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The Abominations of Yondo
Rare original hardcover! This book, The Abominations of Yondo by Clark Ashton Smith, is a gem. This collection of strange tales by Clark Ashton Smith is literary event. Smith is the foremost living writer in the genre, and his colorful, many faceted imagination find a perfect medium in his prose. Among the never-before-collected stories in The Abomination of Yonda are The White Sybil, The Voyage of King Envoran, and the Witchcraft of Ulua.
227 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1960
8 people are currently reading
237 people want to read
About the author
Clark Ashton Smith
720 books995 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 - 30 of 37 reviews
November 7, 2023
Oneiric Rosary
Soundtrack: Air Born - Camel
3,5 rounded up to 4. Some powerful tales tag along decent ones in the collection: while 'A Vintage From Atlantis' evokes other melancholy tales of pirates and marooned sailors, 'The Ice-Demon' sets forth a genuine nightmare which brings to mind an alternative version of the Snow chapter in The Magic Mountain. 'The Voyage of King Eurovan' offers an entertaining series of fables and stories in the tradition of Sindbad's Travels and The Odyssey – this time in a delightfully ironic, often comic spirit :) while 'The Enchantress of Silaire' plays on the reader's expectations to subvert them all the better in the end! Finally, there are also some pieces such as 'The Dweller in the Gulf' that will undoubdtedly thrill those who enjoyed 'The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis' by the same writer; and 'The Dark Age' , so emblematic of C.A. Smith's decadentism and cyclical vision of history, already explored in the remarkable if short poem 'Cycles'!
Contents:
The Nameless Offspring ***
The Witchcraft of Ulua ***
The Devotee of Evil ***
The Epiphany of Death **
A Vintage From Atlantis ****
The Abominations of Yondo ***
The White Sybil ***
The Ice-Demon *****
The Voyage of King Euvoran ****
The Master of the Crabs **
The Enchantress of Sylaire ****
The Dweller in the Gulf ****
The Dark Age ****
The Third Episode of Vathek ***
Chinoiserie ***
The Mirror in the Hall of Ebony ***
The Passing of Aphrodite ***
Soundtrack: Air Born - Camel
3,5 rounded up to 4. Some powerful tales tag along decent ones in the collection: while 'A Vintage From Atlantis' evokes other melancholy tales of pirates and marooned sailors, 'The Ice-Demon' sets forth a genuine nightmare which brings to mind an alternative version of the Snow chapter in The Magic Mountain. 'The Voyage of King Eurovan' offers an entertaining series of fables and stories in the tradition of Sindbad's Travels and The Odyssey – this time in a delightfully ironic, often comic spirit :) while 'The Enchantress of Silaire' plays on the reader's expectations to subvert them all the better in the end! Finally, there are also some pieces such as 'The Dweller in the Gulf' that will undoubdtedly thrill those who enjoyed 'The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis' by the same writer; and 'The Dark Age' , so emblematic of C.A. Smith's decadentism and cyclical vision of history, already explored in the remarkable if short poem 'Cycles'!
Contents:
The Nameless Offspring ***
The Witchcraft of Ulua ***
The Devotee of Evil ***
The Epiphany of Death **
A Vintage From Atlantis ****
The Abominations of Yondo ***
The White Sybil ***
The Ice-Demon *****
The Voyage of King Euvoran ****
The Master of the Crabs **
The Enchantress of Sylaire ****
The Dweller in the Gulf ****
The Dark Age ****
The Third Episode of Vathek ***
Chinoiserie ***
The Mirror in the Hall of Ebony ***
The Passing of Aphrodite ***
February 23, 2019
A collection of short stories by a fantasist who was a friend of H. P. Lovecraft but on the whole a better writer. Smith is known for his rather baroque style which occasionally requires recourse to a dictionary, but the stories are on the whole effective. Most of his work is set in invented civilisations of the distant past, but the collection starts off with a story that evokes Edgar Allen Poe and the Cthulhu Mythos by Lovecraft, dealing as it does with the inadvertant visit of an American on a cycling tour of England who happens upon the decaying manor where an old friend of his father lives as a recluse. For the time of original publication the fate of the poor woman who is prematurely buried in the family vault and after rescue by her husband dies 9 months later giving birth to a frightful monster is quite frankly though obliquely indicated.
