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Post by themirrorthief on Jan 20, 2018 1:01:40 GMT -5
Commoriom, from a French comic by Pascal Vitte adapting The Testament of Athammaus: The Testament of Athammaus is one helluva story...if he hadnt written but that one story...he would still be great
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Post by deuce on Feb 1, 2018 10:51:23 GMT -5
"Lovecraft tells me you are doing some impressive work in carving, using dinosaur bone; I envy you your splendid variety of talents — artist, poet, author, and now sculptor."
-- Robert E. Howard to Clark Ashton Smith, 23 Jul 1935
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Post by deuce on Feb 7, 2018 10:51:17 GMT -5
This letter from REH surely struck a chord with CAS. Smith set numerous tales in Mu, Atlantis and lost Hyperborea. A pity we don't have Clark's letter in reply. "Suppose that at some immeasurably distant time a real civilization existed, whose builders were possessed of infinitely greater knowledge than ourselves. If some cataclysm of nature were to destroy that civilization, remnants of knowledge and stories of its greatness might well evolve into the fantastic fables that have descended to us. We know how distorted a fact can become, even when passed through the mouths of a generation of fairly well educated people; how much more, then, must truths be twisted into myths at the hands of savages and barbarians through the ages. Sometimes it seems to me that there might be a blind spot in our conception of history and pre-history — a whole undiscovered continent of facts, lying beyond our horizon; a vast, forgotten reservoir of knowledge, of which our modern sciences are but seepings, trickles from the greater store. I do not, of course, even put this forward as a supposition, but merely as a thought."
-- Robert E. Howard to Clark Ashton Smith, March 1934
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Post by deuce on Feb 7, 2018 11:25:11 GMT -5
HPL commenting on the news of Smith sending him one of CAS' soapstone sculptures: "My expectations are darkly & eagerly whetted by this reference to an unknown pre-human stone deity headed my way, & I can only send the most profound & sincere thanks in advance. I always knew that bizarre & terrible things had lurked on the primal ridges which later became the Pacific Coast, for was not that region a vast & populous outpost of R’lyeh? What do mere geologists know of the scoriac past? Poor fellows—I don’t believe they’d know Yaanek if they saw it!"
-- H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, circa 25 September 1930
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Post by deuce on Feb 10, 2018 13:13:18 GMT -5
"Averoigne certainly deserves its place in the dark secret literature of the borderland—& it was not without reason that most of the references to it were deleted in translations & reprints of von Junzt’s Unaussprechlichen Kulten. What is told in the 1839 Düsseldorf edition is not for weak nerves or unstable brains!"
-- H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 6 May 1932
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Post by bobbyderie on Feb 13, 2018 11:07:19 GMT -5
You might well prepare a whole series of “Averoigne” tales—evolving a definite fantastic milieu in which the landscape & manners of olden France blend imperceptibly with those of the misty mid-region of Weir. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 10 Apr 1930, DS 213
Yes, I might write a whole series, with Averoigne for the milieu; but I have so many ideas, with geographical locations in widely scattered realms of myth and fancy, that I may not get around to Averoigne again for awhile! But certainly it’s a temptation to repeat some scene or character; and among other things, I shall certainly write another tale about Vizaphmal, the Antarean scientist in “The Monster of the Prophecy.” - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, 23 Apr 1930, DS 215-216
I shall surely be gratified at hearing more of Averoigne, & look forward with keen expectancy to anything about monstrous Tsathoggua . . . . whose name I am mentioning in my new yarn. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 29 May 1930, DS 218
Averoigne in medieval times might be a fruitful milieu. - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, 29 Jun 1930, DS 221-222
The city is in truth an exotic & unique growth on this continent in this age. Properly it belongs to ancient Bourbon France—to Averoigne, I have not a doubt! I almost tried to take a side-trip to the ruined chateau of Fauseflammes! - H. P. Lovecraf to Clark Ashton Smith, 10 Sep 1930, DS 231 (re: Quebec)
I’ve now finished my vampire story “A Rendezvous in Averoigne.” You shall see it presently. - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, Sep 1930, DS 234
I want to see “The Eggs from Saturn” as well as the “Rendezvous in Averoigne” & all the new Volmar tales. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 25 Sep 1930, DS 235
