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planetary weirdness.” “The interplanetary angle . . . adds considerably to the
interest.” In October 1932 Smith submitted “Yoh-Vombis” (and “Empire
of the Necromancers”) to an anthologist, as examples of his best work.
*
“The Rebirth of the Flame” [plotted before 9/22/31]
(52) “The Eternal World” [9/27/31] “The best and most original of my super-
scientific tales, so far.” “The toughest job I have ever attempted.” “Gernsback took ‘The Eternal World,’ but advised me to put ‘more realism’ into my future
stories, saying that the late ones were ‘verging dangerously on the weird.’ That’s really quite a josh—as well as a compliment.”
(53) “The Demon of the Flower” [10/17/31] Smith had considered including
this in The Double Shadow, as one of his best stories not sold to magazines.
*
“Slaves of the Black Pillar” [plotted and begun 10/31]
(54) “The Nameless Offspring” [11/12/31, plotted 1/31] “The plot is about as
diabolic as anything I am ever likely to devise.” This work was inspired by
Machen’s “The Great God Pan.”
(55) “A Vintage from Atlantis” [11/31] “It is far from bad.”
(56) “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan” [11/25/31]
(57) “The Invisible City” [12/15/31] “A hunk of tripe . . . Not enough atmos-
phere to make it good—and too many unexplained mysteries for the scien-
tifiction readers, who simply must have their formulae . . . am pretty
thoroughly disgusted by it.” “So punk that I don’t want to show it to any-
one.”
(58) “The Immortals of Mercury” [1/19/32] “A lot of tripe, I’m afraid; but if it brings me a 200.00 dollar check, will have served its purpose.”
(59) “The Empire of the Necromancers” [1/7/32] “A tale which pleased me
considerably.” “There is a queer mood in this little tale . . . it is much over-greened with what H. P. once referred to as the ‘verdigris of decadence.’”
(60) “The Seed from the Sepulcher” [2/32] “[I like it] for its imaginative
touches, but am going to chuck the malignant plant idea after this. I don’t
want to run it into the ground!”
(61) “The Second Interment” [1/29/32]
342 THE FREEDOM OF FANTASTIC THINGS
(62) “Ubbo-Sathla”
[2/15/32]
(63) “The Double Shadow” [3/14/32]
(64) “The Plutonian Drug” [4/5/32] “Among my best in the field of science-
fiction.” “It was certainly tough writing, and I’m still a little groggy.” “Hellishly hard to do.”
(65) “The Supernumerary Corpse” [4/10/32, plotted 11/30]
(66) “The Master of the Asteroid” [6/9/32]
(67) “The Colossus of Ylourgne” [5/1/32] “Others have commended the tale,
so I begin to think that perhaps I have under-estimated it.” “[It has a] striking plot.”
(68) “The Mandrakes” [5/15/32] “Not a very important item.”
(69) “The Beast of Averoigne” [6/18/32] “Rather good—terse, grim, and devil-
ishly horrible.” “I think that I have done better tales, but few that are tech-
nically superior.”
(70) “A Star-Change” [6/32, plotted 10/30] “A whale of an idea.” “A high-grade science-fiction tale.” “‘A Star-Change’ is more realistic [than ‘The Light
from Beyond’], but, in my estimation, is equally good. As far as I know it is
the only attempt to convey the profound disturbance of function and sensa-
tion that would inevitably be experienced by a human being on an alien
world.”
(71) “The Disinterment of Venus” [7/32, plotted 6/31] “A rather unimportant
piece.” “This, of all my recent tales, will be hardest to sell, since it combines the risque and the ghastly.” “Rather a wicked story.”
(72) “The White Sybil” [7/14/32]
(73) “The Ice-Demon” [7/22/32] “Well written. But I had to work it over so
much that it went stale on me, somehow.”
(74) “The Isle of the Torturers” [7/31/32] “The best of the summer’s crop . . . a strange mixture of eeriness, grotesquery, bright color, cruelty, and stark
human tragedy.” “One of my own favorites.”
(75) “The Dimension of Chance” [8/32] “Probably better as a satire than any-
thing else.”
