "Beast" for its Weird Tales appearance. What makes The Klarkash-Ton Cycle interesting are Bob's introduction and notes, which are typically provocative and insightful. By all means pick up a copy, it's certainly on my list, but remember that it is an appendix to CAS. It certainly should not be the only collection of CAS on your shelves, and I would not recommend it as an introduction to CAS. (A Rendezvous in Averoigne is still the best book for that IMO, if one is limited to a single CAS book; well, that and The Last Oblivion.)

Scott

Scott Connors Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder where Reverend Bob got the version of
> "The Infernal Star" he's using in this collection,
> since AFAIK there is only one complete typescript
> of this uncompleted novel in existence, and that's
> the version included in Strange Shadows.

Reverend Bob sez, on p. 212 of The Klarkash-Ton Cycle:

<<What you will read here is not, however, simply a reprint of what appeared in Strange Shadows. it turns out that that version was one Smith had retouched in accord with some suggestions of August Derleth, and by that time, Smith's style had become rather less ornate than when he had first written the fragment. Again, thanks to Steve Behrends, we are able to present here Smith's original 1933 version of as much of "The Infernal Star" as he wrote.>>

I haven't bothered to compare the texts yet.

> What
> makes The Klarkash-Ton Cycle interesting are Bob's
> introduction and notes, which are typically
> provocative and insightful. By all means pick up
> a copy, it's certainly on my list, but remember
> that it is an appendix to CAS. It certainly
> should not be the only collection of CAS on your
> shelves, and I would not recommend it as an
> introduction to CAS. (A Rendezvous in Averoigne
> is still the best book for that IMO, if one is
> limited to a single CAS book; well, that and The
> Last Oblivion.)
>

I agree. This book would have been more interesting if it had appeared when its tentative contents were first announced, close to ten years ago, when books by CAS in print could be numbered on the fingers of one hand of a blind butcher.

Yrs
Martin (who's currently reading The Abyss Triumphant and loving every line of it)