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Lost Worlds: Volume 1: Zothique, Averoigne and Others
Explore the most eerie lands in adult fantasy - The Lost Worlds of Clark Ashton Smith
The Contents:
ZOTHIQUE
The Empire of the Necromancers
The Isle of the Torturers
Necromancy in Naat
Xeethra
AVEROIGNE
The Holiness of Azedarac
The Beast of Averoigne
OTHERS
The Letter from Mohaun Los
The Light from Beyond
The Hunters from Beyond
The Treader of the Dust
Cover illustration by Bruce Pennington
The Contents:
ZOTHIQUE
The Empire of the Necromancers
The Isle of the Torturers
Necromancy in Naat
Xeethra
AVEROIGNE
The Holiness of Azedarac
The Beast of Averoigne
OTHERS
The Letter from Mohaun Los
The Light from Beyond
The Hunters from Beyond
The Treader of the Dust
Cover illustration by Bruce Pennington
205 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
4 people are currently reading
381 people want to read
About the author
Clark Ashton Smith
720 books997 followersClark Ashton Smith was a poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. It is for these stories, and his literary friendship with H. P. Lovecraft from 1922 until Lovecraft's death in 1937, that he is mainly remembered today. With Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, also a friend and correspondent, Smith remains one of the most famous contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales.
His writings are posted at his official website.
His writings are posted at his official website.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 31, 2019
A collection of short fiction by the friend of H P Lovecraft who was generally reckoned to be a better writer than Lovecraft. Smith's prose is baroque and lavish, full of detailed descriptions, long words and some you need to resort to a dictionary to understand. The effect of his prose is stronger in landscape building and imagery than in plot.
This collection is split into three sections. The first is set in Smith's imagined far future on a decaying Earth, a setting used in more recent times by writers such as Gene Wolfe. In the land of Zothique, sorcerors abound and they feature largely in the four tales. In one, two sorcerors take over an abandoned city in a region laid waste by drought and disease, and amuse themselves by reanimating the dead who then become their servitors, even those of the former royal house. In another, a ruler is saved from a rapidly fatal plague by a ring created by his friend the court sorceror and is one of the few survivors. He sets off in a ship with his remaining slaves, but evil sorcery steers the boat to the Isle of Torturers with fatal consequencies. In another story, a tribal leader wanders for years searching for his kidnapped bethrothed until his ship is drawn to an island where sorcerors employ those they have lured there to be drowned, to serve them. The final story in the section, Xeethra, differs in having a young goat herd as the main character. One day, seeking pasture for his goats in his drought ridden country, he blunders into an enchanted land where his life and identity are irrevocably changed.
The second section is set in medieval France in the land of Averoigne which has also featured in previous collections I've read. There the threat is from the intrusion of a demon in 'The Beast of Averoigne' or from a time travelling sorceror and his sidekick in the other story. The final section is made up of four stories, one of which features Smith's fanciful science fiction - a man and his Chinese factotum travel through time and find it also involves travel in space but they are onlookers for the most part - or a man is transported to another world and finds that his return from it carries a high price. The two most effective stories, which are the last two in this collection, fall into the horror/supernatural category: 'The Hunters from Beyond' has a creepy conviction about it, starting with the experience of the narrator in a second hand bookshop, and 'The Treader of the Dust' shows what can happen when someone meddles with old books of arcane lore.
As with a lot of Smith's fiction, the main characters are fairly passive and don't really achieve anything but end up acquiesing in whatever besets them. The interest is in the setting and description rather than plot. I enjoyed some of the stories more than others - 'The Beast of Averoigne' and the two stories mentioned above, with which the book concludes - and overall am awarding this a 3 star rating.
This collection is split into three sections. The first is set in Smith's imagined far future on a decaying Earth, a setting used in more recent times by writers such as Gene Wolfe. In the land of Zothique, sorcerors abound and they feature largely in the four tales. In one, two sorcerors take over an abandoned city in a region laid waste by drought and disease, and amuse themselves by reanimating the dead who then become their servitors, even those of the former royal house. In another, a ruler is saved from a rapidly fatal plague by a ring created by his friend the court sorceror and is one of the few survivors. He sets off in a ship with his remaining slaves, but evil sorcery steers the boat to the Isle of Torturers with fatal consequencies. In another story, a tribal leader wanders for years searching for his kidnapped bethrothed until his ship is drawn to an island where sorcerors employ those they have lured there to be drowned, to serve them. The final story in the section, Xeethra, differs in having a young goat herd as the main character. One day, seeking pasture for his goats in his drought ridden country, he blunders into an enchanted land where his life and identity are irrevocably changed.
