Clark Ashton Smith Books In Order

Publication Order of The Averoigne Chronicles Books

Publication Order of The Averoigne Cycle Books

Publication Order of The Book of Hyperborea Books

Publication Order of Tales of Zothique Books

Publication Order of The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Graphic Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Poetry Collections

Publication Order of The Complete Poetry and Translations of Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Clark Ashton Smith was a science fiction and horror author from Long Valley California. He was born in 1893 and developed an interest in storytelling from a very young age that by the time he was eleven, he was already writing. Apart from the first five years he spent in grammar school, he was an autodidact whose intellectual prowess is clear in his sculptures, verse, painting, and prose. As a seventeen-year-old, Smith was selling magazines to the likes of “The Overland Monthly” and “The Black Cat” among many other magazines. Two years later, his published collection of poetry was classed within the ranks of Bryant, Chatterton, and Rosetti. However, he stopped writing and only went back to writing short fiction when he was thirty-five. It was at this time that he wrote “The End of the Story” through which he made his name as a notable prose writer. The success of the title was the inspiration for many other pseudo-scientific, fantastic and macabre novels that would be just as popular with readers. Since then his work has been featured in more than fifty magazines including the “Mencken Smart Set,” “The Yale Review,” “The Philippines Magazine,” “The London Mercury,” “Magazine of Verse,” “Asia,” and “Munsey’s.” His poetry has also been featured in more than a dozen anthologies.

Smith’s early education was unconventional according to the standards of his day, since he for the most part taught himself. Clark taught himself French and Spanish but he also read through the Oxford English Dictionary and the Encyclopedia Britannica. He used the dictionary to learn about etymology which came in handy as it honed his literary prowess and proved invaluable in his later career. This phase of his education clearly shows in his fiction, particularly in his proficiency in depicting otherworldly creatures and cosmic phenomena. In the writing of his more creative works such as “The City of the Singing Flame,” the author introduces his readers to an alien planet with violet grass and amber skies which makes for quite the thrilling odyssey. He is particularly eloquent in his depiction of an Earth location named “Crater Ridge,” where he showcases his talent. Smith also takes his readers into worlds with unique and interesting creatures who live in interesting alien worlds. In “The Tale of Satampra Zeiros” he tells of a bizarre creature that confronts the lead protagonists of the story.

When Clark Ashton Smith started writing in the 1930s, much of what he wrote was in connection with the Lovecraft Circle that contributed to the “Weird Tales” magazine. The most prominent members of the Circle were Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E Howard, and of course HP Lovecraft. Even though Smith was very popular with readers of the magazine that published weird fiction as part of its science and fantasy fiction, he had lost much of his popularity by 1935. Nonetheless, Howard and Lovecraft continued to popularize the subgenre and by the late 1980s and 1990s, they had made quite a name for themselves. Of significant importance during this time was the adaptation of Lovecraft’s popular Cthulhu mythos and Howard’s work into films such as “Conan the Barbarian.” Between the seven years between 1930 and 1937, Smith wrote several stories set in the bizarre Zothique world and these would become the crown jewels of his writings. Just like “Discworld” by Pratchett and “Middle Earth” by Tolkien, Smith had “Zothique.” Smith often writes fascinating descriptions of his worlds to provide a vivid impression without inundating readers with vague distractions or the mundane.

Clark Smith’s “A Vintage From Atlantis” is a collection full of an odd sort of comfort. He writes extravagantly archaic prose that is overripe and ornate, with nightmarish and bizarre dreamscapes, fulsome melancholy, and sardonic malevolence. He is an author that casts a long shadow in fantastic fiction and this collection is a classic that showcases some of his best works. The collection is an ode to the idea of love as many of the tales have a surprising romantic element. While he wrote many of his works as a romance author that seemed a little perverted, he reverts to classic romance in the volume as he validates strong emotion and asserts that it is a true wellspring of aesthetic experience. He places new emphasis on emotions such as awe, apprehension, terror, and horror, especially if one experiences them while dealing with the picturesque and untamed nature of the sublime. Reading the stories of lonely death and alien wonders in different dimensions where the protagonists see themselves in alien planets, it is clear that Smith centralizes the sometimes obliterating and particularly the transcendent concepts of love.

“The End of the Story” by Clark Ashton Smith is a handful of fairly entertaining stories that were written at a time when Smith was not interested in love or even just romance. For the most part, he wrote pieces that were focused on the disturbing and unfortunate endings for several undeserving and deserving characters. The handful of stories shines starting with “Door to Saturn,” which is a lot of fun as it is set in the Saturn landscape where two rival wizards have to unite and fight a range of strange residents. In “The Testament of Athammaus,” the author writes of a richly nauseating monster/anti-hero. Both stories have a classic feel with their high fantasy sorcery and swordsmanship made unique by the vein of darkness that is a classic element that Smith often drew into his stories. The short story “A Rendezvous in Averoigne” is set in the castles of Averoigne and the fictional countryside of France during the twelfth century. The story involves two romantic partners and their servants who come to a dreary castle full of hungry residents. In “The Letter from Mohaun Los,” Smith tells an interesting science fiction story of intergalactic travel that involves two partners that often seem off-kilter. Throw in a robot with giant tentacles and this is the bonafide classic of the volume.

“The Door to Saturn” volume contains mid-career stories by Clark Ashton Smith that showcase the peak of his use of the idiosyncratic style. It is Smith at his most polished though he now combines bizarre flights of fancy, disdainful irony, grotesquerie, hysteria, and dense wall of prose that he delivers in his trademark eloquent style. There are several classics such as “Seed from the Sepulcher” which frequently finds its way into anthologies that showcases body horror and disgust in a way nobody would do for decades after it was written. “The Plutonium Drug” depicts a range of interesting poisons and drugs that are brought in from other planets in addition to providing an interesting twist about the future. The first of the Zothique story cycle is the “Empire of Necromancers” and it has the feeling of being penned by a man from a different dimension. In “Double Doom” Smith tells the story of what befell two wizards and their mummy after they undertake poorly planned excursions to the distant past.