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The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith: The Door To Saturn: The Collected Fantasies, Vol. 2
Published in chronological order, with extensive story and bibliographic notes, this series not only provides access to stories that have been out of print for years, but gives them a historical and social context. Series editors Scott Conners and Ronald S. Hilger excavated the still-existing manuscripts, letters and various published versions of the stories, creating a definitive “preferred text” for Smith's entire body of work. This second volume of the series brings together 20 of his fantasy stories.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 1, 2007
37 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Clark Ashton Smith
724 books1,013 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 12, 2024
The second volume of the superb collection. One particular thing of note: the time traveller discovers that going into the future will likely result in hanging in an empty space as the Earth moved away. Yes, all those years ago this writer already wrote about it.
Contents here: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/...
Contents here: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/...
September 20, 2021
This series keeps getting better for me. This volume was better for me than the first. I just started the third volume “Vintage Atlantis” and it is really picking up. I got through Lovecraft on audible, but I prefer Ashton Clark Smith’s ancient worlds and dark sorcery fueled adventure fantasy more than Lovecraft. Don’t get me wrong Lovecraft’s cosmic horror is great too, I’m just drawn towards Smith’s style more.
If I could compare Ashton Clarke Smith to another writer from the pulp era it would have to be Robert E Howard, the original author of “Conan the Barbarian.”This only by audible short story series is one to stick with. The only drawback to the Audible series is, there are no titles just chapter numbers, although they are given by the narrator at the beginning of every chapter. I skipped some stories especially for the first volume. Most of the second volume of the anthology is great.
I’m always fascinated with this type of weird fiction that plays with elements of the occult, paganism and magic, and Ashton Clarke Smith handles these with style and grace.
I’ll be back to write a review on the third, hopefully it gets even better than Saturn’s Door, which is good but as I said earlier, the beginning of Vintage Atlantis vol 3 is next level stuff.
If I could compare Ashton Clarke Smith to another writer from the pulp era it would have to be Robert E Howard, the original author of “Conan the Barbarian.”This only by audible short story series is one to stick with. The only drawback to the Audible series is, there are no titles just chapter numbers, although they are given by the narrator at the beginning of every chapter. I skipped some stories especially for the first volume. Most of the second volume of the anthology is great.
I’m always fascinated with this type of weird fiction that plays with elements of the occult, paganism and magic, and Ashton Clarke Smith handles these with style and grace.
I’ll be back to write a review on the third, hopefully it gets even better than Saturn’s Door, which is good but as I said earlier, the beginning of Vintage Atlantis vol 3 is next level stuff.
January 26, 2021
Very much an overall disappointment, considering his status as one of the 3 best Weird Tales authors, the other two being Howard and Lovecraft. CAS wrote for money, to fill the budget and it shows in the stories he didn't write for the sake of artistry. Some are true gems, the title Door to Saturn is just as good and funny as the best stories from Jack Vance, but most of the others are formulaic and unoriginal, lifted above only by his rather rich vocabulary. I will give him another shot, selected stories are probably a better choice than a chronological part of his writing career.
January 18, 2022
Once again, there are a few gems to be had in this collection, though overall I was not impressed, and some stories were downright bad (the SF-themed ones in particular). Smith focuses way too much on descriptions of nature, and with the flowery language he tends to use they quickly get really tiresome. Some stories end quite abruptly while others drag on unnecessarily. It's also somewhat jarring to see the same adjectives used again and again across different stories. "Mephitic" and "noisome" seemed to be Smith's favourite words.
October 17, 2022
Very much an overall disappointment, considering his status as one of the 3 best Weird Tales authors, the other two being Howard and Lovecraft. CAS wrote for money, to fill the budget and it shows in the stories he didn't write for the sake of artistry. Some are true gems, the title Door to Saturn is just as good and funny as the best stories from Jack Vance, but most of the others are formulaic and unoriginal, lifted above only by his rather rich vocabulary. I will give him another shot, selected stories are probably a better choice than a chronological part of his writing career.
September 3, 2024
A fantastic collection of eerie short fiction from one of the masters of 20th Century dark fantasy and Lovecraftian horror. An absolute must-read for fans of those subgenres.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews