Tales of Attluma

by David C. Smith

Fascinating Tales from a Forgotten Era of Fantasy Fiction

A resurrected sorcerer grants the wishes of the desperate men who have returned him to life—but in ways none of them anticipates.

A prince makes a bargain with a barbarian criminal to travel into a lost world of violence and sorcery to save the life of a woman who may already be dead.

Marauders who attack a city devoted to a great goddess suffer her strange curse when she answers the pleas of her dying priestess.

The last survivors of an ancient continent confront evil at every step as they march beneath skies of endless darkness to reach the haven they hope will lead them to safety.

These tales and a dozen more by fantasy and adventure author David C. Smith appear in this unique collection. Out of print for more than 40 years, these stories were first published in the days of limited-circulation fanzines—the only avenue for new work created by the generation of writers who grew up in the shadow of the pulp magazines. The paperback reprints of those pulp stories in the late 1960s and early 1970s encouraged an entire generation of young writers to enlarge on that tradition of popular American storytelling. Now they are in print once more for a new generation of fantasy fiction enthusiasts.

Cover art by Tom Barber

Genres: Sword and Sorcery, Fantasy

244 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[S.E. Lindberg]

David C. Smith crafts his own flavor of adventure-horror with his Tales of Attluma, heavily influenced by Robert E. Howard (REH, Conan creator) and his contemporary Pulp Fiction writer Clark Ashton Smith (CAS). Attluma is an island continent akin to the mysterious Atlantis, and these 16 tales cover its dark history and doomed end. These stories are fantastically dark and exciting, a true blend of REH’s action and CAS’s dreaded atmosphere. On Attluma, ancient gods live in mountain temples and underground; humans struggle to survive, and seem to be intruding on land made for, and by, demons.

“These tales and a dozen more by fantasy and adventure author David C. Smith appear in this unique collection. Out of print for more than 40 years, these stories were first published in the days of limited-circulation fanzines—the only avenue for new work created by the generation of writers who grew up in the shadow of the pulp magazines. The paperback reprints of those pulp stories in the late 1960s and early 1970s encouraged an entire generation of young writers to enlarge on that tradition of popular American storytelling. Now they are in print once more for a new generation of fantasy fiction enthusiasts.” -- Official book blurb

Interestingly, there are no Oron tales, Oron being the warrior protagonist that the original Zebra series was named after. Yet he is not needed here. Attluma is saturated with lore and conflict, armies of ghosts, lost loves seeking retribution, and hungry demons just looking for some attention. The last several stories ramp up the demonic uprising (or retaking) of the island/continent. “The End of Days” finale is epic in scope, a sprawling battle with loads of mayhem and militant sorcery. The collection fits the Sword & Sorcery label, with an emphasis toward Sorcery (specifically necromancy and demon summoning). Excerpts are the best way to share the poetic, dark conflict readers should expect:

EXCERPTS:

“Dressed in scarlet wounds and running with blood, here was my mother, her face beseeching mercy, gashes across her face and body. There came my father, hobbling on a split foot and one arm gone, strings of meat and tendon trembling from the open shoulder. Here was my brother, once a strong and handsome man, now in death a broken thing with no legs, pulling himself forward with his arms, his wife beside him, on her belly and kicking her feet as her head rolled beside her.”—from “The Last Words of Imatus Istum”

And there was Yadis, The All Mother, the hag with one eye and triple teats whose spittle had made the stars and whose defecation made the earth. Her mad singing had awakened humans to life; we crawled from the muck and ever since wondered about the dark heart of life.” —from "Dark Goddess”

“Silene observed the sorcerers as they met and fought in the field. She saw the air turn colors between these people and watched as they moved their arms in gesticulations, or with daggers drew designs in the air. One or the other of these mysterious people would die, pulled into the sky to be torn invisibly into pieces, raining blood, or drawn into the earth to suffocate, or simply fall, breathless and unmoving, wrapped beneath sheets of glowing color.” —from ”The End of Days”

