Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams

by C.L. Moore

Jirel of Joiry, the first of the great female warriors, the beautiful commander of the strongest fortress in the kingdom, would face any danger to defend her beloved country. She wielded her bright sword against mighty armies, the sinister magic of evil sorcerers and fearsome castles guarded by the dead, even daring to descend into Hell itself... Northwest Smith, the scarred and weathered outlaw, the legendary hero of the spaceways, forced to confront the terrible mysteries, the terrifying, mythic monsters of the universe... Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith are C.L. Moore's greatest creations and she used them not only to spin spellbinding tales but also to explore the mysteries of the human psyche.
Contents:

1 • Black Gods • [Jirel of Joiry] • (1969) • collection by C. L. Moore (variant of Jirel of Joiry)
3 • Jirel Meets Magic • [Jirel of Joiry] • (1935) • novelette by C. L. Moore
39 • Black God's Kiss • [Jirel of Joiry] • (1934) • novelette by C. L. Moore
69 • Black God's Shadow • [Jirel of Joiry] • (1934) • novelette by C. L. Moore
97 • The Dark Land • [Jirel of Joiry] • (1936) • novelette by C. L. Moore
126 • Hellsgarde • [Jirel of Joiry] • (1939) • novelette by C. L. Moore
163 • Scarlet Dreams • [Northwest Smith] • (1981) • collection by C. L. Moore (variant of Scarlet Dream)
165 • Shambleau • [Northwest Smith] • (1933) • novelette by C. L. Moore
196 • Black Thirst • [Northwest Smith] • (1934) • novelette by C. L. Moore
234 • The Tree of Life • [Northwest Smith] • (1936) • novelette by C. L. Moore
263 • Scarlet Dream • [Northwest Smith] • (1934) • novelette by C. L. Moore
288 • Dust of Gods • [Northwest Smith] • (1934) • novelette by C. L. Moore (variant of Dust of the Gods)
316 • Lost Paradise • [Northwest Smith] • (1936) • novelette by C. L. Moore
342 • Julhi • [Northwest Smith] • (1935) • novelette by C. L. Moore
375 • The Cold Gray God • [Northwest Smith] • (1935) • novelette by C. L. Moore
404 • Yvala • [Northwest Smith] • (1936) • novelette by C. L. Moore
436 • Song in a Minor Key • [Northwest Smith] • (1940) • shortstory by C. L. Moore

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Sword and Sorcery, Horror, Classics

439 pages, Paperback

First published July 11, 2002

About the author

Excerpted from Wikipedia:
Catherine Lucille Moore was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, as C. L. Moore. She was one of the first women to write in the genre, and paved the way for many other female writers in speculative fiction.

Moore met Henry Kuttner, also a science fiction writer, in 1936 when he wrote her a fan letter (mistakenly thinking that "C. L. Moore" was a man), and they married in 1940.
Afterwards, almost all of their stories were written in collaboration under various pseudonyms, most commonly Lewis Padgett (another pseudonym, one Moore often employed for works that involved little or no collaboration, was Lawrence O'Donnell).

Reviews

[Jay Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed the Jirel of Joiry stories in the first half of this collection called "Black God's", the majority being portal fantasies that see the protagonist Jirel travel to another world in order to fight or vanquish an antagonist, of these Black God's Kiss and Black God's Shadow were my favourites; scintillating prose in pulpy stories that echo Lovecraftian weirdness with one the best descriptions of a hell like dimension that I have encountered in Fiction.

The Hell that Jirel descends into is at once, beautiful, surreal, weird, mysterious and evocative whilst full of idiosyncrasies that startle and suprise; a fallen dimension where a crucifix around Jirels neck shrouds all to be seen in an opaque darkness, until Jirel discards the religious symbol. Deceitful and devious demons that draw you in whilst disturbing knowing they cannot be trusted. A brook with flowing water that whispers curses and jeers at passers by. A world with a "sky" that boasts unfamiliar constellations that evoke deja vu and tantalise on the edge of perception; "have I seen those stars before". And of course the despair of the damned that wander through the desolation as tortured beasts; a flock of blind, wild and terrified white horses lamenting for absolution that will never come.

