A much-awaited collection of prose and poetry from one of the great cosmic masters of the supernatural

Not just any fantasy, horror, and science fiction author could impress H. P. Lovecraft into calling him unexcelled by any other writer, dead or living or compel Fritz Lieber to employ the worthy term sui generis. Clark Ashton Smith--autodidact, prolific poet, amateur philosopher, bizarre sculptor, and unmatched storyteller--simply wrote like no one else, before or since. This new collection of his very best tales and poems is selected and introduced by supernatural literature scholar S. T. Joshi and allows readers to encounter Smith's visionary brand of fantastical, phantasmagorical worlds, each one filled with invention, terror, and a superlative sense of metaphysical wonder.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The California poet and fantaisiste Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) created many imaginary worlds, but none so imbued with terror and strangeness as the realm of Averoigne, set in medieval France. In the dozen tales of this cycle, Smith found a convenient means to indulge his taste for some of the venerable motifs of supernatural fiction-the witch, the sorcerer, the lamia, the quest for eternal life-while also incorporating elements of anti-religious satire and eroticism.

A Night in Maln ant introduces the cycle, where a traveler to Averoigne finds himself falling under the sway of the dead Lady Mariel. The Holiness of Azedarac features the Bishop of Nimes, who in spite of his impiety becomes a saint. The Maker of Gargoyles tells of gargoyles that may come to life and wreak havoc on the populace.

The Disinterment of Venus is a pungent satire on the sexually inexperienced monks of P rigon. Mother of Toads exhibits the loathsome M re Antoinette, a witch who commands legions of toads. The Beast of Averoigne and other tales incorporate elements of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos in ingenious and innovative ways.

This volume also includes Smith's poems and prose poems relating to Averoigne. All the texts have been corrected from previous editions, and the striking artwork of David Ho is also included. Introduced by Gahan Wilson, and with an afterword by Donald Sidney-Fryer, The Averoigne Chronicles is a rich feast of terror and seduction for all devotees of weird fantasy.

The first of five volumes collecting the complete stories of renowned weird fiction author Clark Ashton Smith.

None strikes the note of cosmic horror as well as Clark Ashton Smith. In sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Smith is perhaps unexcelled by any other writer.
--H. P. Lovecraft

Clark Ashton Smith, considered one of the greatest contributors to seminal pulp magazines such as Weird Tales, helped define and shape weird fiction in the early twentieth century, alongside contemporaries H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, drawing upon his background in poetry to convey an unparalleled richness of imagination and expression in his stories of the bizarre and fantastical.

The Collected Fantasies series presents all of Smith's fiction chronologically. Authorized by the author's estate and endorsed by Arkham House, the stories in this series are accompanied by detailed background notes from editors Scott Connors and Ron Hilger, who in preparation for this collection meticulously compared original manuscripts, various typescripts, published editions, and Smith's own notes and letters. Their efforts have resulted in the most definitive and complete collection of the author's work to date.

The End of the Story is the first of five volumes collecting all of Clark Ashton Smith's tales of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. It includes all of his stories from The Abominations of Yondo (1925) to A Voyage to Sfanomo (1930) and an introduction by Ramsey Campbell.

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

• Back in print in new trade paperback editions
• Ideal for fans of Curtis Smith, Joseph Ashton, Ashton Powell, Joseph Smith, George Clark Jr., and Margaret Clark, and the Weird Tales magazine collection
• The fourth of five volumes collecting every story of fantasy, horror, and science fiction written by Clark Ashton Smith

None strikes the note of cosmic horror as well as Clark Ashton Smith. In sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Smith is perhaps unexcelled by any other writer.

--H. P. Lovecraft

Clark Ashton Smith is considered one of the best contributors to seminal pulp magazines such as Weird Tales. Along with his contemporaries H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, he helped shape and define weird fiction in the early 20th century. Smith drew upon his background in poetry to portray an unparalleled richness of expression and imagination in his tales of the fantastical and bizarre.

