Clark Ashton Smith—Ultimate Weird Tales Collection—133 Stories for 1.99 (Amazon/B&N)

[thrawn_aj]

Originally Posted by rogerVA

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Weird...7888172&sr=1-3

133 Weird Tales-era works of horror, science fiction and fantasy have been gathered here into one volume, all written by Clark Ashton Smith, who was the third member of the literary circle that included authors Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. Excluding only fragmentary notes, excerpts and synopses he never finished during his lifetime, this is perhaps the largest single collection of all his published and unpublished fiction.

...

Excellent find! Thanks

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Also available at same price at B&N.

Not that it matters too much, but the B&N price is 2.99 as of today (Amazon is still 1.99).

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by thrawn_aj

Not that it matters too much, but the B&N price is 2.99 as of today (Amazon is still 1.99).

Thanks for the heads up. I've edited my post to reflect the price change.

[JeremyR]

Hmmm, I'm not sure if I should link to this, because I don't know if the person who uploaded it really had permission like he claims. But then again, I think the same is true for the link at Amazon (as at least some of the stories are clearly under copyright...)

But basically the same thing is here for free, in a PRC file (and to be clear, the person who put it together claims he has permission):

http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=19647&p=category^!Horror ~!

[crich70]

Interesting. I've read "The Isle of the Torturers" before but not the others by C.A.Smith. It was one of the stories inclueded in 2 volumes of Weird Tales published in hardcover some yrs back. I found one book at a yard sale and another at a used bookstore (if I remember correctly). There were quite a lot of interesting tales in the magazine if the collections are any indication.

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Hmmm, I'm not sure if I should link to this, because I don't know if the person who uploaded it really had permission like he claims. But then again, I think the same is true for the link at Amazon (as at least some of the stories are clearly under copyright...)

But basically the same thing is here for free, in a PRC file (and to be clear, the person who put it together claims he has permission):

http://www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=19647&p=category^!Horror ~!

[JeremyR]

Pretty much his entire short story output was recently published in 5 hardcover volumes by Night Shade Books (which I own).

At his best, he was as good as any writer. At his worst, he was pretty bad (his science fiction), but a lot of this was excused by him simply writing to support his parents.

His best stuff was probably his fantasy stories, of which he had three main series: Zothique (of which the Isle of the Torturers was a part, set far in the future), Hyperborea (set in the distant past), and Averoigne (set in Medieval France)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Pretty much his entire short story output was recently published in 5 hardcover volumes by Night Shade Books (which I own).

In that case, Jeremy, can you clarify what the copyright status of these works is, please?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Pretty much his entire short story output was recently published in 5 hardcover volumes by Night Shade Books (which I own).

At his best, he was as good as any writer. At his worst, he was pretty bad (his science fiction), but a lot of this was excused by him simply writing to support his parents.

His best stuff was probably his fantasy stories, of which he had three main series: Zothique (of which the Isle of the Torturers was a part, set far in the future), Hyperborea (set in the distant past), and Averoigne (set in Medieval France)

I agree with you completely on your assessment, which most critics also find agreement with.

Also, the volumes edited by Lin Carter are excellent, if anyone can find these older Ballantine editions


Don

[rogerVA]

I'm lucky enough to have his complete fiction in five volumes (recent Nightshade edition), most or all of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy PBs (the Lin Carter anthologies that the good Dr. recommends above), the complete poetry in three volumes (Hippocampus), and older collection of his non-fiction, his selected letters (Arkham House), the large beautiful bibliography, most or all of the Necronomicon Press single-story editions, the two Necronomicon trade paperbacks, and more that I'm forgetting. I don't have much to brag about anymore, so thought I'd do so when I could... I do love CAS.

[crich70]

Alas in hardcover all I have is the one story by C.A. Smith. The aforementioned "Isle of the Torturers." Still there are a good many stories in the two volumes. 32 stories in one volume and 45 in another which comes to a total of 77 stories which appeared in Weird Tales.

[Ralph Sir Edward]

I'm not a horror fan, for CAS is not on my reading list. But as to copyright...

Current US law is for anything that was under copyright at the time the US went Berne (1978) was in essence grandfathered into copyright with a term of 70 years. This was extend in the Sonny Bono copyright extension act of 1998 (more commonly known as the Mickey Mouse Preservation Act) to 95 Years.

That makes the 1923 copyrights go into the public domain in the US in 2018. (Assuming, of course that the Mouse House doesn't pay millions again in brib- (excuse me) CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS to public spirited congress people...

[HarryT]

Yes, Ralph, I'm perfectly well aware of all that . But it doesn't answer the question as to whether or not this particular story collection (which unquestionably contains stories that are still protected by copyright) has been published with the permission of the copyright holder.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by rogerVA

I'm lucky enough to have his complete fiction in five volumes (recent Nightshade edition), most or all of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy PBs (the Lin Carter anthologies that the good Dr. recommends above), the complete poetry in three volumes (Hippocampus), and older collection of his non-fiction, his selected letters (Arkham House), the large beautiful bibliography, most or all of the Necronomicon Press single-story editions, the two Necronomicon trade paperbacks, and more that I'm forgetting. I don't have much to brag about anymore, so thought I'd do so when I could... I do love CAS.

It sounds like a beautiful collection that you've assembled.

I'm a huge admirer of his work, and at one time had everything here that you list, along with some limited single prose poem chapbooks.

Alas, I sold most of these items some years ago. (Since it is difficult to kick myself, I'm giving you permission to plant one right where it hurts!)



Don

[jerrywojo]

Thanks for the heads up. BTW the sample is huge!

[JeremyR]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In that case, Jeremy, can you clarify what the copyright status of these works is, please?

Every volume says "______ ____" (the name of each volume) Copyright 2010 (or 2008/2009) by The Estate of Clark Ashton Smith.


It's a bit confusing because Eldritch Dark, a website, has all the stories available online. Which might lead people to think it's public domain.

But the owner of the site has permission

http://www.eldritchdark.com/about

Permission has been granted for the non-profit use of Clark Ashton Smith material on The Eldritch Dark website by - CASiana (the Estate of Clark Ashton Smith) and Arkham House.

[atidball]

The Nightshade CAS collected works are now available at webscription here. Price for the bundle is $25, but at least these are more likely to be legit.

They also have their William Hope Hodgson collection here.