Re: Collections?
Posted by:
Too_Many_Elevens (IP Logged)
Date: 5 October, 2013 01:01PM
Yes, it can be overwhelming to choose a collection of the many that there are. "The Collected Fantasies Of Clark Ashton Smith" is excellent. It is a 6 volume series that prints the stories as Smith intended, making that series the definitive versions of Clark Ashton Smith's work. It's unfortunate that Volumes 1 and 2 (I missed out on them too) are out of print and expensive, and it seems that Night Shade Books has no plan to reissue them.
However, I'd still recommend the other volumes (still individually affordable) in that series or The Return Of The Sorcerer a collection of 18 stories published in 2009 by Prime Books and that is still very affordable. This book was my personal introduction to Smith's fiction and it has a great story selection and cover art work. Its only drawback is that the texts of the stories were not prepared from Smith's manuscripts, but from the first magazine and book publications of the stories.
In March or April of 2014, Penguin Classics is going to be publishing a new collection of Smith's work (fiction and poetry) which will be affordable, easy to find, the texts will be based on Smith's manuscripts, and even the cover art will be one of his paintings. I'm most looking forward to this one. It will be entitled: The Dark Eidolon And Other Fantasies.
Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 5 Oct 13 | 01:17PM by Too_Many_Elevens.