The Collected Fantasies series presents all of Clark Ashton Smith's work chronologically. The tales in this series are paired with detailed background notes from editors Ron Hilger and Scott Connors. To prepare for these collected fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, these two editors meticulously compared various typescripts, published editions, original manuscripts, and Smith's own letters and notes. Their efforts have made the most definitive and complete collection of Smith's work to date.

The Maze of the Enchanter is the fourth of five volumes that collect all of Clark Ashton Smith's stories of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. It contains all of his stories from The Mandrakes (1932) to The Flower-Women (1933). Gahan Wilson wrote the introduction.

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) is best known for creating exotic worlds of fantasy, such as the lost continent Zothique, set in the far future, the arctic realm of Hyperborea, and the medieval domain of Averoigne. It is less widely known that Smith was a pioneer in science fiction, as his tales appeared extensively in such pulp magazines as Wonder Stories and Amazing Stories and had a marked influence on the science fiction of his day.

Mars was a favored locale for several significant tales, including the cosmic horror masterpiece The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis. Seedling of Mars is one of several tales in this volume that broaches the distinctive subgenre of green horror that results from deadly animated plants. This motif first found expression in Smith's early prose poem The Flower-Devil, and he utilized it in such tales as Vulthoom, The Demon of the Flower, and others.

The remote planet Xiccarph is the setting for two tales, The Maze of the Enchanter and The Flower-Women. One of Smith's most expansive tales, The Monster of the Prophecy, is set on Antares, while the late story Phoenix is grimly apocalyptic in its setting in the far future, with most of the Earth's inhabitants killed off.

Clark Ashton Smith's mastery of a prose-poetic idiom lends a distinctive flavor to his interplanetary tales. Far from being naively optimistic adventures into the depths of space, they exhibit a rueful doubt as to the place of human beings in an immense and hostile universe.

This volume, edited by leading Clark Ashton Smith scholar Ronald S. Hilger, contains an illuminating preface by Nathan Ballingrud.

Back in print in new trade paperback editions, the third of five volumes collecting the complete stories of renowned weird fiction author Clark Ashton Smith.

None strikes the note of cosmic horror as well as Clark Ashton Smith. In sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Smith is perhaps unexcelled by any other writer. --H. P. Lovecraft

Clark Ashton Smith, considered one of the greatest contributors to seminal pulp magazines such as Weird Tales, helped define and shape weird fiction in the early twentieth century, alongside contemporaries H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, drawing upon his background in poetry to convey an unparalleled richness of imagination and expression in his stories of the bizarre and fantastical.

The Collected Fantasies series presents all of Smith's fiction chronologically. Authorized by the author's estate and endorsed by Arkham House, the stories in this series are accompanied by detailed background notes from editors Scott Connors and Ron Hilger, who in preparation for this collection meticulously compared original manuscripts, various typescripts, published editions, and Smith's own notes and letters. Their efforts have resulted in the most definitive and complete collection of the author's work to date.

A Vintage from Atlantis is the third of five volumes collecting all of Clark Ashton Smith's tales of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. It includes all of his stories from The Holiness of Azédarac (1931) to The God of the Asteroid (1932), as well as an introduction by Michael Dirda.

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

Zothique, a mythical land of the far future, is Clark Ashton Smith's most carefully worked out fantasy realm, and many of his most celebrated stories are set in this evocative world of languid decadence, strangeness, and sexuality. Beginning with The Empire of the Necromancers (1932) and extending all the way to the short play The Dead Will Cuckold You (1956), Smith fashioned Zothique in tale after tale, each adding new elements to the locale.

As we read the Zothique tales, we see how the imminent extinguishing of the sun has caused civilization to collapse. Paradoxically, society has reverted to a kind of primitivism with the return of royalty, superstition, and sorcery. This scenario allowed Smith to engage in tongue-in-cheek archaism of both langauge and setting. Some of the most poignant stories he ever wrote-stories that fused fantasy and the supernatural with a sense of aching loss and tragedy-are set in Zothique, including The Dark Eidolon and Xeethra.

Other tales, such as The Weaver of the Vault and Necromancy in Naat, focus morbidly on death. Eroticism is the focus of The Witchcraft of Ulua and Morthylla, while The Voyage of King Euvoran is grimly humorous. And The Last Hieroglyph is a fitting capstone to the series in its depiction of the ultimate destruction of the realm.

Of all his story cycles, Zothique allowed Clark Ashton Smith the widest scope for his imagination. This volume presents his expression of that imagination in prose fiction, drama, and poetry. All the texts have been scrupulously edited by leading Smith scholar Ron Hilger, and features a new introduction by Donald Sidney-Fryer.

It is often forgotten that Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) was a lifelong resident of California, residing in the small town of Auburn, nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The otherworldly nature of much of his work-set in the imaginary realms of Zothique, Averoigne, Hyperborea, Xiccarph, and elsewhere-makes it seems as if Smith himself is a denizen of some extraterrestrial realm.

But this volume emphatically demonstrates how vital his birthplace in the Golden State was central to his life and imagination. One of his most famous stories, The City of the Singing Flame, opens in the area of Crater Ridge, which Smith visited frequently. Other tales, such as The Devotee of Evil, The Return of the Sorcerer, and Genius Loci, also utilize various settings in central California.

Smith also infused his poems and prose poems with his love of California, as such works as The Old Waterwheel, The Black Lake, and Soliloquy in an Ebon Tower attest.

This volume features tales that begin in California but take the reader on cosmic voyages throughout the universe. It has been edited by the well-known critic and editor Ronald S. Hilger and features a sensitive introduction by contemporary weird writer Marc Laidlaw.

Clark Ashton Smith was one of the most remarkable and distinctive American poets of the twentieth century. His tremendous output of poetry, totaling nearly 1000 original poems written over a span of more than fifty years, is of the highest craftsmanship and runs the gamut of subject matter from breathtaking cosmic verse about the stars and galaxies to plangent love poetry to pungent satire to delicate imitations of Japanese haiku. This edition prints, for the first time, Smith's entire poetic work, including hundreds of uncollected and unpublished poems. The poems have been arranged chronologically by date of writing, so far as can be ascertained. This first volume includes poetry from the first two to three decades of Smith's career, when he published such noteworthy volumes as The Star-Treader (1912), Ebony and Crystal (1922), and Sandalwood (1925). Smith's early work was written under the tutelage of the celebrated California poet George Sterling, but Smith quickly surpassed his mentor in the writing of cosmic and lyric verse. Smith's greatest poetic triumph, perhaps, was The Hashish-Eater, a poem of nearly 600 lines that strikingly evokes the myriad suns of unbounded space and the baleful monsters that may lurk therein. But Smith could also write such touching elegies as Requiescat in Pace, a dirge for a woman whose death affected him deeply. All poems have been textually corrected by consultation with manuscripts and early appearances, and have been extensively annotated by editors S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz.

Clark Ashton Smith could well be considered one of the great poets of the twentieth century, and much of his verse explores the realms of fantasy, terror, wonder, and the supernatural. In this volume-the first major selection of Smith's poetry in more than thirty years-editors S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz have presented an extensive array of poetic work that fully reveals Smith's exotic language, imaginative range, and metrical precision.

Including work from as early as the precocious Star-Treader and Other Poems (1912) and as late as the posthumously published The Hill of Dionysus (1962), The Last Oblivion features such celebrated works as Nero, Ode to the Abyss, and Smith's exquisite elegies to his mentor George Sterling and to his colleague in fantasy, H. P. Lovecraft. Poems on Zothique, Averoigne, and Atlantis-realms in which many of his prose tales are set-are also featured. As an aid to readers, an exhaustive glossay of unusual words and names used in Smith's poetry is provided.

S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz are leading authorities on Smith, H. P. Lovecraft, and their circle. Among their numerous publications are Hippocampus Press editions of the complete poetry of George Sterling, and the collected works of Samuel Loveman.

