Lost Worlds: The Journal of Clark Ashton Smith Studies

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Lost Worlds: The Journal of Clark Ashton Smith Studies is a quarterly scholarly journal designed to promote the criticism and study of Clark Ashton Smith; his life, his influences, and his contemporaries. Published by Seele Brennt Publications and edited by Scott Connors with Ronald S. Hilger.

Contents 1 Issues 1.1 Issue One 1.2 Issue Two 1.3 Issue Three 2 External links

[edit] Issues

[edit] Issue One

Release Date: 29 March 2004. Perfect Bound softcover chapbook; Dimensions (in inches): 5½ x 8½; Page Count: 40.

Contents:

• "The Return of the Sorcerer" (editorial, pg. 2) by Scott Connors.
• "The Face by the River" (short story, pg. 3-7) by Clark Ashton Smith. One of two previously unpublished CAS stories that were rediscovered in 2003 (the other being Red World of Polaris). This is the first appearance of this long-thought lost story anywhere.
• "Eblis in Bakelite" (essay, pg. 8-11) by James Blish with addendum by Donald Sidney-Fryer. A reprint of Blish's 1945 critical essay concerning the belief that Smith consciously allowed influences to taint his own work.
• "James Blish versus Ashton Smith: to Wit, the Young Turk Syndrome, a riposte" (essay, pg. 12-19) by Donald Sidney-Fryer. A response to Blish's "Eblis in Bakelite".
• "The Poetics of Morbidity: The Original Text to Clark Ashton Smith's The Maze of Maal Dweb and Other Works First Published in The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies" (essay, pg. 20-25) by Jim Rockhill. As the title indicates, this is an informative essay (expanded from an on-line version for The Weird Review) concerning how the richer unedited versions of CAS tales need to supersede the standard editions.
• "Who Discovered Clark Ashton Smith?" (essay, pg. 25-34) by Scott Connors. A scholarly attempt to end the eternal CAS question.
• "Review: A Rendezvous in Averoigne by Clark Ashton Smith & The Emperor of Dreams by Clark Ashton Smith" (review, pg. 35-37) by Ronald S. Hilger.
• "Review: Songs and Sonnets Atlantean: The Second Series by Donald Sidney-Fryer" (review, pg. 37-39) by Phillippe Gindre.
• "Scryings" (news section, pg. 40) by Scott Connors (uncredited).

[edit] Issue Two

Release Date: 15 March 2005. Perfect Bound softcover chapbook; Dimensions (in inches): 5½ x 8½; Page Count: 40.

Contents:

• "A Chinese Fable" (poem, pg. 2) by Clark Ashton Smith. Previously only available in the lettered edition of Night Shade Books' The Red World of Polaris, reprinted here is the poem as well as an image of the manuscript.
• "Communicable Mysteries: The Last True Symbolist" (essay, pg. 3-11) by Fred Chappell. An exploration of the use and meaning of Smith's symbolism within his poetry.
• "Brave World Old and New: The Atlantis Theme in the Poetry and Fiction of Clark Ashton Smith" (essay, pg. 11-30) by Donald Sidney-Fryer. Discussion regarding the ever-present theme of Atlantis (either directly in name or in the abstract) throughout the fictional career of Smith.
• "Clark Ashton Smith Collections in the San Francisco Bay Area, Pt. 1: Letters to Samuel Loveman" (essay, pg. 31-38) by Mark Hall. A listing of the holdings in the San Francisco Bay Area of letters from Smith to Samuel Loveman. Includes many pertinent quotes from and remarks regarding the contents.
• "Review: Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith" (review, pg. 39-40) by Brian Stableford.

[edit] Issue Three

Release Date: 29 August 2006. Perfect Bound softcover chapbook; Dimensions (in inches): 8½ x 11; Page Count: 54.
Several Clark Ashton Smith drawings from Grotesques and Fantastiques (1973) are reprinted throughout.

• "Uranus" (painting, pg. 1) by Clark Aston Smith. Full-color interior reprint of the cover artwork, sans borders and logos.
• "The Editors Speak" (editorial, pg. 2-4) by Scott Connors (uncredited).
• "The Shadow of the Unattained" (poem, pg. 5-8) by Clark Ashton Smith. A previously unpublished (and thought long lost) Smith poem.
• "Clark Ashton Smith" (essay, pg. 9-14) by William Whittingham Lyman Jr. A previously unpublished memoir by Lyman regarding Smith.
• Symposium: On the Discovery of the Lost Smith Works: Essays concerning the discovery of "The Face in the River" and The Red World of Polaris, two previously unpublished Smith tales that were thought lost until discovery in 2004.
  • "The “Face” Behind the Mask" (essay, pg. 15-18) by Scott Connors.
  • "The River and The Red World" (essay, pg. 19-21) by Brian Stableford.
  • "Worlds Lost within Worlds" (essay, pg. 22-25) by Don Herron.
  • "If Zothique had Electrical Engineers: Some Thoughts on the New Two" (essay, pg. 26-28) by Steve Behrends.
  • "Evoking Wonder" (essay, pg. 29-31) by Mike Ashley.
• "Satampra “Lefty” Zeiros" (essay, pg. 32-33) by Dan Clore. As the title indicates, this essay concerns the two tales about Satampra Zeiros ("The Tale of Satampra Zeiros" and "The Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles").
• "Amithaigne" (essay, pg. 34-35) by Ronald S. Hilger. A dissection of the poem of the same name.
• "On the Authorship of a Review of Ebony and Crystal" (essay, pg. 36-39) by Donald Sidney-Fryer. Mr. Sidney-Fryer revisits the topic of who wrote an unsigned review of Smith's collection. This topic was originally broached in Emperor of Dreams (1978) and opinions have shifted since then.
• "Review: The Hashish-Eater and Other Poems by Clark Ashton Smith, performed by Donald Sidney-Fryer" (review, pg. 40-41) by S. T. Joshi.
• "Review: The Black Diamonds by Clark Ashton Smith & The Sword of Zagan and Other Writings by Clark Ashton Smith" (review, pg. 41-46) by Alan Gullette.
• "Review: The Thirst of Satan by George Sterling" (review, pg. 46-50) by Richard Hughey.
• "Review: From Baltimore to Bohemia: The Letters of H. L. Mencken and George Sterling" (review, pg. 50-53) by Richard Hughey.
• "From the Vaults of Yoh-Vombis" (essay, pg. 54). A reprint of a set of questions regarding Smith from a college literature textbook (circa 1935).

[edit] External links

• Lost Worlds