All of the Jirel of Joiry stories whilst short pack a punch in the beautiful depictions that set the scene and emotional heft they unexpectedly carry that see our protagonist defiantly face seemingly impossible odds to win out over antagonists that vary between a devious wizard, Pav of Romne a being that traps Jirel in a parallel universe of his design & a war lord that defiles Jirel only for her to fall in love with him? On this topic the relationship dynamics in some of the Jirel of Joiry stories are problematic, seemingly normalising abuse. For this I ducked a star to give the first half of this collection 4/5 stars. The Jirel of Joiry stories are little gems that need to be read again and again to really appreciate.

The Northwest Smith stories on the other hand in the "Scarlet Dreams" section were weaker, something about the setting that I didn't find convincing; These are science fiction stories with a turn towards the fantastic featuring a protagonist called North West Smith that remind me of Hans Solo of star wars fame, I am not sure if this is the first depiction of a Hans Solo like character in science fiction, someone let me know if North West Smith inspired Hans solo? Northwest Smith is a ruffian and part time mercenary who travels across the solar system on Mars, Earth, The Moon, Venus & even Jupiter on adventures to earn a buck.

Moore again deploys her lush and descriptive prose but this isn't enough to elevate the tales above the mediocrity they suffer from. I found the majority of the Northwest Smith stories thin, depicting world's and events that were just unconvincing and thus failed to be transportive. Whilst many other reviewers decry the repetitiveness of the Jirel of Joiry stories I found the North West Smith tales far more repetitive, tonally almost all of the stories are identical; Pulpy space fantasy with horror elements. North West Smith is also a weak character, he operates more like an archetype, we the readers struggle to suss who he is whilst he is used to drive the plot. The characterisation is thin, there isn't much substance in the protagonist to describe or understand him and his motivations.

However I did enjoy a few of the stories;

+Scarlet Dream - Portal fantasy where Smith falls into a dream dimension via an ancient symbol that traps him with others who feed on blood that leaks from a temple,

+The Tree of Life - Set on Mars that sees Smith go up against a ravenous Tree that lives in a dimension accessed from a Martian temple

+Dust of God's - Story that takes Smith to an Ancient space ship formally inhabited by 3 ancient God's, we get to see the solar system as it was in deep time before humanity and mammals yet that had ancient civilisations; very Cosmic horror and Lovecraftian. The rest of the Northwest Smith stories are passable, I give these stories a 3/5 overall.

I am going to source and finish reading "The Quest for the Star Stone" which is the last of the Jirel of Joiry stories soon.

4/5 + 3/5 /2 = 3.5/5

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection focuses on the early work of C.L. Moore and, in particular, the stories about two of her major characters: Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith.

Jirel of Joiry, the bold, beautiful, vengeful and fearless queen who lets nothing steer her from here course or divert her aims. She overcomes her adversaries almost by sheer force of will and fury. Whether it's following her enemies into magical realms, demonic dimensions or haunted castles, she will not balk.

Northwest Smith on the other hand is an inter-stella space rogue, smuggler and illegal trader, who frequently finds himself caught in the alluring call of a siren, or simply a woman of unimaginable beauty, whom he must extricate himself with his very life and soul at stake. Invariably, on the very precipice, he manages to come back to himself, often with the aid of his faithful ray gun.

Moore's prose is luscious and deeply evocative. She paints vivid land and mind scapes and dwells upon getting these across to the reader rather than plot and action elements of the narrative. There is very little background and development with her characters.

She is fascinated with the extreme emotional response and her characters frequently find themselves in perils that induce (and feed upon) such responses, or else require that they find such depth of feeling in themselves in order to extricate themselves and regain their humanity.

I found a certain similarity of style to Clark Ashton Smith but, from what was contained here, she lacked his range making the stories feel repetitive after a while. Sometimes I feel that she belaboured the point a little, needlessly drawing stories out. But on the whole I think she was an excellent writer but her style certainly isn't going to appeal to everyone, particularly those of modern tastes who prefer more emphasis on characters and plot and less descriptive passages.

