I Read Books: Zothique

Zothique

Clark Ashton Smith wrote a series of fantasy stories set in Zothique, which is supposedly a far future continent of Earth. They tend to revolve around necromancy and the undead, and often tombs and ruins. The setting is after great empires have turned to decadent death-magic then fallen, so those are possible options for the Zothique societies to be organised around. The stories have an early swords and sorcery feel to them. Although, as noted, Ashton Smith claimed it was the future of the Earth there’s no real indication of our history, nor is it deliberately making a point (see Jack Vance’s Dying Earth) in doing so. It could as easily be in the past (some sort of post-Atlantean Hyborian age a la Conan) or a secondary world.

This is beside the point. We have a lot of stories that are richly written, purple prose that will expand your vocabulary. They attempt to spook us with the dead coming back to life, sometimes successfully when they pile sentence upon sentence of the abstruse details. Occasionally there is a fun bit of adventure and even more occasionally a woman will play a significant part.

If you’re interested in early twentieth century fantasy, or ornate, baroque prose, or some of the ideas that fed into fantasy versions of the undead, then this is a good collection. If you’re mildly curious, the good news is that Clark Ashton Smith’s short fiction is available online so you can dip in. The Empire Of The Necromancers is an interesting story about two (evil) necromancers run out of town for necromancy, going to a place with no one living. The Black Abbot of Puthuum has a pair of mercenaries collecting a concubine for the king, only to find themselves caught up in a weird adventure. The Voyage Of King Euvoran has the eponymous king chasing birds and finding himself in the kingdom of birds, not to his favour.

Read This: Old school weird fiction and swords and sorcery
Don’t Read This: You prefer words you’ve heard before, and not too many of them
The Vast Majority: Of Clark Ashton Smith's writing can be found online at The Eldritch Dark including all the Zothique stories