The second section is set in medieval France in the land of Averoigne which has also featured in previous collections I've read. There the threat is from the intrusion of a demon in 'The Beast of Averoigne' or from a time travelling sorceror and his sidekick in the other story. The final section is made up of four stories, one of which features Smith's fanciful science fiction - a man and his Chinese factotum travel through time and find it also involves travel in space but they are onlookers for the most part - or a man is transported to another world and finds that his return from it carries a high price. The two most effective stories, which are the last two in this collection, fall into the horror/supernatural category: 'The Hunters from Beyond' has a creepy conviction about it, starting with the experience of the narrator in a second hand bookshop, and 'The Treader of the Dust' shows what can happen when someone meddles with old books of arcane lore.
As with a lot of Smith's fiction, the main characters are fairly passive and don't really achieve anything but end up acquiesing in whatever besets them. The interest is in the setting and description rather than plot. I enjoyed some of the stories more than others - 'The Beast of Averoigne' and the two stories mentioned above, with which the book concludes - and overall am awarding this a 3 star rating.
April 8, 2014
Smith’s mixture of Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction is maybe an acquired taste, although I always found him highly addictive. Very much in the HP Lovecraft school of writing, his work features Elder Gods, ‘Things’ creeping into our world from the beyond and Far Future Earths of wasted deserts in which Necropoli turn up with alarming regularity.
In this volume the stories are split into three sections:
Zothique (being Smith’s world of the far future: Necromancers, plagues, kidnapped princesses and the walking dead)
The Empire of the Necromancers - (Weird Tales – September 1932)
The Isle of the Torturers - (Weird Tales – March 1933)
Necromancy in Naat - (Weird Tales – July 1936)
Xeethra - (Weird Tales – December 1934)
Averoigne (Smith’s French medieval setting where the Church is in constant battle with the forces of darkness. A demon-worshipping bishop is not the least of the worries as a soul-devouring demon has arrived on a passing comet and is sucking the marrow from random French people.)
The Holiness of Azedarac - (Weird Tales - November 1933)
The Beast of Averoigne - (Weird Tales – May 1933)
There is a final selection of other stories, one of which features a ‘Time Machine’ tale (The Letter From Mohaun Los) in which a scientist and his Chinese servant travel to another world due to the fact that when setting off they failed to take into account the movement of the Solar System. They visit a couple of planets, rescue an alien and settle down together.
We also have a sculptor who summons minor demons as life models for his sculpture, which is never a good move (The Hunters from Beyond), visitations from extra-dimensional benign beings (The Light from Beyond) and the unfortunate summoning of a destructive Elder God, (The Treader of Dust).
All in all, it’s a good introduction to Smith’s work, and worth reading again if it’s a work with which you’re already familiar.
The Letter from Mohaun Los (Flight into Super-Time) - (Wonder Stories – August 1932)
The Light from Beyond - (Wonder Stories – April 1933)
The Hunters from Beyond - (Strange Tales – October 1932)
The Treader of the Dust - (Weird Tales – August 1935)
Bison Books have recently published a combined edition of Vols I & II
In this volume the stories are split into three sections:
Zothique (being Smith’s world of the far future: Necromancers, plagues, kidnapped princesses and the walking dead)
The Empire of the Necromancers - (Weird Tales – September 1932)
The Isle of the Torturers - (Weird Tales – March 1933)
Necromancy in Naat - (Weird Tales – July 1936)
Xeethra - (Weird Tales – December 1934)
Averoigne (Smith’s French medieval setting where the Church is in constant battle with the forces of darkness. A demon-worshipping bishop is not the least of the worries as a soul-devouring demon has arrived on a passing comet and is sucking the marrow from random French people.)
The Holiness of Azedarac - (Weird Tales - November 1933)
The Beast of Averoigne - (Weird Tales – May 1933)
There is a final selection of other stories, one of which features a ‘Time Machine’ tale (The Letter From Mohaun Los) in which a scientist and his Chinese servant travel to another world due to the fact that when setting off they failed to take into account the movement of the Solar System. They visit a couple of planets, rescue an alien and settle down together.
We also have a sculptor who summons minor demons as life models for his sculpture, which is never a good move (The Hunters from Beyond), visitations from extra-dimensional benign beings (The Light from Beyond) and the unfortunate summoning of a destructive Elder God, (The Treader of Dust).
