Witchcraft of Ulua

Tales of Zothique #8

by Clark Ashton Smith

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Short Stories

Paperback

First published January 1, 1934

About the author

Clark 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.

Reviews

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this tale, the reader might wonder if Clark Ashton Smith has a negative view of both women and sex. His hero is a celibate scholar being tempted by a woman with demonic powers of seduction. It’s a very quick read, brought to dramatic life by narrator Will Hahn. I enjoyed every word, but have to say that the most impressive part is how long our celibate hero plods about his life ignoring his problem before he finally breaks and runs for it. I think the vast majority of people would have either succumbed or fled far earlier.

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[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Then, later, on a moonless night, as he lay sleeping tranquilly in the moonless hours before dawn, there came to him in his dream a figure muffled from crown to heel with the vestments of the tomb. Tall as a caryatid, awful and menacing, it leaned above him in silence more malignant than any curse; and the cerements fell open at the breast, and charnel-worms and death-scarabs and scorpions, together with shreds of rotting flesh, rained down upon Amalzain. Then, as he awoke from his nightmare, sick and stifled, he breathed a carrion fetor, and felt against him the pressure of a still, heavy body. Affrighted, he rose and lit the lamp; but the bed was empty. Yet the odor of putrefaction still lingered; and Amalzain could have sworn that the corpse of a woman, two weeks dead and teeming with maggots, had laid closely at his side in the darkness"

[William Cherico · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bookish sage is terrorized by a beautiful woman because she's SO enamoured with him. If I were a less charitable man, I'd suspect that Amalzain was Clark Ashton Smith's attempt at a self-insert. This is unnecessarily wordy and it falls victim to a lot of Smith's stories where the formula is essentially "protagonist faces a problem, protagonist overcomes problem with no effort at all."Such a simplistic story could maybe work as some kind of fable, but when the moral is as simplistic as "books>sex" the whole thing winds up feeling so pointless.

[Per · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...
http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/...

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dodging a bimbo is like dodging a bullet, all in a day's work. In America and in Hell, but I repeat myself.

[Lou Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another story which in itself was interesting, but was rather lackluster. The title sounds like something which could've been fantastic to listen to, but instead it was rather dull.

[Timothy Morrison]

This is a tale of a scholar and a dark nymph who seeks to destroy him when he is not charmed by her erotic behavior! Very like Conan and lovecraft
In the decadent court of King Famorgh, where luxury veils corruption and enchantments twist the will of men, the young cup-bearer Amalzain becomes the object of an ominous obsession. The princess Ulua, feared for her beauty and dark sorceries, sets her sights on him—yet her spells seem powerless against his guarded soul. As unseen horrors creep into his waking life and nightmares claw at his sanity, Amalzain must seek the wisdom of an ancient sorcerer before the city of Miraab is consumed by forces beyond mortal control.