Some of the other stories did not work for me, but one set on a fabled Mars (with an atmosphere and living Martians) and a homage to Lovecraft's work, 'The Dweller in the Gulf' is truly horrific. On balance, a 3 star read.
Some of the other stories did not work for me, but one set on a fabled Mars (with an atmosphere and living Martians) and a homage to Lovecraft's work, 'The Dweller in the Gulf' is truly horrific. On balance, a 3 star read.
December 16, 2010
This book contains 17 short stories...my review is based just on the short story "The Abominations of Yondo" (also named after the novel)
I'm a fan of horror films and stories and I've been exposed to tons of that material in my life, I can honestly say that this short story is the best writing of horror/fantasy that I personally have ever encountered.
It's not necessarily because of Smith's writing style or because of his narrative, it's just because the story is actually damn eerie and bizarre. (If you aren't a fan of bizarre material to the point that it might not make sense, then this is possibly not up your alley)
Without going into any spoiler detail the story is a little nonsensical, but it's the atmosphere and suspense of what he writes that's actually chilling. There is the solemn protagonist on his quest and the mention of other entities in a rather barren and empty land.
It's mainly the loneliness of the story that terrified me and the fact that he could make it so chilling without even bringing in all that many elements.
Considering the book was also originally published in 1960 I'm surprised Smith wasn't dragged away into a mental asylum and exposed to bloodletting because of the oddness involved in this story.
I can't even remember the last time I read a story that made me ensure the front door was locked afterwards.
Awesome read.
I'm a fan of horror films and stories and I've been exposed to tons of that material in my life, I can honestly say that this short story is the best writing of horror/fantasy that I personally have ever encountered.
It's not necessarily because of Smith's writing style or because of his narrative, it's just because the story is actually damn eerie and bizarre. (If you aren't a fan of bizarre material to the point that it might not make sense, then this is possibly not up your alley)
Without going into any spoiler detail the story is a little nonsensical, but it's the atmosphere and suspense of what he writes that's actually chilling. There is the solemn protagonist on his quest and the mention of other entities in a rather barren and empty land.
It's mainly the loneliness of the story that terrified me and the fact that he could make it so chilling without even bringing in all that many elements.
Considering the book was also originally published in 1960 I'm surprised Smith wasn't dragged away into a mental asylum and exposed to bloodletting because of the oddness involved in this story.
I can't even remember the last time I read a story that made me ensure the front door was locked afterwards.
Awesome read.
April 27, 2009
A mixed bag. A couple of underdeveloped stories, and a couple of long failures. But I like this guy, and even his so-so stuff is interesting, because you will always find great mood evoking passages of Smith's very purple and sinister prose (which is a perfect fit given the genre). And there are some outstanding (as in 5 star) stories in the mix, my favorite being Dweller in the Gulf. H.P Lovecraft may have been the idea man, but for writing ability, and when he was on his game, Smith was the superior writer. Clearly one of the most gifted of the Pulp writers.
June 14, 2022
A good selection of Smith's works, from body horror and cosmic horror, to fantasy and sci-fi (perhaps not the longest of journeys), a dash of post-apocalypse and Arabian Nights orientalism, rounding off with some Dunsanian prose poetry.
If you start a Smith story wondering which character will survive then it's probably your first Smith story, as usually everybody dies, or at least mysteriously vanishes, usually hideously, but occasionally in a poetically amusing fashion. I haven't seen a photo of Smith smiling, but his stories often contain a dark, quixotic humour which I find appealing.