[Nomadman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of Moore's standalone pieces from Weird Tales, more or less evenly split between her two most famous creations: Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith. The first half is Medieval S&S/dark fantasy. The second half I suppose could be termed early science fiction, though there's still a strong flavor of the fantastic.

Many of these stories are a little deceptive because they seem to offer, at first glance, the type of blood and guts thrills of a Conan\John Carter tale, but inevitable descend into a nightmarish acid trip in which strength of mind, not strength of body, carries the hero through to the end. Indeed, despite their imaginative verve, the plots follow such a similar pattern that reading them through in one or two sittings can be quite repetitive. Much like her fellow contemporary, Clark Ashton Smith, Moore is a writer who's best read in small doses.

Stylistically, Moore isn't immune to the excesses of the day (verbosity, melodramatic dialogue etc) though there's a dark and feverish intensity to her writing that lends the best of her work a genuine nightmarishness. In particular, her descriptions of varying states of psychic turmoil carry an authentic weight, an authenticity that I assume is at least partly drawn from her long battles with childhood illness. It's these passages, coupled with Moore's ferocious imagination, that make these pieces worth reading.

Quite a unique writer, and probably not one who'd be published today, but well worth checking out if your tastes in pulp fantasy tend toward the darker and more surreal side.

[Andrew Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An utter gem of a fantasy collection that I chose on a whim but keep coming back to. It's easy to level the charge that Moore's short stories are extremely narrow in scope -- a cocky hero barely survives an encounter with an ancient evil, rinse and repeat -- but the poetry of her writing is worth revisiting on a regular basis.

Though these stories dovetail theme-wise with the SF and sword-and-sorcery pulps of the first half of the 20th century, her writing stands out from the usual fare, both for its sure-footed richness and its tough feminine sensibility. In contrast to R.E. Howard's mastery of the vocabulary of physical conflict, Moore's robust, sensual prose is well-suited to exploring the twilight realm of metaphor, dreams, and the deep undercurrents of the psyche. Yet even when she peers into the darkest (and often weirdest) corners of male-female desire and longing, the writing is taut and confident; every experience, no matter how abstract, is rendered with a crystalline clarity that sharpens the reader's intermingled sense of horror and wonder. It's heady stuff, luxuriantly written -- and if you're open to it, these stories will haunt you long after you finish reading.

[Tulpa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Northwest Smith stories were generally mediocre, 2-3 stars for each. Perhaps the most interesting thing about them, besides the swords-and-planets fantasy just being thinly-veiled portal fantasy most of the time, is how often the stories fall into the murky realm of the female gaze. NW Smith is often idealized from a hetero-female perspective rather than a male escapist perspective that one would expect from this genre at the time.

Black God's Kiss is a 5 star story, just excellent in every way swords and sorcery/adventure fic should be. The fantastic nightmare visions of the otherworld in this story brought to mind the surreal imagery of Voyage to Arcturus (though with nowhere near as profound a pay-off compared to that novel)

Jirel Meets Magic is a 4 star story, often as fantastic as Black God's Kiss but, unlike some of the other Jirel stories, avoids being a retread. Well executed, can easily stand alongside the best of this 'golden age' of Swords and Sorcery.

Hellsgarde and Black God's Shadow are 3 stars respectively. Hellsgarde was fairly dull until the ending, with a genuinely surprising novel take both on vampires and on the archetypal monster hunter that forms a large component of the genre. I would have rated that story much lower if it didn't have such an ending. Black God's Shadow just rehashed Black God's Kiss with little elaboration. Still a serviceable story, and gave more focus on the character of Jirel, but just a rehash.

The Dark Land earns 1 star. Though written fairly late, it feels more prototypical than the others. The scenes in the beginning actually worked well but the rest was just dull. Skip it entirely, you won't miss anything.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the omnibus collection of both Moore's fantasy heroine Jirel of Joiry and her SF hero Northwest Smith. I've reviewed her Jirel work previously, and there's plenty of similarity: the propensity for the hero to end up in some other (or pocket) dimension where the really weird stuff happens, as well (unfortunately) for the hero to seem rather poorly developed. The format repetition probably makes these best to read now and then rather than straight through (which to be fair, is how they were written).