(76) “The Dweller in the Gulf” [8/32] Smith had bad luck with this story. He considered it “a first-rate interplanetary horror, sans the hokum of pseudo-
explanation,” and yet to sell it on second submission he was forced to add a
character (John Chalmers) to provide just such hokum. “The tale has a mag-
nificent Dantesque ending,” which was hacked apart by Hugo Gernsback
himself when it appeared in Wonder Stories.
(77) “The Maze of Maâl Dweb” [9/32] “Ultra-fantastic, full-hued and ingenious, with an extra twist or two in the tail for luck.” The title was original y “The Maze of Mool Dweb,” but Smith felt that “Maal Dweb—two syllables—
would be preferable perhaps, for tone-color, etc.” After finalizing this title, he indulged in a bit of self-praise: “I think it should be admitted that some
An Annotated Chronology
343
of my nomenclature achieves certain nuances of suggestive and atmospheric
associative value.”
(78) “The Third Episode of Vathek” [9/16/32] “I really think the ending is one of the best pieces of work I have done lately.”
(79) “Genius Loci” [9/26/32] “An experiment for me . . . It was damnably hard
to do, and I am not certain of my success. I am even less certain of being
able to sell it to any editor—it will be too subtle for the pulps, and the high-brows won’t like the supernatural element.”
(80) “The Light from Beyond” [10/31/32, plotted 8/31] “First-rate.”
(81) “The Charnel God” [11/15/32] “A devil of a yarn—necromancy, invultua-
tion, necrophilism and necrophagy—but strictly moral at the end, since the
foul necromancers get it in the neck.” “For my taste, it has a little too much
plot and not enough atmosphere.”
(82) “The Dark Eidolon” [12/23/32] “A devil of a story, and if Wright knows
his mandrakes, he certainly ought to take it on. If the thing could ever be
filmed . . . it might be a winner for diabolic drama and infernal spectacles.”
“Contains some of my best imaginative writing.”
(83) “The Voyage of King Euvoran” [1/33]
(84) “Vulthoom” [2/14/33, begun 10/32] “Fails to please me.” “[It] seems to
have pleased [Wright] for some ungodly reason; but after all it’s a cut or two
above Edmond Hamilton.”
(85) “The Weaver in the Vault” [3/14/33] “I like the tale myself, particularly some of the atmospheric touches.”
*(90) The Infernal Star [begun early 3/33]
(86) “The
Flower-Women”
[3/33,
begun
10/32]
(87) “The Dark Age” [4/33] “My lousiest in many moons, largely no doubt, be-
cause of the non-fantastic plot, which failed to engage my interest at any
point. The one redeeming feature is the final paragraph, which takes a sly,
underhanded crack at the benefits (?) of science.”
(89) “The Death of Malygris” [4/33]
(91) “The Tomb-Spawn” [begun 7/33]
*
“The House of Haon-Dor” [begun 7/33]
(92) “The Witchcraft of Ulua” [8/22/33] “I feel that it is we
ll-written; and it gives a certain variant note to my series of tales dealing with Zothique.”
“Erotic imagery was employed in the tale merely to achieve a more varied
sensation of weirdness.” “I wouldn’t have had the originality to write it a
few years back.”
(93) “The Coming of the White Worm” [9/15/33] “A tale that I am inclined to
favour in my own estimation.” “It [was] hard to do, like most of my tales,
because of the peculiar and carefully maintained style and tone-colour,
which involves rejection of many words, images and locutions that might
ordinarily be employed in writing.”
344 THE FREEDOM OF FANTASTIC THINGS
(94) “The Seven Geases” [10/1/33] “Outrageously grotesque, sardonic and sa-
tiric.” “I am rather partial to that opus. These grotesque and elaborate iro-
nies come all too naturally to me, I fear.”
(88) “The Chain of Aforgomon” [1/34, begun 4/33] “A devilishly hard yarn to
write . . . a most infernal chore, since the original inspiration seems to have gone cold, leaving the tale as immalleable as chilled iron.”
(95) “The Primal City” [1/34]
*
“The Scarlet Egg” [begun 3/34]
(96) “Xeethra” [3/21/34, plotted 8/33 or before]
(97) “The Last Heiroglyph” [4/7/34] “A whale of a weird notion.”
*(98) “Shapes of Adamant” [?]
(99) “Necromancy in Naat” [2/6/35] “Seems the best of my more recently pub-
lished weirds; though Wright forced me to mutilate the ending . . .”