• Word I wish I hadn't learnt: Adipocere - the waxy, saponified fat which develops in certain corpses 🧟♂️
• Word I'm glad I learnt: Phenicopter - a flamingo (even if Smith used it in the sense of a menu item) 🦩
If you start a Smith story wondering which character will survive then it's probably your first Smith story, as usually everybody dies, or at least mysteriously vanishes, usually hideously, but occasionally in a poetically amusing fashion. I haven't seen a photo of Smith smiling, but his stories often contain a dark, quixotic humour which I find appealing.
• Word I wish I hadn't learnt: Adipocere - the waxy, saponified fat which develops in certain corpses 🧟♂️
• Word I'm glad I learnt: Phenicopter - a flamingo (even if Smith used it in the sense of a menu item) 🦩
November 11, 2018
A collection of Clark Ashton Smith's fantasy and horror stories. One of the better writers of pulp fiction in the mid-20th century and a friend of H.P. Lovecraft. Some like "The Dweller in the Gulf", set on Mars, are truly horrifying; others are tales of lost or imaginary worlds.
May 9, 2017
The value of these tales comes in Smith's apparent effortless "characterization of everything", it seems he just loved to write and so used his fantasizations with occult and mythology as an outlet to do so. His selection and fluid arrangement of words, which although undoubtedly dated, is artful. There are some minor repetitions he tended towards, and as a general warning to today's readers an occasional adverse noun or adjective, but his style is still much easier to follow than older antiquated writers none the less. The stories were to me take or leave, some better than others.
Want to read
October 20, 2024"The Abominations of Yondo" - A man is "set free" by his torturers near the hellish land of Yondo. 10/10 first paragraph, rest isn't bad but can't sustain the fever pitch necessary, nor are the events exceptionally weird, excepting the screaming and gesturing woman who proves to be a lifeless statue when touched.
March 21, 2019
Like Lovecraft, the greatest strength of many of these short stories are often in the atmosphere, rather than the story-line. The weird horror is sustained by prose, to borrow from Clark Ashton Smith, as purple as equatorial midnight. In any other genre, it might verge on comic magniloquence. Here, it makes for a fun read.
"...Yondo, where live the hoary genii of stars abolished and decrepit demons left homeless by the destruction of antiquated hells."
At this point, ninety years after these stories were published in pulp, some of the tropes and ideas may have been expounded on and employed elsewhere but it is still evident how original much of the writing itself is.
"...Yondo, where live the hoary genii of stars abolished and decrepit demons left homeless by the destruction of antiquated hells."
At this point, ninety years after these stories were published in pulp, some of the tropes and ideas may have been expounded on and employed elsewhere but it is still evident how original much of the writing itself is.
November 27, 2018
La review es solamente por el cuento que da nombre al libro.
Descripción macabra de un desierto plagado de horrores de todo tipo, con un final totalmente genial y macabro. ¡Quiero leer más de Ashton Smith!
Descripción macabra de un desierto plagado de horrores de todo tipo, con un final totalmente genial y macabro. ¡Quiero leer más de Ashton Smith!
March 8, 2024
When I first bought this book, about 50 years ago, I disliked it intensely. If I were reviewing it then, I would have given it one star.
I bought it because I liked horror stories, or thought I did, and the blurb led me to believe that I had found some good ones. When I began reading them, however, I was put off by the author's style. He tried to build an atmosphere of horror by piling adjective on adjective which became so cloying as to be almost meaningless, so by the time one reached the end of the story there was no horror left.
Years later, when I became a professional editor, I read books on writing to help me in my work. I read warnings against this practice of piling on the adjectives and adverbs, and advice to use them sparingly. When I read that advice I thought of Clark Ashton Smith and thought I knew exactly what they meant.
Later, in the 1990s, someone told me about H.P. Lovecraft, who, he said wrote some passably good horror stories as well as a lot of third-rate drek, and I got a book of Lovecraft's stories from the library and read it. I agreed with his assessment, and when I discovered that Clark Ashton Smith was an associate of Lovecraft, I decided to try and read his stuff again, and found it not quite so rebarbative as I did the first time.
Nonetheless, I would urge any would-be fiction writers who have wondered about the advice to be sparing with adjectives and adverbs to read books like this with that advice in mind. Not all of Clark Ashton Smith's stories are overflowing with superfluous modifiers, which showed that he could write quite decent prose if he wanted to. But in re-reading this one I did note some over-the-top examples, like:
corroding planets
dark orb-like mountains
abysmal sand
hoary genii
decrepit demons
leprous lichens
unmentionable tortures
unknown horrors
immemorial brine
undetermined shadows
abominable legends
cacodemoniacal night
forbidden inferences
and eldritch anything at all
Many have the prefix un- or the suffix -less (nameless is another favourite).
Smith and Lovecraft gave rise to the Eldritch School of horror writers, and many have tried to imitate them since then, with unmentionable results. Perhaps it was this that inspired another prolific author of horror stories, Stephen King, to advise aspiring writers to go through their manuscripts and remove every forbidden adverb they found.
I bought it because I liked horror stories, or thought I did, and the blurb led me to believe that I had found some good ones. When I began reading them, however, I was put off by the author's style. He tried to build an atmosphere of horror by piling adjective on adjective which became so cloying as to be almost meaningless, so by the time one reached the end of the story there was no horror left.
Years later, when I became a professional editor, I read books on writing to help me in my work. I read warnings against this practice of piling on the adjectives and adverbs, and advice to use them sparingly. When I read that advice I thought of Clark Ashton Smith and thought I knew exactly what they meant.
Later, in the 1990s, someone told me about H.P. Lovecraft, who, he said wrote some passably good horror stories as well as a lot of third-rate drek, and I got a book of Lovecraft's stories from the library and read it. I agreed with his assessment, and when I discovered that Clark Ashton Smith was an associate of Lovecraft, I decided to try and read his stuff again, and found it not quite so rebarbative as I did the first time.
Nonetheless, I would urge any would-be fiction writers who have wondered about the advice to be sparing with adjectives and adverbs to read books like this with that advice in mind. Not all of Clark Ashton Smith's stories are overflowing with superfluous modifiers, which showed that he could write quite decent prose if he wanted to. But in re-reading this one I did note some over-the-top examples, like:
corroding planets
dark orb-like mountains
abysmal sand
hoary genii
decrepit demons
leprous lichens
unmentionable tortures
unknown horrors
immemorial brine
undetermined shadows
abominable legends
cacodemoniacal night
forbidden inferences
and eldritch anything at all
Many have the prefix un- or the suffix -less (nameless is another favourite).
Smith and Lovecraft gave rise to the Eldritch School of horror writers, and many have tried to imitate them since then, with unmentionable results. Perhaps it was this that inspired another prolific author of horror stories, Stephen King, to advise aspiring writers to go through their manuscripts and remove every forbidden adverb they found.
December 9, 2024
"Yondo é aquele que está mais próximo dos extremos do mundo; e estranhos ventos, provenientes de um golfo que nenhum astrônomo jamais sondou, esparramaram sobre os seus campos devastados a poeira cinzenta de planetas corroídos, as cinzas negras de sóis extintos"
Amigo de Robert Howard e de Lovecraft, Ashton (que também escreveu no Mythos) praticamente parou com a prosa quando o primeiro se suicidou e o segundo morreu. Infelizmente, porque em "Abominações de Yondo" vemos um escritor muito competente nas descrições crípticas e bem menos prolixo que o Lovecraft.
Porém, ao menos nesse conto em específico, tudo que há é exposição. A narrativa é inflada com a construção de mundo e a ambientação de um tipo de horror cósmico não mais implícito. O desenvolvimento se assemelha, estranhamente, a breves encontros sem conflitos que acompanharíamos em um documentário de biologia especulativa ou em um encontro narrado pelo mestre de RPGs tradicionais.
À deriva no deserto de Yondo após cometer heresia contra um culto de sacerdotes, o protagonista sem nome deve encarar a ambientação insólita de areia negra, com asteroides sobrepostos que alcançam o tamanho de montanhas e que chegam a formar longas cordilheiras.
