I’m a huge fan of Clark Ashton Smith. I arrived there via Jack Vance, having once read that Vance’s fiction was somewhat similar to that of Mr. Smith. In the 1990s I was lucky enough to find some paperbacks with Smith’s fiction. Later, I acquired the Arkham House edition of A Rendezvous in Averoigne, a collection of Smith’s stories. I devoured all his stories, and found his personal history just as fascinating. From there, I bought a book that contained some of Smith’s letters, then a pair of trade paperback reprints: Lost Worlds and Out of Space and Time. After that, the set of books published by Night Shade Books, which collects many of Smith’s stories. Along the way, I looked into trying to find original publications, which meant Arkham House.
Although I own a handful of Arkham House books, much like their other earlier books — that is, anything prior to 1975 — their Smith publications were often far beyond my budget. Other than 1988’s A Rendezvous in Averoigne, I have Tales of Science and Sorcery from 1964, plus a collection of his letters published in 2003. However, I’m not brave enough (or crazy enough) to shell out the money for the earlier Arkham House editions.
So, to my surprise I recently came across a book called The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies, published by Penguin Books in 2014 and edited by S. T. Joshi. I almost put this book back, as I probably have all of Smith’s short stories in various volumes. Then, as I checked the table of contents I found that it contained not just a selection of his short stories, but a long list of poems as well. In all, there are over 40 of Smith’s poems in this volume. Since most of Smith’s Arkham House books (and earlier ones) these days fetch a premium, I’ve read only a fraction of Smith’s poems.
I have an affinity for Smith’s poems; one my of favorite books is Tim Powers’ The Stress of Her Regard, which takes its titles from word within a poem by Clark Ashton Smith. There’s a certain symmetry there, and now I can finally read more than a snippet or two of Smith’s poetry.
