Zothique: The Final Cycle

Zothique, a mythical land of the far future, is Clark Ashton Smith's most carefully worked out fantasy realm, and many of his most celebrated stories are set in this evocative world of languid decadence, strangeness, and sexuality. Beginning with "The Empire of the Necromancers" (1932) and extending all the way to the short play The Dead Will Cuckold You (1956), Smith fashioned Zothique in tale after tale, each adding new elements to the locale.

As we read the Zothique tales, we see how the imminent extinguishing of the sun has caused civilization to collapse. Paradoxically, society has reverted to a kind of primitivism with the return of royalty, superstition, and sorcery. This scenario allowed Smith to engage in tongue-in-cheek archaism of both langauge and setting. Some of the most poignant stories he ever wrote-stories that fused fantasy and the supernatural with a sense of aching loss and tragedy-are set in Zothique, including "The Dark Eidolon" and "Xeethra."

Other tales, such as "The Weaver of the Vault" and "Necromancy in Naat," focus morbidly on death. Eroticism is the focus of "The Witchcraft of Ulua" and "Morthylla," while "The Voyage of King Euvoran" is grimly humorous. And "The Last Hieroglyph" is a fitting capstone to the series in its depiction of the ultimate destruction of the realm.

Of all his story cycles, Zothique allowed Clark Ashton Smith the widest scope for his imagination. This volume presents his expression of that imagination in prose fiction, drama, and poetry. All the texts have been scrupulously edited by leading Smith scholar Ron Hilger, and features a new introduction by Donald Sidney-Fryer.