Clark Ashton Smith

His poetry is less pulpish and not hindered by compromise, though the best of his pulpish stories contain delightful prose within the somewhat blunt narratives.

[Ucasuni]

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Adam Gilmour

Just finished the first volume of the Nightshade series and I felt that only a quarter of the pieces were successful and sadly, much of the rest was a chore with occasional wonder sprinkled in. I want to finish all my CASmith books this year before I review any of them but it's odd how it starts off full of his signature style then most of the rest that follow feel like commercial compromises. My favourites were Abombinations Of Yondo, A Night In Malneant, Planet Of The Dead, The Satyr, Sadastor, To The Demon, From The Crypts Of Memory and maybe Voyage To Sfanomoe. I was curious about his letter that says he thinks mechanization and oversocialization are to blame for damaging appreciation of the romantic imagination. I looked up some things about oversocialization and it's supposed to be when society pressures you to conform to their values. Some of the writing about this seemed quite dubious (even though I'm sympathetic to some of the ideas) so I wonder about the origins of the concept and where it has gone.

I just started this "series". I don't think I'll read straight through, though—a couple of stories at a time, at most, I expect. So far, I've only read a handful of his tales (mostly in other anthologies) and been uniformly impressed. I am skeptical, though, that he can sustain that quality through his astonishingly robust catalog of tales, a skepticism that appears to be supported by your pre-review. I do wish that the Nighshade books had not been organized so much by date as by setting. It might make it easier to power through the weaker stories if they were thematically linked...

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I've got mixed feelings about his prose, or at least this early stage of it. For all his beautiful descriptions (which I think is his greatest talent along with creating wonderful settings), I often found my eyes glazing over what seemed to me hackneyed phrasing and throwing in unnecessarily strong words like "abominable" and "evil" when they really don't seem called for so often and stressing some things far too insistently so it becomes irritating.

One of my absolute favourite things in the collection was his evocation of the setting in Planet Of The Dead and From The Crypts Of Memory but sometimes I felt his phrasing wasn't quite doing it justice.

This is perhaps related to what Joel was saying earlier in the thread about CASmith preserving older mannerisms too much and not evolving them enough. Which is NOT to say he should have toned down the ornate quality (I cant stand it when people suggest a more transparent approach for ornate authors as an improvement) but just change it a bit more.

Wow. Harlan Ellison reading City of the Singing Flame:

https://cthulhuwho1.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/clark-ashton-smiths-the-city-of-the-singing-flame-read-by-harlan-ellison-1986-may-30-jun-13-and-jun-20.mp3

[R.P.Dwyer]

Update on Clark Ashton Smith documentary:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/c...=#/updates/all

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Will anyone vouch for John Pelan's Lost Continent anthology? The original price was $60 so obviously most of the prices go way above that now. A few stories have been reprinted (Wolfe, Stableford, Salmonson) but most haven't been.
Thankfully Deepest Darkest Eden is much cheaper.

I still haven't finished all my CAS books but I am definitely keeping an eye out for writers who work in a similar mode to his best fantasies.

Unfortunately the second Nightshade collection also feels like it was heavy on commercial compromises Smith had to make to support his parents, particularly the science fiction and orientalist quickies. I thought the latter were surprisingly worse, because it seems like something he would be more at home with.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

As well as Lost Continent and Deepest Darkest Eden, another tribute anthology is Anno Klarkash-Ton.
There's a poetry tribute anthology to both CASmith and George Sterling called Avatars Of Wizardry.

I havent read these guys yet but apparently John Gale, Ran Cartwright, Larissa Glasser are all similar to CASmith. Cartwright has some books set in Zothique and Glasser has said she wanted to be a female CASmith.
I've heard that Brian Stableford's Curse Of The Coral Bride is in this style.
Of course Jack Vance is reputed to be highly influenced but he was substantially different.
Possibly Michael Shea's Nifft series and Yana novel counts? Adrian Cole's Voidal series?

[In A Dark Light]

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Adam Gilmour

I havent read these guys yet but apparently John Gale...

John Gale very much writes in the Clark Ashton Smith mould, though I would also say his work is very much its own thing; in the same way that W. H. Pugmire is a Lovecraftian writer but has a singular style which sets him apart from the Lovecraftian herd.

John Gale's work tends only to appear in very limited print volumes, so it's best to snap up anything with his name attached to it as soon as you see it. Egaeus Press currently have a volume of his work, The Saraband of Sable, available in their Keynotes series, so grab a copy while you still can if you want to experience his richly expansive prose.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I actually got Saraband of Sable when it came out.

I just bought Lost Continent and my money pockets are still screaming with blood.

William Scott Home and Brian McNaughton are others I've seen compared.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Finished the third book. I was completely unaware that the Laemmle family shown interest in his work before they were booted from Universal. Amusing that Smith offered up "The Colossus Of Ylourgne" as a possible film.