Genius Loci and Other Tales

This short story about the horror of place confirms my view that Clark Ashton Smith could rise well above the general requirements of pulp fiction when he wanted to and produce stories that could be regarded as well within the classical horror or weird tradition.

There is something of Algernon Blackwood in this surprisingly simple tale of a pond with a baleful and maleficent supernatural hold on those who come into close contact with it.

Surprisingly slow (but in a good way) for a pulp tale, it unfolds as a story of obsession in which Ashton Smith manages to use local colour to great effect in order to build atmosphere. The ending may not be a surprise but the journey there is worth taking.

A collection of short fiction by the friend of H P Lovecraft and generally reckoned to be a better wordsmith than Lovecraft. Smith's prose is baroque and lavish, full of detailed descriptions, long words and some you need to resort to a dictionary to understand. The effect of his prose is stronger in landscape building and imagery than in plot.

The stories usually have downbeat endings: 'The Charnel God' is one of the few with a happy ending for the protagonist and his wife. Some, like 'The Willow Landscape', concern the hostile intrustion into our world of malevolent forces both in the contemporary period when the stories were written and the distant past, such as Medieval France; others deal with Smith's imaginary ancient kingdoms or show more what could be termed as science fiction but of a rather metaphysical kind or set in a Martian environment which even at that date must have been becoming increasingly unlikely. Routinely the characters are victims or passive onlookers, such as in 'The Eternal World' where the sole human character can only witness the destruction of an entire star system.

I think I enjoyed his work much more when I first read it as a teenager but now find it emotionally uninvolving so can award only a 3 star rating. show less

reprint of an Arkham House edition, this is a collection of tales from various worlds CAS imagined. his language is archaic and ornate, his descriptions so detailed you can see the settings come to life right off the page. a natural successor to Lovecraft, but his morbid imagination is all his own, and he excels especially at portraying the decadence and decay of civilizations and characters that have lived too long beyond their time. an acquired taste, perhaps, but he's worth acquiring.

Classic horror must read

This story begins with an artist who wants to tap into his well of talent until it becomes an obsession. The maddening search for perfection, yet there's more . . . Maybe it's something other than our own demons. I enjoyed this classic short story and was amazed at the author's extensive vocabulary.