One deficit unique to the Smith stories though: women are relegated to helpless maiden or seductive villain status. This was never the case in the Jirel tales -- in fact directly subverted at least once, in which Jirel is treated as the helpless maiden and proves anything but, and her antagonists are generally male.

But Moore's creativity is often surprising, and her writing -- while occasionally a bit overblown -- is so wonderfully evocative when exploring alien dreamscapes... it's always worth the trip. Also, her ability to do cosmic horror in some of these stories goes toe to toe with anything Lovecraft did; I think "The Cold Gray God" (near the end of the collection -- there's nothing sequential about the Smith stories) is an ideal example.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Northwest Smith is Jirel of Joiry’s outer-space companion. Both were created by C.L. Moore in the ‘30s and made regularly appeared in Weird Tales alongside Conan the Cimmerian, Cthulhu, and many other notable creations of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith. Moore definitely should be mentioned in that context because here work explores similar ground as the three greats, but with some rather different results.

http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2007...

[Jane Routley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Classic of female Fantasy and Sf writing. Do yourself a favor.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 rounded down to 2

My Thoughts:
The story is quite literally divided into the two titular sections. The first ⅓ is Black Gods which are fantasy stories following Jirel of Joiry, a feisty red-haired warrior woman. The last ⅔ of the book is the Scarlet Dreams section which is a more sci-fi flavored (though there is still a lot of gods and magic just also space travel and rayguns) and follows the Han Solo-esq character of Northwest Smith.

While the sections are superficially different, with different protagonists and sci-fi versus fantasy, in reality the sections have only minor differences. This is true in fact not just between the sections but also the individual stories which is the biggest criticism of the work; it’s very repetitive. Jirel and Northwest are essentially the same character of a tough protagonist who just won’t quit and has survived all kinds of harrowing encounters but is otherwise lacking in any really defining features.

The one major positive here is Moore’s imagination in the creatures and settings she is able to create and Moore does a good job of visualizing these fantastic things. This is about the only positive though. The characters are flat and the plots are predictable and repeated (which makes them even more predictable). I would not advise reading this entire collection back to back but it could be enjoyed if the stories were read one or two at a time with some sizable gaps in between.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me awhile to get through, but not because I wasn't enjoying it. Moore writes with a detailed stroke, really bringing the story to life. In my opinion, she really shines in this arena when describing emotions and feelings. That is not to say that she isn't excellent at creating detailed scenery and atmosphere, which she also does well!

I have to say, I am having a hard time picking which character I prefer! Jirel of Jory was a lot of fun! I feel like this is the basis of Red Sonya. I am fond of fantasy, and Moore's Sword and Sorcery style was great. The long descriptions of journeys could be a bit much, but over all I really enjoyed the stories.

Northwest Smith was also a great character! My favorite story was one of his, "Shambleu". Very creepy and fun.

It was a lot of fun to read these Sword and Sorcery style stories written by a female author. Well worth the time.

[Conrad Kinch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shambleau and Song in a Minor Key are two stories that stick in my mind from this glorious collection of CL Moore's work. Slickly written and possessed of a dreamlike intensity, this is some of the best short form story telling in the genre. Her characterisation is more mature than the genre normally allows, but her plotting nevertheless remains zesty.

A delight. One to be savoured and returned to again and again.

[Rachel MacNaught · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't brilliant but it was exactly what I wanted right now. Early sci-fi is so rich. The cadence, the imagination that only a blank canvas can provide (our modern knowledge of technology makes modern tales a bit too expected to me) - these stories were original and beautiful and bizarre and rich and eloquent... And offset charmingly by the frequent mention of Spaceboots.

[Wolverina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read through this incredibly slowly.

