Mind-blowing unknown planets, long-lost or yet-to-emerge continents, journeys between worlds and times, in time and in timelessness, deadly forests and deserts, terrifying creatures from distant galaxies, demon-flowers and corpse-eating demons (guess which is scarier), ancient sorceresses and ambitious necromancers, risking both soul and body, as well as werewolves, vampires, the risen dead, nameless monsters, petrified prehistoric nightmares and living stone… Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1961) is one of the three pillars of "weird fiction" of the 1930s (along with Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan, and, of course, the creator of the "Cthulhu Mythos" H.P. Lovecraft, in whose stories Smith's fantasies often appear), a follower of Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce. He melted fiction in the last fire of romantic poetry and reached new heights of true horror—thus the world learned what infinite horizons can be opened up before us by both fantasy and horror, and Smith owes a great deal to many, including Ray Bradbury, Clive Barker, and Stephen King.
This collection features stories from 1925–1931; most of them are published in new translations.
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