A conclusão é pouco satisfatória, mas dá para se fazer um paralelo com um conto francês bem anterior que já resenhei aqui: The Torture By Hope. Ambos possuem uma conclusão bastante parecida, mas, a história francesa tem um foco diferente e melhor. No geral é uma leitura rápida e interessante. Futuramente pretendo ler os outros contos dessa coletânea e atualizar essa review.
June 15, 2020
I have run out of books to read so we are back to the cosmic horror audio books, which after the last 3 piles of crap I have tried to read can only be a good thing. Hello darkness my old friend.
Now this, this is total cosmic horror. The plot, the setting, the language and the ending, all were ticking the cosmic horror boxes.
This is a story that I think would deffo benefit from being longer, I want to know the background of the poor lad in the desert and I want to know why Yondo is so abominable. I don't want to know more about the scary spider bug things though, no thank you.
Beautifully terrible imagery and a hellish plot make this a nice ride.
Oh cosmic horror how I have missed you.
Now this, this is total cosmic horror. The plot, the setting, the language and the ending, all were ticking the cosmic horror boxes.
This is a story that I think would deffo benefit from being longer, I want to know the background of the poor lad in the desert and I want to know why Yondo is so abominable. I don't want to know more about the scary spider bug things though, no thank you.
Beautifully terrible imagery and a hellish plot make this a nice ride.
Oh cosmic horror how I have missed you.
December 3, 2017
I'm not the world's biggest CAS fan, but this collects most of his better stuff, including the title story and the beautifully melancholic The Voyage of King Euvoran (one of the best things CAS ever wrote). There's also a smattering of more contemporary horror pieces like The Nameless Offspring and The Devotee of Evil, some pseudo-S&S, and some prose poems.
August 12, 2021
A special talent who'll make you dream.
July 17, 2020
A superb short story that throws the reader straight into the Cthulhu Mythos and leaves them there to go deaf by their own screams, those audible and those created within the mind.
Descriptive, imaginative and fast-paced, this super-short tale (which I read on EldritchDark.com) is a real treat for fans of the Weird and Cosmic Horror.
The (unnamed) protagonist finds himself on the raw end of punitive measures from a sect of cosmic priests, the Priests of Ong, near the edge of a desert close to the rim of the[ir] world.
He's turned out and free "to go whither [he] would", once those priests have applied as much torture as was their wont. Facing yellow lakes, green sands and a scarlet sun, the reader knows in an instant they and the protagonist are not on this Earth.
The story follows the events of the torturee into the desert of Yondo, where he eventually has a choice to make. Given the horrors he's endured in a short passage of time, how will he decide? Gripping stuff.
Descriptive, imaginative and fast-paced, this super-short tale (which I read on EldritchDark.com) is a real treat for fans of the Weird and Cosmic Horror.
The (unnamed) protagonist finds himself on the raw end of punitive measures from a sect of cosmic priests, the Priests of Ong, near the edge of a desert close to the rim of the[ir] world.
He's turned out and free "to go whither [he] would", once those priests have applied as much torture as was their wont. Facing yellow lakes, green sands and a scarlet sun, the reader knows in an instant they and the protagonist are not on this Earth.
The story follows the events of the torturee into the desert of Yondo, where he eventually has a choice to make. Given the horrors he's endured in a short passage of time, how will he decide? Gripping stuff.
October 28, 2025
Não estou falando do livro inteiro, só do conto “The Abominations of Yondo” (1926), publicado na Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine.
É curioso como Clark Ashton Smith conduz o texto com total calma, descrevendo a jornada de um fugitivo dos sacerdotes de Ong (criaturas quiméricas e repulsivas) através do deserto cinzento de Yondo, entre trechos de areia e pântanos. Como bom californiano, ele menciona cactos: uma imagem provavelmente transplantada de seus próprios desertos (suas habituais paisagens áridas da Sierra Nevada e do interior da Califórnia, onde os cactos são parte da flora local) para esse cenário imaginário, embora o ambiente evoque algo mais próximo ao norte da África, com suas víboras e hienas.
O cuidado palpável com que Smith escolhe cada palavra é inacreditável, especialmente nas descrições de cores e materiais. Na verdade mesmo, pouca coisa acontece (além das aparições de umas criaturas letárgicas): o conto existe essencialmente pela textura da atmosfera, não pelo enredo.
É curioso como Clark Ashton Smith conduz o texto com total calma, descrevendo a jornada de um fugitivo dos sacerdotes de Ong (criaturas quiméricas e repulsivas) através do deserto cinzento de Yondo, entre trechos de areia e pântanos. Como bom californiano, ele menciona cactos: uma imagem provavelmente transplantada de seus próprios desertos (suas habituais paisagens áridas da Sierra Nevada e do interior da Califórnia, onde os cactos são parte da flora local) para esse cenário imaginário, embora o ambiente evoque algo mais próximo ao norte da África, com suas víboras e hienas.
O cuidado palpável com que Smith escolhe cada palavra é inacreditável, especialmente nas descrições de cores e materiais. Na verdade mesmo, pouca coisa acontece (além das aparições de umas criaturas letárgicas): o conto existe essencialmente pela textura da atmosfera, não pelo enredo.
Read
March 24, 2021This short story by CAS was one of the first things I ever read by this author. The fantastic use of language, the incredible imaginative landscape, and the imagery of the things that the main character comes across as he ventures into the desert really hit home for me. While I would not recommend this sort of thing to just anyone, those already steeped in the pulp fiction world will absolutely enjoy unpacking the parts of this little piece and savor the language.
I would consider it almost prose poetry, as it does not really follow the normal "rules" of storytelling. Perhaps a hidden Gem in the CAS corpus.
I would consider it almost prose poetry, as it does not really follow the normal "rules" of storytelling. Perhaps a hidden Gem in the CAS corpus.
June 13, 2024
This collection has a number of CAS’s excellent, classic weird stories, but also a number of lesser fantasy or prose-poetry pieces that are far from excellent reading.
While I had read numerous stories from various collections, this was my first single-author collection of CAS stories, and it has highlighted for me that I had only ever seen the best of his works, and not experienced his more ponderous writings.
The vocabulary in use is outstanding throughout, and I’m glad to have read this collection.
While I had read numerous stories from various collections, this was my first single-author collection of CAS stories, and it has highlighted for me that I had only ever seen the best of his works, and not experienced his more ponderous writings.
The vocabulary in use is outstanding throughout, and I’m glad to have read this collection.
May 9, 2018
In the most perfect writing style of HP Lovecraft, this Clark Ashton Smith tale has the elegance of writing where the beauty of prose poetic form meets mystery and horror. Of the right size, where every word seems to have its precise place, the reading experience is wonderful.
December 29, 2023
A very short, but entertaining, interesting and wild ride. The Abominations of Yondo sort of propelled me forward in the Clark Ashton world. The imagery in this story was surreal, and again, a journey. As usual Clark is very eloquent and great with his prose.
November 27, 2018
No me agrado, muy simple.
September 18, 2022
Uh, this is just a review for the short story. Very good.
March 25, 2023
3.5 stars
June 26, 2023
Review for the short story: The Abominations of Yondo. Clark Ashton Smith masterfully paints a picture of this strange fantasy world and those who dwell in it, all doing so in under 3000 words.
May 19, 2025
Very eerie story, amazing wordsmithery, but like someone in the other reviews mentioned: nonsensical story that has no real plot besides:
Man is let out of prison, and he wanders.
Man is let out of prison, and he wanders.
August 24, 2025
a weird tale by a master
September 2, 2023
Clark Ashton Smith's The Abominations of Yondo, first published by Arkham House in 1960 and reprinted by Neville Spearman in 1972, presents 17 stories originally appearing in magazines such as Weird Tales and a few other pulps between 1926 and 1948. As with the 1942 Out of Space and Time, the 1944 Lost Worlds, and the 1948 Genius Loci and Other Tales, the collection is syrupy of language and exults in the grotesque and necromantic, and is most enjoyable for the reader of patient and unhurried taste.