All in all, it’s a good introduction to Smith’s work, and worth reading again if it’s a work with which you’re already familiar.
The Letter from Mohaun Los (Flight into Super-Time) - (Wonder Stories – August 1932)
The Light from Beyond - (Wonder Stories – April 1933)
The Hunters from Beyond - (Strange Tales – October 1932)
The Treader of the Dust - (Weird Tales – August 1935)
Bison Books have recently published a combined edition of Vols I & II
October 28, 2018
Excellente série de nouvelles fantastiques dans deux univers différents. Beaucoup plus d'humour et de sensualité que chez Lovecraft, mais sans doute aussi moins d'étrangeté. Quelques phrases bancales liées à la traduction ou à l'absence de relecture ?
March 8, 2019
Leído en 2003.
4/10. Ni me acuerdo de qué va ni, con esta nota que le puse, creo que sea importante recordarlo.
4/10. Ni me acuerdo de qué va ni, con esta nota que le puse, creo que sea importante recordarlo.
April 24, 2014
'Lost Worlds: Volume 1 is yet another magnificent collection of Clark Ashton Smith, and without wishing to plagiarize master Lovecraft, I must concur, that C.A.S is a true virtuoso of far-flung, transmutive, cosmic horror; where impossible worlds are made horrifyingly lucid by his bold, artful wordplay. Alongside the equally mesmeric, and tremulously phantasmagorical work of J.G Ballard and Michael Moorcock, C.A.S is also an exemplar for concocting wholly immersing and deeply-felt, mondo-weirdo atmospherics: his boundless horrors soon flits, moth-like, around the weird lambent hues of your reeling minds eye, thereby unsettling the more sensitive reader in the process!
Clark Ashton Smith is a true genre iconoclast, and like fellow wordsmith Fritz Leiber, I feel, that he has yet to receive his true honor among the heady pantheon of literary greats.
'much of the tuberous, grasping fauna which erupted so haphazardly in this preternatural gloom, was truly chaotic in aspect, and so bereft of any palpable sublimity, it was as if this malefic vegetation had been driven wholly mad by the absolute dearth of light: a pensive, desiccated morass of grossly-abstracted foliage having the appalling luster of charred, half-eaten flesh'
Clark Ashton Smith is a true genre iconoclast, and like fellow wordsmith Fritz Leiber, I feel, that he has yet to receive his true honor among the heady pantheon of literary greats.
'much of the tuberous, grasping fauna which erupted so haphazardly in this preternatural gloom, was truly chaotic in aspect, and so bereft of any palpable sublimity, it was as if this malefic vegetation had been driven wholly mad by the absolute dearth of light: a pensive, desiccated morass of grossly-abstracted foliage having the appalling luster of charred, half-eaten flesh'
May 2, 2014
Some of the stories in this volume are absolutely fantastic, mostly those set in Zothique and Averoigne. I found the assorted stories not set in these worlds to be a lot less interesting. Smith's prose is always fantastic, in both senses of the word, ornate without losing sight of being easy to comprehend. I find most stories I encounter a new word or two, and I imagine I am not alone in this. Even so, his prose isn't as convoluted as Lovecraft's can sometimes get, and usually the story is easy to follow, even if the prose is heavily ornate. I find the bigness weakness to Smith's tales is not the prose, but that at times the stories are more concerned with conveying images and emotions, and less concerned with actual concrete events. Some stories also tend toward the grotesque, especially those set in Zothique. Overall, I found this collection very entertaining and look forward to reading more of Smith's work.
May 20, 2025
Lost Worlds was a collection of Clark Ashton Smith stories published by Arkham House in 1944. In 1974, Panther republished the book as two paperbacks, with wraparound cover art by Bruce Pennington. Perhaps it was the covers that first attracted me to these books. Along with the companion Panther reprints, Out of Space and Time: Volumes 1 and 2, the two Lost Worlds books are decorated with some of my favourite covers from this era of classic science fiction and fantasy cover art.
Lost Worlds: Volume 1 is divided into three sections. The first contains several of the best Zothique stories, such as "Necromancy in Naat" and "Xeethra," which in 1970 had been included in the book of the same name edited by Lin Carter for the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. Zothique's jeweled, sorcerous strangeness was the inspiration for Jack Vance's Dying Earth and Gene Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun.
