M.T. Black
Hero
A few days ago, I finished the final volume of Clark Ashton Smith's Collected Fantasies. That's well over a hundred stories in five volumes.
I first encountered Smith in X2 Castle Amber many years ago, and I had read a few of his more famous stories. But, a couple of years ago, I set down to read through the entire ouvre. It has taken some time.
Smith is legitimately criticized as a turgid writer, and his stories sometimes have glacial pacing and virtually no plot.
But when he hits the mark, his writing is sublime and his imagination is peerless. Once you develop a taste for his writing, it's very easy to get lost in it.
Favorites? Hard to go past City of the Singing Flame, The Door to Saturn, and The Empire of the Necromancers. But there are many others I adored, and many re-readings lie ahead.
I first encountered Smith in X2 Castle Amber many years ago, and I had read a few of his more famous stories. But, a couple of years ago, I set down to read through the entire ouvre. It has taken some time.
Smith is legitimately criticized as a turgid writer, and his stories sometimes have glacial pacing and virtually no plot.
But when he hits the mark, his writing is sublime and his imagination is peerless. Once you develop a taste for his writing, it's very easy to get lost in it.
Favorites? Hard to go past City of the Singing Flame, The Door to Saturn, and The Empire of the Necromancers. But there are many others I adored, and many re-readings lie ahead.
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