Born and raised in the Atlantic coastal community of New Bedford, Massachusetts, Sidney-Fryer enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in October 1953. While in the Marines, he first became enamored of "imaginative literature" and began to compile A Checklist of the Ballet Scores of Cesare Pugni, eventually published in 1961 as Vol. VIII of Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo. Following his honorable discharge at the rank of sergeant in August 1956, he moved to California, where he enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles; during this period, he engaged in the concomitant study of classical ballet, working under David Lichine and Tatiana Riaboushinska for a year.
In 1958 and 1959, he visited Clark Ashton Smith's home in Monterey, California; during these two excursions, Smith introduced him to the oeuvre of George Sterling. After graduating from UCLA in January 1961 with a B.A. in French and the death of Smith in August of that year, Sidney-Fryer commenced work on the poetry that would eventually comprise Songs and Sonnets Atlantean (1971) and The Emperor of Dreams (1976), a bibliography of Smith completed in 1965. From 1965 to 1971, he edited three volumes of Smith's work for Arkham House, a task he would reprise for Pocket Books a decade later.
In 1969, he married Gloria Kathleen Braly, and started giving dramatic readings shortly thereafter at universities and other institutions, almost always incorporating material by Smith and Spenser. His poetry has continued to appear in a variety of weird fiction and speculative poetry-oriented journals.
Sidney-Fryer's verse is marked by a strong imagination, and a Francophilic focus. He is a strong believer in "pure poetry," and practices formalist verse, having developing his own specific poetic form: the 'Spenserian stanza-sonnet'.
He remains a prolific historian of 19th century ballet, and is an expert on the ballet theatre of the romantic era.
Bibliography
A Checklist of the Ballet Scores of Cesare Pugni (Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo, Vol VIII, Rome, 1961).
(Ed.) The City of the Singing Flame by Clark Ashton Smith (New York: Pocket/Timescape, 1981).
(Ed.) The Last Incantation by Clark Ashton Smith (New York: Pocket/Timescape, 1982).
(Ed.) The Monster of the Prophecy by Clark Ashton Smith (New York: Pocket/Timescape, 1983).
(Ed.) Strange Shadows: The Uncollected Fiction & Essays of Clark Ashton Smith (with Steve Behrends and Rah Hoffman; New York: Greenwood Press, 1989).
(Ed.) The Devil's Notebook: Collected Epigrams and Pensées of Clark Ashton Smith (Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, Inc., 1990).
(Ed.) The Hashish-Eater by Clark Ashton Smith (Privately issued, Sacramento, CA, 1990).
Clark Ashton Smith: The Sorcerer Departs (West Hills, CA: Tsathoggua Press, 1997).
Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Second Series (Holicong, PA: Wildside Press, 2003).
(Trans.) Gaspard de la Nuit: Fantasies in the manner of Rembrandt and Callot by Aloysius Bertrand (Encino, CA: Black Coat Press, 2004).
Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Third Series (Los Angeles, CA: Phosphor Lantern Press, 2005).
The Sorcerer Departs: Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1961) (Dole, France: Silver Key Press, 2007).
The Atlantis Fragments. (Hippocampus Press, 2009) [Omnibus ed of the three volumes of Songs and Sonnets Atlantean; 300 copy hc limited edition, and pbk).
Hobgoblin Apollo: The Autobiography of Donald Sidney-Fryer (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2016). ISBN978-1-61498-167-1. Odds and Ends, a hundred-page collection comprising Donald Sidney-Fryer's latest poems, the vast majority previously unpublished, is included as an appendix.
Aesthetics Ho! Essays on Art, Literature, and Theatre (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2017). ISBN978-1-61498-201-2.
The Case of the Light Fantastic Toe: The Romantic Ballet and Signor Maestro Cesare Pugni, as well as their Survival by Means of Tsarist Russia [5 volumes] (Los Angeles, CA: Phosphoror Lantern Press, 2018).
A King Called Arthor and Other Morceaux (New York: Hippocampus Press, 2020). ISBN978-1-61498-294-4.
Clark Ashton Smith was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne. As a poet, Smith is grouped with the West Coast Romantics alongside Joaquin Miller, Sterling, and Nora May French and remembered as "The Last of the Great Romantics" and "The Bard of Auburn". Smith's work was praised by his contemporaries. H. P. Lovecraft stated that "in sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Clark Ashton Smith is perhaps unexcelled", and Ray Bradbury said that Smith "filled my mind with incredible worlds, impossibly beautiful cities, and still more fantastic creatures".
Arkham House was an American publishing house specializing in weird fiction. It was founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin, in 1939 by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to publish hardcover collections of H. P. Lovecraft's best works, which had previously been published only in pulp magazines. The company's name is derived from Lovecraft's fictional New England city, Arkham, Massachusetts. Arkham House editions are noted for the quality of their printing and binding. The colophon for Arkham House was designed by Frank Utpatel.
Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form, while preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery, parataxis, and emotional effects.
Tsathoggua is a supernatural entity in the Cthulhu Mythos shared fictional universe. He is the creation of American writer Clark Ashton Smith and is part of his Hyperborean cycle.
A shoggoth is a fictional monster in the Cthulhu Mythos. The beings were mentioned in passing in H. P. Lovecraft's sonnet cycle Fungi from Yuggoth (1929–30) and later described in detail in his novella At the Mountains of Madness (1931).
Donald Albert Wandrei was an American science fiction, fantasy and weird fiction writer, poet and editor. He was the older brother of science fiction writer and artist Howard Wandrei. He had fourteen stories in Weird Tales, another sixteen in Astounding Stories, plus a few in other magazines including Esquire. Wandrei was the co-founder of the prestigious fantasy/horror publishing house Arkham House.
Out of Space and Time is a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories by American writer Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1942 and was the third book published by Arkham House. 1,054 copies were printed. A British hardcover appeared from Neville Spearman in 1971, with a two-volume paperback reprint following from Panther Books in 1974. Bison Books issued a trade paperback edition in 2006.
Genius Loci and Other Tales is a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories by American writer Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1948 and was the author's third book published by Arkham House. It was released in an edition of 3,047 copies. The stories were written between 1930 and 1935.
The Dark Chateau is a collection of poems by American writer Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1951 and was the author's fourth book to be published by Arkham House. It was released in an edition of 563 copies. The book was intended to be a stop-gap volume representing Smith's poetry while the more extensive Selected Poems was being prepared, although Selected Poems did not ultimately appear until 1971.
Spells and Philtres is a collection of poems by Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1958 and was the author's fifth book and second collection of poetry to be published by Arkham House. It was released in an edition of 519 copies. The book was a second stop-gap volume following The Dark Chateau. It represented Smith's poetry while the more extensive Selected Poems was being prepared which did not ultimately appear until 1971. The collection also includes several translations of French and Spanish poems. Clérigo Herrero, however, is not a real person and the poem is actually a composition of Smith's.
The Abominations of Yondo is a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories by American writer Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1960 and was the author's fourth collection of stories published by Arkham House. It was released in an edition of 2,005 copies. The stories were mostly written between 1930 and 1935.
Tales of Science and Sorcery is a collection of stories by American writer Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1964 and was the author's fifth collection of stories published by Arkham House. It was released in an edition of 2,482 copies. The stories were originally published between 1930 and 1958 in Weird Tales and other pulp magazines.
Selected Letters I, 1911-1924 is a collection of letters by H. P. Lovecraft. It was released in 1964 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,504 copies. It is the first of a five volume series of collections of Lovecraft's letters and includes a preface by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei.
Poems in Prose is an illustrated collection of prose poems by Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1965 and was published by Arkham House in an edition of 1,016 copies. The book is a nearly complete collection of Smith's prose poetry.
The Arkham Collector was an American fantasy, horror fiction and poetry magazine first published in Summer 1967. The magazine, edited by August Derleth, was the second of two magazines published by Arkham House, the other being the Arkham Sampler. Each issue of The Arkham Collector had an approximate print run of 2,500 copies. Its headquarters was in Sauk City, Wisconsin.
Selected Letters II, 1925-1929 is a collection of letters by H. P. Lovecraft. It was released in 1968 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,482 copies. It is the second of a five volume series of collections of Lovecraft's letters and includes a preface by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei.
Selected Poems is a collection of poems by American writer Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1971 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,118 copies. The collection also includes several translations of French and Spanish poems. Christophe des Laurieres and Clérigo Herrero, however, are not real people, and the poems are actually compositions of Smith's.
Songs and Sonnets Atlantean is a collection of poems by Donald S. Fryer. It was released in 1971 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,045 copies. The introduction and notes attributed to Dr. Ibid M. Andor are actually written by Fryer.
The Black Book of Clark Ashton Smith is a transcription of a notebook that was kept by author Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1979 by Arkham House in an edition of 2,588 copies. The book was transcribed from Smith's notebook by Donald Sidney-Fryer and Robert A. ('Rah') Hoffman. Appended to the transcription are two memoirs of Smith by George F. Haas.
New Horizons is an anthology of science fiction stories edited by American writer August Derleth. It was released posthumously by the specialty house publisher Arkham House in a hardcover edition of 2,917 copies. While the title page gives the date of publication as 1998, the book was not actually printed and released until 1999. The book is an anthology that Derleth had planned in the early 1960s, but never published.
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