The second section contains two stories set in Smith's invented medieval French province of Averoigne, with its undead vampires, seductive lamias, and corrupt and demon-worshipping churchmen. I think I preferred the Averoigne stories collected in Out of Space and Time: Volume 1, but these two are also very good, particularly "The Holiness of Azéderac." Of all of Smith's fantastic locations, perhaps Averoigne is my favourite. It's a pity that Lin Carter did not publish his planned Clark Ashton Smith Averoigne collection before the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series was curtailed.
The third and final section contains four stories at least starting off on the earth of Smith's time and place. The first, "The Letter from Mohaun Los," is effectively science fiction rather than fantasy. Smith's style, however, is difficult to classify, and fantastic realms are never far away. In "The Light from Beyond," he writes, "The cabin—the world outside—the very heavens—were filled with tenuous horns and flutes that filled the uncommunicable dreams of a lost elfland" (p. 167) in an echo of the language used by Lord Dunsany. "The Hunters from Beyond" is my favourite from this section, containing as it does, typical of Smith, some fabulous description of abominable horror.
Lost Worlds: Volume 1 is a varied collection of Clark Ashton Smith stories. His writing is some of his best in these tales.
Lost Worlds: Volume 1 is divided into three sections. The first contains several of the best Zothique stories, such as "Necromancy in Naat" and "Xeethra," which in 1970 had been included in the book of the same name edited by Lin Carter for the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. Zothique's jeweled, sorcerous strangeness was the inspiration for Jack Vance's Dying Earth and Gene Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun.
The second section contains two stories set in Smith's invented medieval French province of Averoigne, with its undead vampires, seductive lamias, and corrupt and demon-worshipping churchmen. I think I preferred the Averoigne stories collected in Out of Space and Time: Volume 1, but these two are also very good, particularly "The Holiness of Azéderac." Of all of Smith's fantastic locations, perhaps Averoigne is my favourite. It's a pity that Lin Carter did not publish his planned Clark Ashton Smith Averoigne collection before the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series was curtailed.
The third and final section contains four stories at least starting off on the earth of Smith's time and place. The first, "The Letter from Mohaun Los," is effectively science fiction rather than fantasy. Smith's style, however, is difficult to classify, and fantastic realms are never far away. In "The Light from Beyond," he writes, "The cabin—the world outside—the very heavens—were filled with tenuous horns and flutes that filled the uncommunicable dreams of a lost elfland" (p. 167) in an echo of the language used by Lord Dunsany. "The Hunters from Beyond" is my favourite from this section, containing as it does, typical of Smith, some fabulous description of abominable horror.
Lost Worlds: Volume 1 is a varied collection of Clark Ashton Smith stories. His writing is some of his best in these tales.
June 4, 2021
I have to agree with the other reviewers who feel that CAS is a better writer than Lovecraft. Sure, Smith's prose gets a little flowery here and there, but at least it reads like poetry. Lovecraft's stories may be exciting, but if I'm having trouble going to sleep at night, I reach for some of his stories. When it comes to early 20th Century weird stories, if you've only read Lovecraft, do yourself a favor and try Lost Worlds Vol. 1. The Zothique stories in the first part of this book were creepy, well crafted, with a satisfying ending. Not that every ending was a happy one.
February 7, 2018
Along with H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, Smith was one of the "Big Three" writers for Weird Tales. His fantasy stories are very dark and nightmarish. I especially liked the ones set in the dying earth landscape of Zothique
August 22, 2017
I like this author more than I like Lovecraft, and I love Lovecraft. The Beast of Averoigne is still one of my favorite Lovecraft-esque short stories, and I'm delighted to have a hard copy.
February 25, 2018
I see why ye olde Gentleman was such an enthusiast. Magikal stuff.
April 9, 2019
14/20.
March 18, 2023
This is one of the most terrifying and surreal and brilliant books I have read
The wording seems so intelligent all through the book
The wording seems so intelligent all through the book
April 3, 2024
I hardly know what to say about these stories, except that they're awesome! A sort of pre-Tolkien science-fantasy, a look into fantasy before elves and dwarves and where wizards are from Atlantis. Some stories are creepy, but they're all surreal and give a glimpse into a stranger, more fantastical world and cosmos that will keep you interested and engrossed the whole way through.
December 20, 2023
In the early part of my teenage years I came across Clark Ashton Smith. The fantastic front covers may have compelled me to buy the books, like some evil, malevolent spirit, and the stories themselves kept me in a state of bewitchment.
