The Averoigne Chronicles Series by Clark Ashton Smith

Published in chronological order, with extensive story and bibliographic notes, this series not only provides access to stories that have been out of print for years, but gives them a historical and social context. Series editors Scott Conners and Ronald S. Hilger excavated the still-existing manuscripts, letters and various published versions of the stories, creating a definitive "preferred text" for Smith's entire body of work... morePublished in chronological order, with extensive story and bibliographic notes, this series not only provides access to stories that have been out of print for years, but gives them a historical and social context. Series editors Scott Conners and Ronald S. Hilger excavated the still-existing manuscripts, letters and various published versions of the stories, creating a definitive "preferred text" for Smith's entire body of work. This first volume of the series, brings together 25 of his fantasy stories, written between 1925 and 1930, including such classics as "The Abominations of Yondo," "The Monster of the Prophecy," "The Last Incantation" and the title story. less

In 1927, H.P. Lovecraft wrote about Clark Ashton Smith: "In sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Mr. Smith is perhaps unexcelled by any other writer dead or living. Who else has seen such gorgeous, luxuriant, and feverishly distorted visions of infinite spheres and multiple dimensions and lived to tell the tale?" If you relish horror or dark fantasy, and you have yet to discover Klarkash-Ton, you have a real treat in store... moreIn 1927, H.P. Lovecraft wrote about Clark Ashton Smith: "In sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Mr. Smith is perhaps unexcelled by any other writer dead or living. Who else has seen such gorgeous, luxuriant, and feverishly distorted visions of infinite spheres and multiple dimensions and lived to tell the tale?" If you relish horror or dark fantasy, and you have yet to discover Klarkash-Ton, you have a real treat in store. This beautifully produced Arkham House collection is a bejeweled corridor into the dark worlds of vampire-cursed Averoigne, Zothique of the dying sun, primordial Hyperborea (which, with its black, amorphous god Tsathoggua, is close in spirit to Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos), and others. Smith is a consummate stylist whose evocations of lush exoticism and languid evil led critic Brian Stableford to call him "the poet of American Decadence," and yet his tales are also humorous—in a wry, macabre way. A Rendezvous in Averoigne collects 30 tales, with illustrations by J.K. Potter and an introduction by Ray Bradbury.Contents:Introduction (A Rendezvous in Averoigne) • essay by Ray BradburyA Rendezvous in Averoigne • interior artwork by J.K. PotterThe Holiness of Azédarac • (1933)The Colossus of Ylourgne • (1934)The End of the Story • (1930)A Rendezvous in Averoigne • (1931)The Last Incantation • (1930)The Death of Malygris • (1934)A Voyage to Sfanomoë • (1931)The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan • (1932)The Seven Geases • (1934) The Tale of Satampra Zeiros • (1931)The Coming of the White Worm • (1941)The City of the Singing Flame • [Singing Flame] • (1931)The Dweller in the Gulf • (1960)The Chain of Aforgomon • (1935)Genius Loci • (1933)The Maze of Maal Dweb • (1938)The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis • (1932)The Uncharted Isle • (1930)The Planet of the Dead • (1932)Master of the Asteroid • (1932)The Empire of the Necromancers • (1932)The Charnel God • (1934)Xeethra • (1934)The Dark Eidolon • (1935)The Death of Ilalotha • (1937)The Last Hieroglyph • (1935)Necromancy in Naat • (1936)The Garden of Adompha • [Zothique] • (1938)The Isle of the Torturers • (1933)Morthylla • (1953) less

The story of a nightmare horror loosed upon a mediaeval French village by Blaise Reynard the stone-cutter

The thrice-infamous Nathaire, alchemist, astrologer and necromancer, with his ten devil-given pupils, had departed very suddenly and under circumstances of strict secrecy from the town of Vyones. It was widely thought, among the people of that vicinage, that his departure had been prompted by a salutary fear of ecclesiastical thumbscrews and faggots... moreThe thrice-infamous Nathaire, alchemist, astrologer and necromancer, with his ten devil-given pupils, had departed very suddenly and under circumstances of strict secrecy from the town of Vyones. It was widely thought, among the people of that vicinage, that his departure had been prompted by a salutary fear of ecclesiastical thumbscrews and faggots. Other wizards, less notorious than he, had already gone to the stake during a year of unusual inquisitory zeal; and it was well-known that Nathaire had incurred the reprobation of the Church. Few, therefore, considered the reason of his going a mystery; but the means of transit which he had employed, as well as the destination of the sorcerer and his pupils, were regarded as more than problematic.A thousand dark and superstitious rumours were abroad; and passers made the sign of the Cross when they neared the tall, gloomy house which Nathaire had built in blasphemous proximity to the great cathedral and had filled with a furniture of Satanic luxury and strangeness. Two daring thieves, who had entered the mansion when the fact of its desertion became well established, reported that much of this furniture, as well as the books and other paraphernalia of Nathaire, had seemingly departed with its owner, doubtless to the same fiery bourn. This served to augment the unholy mystery: for it was patently impossible that Nathaire and his ten apprentices, with several cart-loads of household belongings, could have passed the ever-guarded city gates in any legitimate manner without the knowledge of the custodians... less

She was called “The Mother of Toads” and Pierre braved the dark woods to see her…