Wright accepted “A Rendezvous in Averoigne”, which seems to have pleased his fancy. He is also taking “The Immeasurable Horror”, but has asked me to make an alteration or two which will account for two of the characters, who, it seems, I dropped rather summarily before the end. This is now done—it involved only the addition or two brief sentences. I will send you the carbon of “Averoigne” in a few days. - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, Oct 1930, DS 238-239
Magnificent!!! It’s a wonder Wright took it—but I guess he was charmed into recognizing merit & laying aside his cheap-tradesman standards for once in his life! I don’t know when I’ve ever seen so fine an evocation of malign & sinister atmosphere. Rotting, unwholesome ambiguity drips & oozes & festers on every page! Averoigne is surely a place where one had better keep to the high-roads! The central idea makes me think of something I was going to write—albeit in a very different way—one of the notes in my commonplace book reads ‘A very ancient tomb in a deep wood where a 17th century Virginia manor-house once stood. The bloated, undecayed thing found inside it.’ - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, Oct 1930, DS 240-241
I am greatly pleased to learn that the new Averoigne tale was so much to your taste. It is one of my own favorites—in fact, I like it much better than the celebrated “End of the Story.” I have an idea for another tale dealing with the seamy supernatural side of Averoigne; and it will probably rise to the proportions of a two or three-part serial. - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, Oct 1930, DS 257
Very, very few things in W.T. ever achieve the desired degree of atmospheric menace—though “A Rendezvous in Averoigne” will form a shining example of it. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 7 Nov 1930, DS 261
The Kingdom of Antchar, which I have invented for this tale, is more unwholesome, if possible, than Averoigne! - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, 17 Nov 1930, DS 270 (re: "Sir John Maundeville")
Of course, there was no attempt whatever to do what I did in “Averoigne” and “Medusa.” - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, 17 Nov 1930, DS 273 (re: "The Door to Saturn")
I have outlined, among other things, the plot of “Vizaphmal in Ophiuchus”, which will not bring in any human beings at all; and the synopsis for a “two-part serial”, “The Sorceress of Averoigne.” - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, 17 Nov 1930, DS 274
Antchar surely surpasses Averoigne in potency of terror, & ought to be good for a whole series of tales. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 29 Nov 1930, DS 276
“Mohaun Los” and the “Sorceress of Averoigne” sound highly alluring, and I hope they may both achieve type in the end. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 15 Apr 1931, DS 309
I was pleased to hear that my new Averoigne tales proved acceptable. I hope you won’t let any coincidence of idea in the gargoyle yarn prevent you from developing your own tale. Your treatment, I imagine, would be quite different from mine; and certainly there is plenty of room. I’ve never seen a story at all similar to the “Maker of Gargoyles”; but the notion is one that might readily occur to imaginative minds. - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, Aug 1931, DS 319
Candlemas is only five days off, & I am carefully rehearsing the formulae in the Book of Eibon—having borrowed the mediaeval Latin version of Philippus Faber from the library of the Miskatonic University. A look of doubtful expectancy seems to have subtly gathered on the stony muzzle of the Eidolon, & I am reminded hideously of an elliptical allusion in the original Düsseldorf edition of the Black Book. Everything, of course, depends upon the precise identity of It. Let us hope that the problem will not be solved in too hideous a way! - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 28 Jan 1932, DS 344
What you hint concerning Ylourgne & its Colossus interests me vastly—& fills me with an ague of premonitory shivers! Averoigne certainly deserves its place in the dark secret literature of the borderland—& it was not without reason that most of the references to it were deleted in translations & reprints of von Junzt’s Unausprechlichen Kulten. What is told in the 1839 Düsseldorf edition is not for weak nerves or unstable brains! - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 6 May 1932, DS 367
You would certainly appreciate such a place to the limit, for it has all the atmosphere of mediaevalism proper to the Averoigne cycle. It might well be a new-world edition of Vyones or Ylourgne! - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 11 Sep 1933, DS 438 (re: Quebec)
