Door to Saturn: The Collected Fantasies, Vol. 2 (Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smit)

The second volume in the five volume “Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith” series is entitled “The Door to Saturn,” and while the story that is contained within that the title of said volume is named after is one I wasn’t particularly fond of, this collection has some quality otherworldly tales within, some even stronger of quality and story than the ones found in the previous volume, “The End of the Story.” This volume brought me even greater appreciation of Clark Ashton Smith’s tales. The stories I enjoyed are as follows: – “The Red World of Polaris”: The second episode of the Smith’s series of the intergalactic adventures of Captain Volmar and the crew of the starship Alcyone. In this episode they land on a planet where a race of beings have quite literally sold their souls to the machine, and threaten to do the same to them. – “A Rendezvous in Averoigne”: Another episode in Smith’s legendary “Averoigne” dark fantasy series. In this tale, two lovers plan a romantic rendezvous when they fall into the clutches of a nightmare castle full of foul beings. – “The Gorgon”: Otherworldliness pervades in this tale of a mentally unstable collector of occult artifacts that invites a curiosity seeker into his dark den of accumulated curios, including one deadly and grisly item that dates back to the monster-infested days of ancient Greece. – “An Offering to the Moon”: A pair of archaeologists are thrust into nightmare when the dark, forgotten empire of Mu stretches its hoary, clawed hand forward into modern time. – “The Face by the River”: A horny and desperate man is thrown into a specially-tailored version of hell when he cheats on his wife with his secretary, and then murders said woman when she threatens to tell his wife. – “The Kingdom of the Worm”: Smith’s very dark and Poe-like pastiche of the adventures of the medieval knight Sir John Maundeville. – “An Adventure in Futurity”: A time travel adventure where a man is catapulted 14,000 years into the future where certain nefarious interplanetary intelligences are allying together to overthrow humankind. – “The Return of the Sorcerer”: A classic in Clark Ashton Smith’s grim catalogue of tales. A young lad applies to be the secretary of a strange, rich old man, when he happens upon a dark and diabolical macabre secret. – “The City of the Singing Flame”: One of the most otherworldly tales I’ve read by CAS. A writer is transported to a vastly alien dimension with otherworldly sights, beings, and phenomena that his eyes can scarcely believe. – “A Good Embalmer”: Another tale that was definitely inspired by the works of Poe. An apprentice mortician learns that embalming is a grislier business than he could ever have imagined. – “The Testament of Athammaus”: Undoubtedly the best tale in this collection, another episode in Smith’s “Hyperborean Sequence.” The chief executioner of the abandoned mighty city of Commorium sets the record straight about how it eventually became an empty ruin. – “A Captivity in Serpens”: The third episode in “The Captain Volmar Sequence” and probably the best I have read so far. Being captured by giant hunters is only the beginning of woes and interplanetary nightmares for the crew of the Alcyone in this tale. – “The Letter From Mohaun Los”: This story reads like H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” on steroids. A passionate scientist and his servant move not only through time but also through space in globular time-traveling device and journey from world to world with sights and beings and civilizations completely alien to them. – “The Hunters from Beyond”: The friend of a quirky and morose artist whose tastes tilt towards the diabolical encounters the darksome interdimensional things that have inspired his latest grisly work. I was very much impressed by the tales in this collection. As these stories are collected chronologically, one can see how, over time, Clark Ashton Smith’s tales get better and better. I give “The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith Vol. II: The Door to Saturn” a 4 out of 5.

I read this book right after reading Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth, and that may have helped a little: Vance is a beautiful user of language, and so is CAS, perhaps to an even greater degree. He was a poet who turned to pulp writing to support aged parents, and never stopped writing poetry in creating his pulp fiction.A Door to Saturn is volume 2 of the 5 volume Night Shade complete collected works, so I guess its not for everyone in that there are cheaper collections of CAS's best work out there. But oh! the moments of beauty in every tale in the book, even in those "weaker" tales.The best stories in the book are the titular "The Door to Saturn", with a superb opening sentence that not only packs a punch, but also contains so much information, despite a potential over-use of commas: "When Morghi, the high priest of the goddess Yhoundeh, together with twelve of his most ferocious and efficient underlings, came at morning twilight to seek the infamous heretic, Eibon, in his house of black gneiss on a headland above the northern main, they were surprised as well as disappointed to find him absent." And it only gets better from there, full of dark humour and dire consequences for all involved."A Rendezvous in Averoigne" is a chilling little vampire tale from when vampires were evil, and scary, and would dominate your will and drink your blood. "The Ghoul" is unforgettable, as is "The Good Embalmer": both are short tales with a big impact.CAS tells a wonderfully descriptive parable in "The City of the Singing Flame". The possible meanings vary from reader to reader - is it about religion, money, drugs, obsession, or something else altogether."The Return of the Sorcerer" is a horror story full of boding dread and impending doom.There are a host of other stories - 20 in all - all with endnotes containing discussion of the stories, usually by way of correspondence between CAS and HP Lovecraft. Sometimes this is perhaps a little too much of a glimpse at the man behind the curtain, but in a definitive collection of work I can certainly understand its place.This is a superb collection of works, and should be more widely read.