There was no doubt that these stories contained many adjectives and other descriptive words that my fourteen year old brain failed to understand, and even now, many years later, I am still often left scratching my head. Nevertheless, the stories are all (mostly) still a joy to read.
Weirdness at its most weird; horror at its most horrible. This collection of short stories will have you frantically looking at the shaded corners of your house, searching for something lurking there, demonic and malignant, which is drawing you irresistibly towards the dark depths of some terrifying outer hell.
Agghh!
There was no doubt that these stories contained many adjectives and other descriptive words that my fourteen year old brain failed to understand, and even now, many years later, I am still often left scratching my head. Nevertheless, the stories are all (mostly) still a joy to read.
Weirdness at its most weird; horror at its most horrible. This collection of short stories will have you frantically looking at the shaded corners of your house, searching for something lurking there, demonic and malignant, which is drawing you irresistibly towards the dark depths of some terrifying outer hell.
Agghh!
April 20, 2014
In this collection there are four stories from the terrifyingly messed up happenings in the lands of Zothique where the worst things imaginable happen arbitrarily to various unsuspecting characters.
There are couple of tales from Averoigne, which I also enjoy reading about - the imaginative, mediaeval French landscape plagued by vampires and lamias.
This collection's happiest surprises are in the miscellaneous tales at the end of the collection. The Hunters from Beyond and The Treader of the Dust are timeless weird fiction tales in the manner of Lovecraft, but the one I most enjoyed was The Light from Beyond which has a beautifully vivid and poignant tone all of it's own and in which the writing is truly fantastic.
There are couple of tales from Averoigne, which I also enjoy reading about - the imaginative, mediaeval French landscape plagued by vampires and lamias.
This collection's happiest surprises are in the miscellaneous tales at the end of the collection. The Hunters from Beyond and The Treader of the Dust are timeless weird fiction tales in the manner of Lovecraft, but the one I most enjoyed was The Light from Beyond which has a beautifully vivid and poignant tone all of it's own and in which the writing is truly fantastic.
December 14, 2014
Clark Ashton Smith is a great exponent and pioneer of the crossover genres of sci-fi, horror and fantasy. If you are fascinated by the dark and macabre, I highly recommend him.
I loved his short stories, especially those set in his fictitious worlds of Hyperborea, Zothique and Averoigne.
The Beast of Averoigne is one of my favourites.
Considering he wrote during the 1930's, his prose doesn't feel dated. His stories are eloquently written, flow well and are easy to read.
I would describe his genre as more akin to cosmic horror ... Many stories relate to alternate realities, and other dimensions where fantastic creatures both alien and horrifying enter our realm, and unfortunate victims who are drawn into theirs!
I loved his short stories, especially those set in his fictitious worlds of Hyperborea, Zothique and Averoigne.
The Beast of Averoigne is one of my favourites.
Considering he wrote during the 1930's, his prose doesn't feel dated. His stories are eloquently written, flow well and are easy to read.
I would describe his genre as more akin to cosmic horror ... Many stories relate to alternate realities, and other dimensions where fantastic creatures both alien and horrifying enter our realm, and unfortunate victims who are drawn into theirs!
July 3, 2010
These stories remind me why I like science fiction / fantasy in the first place. There are lots of genres in this one volume; science fiction with a time machine that actually works better as a spaceship in an obvious homage to H.G. Wells, dark fantasy in an apocalyptic future, straight out horror, and more standard fantasy in medieval France.
August 2, 2011
Purchased complete tales of CAS on kindle for $3. Alphabetical table of contents allows you to read the stories in any order. Check out Wikipedia for the tables of contents of other anthologies and you can thereby read all the stories of the averoigne cycle, Zothique cycle, etc. Awesomeness.
April 24, 2014
I read these books (including this edition) as a teenager in the 70s, and they set my taste in fantasy for some time afterwards. No generic Tolkien knockoffs, but dark and (for a young person) fascinating journeys into a darker world. Good fun; I must pick them up if I run into any of them again.
February 5, 2016
A collection of short stories of one of the old pulp masters, Clark Ashton Smith. The Zothique tales of necromancy are easily the best and most original in this volume; the other stories aren't to the same standard, which unfortunately lets it down. Worth reading for Zothique alone.
July 30, 2009
gothic and ancient horror that really uses language
July 11, 2012
I gave this only 4 stars because I have to re-read and remember! I read a lot of his work when younger and remember the cover on this one! Must get it again!
March 23, 2020
Entre Howard et Lovecraft ; poétique, sensuel, envoûtant et mystérieux.
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