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".
Necromancy is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead – either by summoning their spirits as apparitions, visions or raising them bodily – for the purpose of divination, imparting the means to foretell future events, discover hidden knowledge, to bring someone back from the dead, or to use the dead as a weapon. Sometimes referred to as "Death Magic", the term may also sometimes be used in a more general sense to refer to black magic or witchcraft.
In fantasy fiction, a lich is a type of undead creature.
The Emperor of Dreams is a collection of American fantasy author and poet Clark Ashton Smith's short tales arranged in chronological order. It was published by Gollancz in 2002 as the 26th volume of their Fantasy Masterworks series. The collection contains stories from Smith's major story cycles of Averoigne, Hyperborea, Poseidonis, and Zothique. Most of the stories originally appeared in the magazines The Fantasy Fan, Weird Tales, Overland Monthly, Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror, The Magic Carpet/Oriental Stories, The Auburn Journal, Stirring Science Stories, The Arkham Sampler, Saturn and Fantastic Universe.
The Sword of the Dawn is a fantasy novel by British author Michael Moorcock, first published in 1968.
Fire Sea is a fantasy novel by American writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It is the third book in The Death Gate Cycle series and was released in 1991. The novel explores the realm of Abarrach and the history of the Sartan through the unlikely partnership of Haplo, a Patryn agent sent by Lord Xar to evaluate Abarrach, and Alfred, a Sartan who lost all the others of his race with whom he once lived.
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.
Lost Worlds is a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories by the American writer Clark Ashton Smith. It was published in 1944 and was the author's second book published by Arkham House. 2,043 copies were printed.
A Rendezvous in Averoigne is a collection of science fiction, fantasy and horror stories by American writer Clark Ashton Smith. It was released in 1988 by Arkham House in an edition of 5,025 copies. The collection contains stories from Smith's major story cycles of Averoigne, Hyperborea, Poseidonis, Xiccarph, and Zothique. Its title story is a relatively conventional vampire story.
Zothique is a collection of fantasy short stories by Clark Ashton Smith, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books as the sixteenth volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in June 1970. It was the first themed collection of Smith's works assembled by Carter for the series. The stories were originally published in various fantasy magazines in the 1930s, notably Weird Tales.
"The Dark Eidolon" is a sword and sorcery short story by American writer Clark Ashton Smith, forming part of his Zothique cycle of stories. It was first published in Weird Tales in 1935 and has been variously republished, notably in the anthology The Spell of Seven, edited by L. Sprague de Camp.
"Xeethra" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the December 1934 issue of Weird Tales.
"Necromancy in Naat" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the July 1936 issue of Weird Tales.
"The Weaver in the Vault" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the January 1934 issue of Weird Tales.
"The Witchcraft of Ulua" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the February 1934 issue of Weird Tales.
"The Charnel God" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the March 1934 issue of Weird Tales.
"The Black Abbot of Puthuum" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the March 1936 issue of Weird Tales.
"The Last Hieroglyph " is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the April 1935 issue of Weird Tales.
"The Isle of the Torturers" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the March 1933 issue of Weird Tales.
"The Voyage of King Euvoran" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle. It was first published as "The Voyage of King Euvoran" in the 1933 book The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies. It was republished as "Quest of the Gazolba" in the September 1947 issue of Weird Tales where it was the cover story with art by Boris Dolgov.