IX Chapter of Eibon now completely rendered from old French ms. of Gaspard du Nord; who, as you recall, figured in Ylourgne . . . But, as Eibon himself says, this history of the White Worm’s advent is told “with such omissions as are needful for the sparing of mortal weakness and sanity.” Even at that the slaying of Rlim Shaikorth and the day long streams of blackness that poured from his cloven bulk, is pretty strong. - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, 16 Sep 1933, DS 442
I welcomed “The White Worm” when it reached me, & will forward it conscientiously in the directions indicated. I’ve given Lumley Comte d’Erlette’s address in case he doesn’t know it already. Nggrrrhh . . . what a revelation! Thank God you spared your readers the worst & most paralysing hints—such as the secret of Yilkith’s origin, the reason why it bore certain shapes not of this planet, & the history of Rlim Shaikorth before he oozed down to the solar system & the earth through the void from ———— . . . . but I must not utter that name at which you, & Gaspard du Nord, & Eibon himself grew silent! - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 3 Oct 1933, DS 448
I think I mentioned my pleasure at rereading “Azedarac” in print—which reminds me, did I make a certain historical criticism when I read the manuscript a year or so ago? I meant to, but may have become side-tracked. The thing is, that I’m in doubt about the picture of Roman Gaul in A.D. 475 . . . . especially the idea conjured up by the phrase “an obsolete variant of the French of Averoigne”. I assume you realise that in 475 no such language as French existed, the vulgar Latin of Gallia not being sufficiently differentiated from the parent stock to be any sort of separate speech. Gaul was the last centre of culture in the declining Empire, (following Italy, Spain, & North Africa) as such figures as Ausonius, Avienus, Sidonius Apollinaris, Paulinus, Vigilantius, &c. attest; & towns like Burdigala (= Bordeaux) were notably erudite. Lutetia Parisiorum, even under occupation by German barbarians, was a great Roman town with baths, temples, palaces, & a cultivated life. By no stretch of the imagination could the popular Latin of 475 be called “old French”. The Frankish tribes in Gaul (entering about 350 A D & being nominal allies of Rome) still spoke their German dialect & mixed not at all with the Gallo-Romans. Ditto for the Visigoths & Burgundians who entered in 406. Only a handful of remote backwoodsmen could have adhered to the primal Celtic speech of pre-Roman days. The name Averoigne would undoubtedly have had a pure Latin form Averonia or (if derived from a tribe of Averones, as the name of Auvergne was derived from the Arverni) Regio Averonum. Another thing—I suppose you know that Druidism was not the dominant religion which Christianity displaced, but that it had been a proscribed, fugitive faith (like Judaism in Renaissance Spain) since the edict of Claudius in A.D. 43. Augustus had disfranchised all Druids, & under & after Claudius Druidic worship became a capital crime. When Christianity spread into Gaul it was not Druidism but the regular religion of the Roman Empire—Jove & his congeners—which it displaced. However—I realise that Druidism was always kept alive secretly in the woodland fastnesses of Lugdunensis Tertia (Brittany) & Aquitania Prima (Auvergne . . . . = Averoigne?), probably lasting till after Charlemagne’s time. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 18 Nov 1933, DS 474 (note: this is followed by ~2.5 pages of pedantry on Rome, Latin, and old French).
But enough of pedantry. Picking up a detail like that in Azèdarac is a sort of Forrest J. Ackerman stunt! - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 18 Nov 1933, DS 476
You have certainly shown up my vagueness and ignorance in regard to Gallic history! Of course, if I had stopped to reflect, I ought to have known that the Romans were still strong in Gaul about the time of Moriamis, and that French, as a language was not yet born from the Latin womb. I suppose the fact that I was dealing with a realm no less mythical than Cabell’s Poictesme made me doubly careless about correlating its chronology with that of historic Europe. If ever there is any prospect of issuing Azédarac and the other Averoigne tales in book form, I shall certainly correct the anachronistic reference to the “obsolete variant” of French spoken by Moriamis. I think, though, that the Druids can well stand: Averoigne was no doubt even more of a stronghold for the cult than Brittainy; and the Roman occupation (though I have spoken of it in another tale, The Disinterment of Venus) was quite nominal, especially in its religious effect on the Averoignians. - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, 4 Dec 1933, DS 490
Valerius Trevirus De Tribibus Gallicis Simaesis = Ximes Avionium = Vyones Flavius Alesius—“Annales” ref. to Averones as coming from sunken W. continent & bringing hellish Liber Ivonis Valerius Trevirus de Noctis Rebus an hellish necromantic work (circa A.D. 390) Niger informisque ut deus Sadoqua numen Averonum Sadoqua Black & unform’d, as pestilent a clod As dread Sadoqua, Averonia’s god. Theobald’s tr. 17116 Eibon tr. Gaspard du Nord 12th cent. - Notes on envelope by H. P. Lovecraft, DS 493
