Re: Tales of Averoigne
Posted by:
jimrockhill2001 (IP Logged)
Date: 4 May, 2013 08:16AM
I just posted this at Amazon:
A promising title put together indifferently from other sources, May 4, 2013
This review is from: Tales of Averoigne (Paperback)
This is not the book authorized by the Smith estate and edited by Ron Hilger, whose own stories, furthermore, have been reprinted without his permission. I wonder if Michael Minnis, Simon Whitechapel, and Garnett Elliott are aware their work appears herein.
Additional issues:
- The editor's chronology makes no sense. "The End of the Story" was intended by Smith to be, as the title and the late 18th century setting tell us, the end of the story, and should therefore be the last of the entries by Smith. It should stand out from the majority of Smith's Averoigne tales set during the Middle Ages, not nestle in the midst of them.
- Nor do Smith's stories follow the order in which they are published, in which case "The End of the Story" would lead Smith's entries.
- "The Abominations of Yondo" has absolutely nothing to do with Averoigne.
- "A Night in Malneant" is clearly set in a French milieu at least akin to Averoigne, but has apparently been omitted, because it does not specifically mention Averoigne by name.
- There is also one notable omission among the pastiches by other writers, i.e. Brian McNaughton's "The Return of the Colossus" first published in WEIRDBOOK 29 (Autumn 1995) and reprinted in EVEN MORE NASTY STORIES (Wildside Press, 2000). Its omission in this book again points to the dubious nature of this gathering: all of the material included by Smith and the other authors present in this volume, was available online at Boyd Pearson's THE ELDRITCH DARK, an invaluable resource for Clark Ashton Smith studies. No other source would have been necessary to compile this work, and the site's search engine would have made the editor's job an easy one.
So what are we to make of a book that boasts promising material poorly organized, relevant material missing, irrelevant material included, and all printed without the permission of the authors or their estates? No sale.
P.S. Brian McNaughton's fine Smith-inspired book of linked stories THE THRONE OF BONES (Terminal Fright Publications, 1997) won Best Collection awards from the International Horror Guild in 1997 and the World Fantasy Convention in 1998.