Did H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Barlow ever send their joke-story "The Battle That Ended the Century" to Clark Ashton Smith -- and if so, does anyone know what he thought of it?

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

CAS is on HPL's list of intended recipients, anyway (see Collected Essays 5).
I can't recall whether I've ever seen any mention of what CAS may have thought of it. There may be a reference in Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith, but I don't have my copy available.

Hey, thanks for the reply. I imagine that Smith probably had a sense of humour regarding the entire affair, especially since of all the 'characters' within the story, his persona is the most reverentially treated.

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'm at work so I can't check it out, but IIRC August Derleth quoted from a CAS letter to Duane W. Rimel when he reprinted "Battle" in SOMETHING ABOUT CATS. This was also included with the reprint in Glenn Lord's Robert E. Howard bio-bibliography THE LAST CELT. If someone has either of these handy, they might perhaps care to share? I won't be able to get to this until Tuesday morning, unfortunately.
On other matters: I have been informed by Dan Clore that THE FREEDOM OF FANTASTIC THINGS was an employee recommendation at Powell's, the giant bookstore in Portland, OR. The note said that the criticism was well done. Interestingly enough, while CAS was well represented at Powell's, FREEDOM was apparently sold out! : )

Scott

Thanks for the reply! And congratulations on the success of "The Freedom of Fantastic Things." I've been making certain that the local Barnes and Noble remains well-stocked with the Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith and I have been gratified to hear that some are actually being sold every month. The Renaissance of Weird Fiction is upon us, perhaps!

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 13 Jan 20 | 09:20PM by ArkhamMaid.

I live in Portland and go to Powell's frequently, and I can attest they have a fine selection of CAS and HPL (including, usually, the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, sometimes the Panther paperbacks, and the Bison reprints of Out of Space and Time and Los Worlds with the irritating, damning-with-faint-praise intros by Jeff Whatzizname).

Anyway, I bought my copy of Freedom of Fantastic Things there, though curiously Powell's marks UP some of the in-print titles, at least from Hippocampus. Seems to be about $1.50 per title for the paperbacks. I had never heard of this practice and asked one of the employees about it (the book was Out of the Immortal Night, Samuel Loveman) and he said he had no idea why they did it. I assume it has to do with a profit margins. Since then I've been buying my Hippocampus titles directly from the publisher.

That's an interesting point that you bring up -- why are the Bison introductions so uncomplimentary towards poor Smith? I remember that the one for Lost Worlds one in particular bothered me...

Byron once wrote of critics who "prate 'gainst that which they ne'er could imitate"

ArkhamMaid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's an interesting point that you bring up --
> why are the Bison introductions so uncomplimentary
> towards poor Smith? I remember that the one for
> Lost Worlds one in particular bothered me...

Jim Rockhill discusses this in LOST WORLDS #5. From what I can gather, VanderMeer admires CAS' imagination but dislikes his autodidactism and refusal to relinquish "outmoded" (ie, traditional) prosody.

Scott

Interesting. I think without his "autodidacticism" and "outmoded prosody," Smith would not be Smith. How can VanderMeer (whose work I have not read) not know this? Based on these objections, I'd say he simply doesn't get what's wonderful and unique (and daring!) about CAS.

I agree; it seems a rather ridiculous complaint, to say the least -- much like those who dislike Lovecraft's ornate prose style. It's all a part of precisely why their writing is so unique and enjoyable! Not to mention, on a more practical note, shouldn't one be more complimentary of the book that one is presumably trying to introduce with the intention of having it sold?