Unlike with Genius Loci, the title story here does not lead the book but instead is sixth in the lineup. That's fine, though, as while the title of course is wonderful and creepy--how could anything with the term abominations not be?--the piece itself isn't necessarily one of the strongest ones. Instead, the book opens with "The Nameless Offspring," which indeed may be the best story and hence the correct one with which to lead.
This first tale begins with a quote from the H.P. Lovecraft-imagined "Necronomicon of Abdul Alhazred," which reminds us that "MANY AND multiform are the dim horrors of Earth, infesting her ways from the prime," although "the most dreadful and the loathliest of all are haply still to be declared" (1972 Neville Spearman hardcover page 3). The first-person narrator, however, is one of these classic early '30s fellows who, as the shades of the eve draw near, happens upon a decaying English country house whose rumors of strange occurrence long had brought "family whispers and head shakings," since the unfortunate "Sir John Tremoth had been a schoolmate of [his] father" (page 4).
And what hath this to do with Al Hazred's warning, among the other "dim horrors of Earth" that may "emerge betimes from the shutten sepulchre of haughty bronze and the low grave that is sealed with clay," about "one which may not be named for its exceeding foulness" (page 3)? Well, Sir John's lovely young wife of many and many a year ago had been afflicted with catalepsy, with "[t]he third seizure...apparently terminat[ing] in death, for she did not revive after the usual interval, and displayed all the usual marks of rigor mortis." It was natural enough to inter her "in the family vaults, which were of almost fabulous age and extent, and had been excavated into the hill behind the manor-house" (page 6). Similarly naturally--plot-wise, at least--young Lady Agatha later had revived, screaming, with the removed coffin lid "seem[ing] impossible that it could have been moved by the frail woman" (page 7).
She had a crazy "sort of dream," too, "or a figment of delirium induced by the awful shock" that made her believe that "a pale, hideous, unhuman face" had been "stooping over her" and then had fled "like an animal, on all fours though its limbs were semihuman" (page 7). She also soon was discovered to be, ahem, in the family way, and after giving birth nine months later to "one of those appalling monsters that sometimes appear in human families," she "merciful[ly]" died (page 7). So now, after "nearly thirty years," about that chamber of the mansion whose door is "reinforced with iron bars, heavy and sinister as those of a dungeon cell," from which come strange sounds "neither human nor bestial" but "wholly preternatural, hellish, macabre" (page 9), and to which meat with "an odor of pronounced gaminess, almost of virtual putrescence" is carried (page 12)-- Well, we know the secret is gonna be good...
As always in Smith, there are creatures and wastelands and necromancers and apprentices and temptresses and corpses. In one lovely instance, a strangely ancient man dies and instantly turns into a long-dead body, prompting his horrified companion to whisper his name:
"But as I whispered it, the lips of the cadaver seemed to part, and the tip of its tongue protruded between them. And I thought that the tip trembled, as if Tomeron were about to speak and answer me. But gazing more closely, I saw that the trembling was merely the movement of worms as they twisted up and down and to and fro and sought to crowd one another from Tomeron's tongue." (page 47)
Ha, classic!
In short, Clark Ashton Smith's The Abominations of Yondo is a delight of horror and creepiness and the macabre, a wonderful 5-star read.
Unlike with Genius Loci, the title story here does not lead the book but instead is sixth in the lineup. That's fine, though, as while the title of course is wonderful and creepy--how could anything with the term abominations not be?--the piece itself isn't necessarily one of the strongest ones. Instead, the book opens with "The Nameless Offspring," which indeed may be the best story and hence the correct one with which to lead.
