Lair of the Eldritch Dark

Lair of the Eldritch Dark gathers many of Clark Ashton Smith's classic tales of fantasy and horror—along with his ethereal poetry and prose poems—together in one wide-ranging volume of speculative fantastical fiction and verse.



A great friend of H. P. Lovecraft and a contemporary of Robert E. Howard, Smith’s vivid imagination and unique antiheroes created worlds that pushed the accepted boundaries of both realism and fantasy, ushering in new ways of writing while challenging readers to think differently.



Smith's wide-ranging influence is still felt strongly today. His enthusiastic readers went on to build and mold the genres of fantasy, horror, and SF as we know them. Gene Wolfe, Fritz Leiber, Ray Bradbury, Jack Vance, Leigh Brackett, Harlan Ellison, and George R. R. Martin among many others were influenced by Smith's otherworldly, visionary fiction.



The following books, stories, poems, and prose poems are included in Lair of the Eldritch Dark:



Books of Poetry and Prose Poems:



The Star-Treader and Other Poems



Ebony and Crystal: Poems in Verse and Prose





Short Stories:



Averoigne:

The Colossus of Ylourgne

The Disinterment of Venus

Mother of Toads

The Enchantress of Sylaire

A Rendezvous In Averoigne



Hyperborea:

The Door to Saturn

The Seven Geases

The Tale of Satampra Zeiros



Poseidonis:

Atlantis

From a Letter/Muse of Atlantis

The Death of Malygris

The Double Shadow

Maal Dweb of Xiccarph:

The Maze of Maal Dweb

The Flower-Women



Aihai/Mars:

Vulthoom



Zothique:

The Weaver in the Vault

The Witchcraft of Ulua

The Charnel God

The Tomb-Spawn

Xeethra

The Dark Eidolon

Necromancy in Naat

The Black Abbot of Puthuum

The Death of Ilalotha

The Garden of Adompha

The Master of the Crabs

Morthylla

The Last Hieroglyph



Other Short Stories:

The Ghost of Mohammed Din

The Mahout

Prince Alcouz and the Magician

The Raja and the Tiger

Something New

The Planet of the Dead

The Demon of the Flower

The Chain of Aforgomon

The Devotee of Evil



Other Poetry:

Adventure

Afterwards

Alienage

Apologia

August

Autumn Orchards

Autumn's Pall

The Barrier

Brumal

The City of the Titans

Contradiction

Departure

Don Juan Sings

Dream Mystery

Duality

The End of Autumn

Forgotten Sorrow

The Horizon

Interrogation

The Love-Potion

Moon-Dawn

Moonlight

Nyctalops

Ougabalys

Psalm to the Desert

Remembrance

The Secret

Selenique

Semblance

The Song of Aviol

The Song of Cartha

Song of the Necromancer

To the Chimera

The Unremembered

A Valediction

We Shall Meet

The Wind and the Moon

The Wingless Archangels

Witch-Dance

The Witch with Eyes of Amber

You are not Beautiful

Luna Aeternalis

Other Prose Poetry:

The Lake of Enchanted Silence

To the Daemon



Epigrams:

Abandoned Plum-Orchard.

Cats in Winter Sunlight



Translations:

Parisian Dream by Charles Baudelaire

Alchemy of Sorrow by Charles Baudelaire

The Owls



This book also includes numerous illustrations by Smith for reader enjoyment.