Several of the attacking sorcerers made signs toward Edric’s fighters and dropped them. These men and women fell onto their backs and caught fire from their chests. They screamed as they died, but the unnatural fire consumed them swiftly, turning the men and women as black as charred wood. From the burnt corpses rose pieces of them, bits of black, which moved high into the air and, at the command of the attacking sorcerers, dropped like hurled missiles into the lines of Edric’s men, the bits of black pushing through faces and armor. …“Souls,” Hame told her. “They remove the charred souls from the burned bodies to use as weapons.” —from ”The End of Days”

GUIDE: Tales of Attluma is splendid by itself, but it serves as a foundation for the other works in the same world. Read this and you’ll want to jump into the novels and other short stories. A guide is needed for that, since the publication history is complicated by title changes, and like most fantasy… publication order does not match the chronological order of the fictional world. Thanks to a group-read in the Goodreads Sword & Sorcery group we were able to communicate with the author and clarify the chronological & publication history of the Attluma Cycle (coined that with the tacit approval of DCS). As of 2020, there are 25 stories and novelettes; 3 Oron novels; 1 Akram novel.

For newcomers, I recommend starting with Tales of Attluma since it fleshes out the world and prepares readers to jump into various arcs, such as the primary barbarian Oron set (many start with the 1978 book that introduced the character to the world named simply Oron), or the cursed sorcerer Akram novel The Sorcerer's Shadow). To learn more about David C. Smith, check out recent interviews by DMR and BlackGate.


ATTLUMA CYCLE
Chronological Story-Order / Key Characters / Publication date




0) Tales of Attluma: Collection (2 Akram tales, 1 Dathien, no Oron); 16 Short stories, 2020 by Pulp Hero Press: Listed mostly in chronological order, mostly pre-Oron, with the last several being the “End” of Attluma (see below)

1) “Shadow-born Shadow-taken” in Azieran Adventures Presents Artifacts and Relics: Extreme Sorcery Pre-Oron novelette (featuring Dathien from Tales of Attluma’s “Dark of Heart”), 2013

2) “Twin Scars” in Warlords, Warlocks & Witches Pre-Oron, “(standalone Kellen tale), 2019

3) Oron: Mosutha's Magic Oron Novel 1/3: Zebra #3 1982 (original title: Reign, Sorcery!)

4) Oron No. 4: The Valley of OgrumOron Novel 2/3: - Zebra’s #4 1982 (original title: Deathwolf)

5) Oron 5: The Ghost Army 5 short stories on Oron: - Zebra #5, 1983 (original title: Death in Asakad)

6) “The Shadow of Dia-Sust” Oron short story appears in The Mighty Warriors, 2018, … also available online at Blackgate.com

7) Oron, the original Oron Novel 3/3: Zebra #1, 1978

8) Sometime Lofty Towers, 2021 Pulp Hero Press

9) The Sorcerer's Shadow an Akram Novel: Zebra #2 , 1982 (original title: The Shadow of Sorcery)

10) Engor's Sword Arm novella, Forgotten Ages ~1991

11) Several stories from Tales of Attluma including two Akram tales (“Come Death” and “The Return to Hell”) and the grand finale “The End of Days”

CONTENTS of TALES of ATTLUMA (summary notes with spoilers)

1. “Descales’ Skull”: Three men collect as many parts of Descales’ skull and resurrect his soul….he grants them each a wish (Clamus:Gold, Sumi Dan power over slavery; Bordogas: partnering with a woman). All get their wish… with nasty, ironic deaths [location: Kastakuk]

2. “The Generosity of the Gods”: Obroc of Kurstikan … and his buddy Cedes… are fishermen who decide to test the power of the two gods [that should remain nameless!]. They blaspheme to determine if the gods are real. The consequences of so terrifying, really really terrible, but at least the friends survive in some way, together. [Mount Domasgoht] This is so dark, it is funny.

