Out of Space and Time

Rating:
Summary: Out of Space and Time
Review: If I were to heap all the praises necessary to showcase Out of Space and Time, I would run out of space, and I would run out of time. Clark Ashton Smith was simply brilliant--brilliant with colourful, wickedly magical language (come and meet acres of new and sinister words, painting wicked worlds!). All of his stories can't help but appeal to: Lovecraft fans (in fact, Smith borrows the Necronomicon, and some of the names of the unspeakable Old Ones), fans of Hodgson's The Night Land, and even those who are familiar with the works of A. Merritt.

The standouts, in Out of Space And Time would be 'The Death Of Ilalotha', featuring the most hideous love-triangle you've ever seen, including a final image that will make your bones creep. Plus, look to 'The Return Of The Sorcerer' for a zombie story that falls to (undead, moving) pieces throughout, but in such a delightfully spine-curdling way! Then there are the Hyperborean entries (Hyperborea, along with Zothique, being one of Smith's most famous bizarreful realms of demon doings and rending retribution--gosh darn it, I try, but I just can't write like Smith, no matter how I struggle)--'The Testament Of Athammaus', in which repeatedly beheading a serpentine villain only seems to make him stronger; 'The Weird Of Avoosl Wuthoqquan', where an avaricious usurer is lured into a golden trap; and 'Ubbo-Sathia', in which time flows backward until it devours its victims.

In fact, this books is full of devouring--a definite humans-as-morsels motif weaves throughout, even on Smith's version of a nightmare Mars, where brain-savouring slugs lie in wait for the unwary.

The Necronomicon...brain-savouring slugs...need I say any more?