In addition to being a prolific and innovative poet in his own right, Clark Ashton Smith was a noted translator of French and Spanish poetry. Teaching himself French in the mid-1920s, Smith undertook the ambitious program of translating the entirety of Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil) into English. Over the next several years he succeeded in translating all but six of the 157 poems that comprised the definitive (1868) edition of Les Fleurs du mal. His mentor George Sterling testified to the remarkable spiritual affinity between Smith and Baudelaire, rendering him the perfect translator of this difficult poet. Smith also translated other noteworthy French poets-Paul Verlaine, Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset, and Théophile Gautier, among others-as well as such obscure poets as Marie Dauguet and Tristan Klingsor. In the 1940s Smith taught himself Spanish, making splendid verse translations of such poets as Amado Nervo, Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, and and Jorge Isaacs. The great majority of the poems included in this volume are unpublished. The current edition presents, for the first time, Smith's complete translations in French and Spanish, also printing the French and Spanish texts on facing pages. All texts are annotated by S. T .Joshi and David E. Schultz.

This second volume of Clark Ashton Smith's complete original poetry contains the poems he wrote in the decades following the death in 1926 of his early mentor, George Sterling. Although much affected by Sterling's passing, Smith carried on in his poetic work, seeking new modes of expression and expanding his range beyond the cosmic and lyrical verse that had dominated his early career. Having taught himself French in the mid-1920's Smith began composing original poems in French. After focusing primarily on the writing of fantastic fiction from 1925-35, he resumed his poetic output with such masterworks as The Hill of Dionysus. In the late 1940's he experimented with haiku, and in the 1950's having taught himself Spanish, he wrote numerous original poems in Spanish. Also among his later output are a number of witty satires on the vagaries of modern poetry. In its entirety, Clark Ashton Smith's work stands as one of the great literary contributions to twentieth-century poetry. All poems have been textually corrected by consultation with manuscripts and early appearances, and have been extensively annotated by editors S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. This volume also contains an exhaustive commentary on all the poems and a complete title and first line index.

This classic work of speculative fiction by Clark Ashton Smith transports readers to a fantastical, otherworldly realm where an eerie, mesmerizing flame lures adventurers into another dimension. As they journey through strange landscapes and encounter bizarre creatures, the protagonist grapples with the allure and danger of the mysterious city surrounding the flame. Smith's vivid imagination and poetic prose create an unforgettable tale of wonder, terror, and the unknown.

A newly collected standalone edition of Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, full of evocative historical ambience and dark fantasy.

Finally collected in a signature single standalone edition, Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne is a testament of temptation and transcendence: corrupt sellswords, vengeful sorceresses, and time-warping dissident priests all play a part in these tales set in the louche groves of Smith's decadent imagination. Printed in the style of the erstwhile Ballantine Books Adult Fantasy Series, Averoigne concludes the iconic five-book cycle begun by editor Lin Carter in 1970 and left unfinished until now.

The joint correspondence of four titans of the Lovecraft Circle sheds fascinating light on the complex interplay of the personal and professional lives of these writers, artists, editors, and collectors. R. H. Barlow initiated much of the correspondence, seeking to preserve manuscripts and other material in what he called the Vaults of Yoh-Vombis. Barlow discussed plans to publish a variety of Smith's poetry, but these ultimately came to nothing. Similarly, he wished to issue a volume of Howard Wandrei's weird artwork, but Howard's brother put an end to the idea.

H. P. Lovecraft is a focal point of discussion in all the correspondence. Donald Wandrei developed an enmity to Barlow, in part because Wandrei falsely believed that Barlow had stolen Lovecraft's books and manuscripts, even though he had been declared Lovecraft's literary executor. When Wandrei was helping August Derleth found Arkham House, he urged Derleth, Smith, and others to shun Barlow, with the result that Barlow was essentially driven out of the field.