3. “Feasting Shadows”: Pel and Jenta are a young couple seeking ancient temples in the caves, and come across more than ruined ritual spaces. They experience the Song, Dance, and Culmination of the Feast.

4. “Dark of Heart”: Captain Dathien gets a second chance of freedom. Princess Amyra is missing in Midriga (his place of origin) and Prince Eam seeks to save her. What ensues is a mad mission into the mountainous region of Midriga, involving body horror, bleak fates for all.

5. “The Last Words of Imatus Istum”: The depressing story of Imatus Kad Istum, of the civilized city Mograd which was overrun by the barbaric Kunashtu. Loss of knowledge, slavery, eating of former citizens, raising the dead on a mass scale.

6. “Aliastra the Sorceress”: Count Holos, a homeless roaming royal who deals with failing his father; he had been taught that 'he owned his own future through the choices/actions he made'. This is mostly a story of the love between the sorceress Aliastra and her long-dead lover Ormenidu….which Holos gets embroiled in.

7. “Ithtidzik”: The titular student was arrogant enough to seek power from around his wise mentor; he seeks out an ancient tome from a demon…and gains more insight than his single head can hold! Sharing knowledge with enthralled, sustained corpses helps for a time… doesn’t end well for the protagonist, of course.

8. “Rhasjud’s Destiny”: A mercenary warlord of the title returns to the site of where he murdered his brother, who haunts him; wolves and ghosts roam everywhere.

9. “Blood Ransom”: Androm the pretty boy, gets tied up with Tsathsimus and Ishrid in a plot to kidnap the princess Asri; beware bloody red gems that are actually alive. Asri and Lady Liprosa let Androm go since he redeems himself.

10. “Dark Goddess”: Jutom and the Nthgali warriors ransack the city of Coroth which includes the raping of a priestess of Yasid. The product of rape and torture will haunt Jutom.

11. “Come, Death”: Akram is introduced as a cursed immortal sorcerer strolling through plagued ruins. He pities a child amongst a plague and saves it.

12. “The Return to Hell” Akram appears again in a very trippy story. Akram amasses mercenaries to sacrifice them to the Witch/Sorcerer pair (Nidyis, Narathkor) that made him immortal. He wishes to die, but he has a young female fan Tharis who wants to be like him. He tries to spare her even as he leads hundreds to slaughter….

13. “The Passing of the Sorcerer”: A love story of the sorcerer Camses with royal princess Porissa of Karhum, with hints of reincarnation and celestial life. A demonic scourge plagues the town, and the King. Apparently, humans took too much from the demons without sacrifice or honor, or belief…

14. “Patience Serves”: A dose of vengeance for a “wronged love” between Lady Tristania and Lord Mors.

15. “The Sounding of the Gong”: Another bizarre love story. Seft and Oma (sorcerer aged, and younger sorceress) are the last few humans worth stealing from. A trap is set for these thieves to sacrifice. This continues the theme of weird-love and eternal life between pairs of sorcerers.

16. “The End of Days”: Meet the poet Nour, his pregnant wife Silene, and her brother Edric, as they race toward the Surkad Capital city. It is the last stand for humans on Attluma. The demon Serenthal seeks to reclaim all the territory and eliminate everything. It is over the top epic and dark…a great end to the book.

[Jamie]

A deliciously dark sword & sorcery collection, with heavy emphasis on the latter. The island continent of Attluma proves a grim, cursed land with ancient evils reemerging from the depths after eons buried. It makes for an excellent backdrop to these stories featuring desperate humans suffering tragic and sometimes ironic fates at the hands of fickle gods, treacherous sorcerers and all manner of demons. Some read like dark fables tinged with horror. Others tell of desperate battles against evil, with the heroes' grim fate all but guaranteed. The epic final story, The End of Days, features some fantastic heroic battles of good vs evil, with the evil manifesting as demons and monstrous abominations who were once men, now hideously transformed. It is a gripping final culmination of Attluma's doomed fate.

