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Selected carefully by well-respected editor Robert Weinberg and with an introduction by award-winning author Gene Wolfe, The Return of the Sorcerer: The Best of Clark Ashton Smith offers both readers and scholars a definitive collection of short fiction and short novels, by an overlooked master of fantasy, horror and science-fiction.

A collection of six stories ranging from contemporary horror to weird alternate-world fantasy, this book remains a fascinating introduction and showcase to Smith's decadently jeweled prose.

Fantasmagical voyages into alien landscapes!Incredible worlds, impossibly beautiful cities, and still more fantastic creatures-Forays into the unnameable beyond the tomb-Macabre and ghoulish tales of weird-heroic fantasy and sheer terror-Clark Ashton SmithNone 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. LovecraftTake one step across the threshold of his stories and you plunge into colour, sound, taste and texture; into language. - Ray Bradburya monstrously vivid imagination, a keenly ironic sense of humour, and an uninhibited bent for the macabre...a giant in the weird-heroic field. - L. Sprague de Camp

An artist, poet, and prolific contributor to Weird Tales , Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1967) is an influential figure in the history of pulp fiction. A close correspondent and collaborator with H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, Smith was widely celebrated as a master by his contemporaries. Back in print for the first time since 1971, Out of Space and Time showcases the many facets of Smith's unique prose that make him one of the greatest American writers of macabre and fantastic tales. Here are tales of Averoigne, tales belonging to the Cthulhu, stories of sheer horror, and one or two of sardonic comedy. Jeff VanderMeer provides an introduction for this Bison Books edition.

An artist, poet, and prolific contributor to Weird Tales , Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1967) is an influential figure in the history of pulp fiction. A close correspondent and collaborator with H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, Smith was widely celebrated as a master by his contemporaries. Back in print for the first time since 1971, Lost Worlds brings together twenty-three of Smith's classic stories, all of which were originally published in Weird Tales . Rather than center his works on heroes, Smith created fantastical worlds around which he built cycles of stories. Included here are tales from the realms of Averoigne, Zothique, Hyperborea, and others. Told in lush poetic prose, these haunting stories bring to life dark, dreamlike realms full of gothic monsters and mortals. Jeff VanderMeer provides an introduction for this Bison Books edition.

The weirdest realms in fantasy Here again in these sixteen stories are the gorgeous, luxuriant, and feverishly distorted visions of infinite spheres and multiple dimensions which have made of Clark Ashton Smith's work something unique in the annals of the macabre. In this collection there are tales of Hyperborea, Zothique, Averoigne, Atlantis, Xiccarph, and other vanished worlds of Smith's unparalleled creation. Here are such unforgettable tales as Vulthoom, The Colossus of Ylourgne, The Charnel God, The Black Abbot of Puuthuum, The Weaver in the Vault, and others. 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, dead or living - H.P. Lovecraft He had a monstrously vivid imagination, a keenly ironic sense of humour, and an uninhibited bent for the macabre. - L. Sprague de Camp Cover illustration by Brice Pennington

Paperback in very good condition. Cover edges, corners and spine ends are slightly bumped and rubbed. Page block and page edges are tanned. A few of the upper page corners are a little bumped and creased. Covers are clean, binding is sound and pages are otherwise clear. LW

From back cover: Ghoulish tales of weird fantasy and sheer horror by the master of the macabre. "A universe of remote and paralyzing fright - jungles of poisonous and iridescent blossoms on the moons of Saturn, evil and grotesque temples in forgotten elder worlds and dark morasses of spotted death - fungi in spectral countries beyond earth's rim. Who else has seen such gorgeous, luxuriant and feverishly distorted visions and living to tell the tale?" H.P. Lovecraft.

Book by Clark Ashton Smith

Travel through time and space to explore the cosmic worlds of a monstrously vivid imagination.

Science Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy

Paperback in very good condition. Covers, page block and pages are tanned. Pages are otherwise clear and binding is sound. LW

Illustrated by Andrew Smith.