(100) “The Treader of the Dust” [2/15/35]
(101) “The Black Abbot of Puthuum” [before 4/35]
(102) “The Death of Ilalotha” [3/16/37] “Quite good, I believe, especially in style and atmosphere. It is unusually poisonous and exotic.” “I seem to have
slipped something over on the PTA.”
(103) “Mother of Toads” [3/20/37, begun ca. 5/35] “A passable weird, with a
sufficiently horrific ending.”
(104) “The Garden of Adompha” [7/31/37] “A tale which I am inclined to like.”
(105) “The Great God Awto” [begun 9/37? (published 2/40)]
(106) “Strange Shadows” [begun 3/40?] A later version, “I Am Your Shadow,”
may have been completed 11/41.
(107) “The Enchantress of Sylaire” [? (published 7/41)]
(108) “Double Cosmos” [3/24/40 (penultimate version), begun 3/34]
(109) “Dawn of Discord” [? (E. H. Price’s rewrite published 1939 or 1940)]
(110) “House of the Monoceros” [? (Price’s rewrite published 2/41)]
*
“The Painter in Darkness” [begun 7/46]
“Nemesis of the Unfinished” [7/30/47 (first version)]
(111) “The Master of the Crabs” [8/3/47]
*(112) “Eviction by Night” [?]
“Morthylla” [(9 or 10)/52]
“Schizoid Creator” [(9 or 10)/52]
“Monsters in the Night” [4/11/53]
“Phoenix” [1953 (published 11/53)]
“The Theft of Thirty-nine Girdles” [4/57, begun 10/52]
“The Symposium of the Gorgon” [8/5/57]
“The Dart of Rasasfa” [7/21/61]
An Annotated Chronology
345
Addendum
The following synopses or incomplete stories are “major,” but either cannot be
dated, or have only very unrestrictive bounds on date of composition:
*
“In a Hashish-Dream”/“A Tale of Hashish-Land” [begun in 1920s]
*
“Asharia: A Tale of the Lost Planet” [plotted before 1/32] “Has great pos-
sibilities, I feel.”
*
“The Minotaur’s Brother” [plotted after 5/26/35]
*
“Offspring of the Grave” [plotted after 5/26/35]
*
“I Am a Witch” [plotted after 3/16/37]
*
“Mandor’s Enemy” [begun in early 1950s]
*
“The Wink and the Chuckle” [begun before 4/53]
*
“Chincharerro” [begun after “The Wink and the Chuckle”]
*
“Mnemoka” [begun in 1950s]
*
“Unquiet Boundary” [begun in 1950s]
*
“Djinn without a Bottle” [begun in 1950s]
*
“Beyond the Rose-Arbor” [?]
*
“Maker of Prodigies” [?]
*
“Music of Death” [?]
*
“Queen of the Sabbath” [?]
Bibliography
I. Primary Sources
A. Poetry
The Star-Treader and Other Poems. San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1912.
Odes and Sonnets. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1918.
Ebony and Crystal: Poems in Verse and Prose. Auburn, CA: Printed by The Auburn Journal Press, 1922.
Sandalwood. Auburn, CA: Printed by The Auburn Journal Press, 1925.
Nero and Other Poems. Lakeport, CA: The Futile Press, 1937.
Selected Poems. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1971. [Prepared 1944–49.] Includes
“Clark Ashton Smith: Emperor of Shadows” by Benjamin De Casseres (fore-
word).
The Dark Chateau and Other Poems. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1951.
Spells and Philtres. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1958.
The Hills of Dionysus: A Selection. Pacific Grove, CA: Roy A. Squires and Clyde Beck, 1962.
¿Donde Duermes, el Dorado? y Otros Poemas. As by “Clerigo Herrero.” Glendale, CA: 1964. [La Imprenta de Rojo Escuderos.]
Poems in Prose. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1965. Contains “Clark Ashton Smith: Poet in Prose” by Donald S. Fryer.
The Fugitive Poems of Clark Ashton Smith. Zothique edition. Glendale, CA: Roy A.
Squires.
The Tartarus of the Suns. First fascicle. 1970.
The Palace of Jewels. Second fascicle. 1970.
In the Ultimate Valleys. Third fascicle. 1970.
To George Sterling: Five Poems. Fourth fascicle. 1970.
