rjkuntz
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Pioneer of OD&D
Posts: 345
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Post by rjkuntz on Dec 23, 2012 21:36:59 GMT -6
This will be an ongoing thread where I post fragments about my favorite fantasy author and fantasy poet, Clark Ashton Smith. There is not enough good that can be said of him. Of the "Big Three," at least from the Weird Tale's era, he is the least read and thus the least appreciated, though IMO, well surpassing both Howard and Lovecraft not only in both fiction and poetry, but in his depth and range of story on many levels and in different forms. I hope through this to make up, in some small way, for his unfortunate omission from Appendix N in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Alas! how brief was the dream of that divine, ecstatic peace, in which my heart unfolded like a vast blossom, one with the flooding infinite! · … Even as I gazed, I felt the dim foreboding of a nameless change: and before me, the deeps of cerulean space, pierced with the formless light of invisible worlds, took on the pallor of swirling mists in a strange and ceaseless ebullition. But for a time, I could glimpse nothing definite or tangible — only the flickering of vague light in the void, and the spectral agitation of the paling skies, that seemed about to reveal the advent of some ineffable dawn. Then, from the luminous gulf, sudden as a rainbow, there sprang a frail and glittering bridge that stretched to my very feet, and was lost at the further end in a vast pile of iridescent vapors. Built of a metal that I could not name, a metal that gleamed with alternate lights of gold and silver, it seemed to allure me with the promise of unimaginable shores. -- In a Hashish-Dream [fragment] Clark Ashton Smith www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/89/%5Ein-a-hashish-dream%5E-%5Ba-tale-of-hashish-land%5D-%28fragment%29
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rjkuntz
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Pioneer of OD&D
Posts: 345
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Post by rjkuntz on Dec 25, 2012 4:49:02 GMT -6
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Post by thorswulf on Dec 25, 2012 12:16:48 GMT -6
CAS is the perfect blending of Howard and Lovecraft in many ways. It has very dark themes, usually of a very macabre nature which defines the world quite nicely. The themes of redemption and revenge, otherworldy or not, are very much in the flavor of both authors as well. The actions of the protagonists are very much of the observer's role ala Lovecraft, but the action is very Howard in nature and in the supernatural.
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rjkuntz
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Pioneer of OD&D
Posts: 345
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Post by rjkuntz on Dec 25, 2012 17:31:45 GMT -6
CAS is the perfect blending of Howard and Lovecraft in many ways. It has very dark themes, usually of a very macabre nature which defines the world quite nicely. The themes of redemption and revenge, otherworldy or not, are very much in the flavor of both authors as well. The actions of the protagonists are very much of the observer's role ala Lovecraft, but the action is very Howard in nature and in the supernatural. Yes, all very true. But Lovecraft had no depth. He was xenophobic; and the matter of love and its fortunes and failures, are not present, and thus he paints his moods and generates his atmospheres in a very truncated manner, though effectively, but he does not stray too far from his self-imposed boundaries in doing so. Very contradictory to the complete Poe, who he emulated for mood but not for his far-ranging style. Howard could sparingly bring such matter into focus; and Smith was a master of painting on and intermeshing various canvasses, including satire, etc. CAS's "Morthylla" is a classic example of how 'Smith worked the love angle into the fantastic, with a really ironic ending. See link: www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/142/morthylla
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2013 23:37:00 GMT -6
Indeed, Lovecraft's asexual, scientific, cold horror stands in contrast to Smith's warmth and richness.
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Post by cleverkobold on Feb 15, 2013 10:46:51 GMT -6
I've always held the opinion that the best parts of the Cthulhu Mythos were created by CAS, rather than HPL.
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Post by Ghul on Feb 15, 2013 10:52:15 GMT -6
I've always held the opinion that the best parts of the Cthulhu Mythos were created by CAS, rather than HPL. I have a tough time doing that. I tend to think that way when I'm reading CAS, but then I change my mind when I go back to HPL. Then I change my mind again, and so forth. I tend to do the same thing when considering pure S&S. I will consider CAS the finest there is, until I go back to REH, at which point I change my mind, and then again, and again. The choice becomes impossible for me, and the only thing I am left certain about is my own indecisiveness.
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rjkuntz
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Pioneer of OD&D
Posts: 345
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Post by rjkuntz on Feb 15, 2013 12:35:56 GMT -6
That is so apropos, Ghul, as I felt like that for many years but finally settled on Smith as my favorite (author of the three). I'm not sure that "the best parts of the CM were created by Smith." It depends on how it's measured, and once again that comes down to taste.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2013 15:40:54 GMT -6
Speaking of CAS...
I still tell people to read "The Seven Geases" to get an idea of the zeitgeist of early D&D.
Sometimes, the hero dies because of some stupid bad luck. (Richard Couer de Leon, anyone?)
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Feb 15, 2013 16:03:25 GMT -6
Wow thanks for posting this, downloading and look forward to listening
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Post by Ghul on Feb 15, 2013 17:41:54 GMT -6
Speaking of CAS... I still tell people to read "The Seven Geases" to get an idea of the zeitgeist of early D&D. Sometimes, the hero dies because of some stupid bad luck. (Richard Couer de Leon, anyone?) And it also explains my customary greeting to Lord Robilar: "How now, varlet?" In all seriousness, this is great to hear. I love that tale so much, I built an entire campaign (Hyperborea) around it! Previous to that, I slipped some "Seven Geases" into Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works, and good old grodog was first to pick up on it, as I recall.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2013 17:49:51 GMT -6
Heh. That's an amusing story- sort of a shaggy-dog tale as told by CAS.
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rjkuntz
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Pioneer of OD&D
Posts: 345
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Post by rjkuntz on Feb 15, 2013 19:01:38 GMT -6
"...Who are you to speak so churlishly to a magistrate of Commorium and a cousin to King Humquat!?" The rest (from memory) of that exquisite and often uproarious line, Ghul.
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