metsat00 wrote:
> The dark and
> obscure avenues Clark Ashton Smith chose to tread
> are by their very nature paths of solitude and
> circumspection, wary of entanglements and
> eschewing exposure to the tumult of throngs. The
> select audience of the Eldritch Dark is exactly as
> it should be. The few souls who choose to walk
> these shadowy trails far off the beaten track are
> not here by accident. It seems there is benefit
> to having a modestly sized group of
> likewise-minded scholars who choose to seek out
> and share a particular oeuvre of literary
> experience. This is my personal belief; other
> Eldritch Dark readers and contributors may feel
> differently and I respect their opinions.
>
> Perhaps an analogy will serve: in Hawai'i there
> are hundreds of hiking trails. Some are famous
> and crowded, others are obscure and do not even
> appear in published hiking guides. I enjoy them
> all. On the mainstream hikes I'll invite friends
> and acquaintances. But a select few trails are
> remote, difficult and particularly dangerous; you
> can hike for hours through nearly impenetrable
> forest and scale dizzying cliffs without meeting
> another soul ... infrequently you may chance to
> meet another solitary wanderer. While they're
> open to any who choose to hike them, to me these
> trails are sacrosanct and I don't speak about them
> or invite even my closest friends. If they are
> meant to find themselves on these trails, they
> will. And then I will welcome them happily.
This is one of the best things I've ever read on the forum. It made me think again that the forum needs a "Best Of" sticky or similar, so good posts don't fade into history. A Foral Florilegium?
“The true independent is he who dwells detached and remote from the little herds as well as from the big herd. Affiliating with no group or cabal of mice or monkeys, he is of course universally suspect.†—
The Black Book of Gore Vidal.