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Post by xerxez on Jan 27, 2015 20:48:39 GMT -6
Sculptures, Drawing and Writing By CA SmithI don't recall if I saw this in here once somewhere. Reading the Return of The Sorcerer Stories right now. Having only read one Smith tale previously, I can see why he is admired. I think I like it better than Loveccraft but at least the same. Really great stuff. Didn't know he did sculptures. Wow.
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Post by Vile Traveller on Jan 28, 2015 3:15:53 GMT -6
I like his Averoigne and Zothique stories most but yes, multi-talented individual.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jan 28, 2015 20:16:04 GMT -6
There's also a section on his poetry.
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Post by scalydemon on Jan 29, 2015 0:10:59 GMT -6
It is my understanding (could be wrong) that towards the end of his life cycle - he became disinterested in writing and focused his creative energies on art & sculpture.
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Post by xerxez on Jan 29, 2015 2:54:10 GMT -6
The Averoigne story was my favorite tale in the book, Vile. That's some spooky stuff and the central character is unlike any I've seen or read about except perhaps the Mage in "The Devil Rides Out" or perhaps Dr. Strange. The story would make a great short film betcha.
His sculptures are very good by my tastes, his drawings, don't care for the style but the content and themes are fascinating. The sculptures, though, definitely evoke his tales and those of Lovecraft and others.
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Post by cadriel on Jan 29, 2015 10:03:00 GMT -6
Smith's Wikipedia article shows that life in the mid-'30s was not kind to him. Consider: Given all of that, I don't think anyone can really blame CAS for not wanting to write any more. That's a span of just over two years that would try the soul of any man. The year after, Weird Tales was sold to William J. Delaney, and Dorothy McIlwraith was brought in to assist and eventually take over the magazine from its longtime editor Farnsworth Wright - a relationship that was rocky and hardly an ideal environment to come back to as a writer. So it's really unsurprising that Smith stopped writing pretty much exactly when he did.
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Post by geoffrey on Jan 29, 2015 10:42:48 GMT -6
Everybody is right. Here's the skinny:
1. Clark Ashton Smith began his artistic career as a poet.
2. CAS's parents needed his care, which cost money, money which poetry didn't generate. A friend basically said to him, "Why don't you write stories for the pulps? That will make you some money. I know you would prefer to write poetry, but making money by writing prose is right next door to that." So CAS began writing short stories.
3. CAS became pen-friends with Lovecraft and Howard. The synergy amongst the three aided them as writers.
4. CAS's parents and Lovecraft and Howard all died within a couple years of each other. This meant two things: One, CAS didn't need all that extra cash anymore to care for his parents, and two, with Lovecraft and Howard dead, his heart just wasn't in writing anymore. In short, writing stories was no longer necessary or fun.
5. That led to the third and final phase of his artistic career: sculpture, which he focused on for the rest of his life.
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Post by xerxez on Jan 29, 2015 23:14:22 GMT -6
Thanks Geoffrey. Very cool to know.
I think about these guys (Howard, Lovecraft, and Smith) and in different vein, Tolkien, and I'm amazed at the visions these authors had relative to the cultures and times they lived in.
I grew up on Conan comics and the early films and it was always there. Any book store today has this stuff in one form or another sagging on the shelves...films, graphic novels, fantasy and horror novels.
There's a place for it in what we would now call popular culture, but when I look at photos from the times of these men and the daily concerns of the milling masses, I realize there was almost next to nothing but the unique vision of such incredible authors in their own musings, scribblings, drawing and probably some very obscure literary sources, with only a small circle of like minded people to care or understand.
It's kind of spiritual, what came from their head.
I have always wished there would be a movie about Tolkien's war years because the juxtaposition of these English soldiers at their grim business, the scenes of war around them, and here in his tent or on his cot is a young soldier seeing hobbits, and elves, and magic rings, wanting to finish a fantasy story. Dutiful soldier, serene escapist. Same guy. I don't know if Im making any sense but it just boggles my mind. It's big.
When I look at Smith's sculptures, I can imagine Lemuria in a way that's even more real than reading fiction about it. Art is the best trip.
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Post by doublejig2 on Dec 4, 2018 15:36:48 GMT -6
Off topic - What's the name of the disturbing CAS story in which a group of scientists on an accursed planet descend deep underground and discover heinous beings licking a feral statue. When they set out to leave, they are prevented from doing so by the creature, and they find themselves returning below to join the worshippers.
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Post by ronald on Dec 5, 2018 16:07:30 GMT -6
Off topic - What's the name of the disturbing CAS story in which a group of scientists on an accursed planet descend deep underground and discover heinous beings licking a feral statue. When they set out to leave, they are prevented from doing so by the creature, and they find themselves returning below to join the worshippers. I believe that The Dweller in the Gulf is the story you seek. (Do not go down that path into the abyss!!)
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Post by doublejig2 on Dec 5, 2018 16:46:55 GMT -6
Off topic - What's the name of the disturbing CAS story in which a group of scientists on an accursed planet descend deep underground and discover heinous beings licking a feral statue. When they set out to leave, they are prevented from doing so by the creature, and they find themselves returning below to join the worshippers. I believe that The Dweller in the Gulf is the story you seek. (Do not go down that path into the abyss!!) Thanks. That's the one (agreed, one really shouldn't go down that path into the abyss!!)!
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Post by Vile Traveller on Dec 6, 2018 6:01:46 GMT -6
That was very disturbing.
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Post by rossik on Dec 6, 2018 7:09:00 GMT -6
Off topic - What's the name of the disturbing CAS story in which a group of scientists on an accursed planet descend deep underground and discover heinous beings licking a feral statue. When they set out to leave, they are prevented from doing so by the creature, and they find themselves returning below to join the worshippers. oh..now i HAVE to read that
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