Regarding Roman Gaul—of course, the people were largely of the Gallic race, but they had the culture of Rome & employed Roman names. Local municipal officials were native Gallo-Romans, but provincial governors (of gawd knows what race-stock in that age of imperial mongrelism) & the army were sent out from Italy. The matter of Druids is really quite all right; for although they were outlawed & officially obsolete, they really had tremendous influence in their remote backwaters. Even to the Romans in Italy they represented something fascinating & forbidden, & furtive consultations of them (as modern dupes consult clairvoyants & other representatives of unofficial supernaturalism today) were by no means infrequent among those supposed to hold them in abhorrence. For example—if we are to believe the account of Vopiscus in the Augustan History, at least two Emperors—Aurelianus & Diocletianus—consulted Druid priestesses in Gaul despite the outlawry of the sect. In the Regio Averonum, of course, Druidism was stronger than anywhere else—a circumstance perhaps connected with the doubtful & possibly very strange origin of the old tribe of Averones themselves. You of course recall that famous passage in Flavius Alesius, where it is suggested that the Averones (a dark race like the Aquitani) came from a great land in the western ocean which had sunk beneath the waves. Alesius has some fascinating references to a terrifying set of tablets—the Liber Ivonis—in the possession of the Averones, which was said to have been brought by them from the lost ancient land whence they came. Whether this could be identical with that infamous Livre d’Eibon which in the 12th century the wizard Gaspard du Nord translated from some (so far) unascertained language into the French of Averoigne, is a problem with which scholarship must sooner or later wrestle. But of the dark & curious reputation of the Averones there can of course be no doubt. All scholars recall the reference to this tribe & its hellish pre-Druidic deity in Valerius Trevirus’ famous & rather sinister poem (circa A.D. 400) “De Noctis Rebus”: NIGER.INFORMISQVE.VT.NVMEN.AVERONVM.SADOQVA.3 Thus rendered in Theobald’s translation (London, 1727): Black & unſhap’d, as peſtilent a Clod As dread SADOQUA, Averonia’s God. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 13 Dec 1933, DS 496-497
I shall look forward to your tale of Regio Averonum in the Age of the Antonines, & trust that you can successfully borrow a copy of Valerius Trevirus from the library of Miskatonic University. The hints of the Bactrian Carnamagos (who retained surprising amounts of primal Persian lore, & who wrote in Greek despite his existence under the rule of the Parthians [he is said to have survived into the period of Sassanid Persian dominion]) are assuredly of the greatest importance—as are also (if indeed applicable to the Averones, a matter disputed by some) the terrible adumbrations of the Alexandrian Neo-Platonist Kranaos (fl. circa 350 A.D.). - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 11 Jan 1934, DS 514
Yes, I shall assuredly endeavour to collate the texts of Valerius Trevisus and Carnamagos when I write that tale of Regio Averonum. Regarding Kranaos of Alexandria, there are those who maintain, if I mistake not, that his somewhat ambiguous though terrible suggestions referred to the inhabitants of primal Thule rather than to the Averones; but since the Averones were tainted with a dark strain of Hyperborean ancestry, it is possible that he included them by implication in his black shadowings of the unmentionable. - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. lovecraft, Jan 1934, DS 522
The collation of VALERIVS. TREVIRVS (don’t get that name wrong! As you know he was one of the Germanic TREVIRI—a native of AUGUSTA TREVIRORVM [modern Treves or Trier] on the right bank of the Mosella, which Ausonius called the second metropolis of the Empire & which still has a magnificent Roman gate surviving) with Carnamagos will certainly constitute a highly important piece of scholarship, & add vastly to the authoritativeness of your history of Regio Averonum. The allusion of Kranaos of course needs a vast amount of elucidation & interpretation, but there certainly is much to be said for a connexion of the Averonas with the Hyperboreans. In no other way can the exclusive presence of the Liber Ivonis among them be easily accounted for—a point which, when combined with what Kranaos hints, makes a case of tremendous significance. [...] Simaetha would surely seem to be a true heir to the most sorcerous traditions of Hyperborea & Regio Averonum—not unlike those reputedly immortal felines who guarded the shrine of Sadoqua, & whose regular disappearances at New Moon figure so largely in the folklore of mediaeval Averoigne. One recalls the disquieting suggestions in Jehan d’Artois’ Roman des Sorciers concerning the huge black cats captured at those very singular Sabbats on the rocky hill behind Vyones—the cats which could not be burned, but which escaped unhurt from the flames, uttering cries which, though not like any known human speech, were damnably close to the unknown syllables forming part of the Tsath-ritual in the Livre d’Eibon. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 11 Feb 1934, DS 531-532