[Gregory Mele]

Let me begin by saying that this collection is soooo much better than what might guess or hope. It is rare that ANY anthology has no dogs in it, and while there is one tale here (Patience Serves) that lags behind the others, it is short and amusing and does no harm. So let's set it aside and focus on the other 15.

David C. Smith began writing in the early '70's while a student, and crafted his Attluma as a backdrop for his first novel, Oron. Attluma is an island continent akin to the mysterious Atlantis, and these tales cover various epochs in its history and it's final doomed end. I read Oron long ago, and while many love it, it honestly left no impression on me, which is odd, because just about everything else Smith has written over the decades I have read, and loved. It may be that, 30 years later, I need to go back and reread.

The stories in this collection are not what I had expected at all -- far closer to Clark Ashton Smith than Robert E. Howard, and they remind me most of all of CAS's Hyperborean and Zothique tales, ranging from action-adventure inside a fairly dark/horror tale, to what I would almost call dark fables and legends. There are many tones in the tales, and if truth be told, Attluma is rather more a convenient catch-all than a setting in the earlier stories: the world only begins to take on a coherent feel in the second half of the collection, no doubt as it began to distill in Smith's own mind.

The first tale, "Descales' Skull" reads like someone was told "write a 1930s Weird Tales story -- featuring a D&D demi-lich. Some tales, like "Generosity of the Gods" or "Ithtidzik" could almost come from a modernized Lord Dunsany or even a dark twin to "Thousand and One Nights", while "Rasjud's Destny", "The Last Words of Imatus Istum" and the completely rewritten "End of Days" are grimdark, before any such term existed, and there is a poetic, existential horror -- and challenge to who or what is good or evil, in "The Sounding of the Gong" that is quite unique.

My personal favorites are the chilling "Dark Goddess", the melancholic and tragic "The Passing of the Sorcerer, and "Come, Death," featuring the recurring character, Akram, who cannot die, but nor can he really live. Having said that, the tale here range from good to excellent, many with truly memorable moments, hard to do in a genre as old as weird fiction, and shows what a powerful writer Smith truly is.

As noted, the series jumps around Attluma's history, but other than the latter tales suggesting something of Yate's "Second Coming" -- things are falling apart, and the center cannot hold -- it is really only the last two tales that suggest that we are in a larger cycle; nothing about the technology or world-building really makes this clear, as I suspect the cycle grew organically. (Having said that, reach each tale and check it's locales against the map -- it gives hints.) But as I said, so what? Attluma is not Middle Earth, the purpose of this setting isn't to give a hyper, physically real location to the tales, so much as a thematic one. The only setting of these sorts of tales by a modern writer I have seen do so as effectively has been the late Brian McNaughton's magnum opus, "The Throne of Bones".

Interestingly, there are no Oron tales, Oron being the warrior protagonist that the original Zebra series was named after, and I think that best, as it instead showcases the setting and the style of tale, rather than a singular character.

Truly a delight!

[Derek]

I don't know if the stories are in chronological order of writing: unlike most collections there is no up-front listing of where the stories appeared, or if this is its first appearance. (And this collection has my other pet peeve of lacking the internal Kindle table of contents.)

But my impression is that this shows the evolution of the writer. The earlier stories are kind of simplistic and pretty brutal. But the middle set show increasing sophistication and better story development to go on top of the weird visceral horror.

In particular, "Ithtidzik" breaks away into a more mythic writing style and is very successful in its central irony. "Blood Ransom" shows shreds of mercy. "Dark Goddess" steps into a bit of Tanith Lee zone with a complex fertility goddess responsible for both beauty and monsters.

The very end has the best stories, which rounds out the entire tale of Attluma: the continent's physical demise is preceded by the wearing away of human society. Physical and moral corruption and a loss of vigor to humanity itself. This is the Dying Earth in a new and interesting guise and I hope there are many more stories to be written in this period.

