The Double Shadow [Hardcover]

Clark Ashton Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2005

A collection of six stories ranging from contemporary horror to weird alternate-world fantasy, this book remains a fascinating introduction and showcase to Smith's decadently jeweled prose.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 108 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809533669
• ISBN-13: 978-0809533664
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,528,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A few of Smith's own favorites, September 12, 2004

By 

James Rockhill (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Double Shadow (Hardcover)

The first edition of this book - a drab, stapled booklet issued at the author's expense in 1933 - was an attempt by the poet and prose fantasist Clark Ashton Smith to save a few of his favorite tales from oblivion after submission of these tales had resulted in either rejection or requests for alterations the author was not willing (at that time) to make. "The Maze of the Enchanter" and "The Voyage of King Euvoran" are both vastly superior to the disembowelled versions published years later as "The Maze of Maal Dweb" and "The Quest of the Gazolba". Three of my favorite tales by Smith appear in this book - "The Maze of the Enchanter", "A Night in Malneant", and "The Double Shadow". Of these, only one, the heavily-edited "The Maze of Maal Dweb" - still impressive in plot, if less precise in action and almost devoid of atmosphere- appears in Arkham House's fine retrospective collection of Smith's work, A RENDEZVOUS IN AVEROIGNE. "The Devotee of Evil", an exercise in contemporary horror not dissimilar to such minor, early Lovecraft efforts as "From Beyond", disappoints, otherwise the contents are chilling, evocative, mournful, and sardonic by turns, with Smith's muse shaping the prose so cunningly that word, image, action, atmosphere, and speech all work toward the same otherworldly end.

Wildside Press has not produced the most elegant edition of the book one could imagine. The binding is not sewn, the paper is thin, and half the title - the words "AND OTHER FANTASIES" - appears only inside the book, a detail which may cause some confusion among those not already familiar with Smith's work. Nonetheless, the book appears reasonably durable, the cover art is attractive, the text is laid out stylishly, and random checks for accuracy suggest this is more carefully proofread than are some of this publisher's earlier books. "The Maze of the Enchanter" in all its unexpurgated glory is alone worth the price of this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Weird stories, and Wild cover!!!, December 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Double Shadow (Paperback)

A delight to read, especially knowing that Smith wrote this in the late 1920's. Smith is very contemporary in his vision. In fact, "The Willow Landscape" must have influenced Rod Serling and his famous Twilight Zone series. My only complaint is that the book's title made no reference to the fact that it contains six stories, not just "The Double Shadow." The book contains "The Voyage of King Euvoran," "The Maze of the Enchanter," "The Double Shadow," "A Night in Malneant," "The Devotee of Evil," and "The Willow Landscape." Additionally, DiSilvio's cover art is as fantastical as Smith's prose, and sets the scene for "The Voyage of King Euvoran" even more mysteriously than the tale itself. A great artistic keepsake!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Decadent Delight, August 11, 2005

By 

Alfred D. Byrd (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Double Shadow (Paperback)

Fans of high fantasy in the style of Lord Dunsany get a treat in Clark Ashton Smith's The Double Shadow. One of the "big three" writers of pulp fantasy in the 1920's, along with H. P. Lovecraft and Robert Howard, Ashton Smith wrote numerous well-crafted, stylish, and decadent short stories in several series. The six stories in The Double Shadow are independent of these series, but just as stylish as any of the stories in them were.

"The Voyage of King Euvoran," an ironic tale of a king's quest for a missing crown, should please any fan of the Arabian Nights. "The Maze of the Enchanter" is a brooding tale of transfiguration that must have inspired some of the early tales of Jack Vance's Dying Earth. "A Nightfall in Malneant" is a tale of a spiritual journey through despair worthy of Poe himself. "The Devotee of Evil" follows a quest for the source of evil to its ultimate wellsprings of madness. "The Willow Landscape," on the other hand, is a delicately written Chinese fairy tale showing the breadth of Ashton Smith's skill as a writer. The title story, "The Double Shadow," is a masterpiece of dark fantasy, tracing in delicate, poetic, yet malific tones the course of a conjuring of the unknown.

In his work Ashton Smith plumbs all of the dark emotions of a decaying world. Perhaps nowhere else will a devoted reader of fantasy find such variety and value in so small a space as in the collection of six stories published by Wildside Press.