When Giles Angarth disappeared, nearly two years ago, we had been friends for a decade or more, and I knew him as well as anyone could purport to know him. Yet the thing was no less a mystery to me than to others at the time, and until now, it has remained a mystery. Like the rest, I sometimes thought that he and Ebbonly had designed it all between them as a huge, insoluble hoax; that they were still alive, somewhere, and laughing at the world that was so sorely baffled by their disappearance. And, until I at last decided to visit Crater Ridge and find, if I could, the two boulders mentioned in Angarth’s narrative, no one had uncovered any trace of the missing men or heard even the faintest rumor concerning them....

Stated first edition. One 1,250 copies signed by the illustrator, R. J. Krupowicz. A Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket.

Stories tell of a powerful magician, the lost continent of Atlantis, an invasion from Mars, a drug that allows perception of the future, and an expedition to Martian ruins

Contents: 7 · Lyricist of Lost Worlds · Donald Sydney-Fryer · in · I: The Monster of the Prophecy 13 · The Monster of the Prophecy · nv Weird Tales Jan ’32 · II: Zothique 51 · Xeethra [Zothique] · ss Weird Tales Dec ’34 70 · The Empire of the Necromancers [Zothique] · ss Weird Tales Sep ’32 80 · The Charnel God [Zothique] · nv Weird Tales Mar ’34 102 · The Witchcraft of Ulua [Zothique] · ss Weird Tales Feb ’34 · III: Vulthoom 112 · Vulthoom · nv Weird Tales Sep ’35 · IV: Hyperborea 139 · The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan · ss Weird Tales Jun ’32 148 · The Seven Geases · nv Weird Tales Oct ’34 168 · The Coming of the White Worm · ss Stirring Science Stories Apr ’41 · V: Lost Worlds 185 · Master of the Asteroid · ss Wonder Stories Oct ’32 200 · The Immeasurable Horror · ss Weird Tales Sep ’31 215 · Monsters in the Night [“A Prophecy of Monsters”] · vi F&SF Oct ’54 219 · The Gorgon · ss Weird Tales Apr ’32 231 · A Voyage to Sfanomoë · ss Weird Tales Aug ’31

Strange Shadows opens a window into the dark, visionary worlds of Clark Ashton Smith, whose verbal black magic was a significant force in the American science fiction and fantasy movement of the 1930s. This annotated collection of his previously unpublished works provides a unique opportunity to savor the full range of Smith's literary contribution. Featuring fantasies and ironic short stories, prose-poems, plays, unfinished stories, and more than 100 story synopses, it offers valuable documentation and commentary on the work of one of the most distinctive and consistently interesting modern masters of the fantasy genre. An introduction by Robert Bloch (the author of Psycho) examines Smith's work and places it in historical perspective. Among the highlights of the collection are the satirical title story; variant drafts of two of Smith's most famous stories-- The Coming of the White Worm and The Beast of Averoigne --and a play entitled The Dead Will Cuckold You , which has been hailed as a masterpiece. The editor's annotations include extensive quotations from Smith's correspondence to H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, and other important fantasy authors, together with textual commentary and discussion of connections between published and unpublished works. Information on lost writings and lists of published story titles, characters, and place names are supplied. An important resource for fantasy readers and scholars, this book will appeal to those with an interest in dark fantasy, science fiction, and the history of American science fiction.

Compiled by Donald Sidney-Fryer; edited & introduced by Don Herron. Similar to Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary" - lots of clever, smart, often humorous or sarcastic sayings; 2 examples: "Freedom: permission to choose one's own particular form of slavery." "Love: the highest form of intoxication."

Stapled wraps.

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. More than two dozen unpublished or uncollected poems, never previously included in any of Smith’s books, make The Last Oblivion a must for Smith devotees. Two full-color illustrations by Clark Ashton Smith and an exhaustive glossary of unusual words and names used in Smith’s poetry enhance the volume.

Book by Smith, Clark Ashton

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."