The writing of Clark Ashton Smith is like his paintings: complex, deep, fascinating, mysterious, enigmatic, inspiring ----- and STARK TERRIFYING in places one may not suspect until the plot has turned. Though the stories of the "Lovecraft Circle" are dated (and rather racist in places, alas!), their dark fascination has withstood the test of time and only grown stronger.

although not all of clark ashton smith's weird tales are classics, almost all of them are worth reading. his best stories are terrific. this volume contains two of his very best; "THE CITY OF THE SINGING FLAME" and "THE TESTAMENT OF ATHAMMAUS". both stories rank with (smith's good friend) h.p. lovecraft's finest. "THE CITY OF THE SINGING FLAME" in particular is one of the most devastating short stories i've ever read. it will knock you out. many such stories (in volumes like this) promise weirdness, this one really delivers. it may also say something (by implication) about the source of weird tales in general. "THE TESTAMENT OF ATHAMMAUS" on the other hand, is a hilarious account of an executed criminal who won't stay dead. many of the other tales in this volume are quite good as well. CLARK ASHTON SMITH at his best is one of the greatest writers of weird tales that ever lived. this volume contains some of his very best. don't miss it.

Truly a fantastic book. The tales found within its covers transport the reader to strange worlds that have always existed deep in our minds but lie vague and forgotten in the mist that congregates about the dim objects of our childhood fancies. Wonder and terror are beautifully interwoven by this most talented and underappreciated of authors.

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* CAS Content 10/10, 5+ stars* Paperback edition material 7/10* Delivery condition 8/10The sheer power of CAS's texts is a supernova of language and escapism. One can certainly appreciate the passion, respect and dedication of NightShade's team to compile and distribute such a monumental series of hypnotic depth, breadth and wonder, which exposes CAS to a new generation. Thank you Ron, Scott and Co. These, along with Joshi's Penguin Classic: Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasises, and I'm hooked.The book/s I received were all a little tatty to start with, and even after a single through read of each of the 5 books with the utmost care, and they are now unbelievably tatty. The William Hope Hodgson series by NightShade had similar qualities/issues. If only the hardback versions were not so insanely priced.Even so, I highly recommend these books for the content, for the sheer exposure of readers to the wonders of CAS and that NightShade and the author/scholar team, are dedicated to exhibiting such a marvellous creator to us, to me. With the success of these particular books, who knows, maybe we will get affordable luxury hard back editions for CAS, as has occurred for HPL.Happy reading.

Being a committed Clark Ashton Smith fan, I had to get all the Volumes in this series and was much relieved to find that the frequent and upsetting formatting errors of the first Volume in the series are not a factor throughout every subsequent Volume, thank goodness. It has to be said, though, that the decision to separate paragraphs by no more than a single space, rather than a decent indent or even a clear line, is a great mistake in my opinion.

I remember reading all the C.A.S I could get hold of, many years ago when Panther Books began to reissue all of his works in paperback.After reading all of Lovecrafts ouvre, I discovered that he knew and admired Clark Ashton Smith greatly and spoke in glowing terms of his friends writings. That lead me onto discovering them myself; the same goes for Robert E Howard, too. Alas, over the years, I've lost or lent out my copies of his works, never to see them again, so it's great to have them available again and on Kindle.His stories are always entertaining and are a mixture of horror, fantasy and science fiction and their use of language is extremely poetic; a cut above some of the contributors to "Weird Tales", for who Smith wrote many of his works. Amongst my favourites are "The Abominations of Yondo" and the classic "The Colossus of Ylorgne", which, in my humble opinion, is one of the classiest fantasy "novelettes" ever written; a real tour de force of the imagination.So, do yourself a favour, purchase, settle down and become immersed in the terrifying but strangely beautiful world of Clark Ashton Smiths fertile imagination. 10 stars, at least.

La colección de 6 libros es extraordinaria, toda la ficción de Smith en una edición de buena calidad, con notas y comentarios. Este segundo volumen, sin embargo, no incluye los mejores cuentos del autor. Trae varios clásicos e imprescindibles pero la mayoría son medianos. De todos modos, sus ideas son fantásticas y cualquiera que se interese en la ficción extraña (weird), o en el círculo de Lovecraft, necesita este libro (y todos los demás).