New Treasures: The End of the Story: The Collected Fantasies, Vol. 1 by Clark Ashton Smith

New Treasures: The End of the Story: The Collected Fantasies, Vol. 1 by Clark Ashton Smith

The End of the Story The Collected Fantasies Vol 1-smallThe End of the Story is the first of five volumes collecting all of Clark Ashton Smith’s short fiction, arranged chronologically by composition. It was originally published in hardcover by Night Shade Books on January 1, 2007, and quickly went out of print. The cheapest copies I can find online start at over $200.

I would love to have a copy, but that’s well outside my price range. So I was delighted to discover that Night Shade is printing the entire series in trade paperback, starting with the first volume, which goes on sale tomorrow.

The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith consists of:

  1. The End of the Story (January 2007)
  2. The Door to Saturn (June 2007)
  3. A Vintage from Atlantis (November 2007)
  4. The Maze of the Enchanter (April 2008)
  5. The Last Hieroglyph (September 2010)

The trade paperback edition of the second volume, The Door to Saturn — also long out of print in hardcover, and selling in some places for well over $300 — is scheduled to appear January 5, 2016.

The End of the Story contains 24 short stories and three poems, beginning with “The Abominations of Yondo,” first published in Overland Monthly in April 1926. It includes some of his most famous tales, such as the Captain Volmar novelette “Marooned in Andromeda” (1930), the Malygris tale “The Last Incantation” (1930), and the novelette “The Monster of the Prophecy” (1932).

It also includes an introduction by Ramsey Campbell, and story notes and a bibliography by Scott Connors and Ron Hilger.

Here’s the book description.

Clark Ashton Smith, considered one of the greatest contributors to seminal pulp magazines such as Weird Tales, helped define and shape “weird fiction” in the early twentieth century, alongside contemporaries H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, drawing upon his background in poetry to convey an unparalleled richness of imagination and expression in his stories of the bizarre and fantastical.

The Collected Fantasies series presents all of Smith’s fiction chronologically. Authorized by the author’s estate and endorsed by Arkham House, the stories in this series are accompanied by detailed background notes from editors Scott Connors and Ron Hilger, who in preparation for this collection meticulously compared original manuscripts, various typescripts, published editions, and Smith’s own notes and letters. Their efforts have resulted in the most definitive and complete collection of the author’s work to date.

The End of the Story is the first of five volumes collecting all of Clark Ashton Smith’s tales of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. It includes all of his stories from “The Abominations of Yondo” (1925) to “A Voyage to Sfanomoë” (1930) and an introduction by Ramsey Campbell.

Wonder Stories, October 1930, with "Marooned in Andromeda," by Clark Ashton Smith
Wonder Stories, October 1930, with “Marooned in Andromeda,” by Clark Ashton Smith

And here’s the complete table of contents.

Introduction by Ramsey Campbell
“The Satyr”: Alternate Conclusion” (1931)
“A Murder in the Fourth Dimension”  (1930)
“A Night in Malnéant” (1933)
“A Voyage to Sfanomoë” (Weird Tales, August 1931)
From the Crypts of Memory, poem (Bohemia, April 1917)
“Marooned in Andromeda” (Wonder Stories, October 1930)
Sadastor, poem (Weird Tales, July 1930)
“The Abominations of Yondo” (Overland Monthly, April 1926)
“The Devotee of Evil” (The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies, June 1933)
“The End of the Story” (Weird Tales, May 1930)
“The Epiphany of Death” (The Fantasy Fan, July 1934)
“The Immeasurable Horror” (Weird Tales, September 1931)
“The Last Incantation” (Weird Tales, June 1930)
“The Metamorphosis of the World” (1951)
“The Monster of the Prophecy” (Weird Tales, January 1932)
“The Necromantic Tale” (Weird Tales, January 1931)
“The Ninth Skeleton” (Weird Tales, September 1928)
“The Phantoms of the Fire” (Weird Tales, September 1930)
“The Planet of the Dead” (Weird Tales, March 1932)
“The Resurrection of the Rattlesnake” (Weird Tales, October 1931)
“The Root of Ampoi” (The Arkham Sampler, Spring 1949)
“The Satyr” (La Paree Stories, July 1931)
“The Tale of Satampra Zeiros” (Weird Tales, November 1931)
“The Uncharted Isle” (Weird Tales, November 1930)
“The Venus of Azombeii” (Weird Tales, June-July 1931)
“Thirteen Phantasms” (Fantasy Magazine, March 1936)
To the Daemon, poem (The Acolyte, Fall 1943)
A Note on the Texts by Scott Connors and Ron Hilger
Story Notes by Scott Connors and Ron Hilger
Bibliography

