Hello all,

I'm new here so forgive me if I am asking one of those questions that pops up everyday from drifters and newbies. I am fairly new to the works of Clark Ashton Smith and recently finished the British collection "The Emperor of Dreams." I think most here probably udnerstand what I'm talking about when I say I instantly fell in love with Smith's writings. Now I find my self hungry again for more of Smith's tales and am unsure what stories to seek out in book or e-text form. I know that even a talent like Smith surely has some works that are only worth hunting down if one wishes to be a completist about things--and, as much as I like him, I'd rather discover new *great* weird fiction/fantasy than spend too much time in mediocre or disapointing C.A.S. tales. Make sense? But I'm sure there has to be a pretty good asortment of his tales that *are* worth seeking out and were not featured in "The Emperor of Dreams." Suggestions?

Thanks,

- RL

PS - Great site!

Hi Robert-
While "The Emperor of Dreams" is a substantial collection, it focuses on Fantasy and does not contain Smith's Science Fiction tales, in which genre CAS was a major pioneering influence. "The City of the Singing Flame" and "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis" are two of CAS' very best tales which are not included in "Emperor" but are in the Arkham House collection "A Rendezvous in Averoigne" which has just been reprinted. There is a substantial overlap in stories between these two books, but there are perhaps a dozen new tales in the Arkham book, all of them excellent.
Also there is the Hippocampus collection of poetry "The Last Oblivion" which is also currently in print at $15.00; a fine bargain for this extensive selection of Smith's finest fantastic poetry.
Between these three books you will have a well rounded sampling of CAS, both poetry and tales. Good luck and happy reading!
-Ron

Thanks for the advice. I may end up going the used books route as opposed to the Arkham House way, but I'll certainly hunt down some of his Science Fiction. But even if I just pick up Rendezvous, a dozen tales is a dozen tales. :)

- RL

A couple of writers whose works you might enjou if you like CAS are Thomas Ligotti and Brian McNaughton. Brian Stableford, especially in his WEREWOLVES OF LONDON series and THE HUNGER AND ECSTACY OF VAMPIRES is quite good too, and CAS is a major influence on his prose style. Jack Vance's DYING EARTH series is very reminiscent of Zothique. Finally, some writers who CAS enjoyed are M. R. James, William Hope Hodgson (especially THE NIGHT LAND and THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND), Lord Dunsany, Lafcadio Hearn, Oscar Wilde, and of course Lovecraft. Best, Scott (and buy the Arkham House book, you can't go wrong even if you have to save up for a month of so).

Cool, thanks. I've read McNaughton and thought "Throne of Bones" was utterly fantastic. It's my understanding that this is his only entry into the fantasy genre? I've read Wilde and Jack Vance was another name that was recomended to me but I've not read him. And as a Warren Zevon fan, I'm certainly going to have to look into this Stableford text. :)

- RL