A few years back, I was writing a series of posts for Black Gate in which I was reviewing each volume of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series (mostly) in order. The reasons why I stopped are several, and I’m not going to get into them here. Nor do I plan to restart that series here, at least not without getting John O’Neill’s blessing. He’d asked for the series, IIRC, and as a courtesy, I would want to make sure he was okay with me moving the series to my blog. I’ve got too many irons in the fire right now, though, to pick up another project.
For those not in the know, or stumbled upon this post because of the word “Adult” in the title, Ballantine published a series of books under the editorial direction of Lin Carter of fantasy aimed at grown-ups. If you’re in the latter group, this isn’t going to be that type of “adult” post. And the type of fantasy you’re probably looking for isn’t what we deal with here.
Zothique was the first of four collections of Clark Ashton Smith’s short fiction that appeared in the BAF series. The wrap-around cover is by George Barr. (One of the best things about this line of books was their covers.)
Zothique is the last continent on a far future Earth in which much science and history has been forgotten, and magic has returned. If this reminds you of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth, keep in mind Smith did it first. Some of the stories are better than others, but all are well-done. Here are a few of my favorites.“Xeethra” tells the tale of a young man who wanders into a magical vale, and when he returns he travels to the far side of the continent, where he makes a bargain that ultimately brings him sorrow.
In “The Isle of the Necromancers”, a man is searching for his lover, who has been kidnapped by slave traders. When his ship is caught in a current, he finds himself on an island of necromancers. And then things get interesting.
“The Witchcraft of Ulua” is a love story where not all is as if first appears.
“The Dark Eidolon” tells the story of an abused beggar who returns years later to seek revenge on the prince who injured him. This is a close second for my favorite story in the book. There are passing references to Hyperborea and Poseidonis, two other story cycles Smith wrote that were collected in the second and third volumes of Smith’s stories in the BAF series. Shucky darn, I guess I’m going to have to read those, too. How awful.
My favorite in the collection was “The Last Hieroglyph”. A third rate astrologer draws up his own horoscope and discovers that some of the hieroglyphs on it move around.
“The Isle of the Torturers” is a study in cruelty and ironic justice. While I found it rather predictable, I still enjoyed Smith’s execution of the idea.
In “The Garden of Adompha”, when an evil king kills and buries an evil sorcerer in his secret garden, we learn that “you are what you eat” applies to plants.
Clark Ashton Smith
I enjoyed all of the stories in this book, although the frequent necromancy got a little old. This edition of Zothique is long out of print, and while copies on the secondary market aren’t exorbitant, they ain’t exactly cheap. They tend to start at $40, except that copy from the guy in Spain. Fortunately, all the stories are available in other editions of the same title or omnibuses of Smith’s short fiction.
The stories have a rough sequence which Lin Carter discusses in his brief afterward. One of the things I didn’t realize was that Zothique was the first collection of Smith’s work that appeared in paperback, so this was a landmark volume. I saw several different paperback collections by Smith (including Hyperborea) when I was in middle school and high school, and have always taken for granted that his work was available in paperback.
Zothique was an important volume, both in terms of Smith’s legacy and in the BAF series itself. The four collections of Smith’s work (Xiccarph is the fourth.) are among the most sought out and hard to find volumes in the series. I always look for them when browsing second hand shops, but I usually don’t see them, athough I do come across other volumes in the series upon occasion.
I ended up reading this collection because Jeffro Johnson was tweeting about it, and then David J. West and Woelf Dietrich and I got into a discussion of it as well as Talbot Mundy’s Tros of Samothrace. That review will be tomorrow. I will read Hyperborea (ok, reread as it was the first BAF volume I read, way back in high school) and Poseidonis. And maybe Xiccarph. We’ll see.
Whelp, I’m looking forward to this. My first CAS book was the Ballantine Hyperborea and at 14 or so, it was weird and heady and more than a little mind-blowing.
I think I was 17 or so when I read Hyperborea, and yeah, what you said, “weird and heady and more than a little mind-blowing.”
Great to see you pick up the series here, Keith — after five long years! I hope you continue it.
You know, I’ve read a lot of CAS, much of it in the original pulps, but I’ve never read his BAF collections. I should remedy that.
Thanks, John.
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I first ran across Smith’s stories in anthologies when I was 14 or 15, and fell for them hard, so naturally I was thrilled by “Zothique” and Carter’s subsequent all-Smith collections in the Adult Fantasy series. Smith was a huge influence on the proper names for the D&D campaign setting I co-designed with Tom Moldvay, known initially as The Known World and later as Mystara. Re-reading his stories nowadays, Smith’s formula is all too evident, but I still adore his ambiance and world-building. Thanks!
– Lawrence Schick aka Lawrence Ellsworth
I have an aftermarket copy of Zothique that I pull down for a re-read now and again. I have probably read all of the BAF adult fantasy collection but maybe you provide a list in case there is one I missed.
I love Ken Barr’s artwork on this and other works.
This is the first time I have come across your Blog – I followed a link from Black Gate. As I looked at your banner image my mind started going “Read it”, “Read it”, “Read it”, “Got it”, “Read it”, “Got it”, “Got it”, “Read it”, “Got it”, “Got it”, “Read it”, “oh wait not familiar with that one”…..
You have very good taste.
Thank you, sir, and welcome. Glad you found me.
My first known encounter with Smith was the Pocket Timescape City of the Singing Flame collection at the local public library, which did include a nice selection of the Zothique stories, including The Dark Eidolon, which is probably my favorite Smith story.
I got copies of Hyperborea and Poseidonis not long after that — somebody must’ve dumped a bunch of Ballantine Adult Fantasy volumes at the local used book store. Zothique and Xiccarph I didn’t find until several years later when I started checking the collectible shelves at Dreamhaven Books in Minneapolis.
“The City of the Singing Flame” was the first story by Smith I read in an Anthology edited by Robert Silverberg in the middle school library. I grabbed the Timescape collection when it came out a few years later.
Thanks for taking the time to talk about this book; not enough people know about CAS or realize just how good he was. I have to agree with your opinion of the covers for the BAF books, most were good and some were great!
If you ever reconsider continuing your review of the BAF series, you have my vote.
Thanks. John O’Neill wants me to continue it here, so I will probably do some version of it, although it won’t be monthly. I’m going to look at all the CAS titles from the BAF series and maybe the Hannes Bok I didn’t cover at Black Gate as well.
I actually have that book– I think I got it last year. I must have gotten lucky because I don’t recall spending more than $15 for it.
I’ve listened to all the stories as audiobooks on youtube and I liked them quite a bit, and am curious to see how well they read.
That said, I agree that the whole ‘necromancer’ thing gets kind of old.
-Adrian Simmons
Prices on the BAF series tend to vary quite a bit sometimes. I would definitely pay $15 for another copy. $20, probably not since all the stories are available in cheaper editions.
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