Since others have posted here inquiring about and discussing works by authors other than Clark Ashton Smith, such as The Worm Ouroboros, I hope that it won't be too out of order for me to ask about Donald Wandrei's novel The Web of Easter Island. I realize that CAS's review makes the book sound enticing--I'm quite interested in it for that reason alone--but what are your opinions of it? The reason why I ask is that I haven't read it, and would like to know whether it's worthwhile, as it is something of a nuisance to track down via inter-library loan, and rather expensive to buy (although it is much less so than most Arkham House books of the period). Many thanks in advance for whatever thoughts or input you can offer.

Fedogan and Bremer are supposed to be publishing the original version of the novel, DEAD TITANS WAKEN, which is the version Smith read, sometime in the near future, so your patience will be rewarded. There is much to appreciate in Wandrei's novel, but there are some serious weaknesses as well. I counsel patience. In the meanwhile, be sure to read Wandrei's COLOSSUS and DON'T DREAM, since he was another master of the cosmic tale of terror as well as a poet in his own right.
Best,
Scott

Scott,

Thank for the information. The Fedogan and Bremer edition that you mentioned has been in the pipeline for years, it seems, so I'm not holding my breath. I think that I'll just order the Akrham House version via inter-library loan, and, if I like it enough, I'll decide what to do then.

Does anyone else have any opinions about The Web of Easter Island/Dead Titans Waken? (The latter is a much better and more evocative title; I wonder why Wandrei changed it for publication?)

As an aside, I own Don't Dream, and have read about a third of its contents. I'm in the mood to read more of it, but I had to store my copy when I returned to school last Fall. As I recall, the book was a mixed bag. I liked best the shorter vignettes/prose-poems, but even some of the "pulp stinkers" in there, such as one that involves the destruction of a large part of the Earth, I believe, exhibited extraordinary passages evoking cosmic doom. His tale "The Lady in Grey", which I first read in the Ramsey Campbell anthology that contains The Hole of the Pit*, is simply perfect: a masterful marriage of Poe-like morbidity and psychological terror, on the one hand, and sheer cosmic horror, on the other. It's one of my very favorite weird tales.

I also enjoy some of Wandrei's poetry, especially, of course, the Sonnets of the Midnight Hours. They often aren't very good verse (imagine what such a master of the sonnet as George Sterling might have done with these themes and images), but the visions therein are extraordinary. I'm eager to read some of the SF in Colossus one of these days. I'd especially like to read the introduction to that volume, as detailed information about Wandrei and his life is hard to find, indeed. His name--aside from bibliographic references--is surprisingly inconspicuous on the Web. My sense is that he is one of those writers who--with rare exceptions--never really seem to have fulfilled their early promise. For reasons unknown to me, Wandrei appears to have devolved into a reclusive, misanthropic alcoholic who became obsessed with, and addicted to, the drama of litigation. Perhaps this is an unfair or inaccurate summation of him, though. In any case, he is certainly an interesting writer with an interesting oeuvre, and I look forward to exploring more of it. In a letter to CAS, Lovecraft mentioned Wandrei as being (along with CAS, Bernard Dwyer, and HPL himself) among the few individuals he knew who possessed a genuine sense of the cosmic, and that endorsement alone makes his work worth reading, from my perspective.

*Another aside: Why isn't this novel better known and raved about???