This first tale begins with a quote from the H.P. Lovecraft-imagined "Necronomicon of Abdul Alhazred," which reminds us that "MANY AND multiform are the dim horrors of Earth, infesting her ways from the prime," although "the most dreadful and the loathliest of all are haply still to be declared" (1972 Neville Spearman hardcover page 3). The first-person narrator, however, is one of these classic early '30s fellows who, as the shades of the eve draw near, happens upon a decaying English country house whose rumors of strange occurrence long had brought "family whispers and head shakings," since the unfortunate "Sir John Tremoth had been a schoolmate of [his] father" (page 4).
And what hath this to do with Al Hazred's warning, among the other "dim horrors of Earth" that may "emerge betimes from the shutten sepulchre of haughty bronze and the low grave that is sealed with clay," about "one which may not be named for its exceeding foulness" (page 3)? Well, Sir John's lovely young wife of many and many a year ago had been afflicted with catalepsy, with "[t]he third seizure...apparently terminat[ing] in death, for she did not revive after the usual interval, and displayed all the usual marks of rigor mortis." It was natural enough to inter her "in the family vaults, which were of almost fabulous age and extent, and had been excavated into the hill behind the manor-house" (page 6). Similarly naturally--plot-wise, at least--young Lady Agatha later had revived, screaming, with the removed coffin lid "seem[ing] impossible that it could have been moved by the frail woman" (page 7).
She had a crazy "sort of dream," too, "or a figment of delirium induced by the awful shock" that made her believe that "a pale, hideous, unhuman face" had been "stooping over her" and then had fled "like an animal, on all fours though its limbs were semihuman" (page 7). She also soon was discovered to be, ahem, in the family way, and after giving birth nine months later to "one of those appalling monsters that sometimes appear in human families," she "merciful[ly]" died (page 7). So now, after "nearly thirty years," about that chamber of the mansion whose door is "reinforced with iron bars, heavy and sinister as those of a dungeon cell," from which come strange sounds "neither human nor bestial" but "wholly preternatural, hellish, macabre" (page 9), and to which meat with "an odor of pronounced gaminess, almost of virtual putrescence" is carried (page 12)-- Well, we know the secret is gonna be good...
As always in Smith, there are creatures and wastelands and necromancers and apprentices and temptresses and corpses. In one lovely instance, a strangely ancient man dies and instantly turns into a long-dead body, prompting his horrified companion to whisper his name:
"But as I whispered it, the lips of the cadaver seemed to part, and the tip of its tongue protruded between them. And I thought that the tip trembled, as if Tomeron were about to speak and answer me. But gazing more closely, I saw that the trembling was merely the movement of worms as they twisted up and down and to and fro and sought to crowd one another from Tomeron's tongue." (page 47)
Ha, classic!
In short, Clark Ashton Smith's The Abominations of Yondo is a delight of horror and creepiness and the macabre, a wonderful 5-star read.
May 1, 2024
Ong's priests have an inquisition against heretics, one of which is our narrator. Dropped in a dying forest of cactus bordering the desert of Yondo, the narrator has been tortured and set free. Will he choose to return to his captors or face the supposed phantoms, demons, and horrors of Yondo's ancient evil landscape?
Clark's short story is a slowly creeping atmosphere of impending horror.
The Abominations of Yondo
The Charnel God
The Dark Eidolon
The Death of Malygris
The Empire of the Necromancers
The Isle of Torturers
The Tale of Satampra Zeiros
The Tomb-Spawn
The Voyage of King Eurovan
The Weaver in the Vault
Clark's short story is a slowly creeping atmosphere of impending horror.
The Abominations of Yondo
The Charnel God
The Dark Eidolon
The Death of Malygris
The Empire of the Necromancers
The Isle of Torturers
The Tale of Satampra Zeiros
The Tomb-Spawn
The Voyage of King Eurovan
The Weaver in the Vault
December 28, 2013
A really enjoyable collection. Some great stories in here that will stand up to re-reading due to the quality of the prose. The White Sybil is achingly beautiful whereas The Dweller In The Gulf (presented here in its original form as Smith intended) is one of the most terrifyingly vivid tales I've ever read. Surprised to discover it was the last such tale he wrote because it's excellent.
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