I recently picked up two books from Hippocampus Press on Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961). This was part of a special deal when one of the editors, Scott Connors passed away.
An authority on CAS, Connors had edited the five-volume set of CAS fiction from Nightshade Book and was working on a CAS biography. I have no idea of the status of that work. Hippocampus Press has a complete collection of CAS’s poetry and has been doing themed volumes of his fiction of late (six so far), as well as several collections of his letters.
For those not aware, Clark Ashton Smith, along with H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, was one of the major authors in Weird Tales. A poet, author, and artist, he corresponded with both men and others, but his fiction career was very short compared to his other artistic activities. I believe he wrote more poetry than prose.
The two books are The Freedom of Fantastic Things: Selected Criticism on Clark Ashton Smith (2006) and Clark Ashton Smith: A Comprehensive Bibliography (2020).
The Freedom of Fantastic Things: Selected Criticism on Clark Ashton Smith, edited by Connors, is a collection of over 20 works about CAS, most reprinted from prior publications. There is also an annotated chronology of his fiction by Steve Behrends, along with a basic bibliography of his works.
It was also nice that we got maps by Tim Kirk of several of CAS’s fantastical lands, such as Poseidonis, Hyperborea, Zothique, and Averoigne. I don’t know if they are original to this volume or reprinted from prior works.
The authors included are pretty impressive, including Donald Sidney-Fryer, Brian Stableford, Fred Chappell, S.T. Joshi, Behrends, Stefan Dziemianowicz, and other leading authorities.
With so many works, I’ve picked out a few that looked interesting to me to read. Not being that familiar with his poetry, I skipped over most of those works.
We start off with an essay by Donald Sidney-Fryer written in honor of CAS’s 110th birthday, which focuses mostly on his poetry career and publications, especially with his mentor George Sterling. Next is a collection of contemporary reviews of several of his works.
Next are a pair of works that are somewhat known in the world of CAS. First is a somewhat negative review by James Blish of CAS’s. Yes, the well-known sf author who did other works, including writing criticisms of several authors. In response is a piece by Donald Sidney-Fryer.
Brian Stableford’s article is a good overview of CAS’s life and career, looking at many of his works in various story cycles, with a look at the cosmic elements of his writings. John Hitz‘s work is similar but short and looks more at CAS’s macabre works. He has another that looks at the use of satire in CAS’s stories.
We get a quartet of works looking at CAS’s story cycles set in various realms. Atlantis/Poseidonis (and other Atlantis-like continents) is covered by Donald Sidney-Fryer; Stephen Tompkins handles Hyperborea; Zothique is done by Jim Rockhill; and Stefan Dziemianowicz takes care of Averoigne. The maps by Tim Kirk are included before each of these works. All of these give a better understanding of these story cycles.
Again, there are several others I haven’t yet read. As I delve more into CAS’s works, including his poetry, I will return to this work.
Clark Ashton Smith: A Comprehensive Bibliography is a massive book and not for the casual CAS fan. It was edited by S.T. Joshi, David E. Shultz, and Scott Connors. It comes in at over 580 pages and replaced the work from Donald Sidney-Fryer from 1978. It’s divided into four sections. The main section has all of Smith’s writings in English: prose, poetry, letters, and non-fiction. The second has translated works. The third gets in all the criticism and reviews of Smith. The fourth and final section is a massive index.
A very nice work, but more aimed at the enthusiast or scholar.
If you are just getting into the writings of CAS, I certainly recommend the collection of criticism. And do check out the other CAS-related works from Hippocampus Press as well.
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