The culmination, "The End of Days" is magnificent in its Ragnarok cataclysm, as humanity casts off the weak chaff tempted by the demons' poison bargains and finds new strength to leave the dying Attluma.

[Charles]

I was in my late twenties when I discovered the Oron tales by David C. Smith. At the time I was heavily into REH fandom and the barbaric sword and sorcery tales of Oron scratched my itch perfectly. Fast forward to today, at age 62, and I was glad to see a fresh collection of new stories set in Attluma, the land of Oron. Although the collection is new, many of these tales did appear in fanzines decades ago. Some have been revised by the author. None involve Oron, which tales have been collected elsewhere, but they feature a number of other characters of the continent, and range across its history. I really enjoyed revisiting the land and seeing new characters within it. David Smith is an excellent writer with a great feel for fantasy. I enjoyed these and bet you will too.

[Jim Reddy]

Sixteen sword & sorcery tales about sorcerers, warriors, lost loves, demons, and gods on the doomed island continent of Attluma. In his introduction the author mentions that he was initially influenced by the works of Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard. I felt that clearly as I was reading. While I enjoyed some stories more than others, as a whole this was a fantastic read. While some of the stories are standard if excellent dark sword & sorcery fare, there are others that have themes that go beyond that.

My one criticism is regarding the Kindle version. While there’s a contents page at the beginning (that you have to swipe a few pages to get to) that allows the reader to navigate between stories, the contents menu at the top of the screen is limited and does not allow one to navigate between the stories.

Descales’ Skull (4/5)
Three men bring together pieces of a sorcerer’s skull in hopes of being rewarded for their efforts.

The Generosity of the Gods (4/5)
Two bumbling fishermen enter a temple in order to test the power of the gods.

Feasting in Shadows (4/5)
Two people exploring a cave looking for ancient temples run into more than they bargained for.

Dark of Heart (5/5)
A soldier in prison for murder gets a second chance by leading a rescue party into a dangerous land. Absolutely thrilling. This story reminded me of Robert E. Howard the most.

The Last Words of Imatus Istum (5/5)
A poet recounts the brutal tale of how his city was invaded by nomadic warriors on horseback. This story brought to mind the warriors of the Mongol empire and the devastation they brought when attacking cities.

Aliastra the Sorceress (5/5)
A count who has fallen on hard times gets involved with a sorceress longing for her long dead lover. I really enjoyed the theme of choices that this story explores.

Ithtidzik (4/5)
A student of sorcery who thinks he knows better than his master uses a demon to seek out an ancient tome.

Rhasjud’s Destiny (4/5)
Warriors grow concerned when they reach a city but their leader hides in his tent instead of giving the order to attack.

Blood Ransom (4/5)
A young man gets caught up in a plot to kidnap a princess.

Dark Goddess (5/5)
After raiding a city, the raiders find themselves attacked and haunted by something dark and deadly. Another story that reminded me of the warriors of the Mongol Empire.

Come, Death (4/4)
A mysterious man named Akram enters a plague-ridden village and encounters a dying woman.

The Return to Hell (4/4)
Akram sets into motion his plan to lift the curse that he has been living with.

The Passing of the Sorcerer (5/5)
After a sorcerer and a princess become lovers, the city they reside in is attacked by demons. Smith packs a lot into this story as it touches on love, sacrifice, reincarnation, and how doing something small in the present can effect change in the future.

Patience Serves (4/5)
A lady visits a dying lord. A dark tale of vengeance.

The Sounding of the Gong (3/5)
Thieves attempt to steal from an old sorcerer and a young sorceress. An interesting story set during the end days of Attluma, but this one didn’t grab me as much as the others.

The End of Days (5/5)
The last survivors of Attluma race to escape the island continent as monsters and demons give chase. An epic final tale.