The Fugitive Poems of Clark Ashton Smith. Xiccarph edition. Glendale, CA: Roy A.
Squires.
The Titans in Tartarus. First volume. 1974.
A Song from Hell. Second volume. 1975.
The Potion of Dreams. Third volume. 1975.
The Fanes of Dawn. Fourth volume. 1976.
Seer of the Cycles. Fifth volume. 1976.
The Burden of the Suns. Sixth volume. 1977.
Grotesques and Fantastiques. Saddle River, NJ: Gerry de La Ree. 1973.
Klarkash-Ton and Monstro Ligriv. Saddle River, NJ: Gerry de la Ree, 1974.
348 THE FREEDOM OF FANTASTIC THINGS
The Hashish-Eater; or, The Apocalypse of Evil. West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press, 1989.
The Hashish Eater; or, The Apocalypse of Evil. Ed. Donald Sidney-Fryer. [Sacramento, CA: Donald Sidney-Fryer, 1990.] Rev. ed. New York: Hippocampus Press,
forthcoming.
Nostalgia of the Unknown: The Complete Prose Poetry of Clark Ashton Smith. Ed. Marc Michaud, Susan Michaud, Steve Behrends, and S. T. Joshi. West Warwick,
Rhode Island: Necronomicon Press, 1988.
The Last Oblivion: Best Fantastic Poetry of Clark Ashton Smith. Ed. S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. New York: Hippocampus Press, 2002.
Complete Poems and Translations. Edited by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi. New York: Hippocampus Press, 2006–07. 3 vols.
B. Fiction
The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies. [Auburn, CA: Clark Ashton Smith, 1933.]
Contains: The Voyage of King Euvoran; The Maze of the Enchanter; The Double Shadow; A Night in Malnéa
nt; The Devotee of Evil; The Willow Land-
scape.
Out of Space and Time. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1942; rpt. London: Neville Spearman, 1971, and Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, forthcoming,
introduction by Jeff Vander Meer. Contains: “Clark Ashton Smith: Master of Fantasy” by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei. Contains: The End of the Story; A Rendezvous in Averoigne; A Night in Malnéant; The City of the Singing Flame (includes sequel, Beyond the Singing Flame); The Uncharted Isle;
The Second Interment; The Double Shadow; The Chain of Aforgomon; The
Dark Eidolon; The Last Hieroglyph; Sadastor; The Death of Ilalotha; The Re-
turn of the Sorcerer; The Testament of Athammaus; The Weird of Avoosl
Wuthoqquan; Ubbo-Sathla; The Monster of the Prophecy; The Vaults of Yoh-
Vombis; From the Crypts of Memory; The Shadows.
Lost Worlds. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1944; rpt. London: Neville Spearman, 1971, and Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, forthcoming, introduction by Jeff Vander Meer. Contains: The Tale of Satampra Zeiros; The Door to Saturn; The Seven Geases; The Coming of the White Worm; The Last Incantation; A Voyage to Sfanomoë; The Death of Malygris; The Holiness of Azéda-
rac; The Beast of Averoigne; The Empire of the Necromancers; The Isle of the
Torturers; Necromancy in Naat; Xeethra; The Maze of Maâl Dweb; The
Flower-Women; The Demon of the Flower; The Plutonian Drug; The Planet
of the Dead; The Gorgon; The Letter from Mohaun Los; The Light from Be-
yond; The Hunters from Beyond; The Treader from the Dust.
Genius Loci and Other Tales. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1948; rpt. London: Neville Spearman, 1972. Contains: Genius Loci; The Willow Landscape; The Ninth Skeleton; The Phantoms of the Fire; The Eternal World; Vulthoom; A
Bibliography
349
Star-Change; The Primal City; The Disinterment of Venus; The Colossus of
Ylourgne; The Satyr; The Garden of Adompha; The Charnel God; The Black
Abbot of Puthuum; The Weaver in the Vault.
The Abominations of Yondo. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1960; rpt. London: Neville Spearman, 1972. Contains: The Nameless Offspring; The Witchcraft of Ulua; The Devotee of Evil; The Epiphany of Death; A Vintage from Atlantis;
The Abominations of Yondo; The White Sybil; The Ice-Demon; The Voyage
of King Euvoran; The Master of the Crabs; The Enchantress of Sylaire; The