I really think that Simaetha must be connected with the guardian felines of the fane of Sadoqua: her incredible age and undiminished vigour are more than suggestive of such lineage. - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, Mar 1934, DS 537
That beaked entity is a wicked customer—while the heavy-lipped citizen of Averoigne looks as if he might be the Black Man of a witch coven in his spare moments. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smih, 13 Apr 1934, DS 551
Which reminds me that I’m glad to hear of your fictional plans—especially concerning De Sadoquae Oraculo. I have long been curious about the doings in Averonia (or Regio Averonum) in Roman times; for it is well known that the Averones were a tribe apart, feared by the rest of the Gauls, who bequeathed to their Gallo-Roman descendants a dark & dubious heritage. Have we not the disturbing lines of Valerius Trevirus to make us ponder . . . & tremble? There are buried ruins in Averoigne which it would be well not to disturb. Let us pray to the mild, small gods of Pegāna that no spade will ever uncover them! - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 23 Mar 1936, DS 635
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Post by deuce on Feb 23, 2018 14:40:18 GMT -5
You might well prepare a whole series of “Averoigne” tales—evolving a definite fantastic milieu in which the landscape & manners of olden France blend imperceptibly with those of the misty mid-region of Weir. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 10 Apr 1930, DS 213 Yes, I might write a whole series, with Averoigne for the milieu; but I have so many ideas, with geographical locations in widely scattered realms of myth and fancy, that I may not get around to Averoigne again for awhile! But certainly it’s a temptation to repeat some scene or character; and among other things, I shall certainly write another tale about Vizaphmal, the Antarean scientist in “The Monster of the Prophecy.” - Clark Ashton Smith to H. P. Lovecraft, 23 Apr 1930, DS 215-216 I shall surely be gratified at hearing more of Averoigne, & look forward with keen expectancy to anything about monstrous Tsathoggua . . . . whose name I am mentioning in my new yarn. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 29 May 1930, DS 218 (...) That beaked entity is a wicked customer—while the heavy-lipped citizen of Averoigne looks as if he might be the Black Man of a witch coven in his spare moments. - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smih, 13 Apr 1934, DS 551 Which reminds me that I’m glad to hear of your fictional plans—especially concerning De Sadoquae Oraculo. I have long been curious about the doings in Averonia (or Regio Averonum) in Roman times; for it is well known that the Averones were a tribe apart, feared by the rest of the Gauls, who bequeathed to their Gallo-Roman descendants a dark & dubious heritage. Have we not the disturbing lines of Valerius Trevirus to make us ponder . . . & tremble? There are buried ruins in Averoigne which it would be well not to disturb. Let us pray to the mild, small gods of Pegāna that no spade will ever uncover them! - H. P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith, 23 Mar 1936, DS 635 That is pretty frikkin' awesome, Bobby! Thanks so much for transcribing all of that. Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill is definitely a treasure trove for the CAS or HPL fan.
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Post by deuce on Feb 26, 2018 14:44:46 GMT -5
Scott Connors is, undoubtedly, one of the top three CAS scholars on the planet, so when he gives advice, I listen. You should, too. "Some of you have asked me which is the best version of Clark Ashton Smith available on Kindle or other ebook readers. There is really only one choice, if you want to get the same texts that Ron Hilger and I worked so hard to restore, as well as to support the Smith Estate. That singular choice is Baen's Clark Ashton Smith bundle of the Night Shade Books COLLECTED FANTASIES. You could pay $45 to Amazon for a DRM-locked Kindle-only version, or you could pay just $25 through the link below and receive a version that you can read on multiple platforms. Like the man said after the zombie banquet, this is a bit of a no-brainer."www.baen.com/clark-ashton-smith-bundle.html
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Post by deuce on Mar 3, 2018 23:26:47 GMT -5
"Poetry and painting are not interchangeable - what you express through one you cannot express through the other. For this reason, I contend that my verses and paintings are complementary to each other."
-- Clark Ashton Smith to HP Lovecraft, May 9, 1926
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