This volume presents an invaluable glimpse into the world of weird and pulp fiction in the 1930s and 1940s, as each writer displays the distinctive traits that have made him a renowned figure in the genre. The correspondence has been meticulously edited and exhaustively annotated by David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi, two leading authorities in Lovecraft scholarship.

Clark Ashton Smith came in touch with August Derleth in 1930, when, following H. P. Lovecraft's instruction, Smith forwarded to Derleth the manuscript of Lovecraft's tale, The Whisperer in Darkness. Derleth replied immediately and included without preliminaries several stories of his own. Thus began a correspondence, a friendship, and ultimately a business relationship that extended more than thirty years.

The letters of Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth afford an intimate glimpse into the lives of two working writers. They offer a rare opportunity to see how Derleth managed his writing and also his growing publishing company, Arkham House, even to the particulars of content selection, royalty payments, and so on. Derleth's concern for Smith's well-being is manifestly evident, as is the commitment of Derleth and Donald Wandrei to publishing Smith's greatest book--even if it meant twenty-two years of enduring patience to do so. For his part, Smith clearly regarded Derleth as a friend, colleague, and financial lifeline. Even if their interests somewhat diverged in their later years, they both cherished each other's association and worked together where they feasibly could. These letters chronicle the heyday and then the demise of Weird Tales and other pulp magazines; the establishment of what long remained the leading small press in the weird fiction field; and many other personal and literary issues that illuminate the minds and personalities of their authors.

This new collection assembles some of the rarest fantasy and horror stories from the pen of Clark Ashton Smith. Included are The White Sybil, Chinoiserie, The Raja and the Tiger, The Justice of the Elephant, The Kiss of Zoraida, The Ghoul, Something New, The Malay Krise, The Ghost of Mohammed Din, The Mirror in the Hall of Ebony, The Mahout, The Primal City, The Hunters from Beyond, The Passing of Aphrodite, The Tale of Sir John Maundeville, and The Light from Beyond.

It was perhaps inevitable that Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) and Samuel Loveman (1887-1976) would become close friends and correspondents. Both were devoted to the art and craft of poetry; both were fascinated by the obscurer corners of literature; and both shared numerous colleagues, among them George Sterling, H. P. Lovecraft, and George Kirk.

The correspondence begins in 1913, when Smith was still under the poetic tutelage of George Sterling. Sterling was also attempting to help Loveman secure a wider audience for his poetry. The two authors' discussions of the aesthetics of poetry-both their own and the work of such poets as John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Clare, and many others-are compelling.

Loveman, having become involved in the book trade, would often pass along rare and tempting volumes to Smith, whose ability to secure books was limited. As such, fascinating discussions arise on the unusual and esoteric books they each absorbed. Smith also recounts the poor health that dogged him in the 1910s, while Loveman was drafted into the U.S. army toward the end of World War I and underwent hardship at a military camp in Georgia.

The correspondence of these two pioneering poets-extending sporadically all the way down to 1941-is a testament to each writer's devotion to pure literature as a solace and balm against the vicissitudes of life. It is a lesson we can all appreciate today.

The letters have been meticulously edited and exhaustively annotated by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, two leading authorities on Smith and Loveman.

This early volume of Clark Ashton Smith's poetry was published when he was a mere lad of nineteen. At that point, he achieved international acclaim, and an American critic dubbed him the Keats of the Pacific. He moved for a short time in the same circles as Ambrose Bierce and Jack London. In any case, these poems are a sign of the talent to come.

This Large Print Edition is presented in easy-to-read 16 point type.

Clark Ashton Smith -- one of the big three classic authors from the legendary pulp magazine Weird Tales (the others being H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard) -- began writing early in the twentieth century. By the 1920s, he became a regular poet and author in Weird Tales magazine, helping to usher in its golden age. The Double Shadow was originally published by the Auburn Journal in 1933 in an oversized edition limited to only 1,000 copies. Smith carefully signed and hand-corrected many typographical errors for years to come. A collection of six stories ranging from contemporary horror to weird alternate-world fantasy, it remains a fascinating introduction and showcase to his decadently jeweled prose.