“For a long time, Smith’s The Red World of Polaris was assumed to be lost. It was the El Dorado of Smith fanatics. But a copy turned up a few years ago – it was nothing short of a miracle. The people at Nightshade Books published it, along with the rest of Smith’s Captain Volmar stories, of which Red World is one. God bless ya, Nightshade Books.”— Arvidland Red World of Polaris has for many years been the holy grail for Clark Ashton Smith fans. A tale of Captain Volmar, it's been oft discussed but never seen, until now. Night Shade is proud to present Red World of Mars, a Clark Ashton Smith mini-collection of Smith's Captain Volmar stories, including the never before published novella, "Red World of Polaris.". Along with the title novella, it includes the other Volmar stories as well: "Marooned in Andromeda", "A Captivity in Serpens", "The Ocean-World of Alioth". Ronald Hilger contributes the introduction, "The Magellan of Constellations: An Introduction" and Donald Sydney-Fryer the afterword, "Captain Volmar and Crew: An Afterword".

Here is a collection of Clark Aston Smith's Cthulhu Mythos fiction, collected and arranged by Robert M. Price, with commentary for each of the stories. Included here are "The Ghoul", "A Rendering from the Arabic", "Ubbo-Sathla", "The Werewolf of Averoigne", and others.

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.

Lair of the Eldritch Dark gathers many of Clark Ashton Smith's classic tales of fantasy and horror—along with his ethereal poetry and prose poems—together in one wide-ranging volume of speculative fantastical fiction and verse. A great friend of H. P. Lovecraft and a contemporary of Robert E. Howard, Smith’s vivid imagination and unique antiheroes created worlds that pushed the accepted boundaries of both realism and fantasy, ushering in new ways of writing while challenging readers to think differently. Smith's wide-ranging influence is still felt strongly today. His enthusiastic readers went on to build and mold the genres of fantasy, horror, and SF as we know them. Gene Wolfe, Fritz Leiber, Ray Bradbury, Jack Vance, Leigh Brackett, Harlan Ellison, and George R. R. Martin among many others were influenced by Smith's otherworldly, visionary fiction. The following books, stories, poems, and prose poems are included in Lair of the Eldritch Dark : Books of Poetry and Prose Poems : The Star-Treader and Other Poems Ebony and Crystal: Poems in Verse and Prose Short Stories : Averoigne: The Colossus of Ylourgne The Disinterment of Venus Mother of Toads The Enchantress of Sylaire A Rendezvous In Averoigne Hyperborea: The Door to Saturn The Seven Geases The Tale of Satampra Zeiros Poseidonis: Atlantis From a Letter/Muse of Atlantis The Death of Malygris The Double Shadow Maal Dweb of Xiccarph: The Maze of Maal Dweb The Flower-Women Aihai/Mars: Vulthoom Zothique: The Weaver in the Vault The Witchcraft of Ulua The Charnel God The Tomb-Spawn Xeethra The Dark Eidolon Necromancy in Naat The Black Abbot of Puthuum The Death of Ilalotha The Garden of Adompha The Master of the Crabs Morthylla The Last Hieroglyph Other Short Stories : The Ghost of Mohammed Din The Mahout Prince Alcouz and the Magician The Raja and the Tiger Something New The Planet of the Dead The Demon of the Flower The Chain of Aforgomon The Devotee of Evil Other Poetry : Adventure Afterwards Alienage Apologia August Autumn Orchards Autumn's Pall The Barrier Brumal The City of the Titans Contradiction Departure Don Juan Sings Dream Mystery Duality The End of Autumn Forgotten Sorrow The Horizon Interrogation The Love-Potion Moon-Dawn Moonlight Nyctalops Ougabalys Psalm to the Desert Remembrance The Secret Selenique Semblance The Song of Aviol The Song of Cartha Song of the Necromancer To the Chimera The Unremembered A Valediction We Shall Meet The Wind and the Moon The Wingless Archangels Witch-Dance The Witch with Eyes of Amber You are not Beautiful Luna Aeternalis Other Prose Poetry : The Lake of Enchanted Silence To the Daemon Epigrams : Abandoned Plum-Orchard. Cats in Winter Sunlight Translations : Parisian Dream by Charles Baudelaire Alchemy of Sorrow by Charles Baudelaire The Owls This book also includes numerous illustrations by Smith for reader enjoyment.