In Outer Space with Clark Ashton Smith Part Two: Interstellar Space
Unlike the stories set in our solar system we do not know what exists in the rest of the universe. Anything could exist, and in Smith’s fiction, often does.
Read MoreIn Outer Space with Clark Ashton Smith Part One: The Solar System
These stories, despite their astronomic setting, are not really science fiction, at least not hard SF. (If you are looking for scientific rigor, look elsewhere.) These are Weird Fiction stories set in space.
Read MoreAtmosphere in Sword and Sorcery and Weird Fiction
Weird fiction is essentially about creating a mood. The mood in Lovecraft’s fiction is a kind of fear bordering on the sublime. Perhaps of all Sword and Sorcery authors C. L. Moore did strange atmosphere best.
Read MoreLike a Thread Through Many Beads
Theosophy arose in the late 1800s and quickly spread throughout the Western world. Its doctrines and mythology fascinated everyone from political revolutionaries to pulp authors. Its influence is still felt today, after nearly one hundred and fifty years.
Read MoreKlarkash-Ton Day 2024
The cosmic wheels have whirled and turned once more. We yet again find ourselves celebrating Klarkash-Ton Day. Raise a glass of Atlantean vintage—or the closest equivalent—to the memory of Clark Ashton Smith and his almost-avatar, Klarkash-Ton.
Read MoreGiving "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros" Its Due
Clark Ashton Smith was a pioneer of the S&S genre. His “The Tale of Satampra Zeiros” was the first sword-and-sorcery story he ever wrote. It is also, possibly, the most influential tale he told within that genre.
Read MoreThoughts on Night Gallery’s “The Return of the Sorcerer”; a Review and Contemplation
“In this article, I will be not only contemplating the current state of entertainment but also briefly reviewing “The Return of the Sorcerer” of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, because it is, I feel, one of the best episodes in that series, it is good fun for a Samhain night, and said episode was inspired by the short story “The Return of the Sorcerer” by Clark Ashton Smith.”
Read MoreSword and Sorcery, Power-Fantasy, and Barbarian-Fantasy
From my perspective, sword and sorcery is not power-fantasy; it is barbarian-fantasy: the longing to return to the primitive, the past, the preindustrial, the raw of terrestrial nature, the simple.
Read MoreAt the End: Zothique, Dying Earth, and the New Sun
Fantasy stories are typically set in either an imaginary world like Nehwon and Narnia or an imagined past like the Hyborian Age or Middle Earth. Then there is the Dying Earth genre which is set not only in the future, but at the end of Earth’s history.
Read MoreKlarkash-Ton Day 2022
This is the debut celebration of the date when H.P. Lovecraft bestowed upon Clark Ashton Smith the ‘Mythos name’ of “Klarkash-Ton”, while also creating a persona/backstory to go with the sobriquet.
Read More