The Last Incantation-smallOur previous coverage of Clark Ashton Smith includes:

Vintage Treasures: The Timescape Clark Ashton Smith
The Shade of Klarkash-Ton by James Maliszewski
One Shot, One Story: Clark Ashton Smith by Thomas Parker
New Treasures: The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies by Clark Ashton Smith
The Crawling Horrors of Mars: Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis”
Deepest, Darkest Eden edited by Cody Goodfellow by Fletcher Vredenburgh
Adventures in Stealth Publishing: The Return of the Sorcerer
A Few Words on Clark Ashton Smith by Matthew David Surridge
The Unqualified Unique: The Daily Mail Interviews Me for Clark Ashton Smith’s 50th Morbid Anniversary by Ryan Harvey
Of Secret Worlds Incredible: A Psychedelic Journey into Clark Ashton Smith’s Poetic Masterpiece by John R. Fultz
The Fantasy Cycles of Clark Ashton Smith Part I: The Averoigne Chronicles by Ryan Harvey
The Fantasy Cycles of Clark Ashton Smith Part II: The Book of Hyperborea by Ryan Harvey
The Fantasy Cycles of Clark Ashton Smith Part III: Tales of Zothique by Ryan Harvey
The Fantasy Cycles of Clark Ashton Smith Part IV: Poseidonis, Mars, and Xiccarph by Ryan Harvey

The End of the Story: The Collected Fantasies, Vol. 1 was published in hardcover by Night Shade Books on January 1, 2007, and will be reprinted in paperback on September 8, 2015. It is 300 pages, priced at $17.99 in trade paperback, and $7.99 for the digital version. The cover is by Jason Van Hollander.

See all of our recent New Treasures here.

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Nick Ozment

I want. Them. All!

Thomas Parker

The smartest thing I ever did was buying the Hardcovers as soon as they came out. The dumbest thing was not buying as many extra sets as I could. $200?!

John R. Fultz

I couldn’t wait, so I got all of them on Kindle. But it’s not the same…I want to get the new softcovers too. That Timescape collection, THE LAST INCANTATION, was my first CAS book, found like a forgotten jewel in a used book store. Those tales made me look for CAS collections in every story I went to for years and years after. Eventually, the internet came along and -bam- you could find pretty much any book. It was nice, but sometimes I miss discovering lost treasures in mysterious old bookstores. Still, it’s convenient having all of these CAS volumes stashed inside one device. Best of both worlds, I guess.

John R. Fultz

CORRECTION: “..in every store I went to…”

Joe H.

Reminds me it’s almost time to read the next in the series — I think I’m up to v3.

(I find Smith to be like Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food in some ways — one of my favorite things, but so rich that there’s a limit to how much I can take in a single sitting.)

smitty59

I feel extremely fortunate to have 4 of the 5 volumes in the hardcover versions, thanks mostly to a generous mom & dad who got them for me as Christmas gifts. Somehow I missed vol. 2, so I’m VERY happy to see that a trade pb version will be out next year. These are beautiful books, and I treasure them very much, for content as well as appearance.

Joe H.

Covers were Jason Van Hollander.

James McGlothlin

About time! I’ve only had access to CAS through old BAF collections and the new Penguin edition that came out last year or so. I’ve often wondered why Nightshade hadn’t reissued these.

Thanks John for making me aware of these new paperbacks coming out!

Wild Ape

I appreciate the heads up. I’ll have to add it to the que.

doug

I’m sooo happy. I’ve ordered mine. I had the hardbacks, but had to sell them a few years ago due to emergency expenses. But luckily, balance has now been restored to the universe.

Now all they have to do is re-release the 5 Wellman collections in paperback.

SELindberg

The audio book on audible for this (narrated by Fleet Cooper) is quite good. CAS’s poetic language deserves to be listened to. The short takes make easy to squeeze in most schedules.


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