[Little Timmy]

Very nice collection of fantasy stories. Entertaining and quick read. Recommended

[Joe Bonadonna]

I'm very pleased that these stories have finally been assembled and collected in one volume, with a fantastic, old-school book cover that truly captures the essence of what the author set down in words. This is sword and sorcery at its best. Smith's influences and inspirations are fully on display here and masterfully put to solid use. My personal favorite is the wild adventure, "Dark of Heart." This story just speaks to me. Each tale shows the author's talent and gift for writing dark, hard-boiled, weird and highly original fantasy. A must-read for everyone who enjoy sword and sorcery, and heroic fantasy. Well worth "the price of admission." Most highly recommended.

[Jason Ray Carney]

This is an intriguing anthology of sword and sorcery stories set in Attluma, the same secondary world explored in Smith's novels *Oron* and *The Sorcerer's Shadow.* That is neither here nor there because the anthology and stories contained are autonomous and cohesive; one doesn't have to have read *Oron* or Smith's other sword and sorcery works to enjoy these. There are some true gems here. Consider this passage from "The Return to Hell": "Frozen and breathless, he had looked into deeps of ageless wonder full of dark stars [...]." Passages like this stir the imagination. There are so many great stories. Many are a few, gut-punch pages, and are therefore compressed and precise forward momentum stories that have been clearly sharpened (I am reminded of Poe's *Philosophy of Composition,* where Poe states that the short form should maximize literary effect in one "sitting"). "Dark of Heart" is a sword and sorcery masterpiece, a true specimen of the genre.

[Christopher]

These stories were out of print for decades, and thats a shame. But great to see them back in circulation which they definitely deserve. This is some of the best post-Howard/Smith sword and sorcery and the final story in particular is a real stand out. It makes we wonder if this was the story read by Rob Schwalb when he was looking for setting inspiration when he was building the Shadow of the Demon Lord rpg.

[Riju Ganguly]

These sixteen tales externally conform to the norms of sword and sorvery. But internally they are richer, darker, and more noirish than most works of this genre.
My favourites were~
1. Dark of Heart: This brilliant novella is grimmer than most so-called grimdark works, and yet sound like poetry.
2. The Last Words of Imatus Istum: Violent, devastating, prophetic.
3. Aliastra the Sorceress: Love and desperation fuse to make this tale.
4. Ithtidzik: A tale dripping with dark humour.
5. Dark Goddess: Retribution in a manner that hurts most!
6. Come, Death: Heart-achingly poignant tale.
7. The Passing of the Sorcerer: Sweet saga of sorrow and sacrifice.
8. Patience Serves: What a sharp ending!
With so many memorable stories, the collection attains a reverential status, befitting the stature of the author in this genre.
Recommended.

[Constantine Bech]

David's work has a music to it that is missing from many who attempt sword & sorcery today, and every tale in this book is testament to that.

From the simplest plots of men being greedy to world ending threats, David manages to breathe vivid life into a place that is not real, but damn, it feels it... Harkening back to mythical places such as Atlantis or Lemuria, I would say Attluma and its heroes (some of them not featured in this book) deserve to stand up and be counted amongst S&S royalty. Something David most certainly is, and has been for a while now.

Mandatory reading for those who enjoy the genre, or are studying it for their own nefarious purposes.

Full review: https://gunghogeeksblog.wordpress.com...

[Alex]

Upon discovering this gem and commencing my journey into the book, I was straight off the bat overwhelmed by the ebullient and vivid atmosphere and godlike imagination of the author, who, as one might surmise if the collection of stories were not a work of fiction, has actually might have seen and felt every word that he has written. If it were the '80s again, Hollywood would release lucrative and universally acclaimed films in the vein of "Conan the Barbarian".
If you have not bought the paperback and if you are a fan of C. A. Smith and R. E. Howard, then please do not tarry any longer: it is your chance to regain and multiply hope in humanity and contemporary fiction.

[Stan M]

An excellent collection of dark & often quite grim sword & sorcery tales. Not a weak story among them, in my opinion. Highly recommended!