Sorry you had to do this Ron, but you have been more than patient. As soon as the deal has been made with another publisher, please let us know. I have been waiting for this book a very long time, and am still extremely eager to see it. I liked the one illustration readily visible at the Donald Grant website, which reminded me of Ivan Bilibin's work, but another other illustration seen elsewhere (for "The Colossus of Ylourgne") was rather awful, and I did not realize Grant was planning on formatting it like the awkward AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS till you mentioned it. Good luck and Godspeed with the new publisher!

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.

Thanks for the update on The Averoigne Chronicles, Ron! I have asked Donald M. Grant about this at least twice over the past few months, but never received a reply. They've been dragging their feet on this book for MUCH too long!

Thanks Martin, I'll keep you posted . . . I did get a nice note from Amazon this week, as follows:

Thank you for your message. Please be advised that we are in the process of removing the following item from Amazon.com:
Tales of Averoigne [Paperback]
It typically takes 2-3 days for a listing to disappear once it has been removed from our catalog. We trust this will bring this matter to a close.

I've checked and they have already removed the book . . . thanks to all who helped bring this scurrilous pirate to justice!
-Ron

Ron,

you're welcome, and I am glad that I have been able to help in a limited and minor way.

Phillip

I received a nice note from William Dorman on the 8th stating that the reviews and other comments had been successful in alerting Amazon's attention to the dubious nature of this book.