Moore's style of writing is beautiful without being waffly but it does feel sort of cloying. Not sure if this is an age thing (most stories were written in the 30's). That said, Moore writes very vivid settings with very archetypal characters and narratives which is a recipe for making a beautiful and impressive stories, more focused on bringing old romantic tale elements into SF than really saying anything original I think.

Jirel of Joiry is absolutely amazing and does lots of gloriously violent and brave shit. 5/5 Stars for these stories. I'm sort of amazed she hasn't been rebooted or retold in tv or comics alongside my other favourite sword & sorcery red headed warrior ladies. The only problem is the frustration of the 'twist' endings that a few stories rely heavily on, maybe to moderate the power and subversiveness otherwise shown in the story.

Northwest Smith is alright, and the planetary romances thing is pretty solid but it draws very heavily from the ideas that women are either evil, in need of saving or children so it's a bit less fun to read directly after all of Jirel's adventures.

Deffo a rec, surprised I don't see her mentioned more when people bring up women writer's in SF.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jirel of Joiry, the first of the great female warriors, the beautiful commander of the strongest fortress in the kingdom, would face any danger to defend her beloved country. She wielded her bright sword against mighty armies, the sinister magic of evil sorcerers and fearsome castles guarded by the dead, even daring to descend into Hell itself...Northwest Smith, the scarred and weathered outlaw, the legendary hero of the spaceways, forced to confront the terrible mysteries, the terrifying, mythic monsters of the universe.

[Lewis Carnelian · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? C.L. Moore, a writer concurrent with H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard (Conan), and one of personal favorites, Clark Ashton Smith, has left me speechless. She is one of the great underrated writers of this era and she deserves more study.
This collection brings together her Jirel of Joiry stories, which, for lack of a better comparison, are her female Conan stories, and her Northwest Smith stories, the smuggler of the space ways that predates Han Solo.
Hot take: I prefer Jirel way over Conan. Jirel's stories are way more psychological, and the spectral environments she descends into way more arresting and vivid than the Towers and Dungeons of Howard. But, to be honest, I never much cared for Conan, as much as I love stories he inspired, like Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
This collection though is weighted towards Northwest Smith, and he is a marvel. Like Jirel, his stories are heavily slanted towards advents of extraplanar travel. These, too, are doused with a heady psychology and vivid psychedelia, but they, at their heart, are more than that. These Ur Places Moore's characters traverse represent flattened and claustrophobic environments that, if anything, predict the closed-circuit environments of video games, Second Life, The Matrix, you name it. They have a shallow thrall in them that generates the horror of their experience, and Northwest Smith's last adventure here, more a prose poem than a story, reifies the falseness of those hollow worlds. In some ways, these stories become meta-criticisms of fantasy itself, and the dangers therein of wish-fulfillment amidst the slings and arrows of Real Life.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that both characters have a strong, erotic yearning in them as well. This is not to say these are puerile sex fantasies: by no means, they have actually very little sex in them but the stories play upon *psychological* eroticism. I am reluctant to give examples here, because they would spoil the craft of Moore's spellbinding style, but it definitely plays upon the things I mentioned above, in terms of the dangers of wish fulfillment.
There are way more things I can talk about here, for Moore is replete with astonishing images and conjectures that transcend the pulpish nature of the genre. I'll just end with a heavy recommendation!

[Dalibor Dado Ivanovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

A onako, bilo bi to dobro da sam veci ljubitelj tako superherojskih prica, tipa Conan, Solomon Kane...pisano je onako lijepo, sa lijepim opisima...ali na kraju su price dosta slicne. Ajd jedina koja mi se istaknula je Shambleau, o Zeni/Meduzi i glavni lik Smith ju spasi, te se napali na nju...

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need to admit that I'm not going to finish this. The first few stories were amazing. Fantasy Horror epics with a woman in armour as the lead, fighting, going to hell for revenge. They were wonderful. Then for some reason in the next story she had the "realisation" that she was actually in love with the guy who had raped her and shouldn't have tried to get revenge on him, but in fact it was True Love. Erm... and then things went down hill from there and I put it to one side and haven't gone back to it. So disappointing as until then it was fantastic.