Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies

Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies - Fiction Review

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Eidolon-Other-Fantasies/dp/0143107380

For my money Clark Ashton Smith is the best of the 30s and onward pulp writers. He has more variety than his two big Weird Tales contemporaries, Howard and Lovecraft and was more prolific than C.L. Moore. In a world where good fantasy is rare he is well worth your time. Ashton Smith didn’t want to be a story writer as he preferred poetry, but was driven to weird tales to earn a living and we are fortunate that he was.

Dark Eidolon is easily available, being published by Penguin, and across 18 stories gives a good cross section of his works. Unlike the more famous Lovecraft, and to some extent Howard Ashton Smith was not tied to one or two genres or settings but his writing does have certain commonalities. He wrote occult horror, weird fantasy, historical fantasy, lost world fiction, science fantasy, ghost stories and psychological stories. The prose is often poetic with a wide vocabulary and a sardonic tone. His characters often meet a sticky end with an undertone of grim humour.

Any anthology is going to miss some of his better works. If you can get hold of his Averoigne, Hyperborea, or Zothique cycles they are worth it. This collection does include enough of his hits to make it worthwhile. To single out a handful;

· > The Maze of the Enchanter – very D&D, a barbarian infiltrates a forbidding techno fortress of an evil magician to retrieve his lost love and it does not end well.

· > The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis – archaeologists or explorers on Mars reach an ancient ruined city and are set up on by face hugger type aliens

· > The Holiness of Azedarac – a pious monk in pseudo medieval France is set upon by dark agents and sent back in time where he is manipulated druids.

The (good) pulp tales are an easy read, usually 10-30 minutes per story with a good fantastic or horror hook. Picking up an anthology you can dip in and out whilst you read more involving tomes. Some tales are less good than others as these guys and gals churned them out for their weekly paycheques. There is no search for deeper meaning or subtext, this is just good ole fashioned entertainment.

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