Clark Ashton Smith: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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* [[Best Served Cold]]
* [[Best Served Cold]]
* [[Better Living Through Evil]]: the [[Evil Sorcerer]] Namirrha's backstory in ''The Dark Eidolon''
* [[Better Living Through Evil]]: the [[Evil Sorcerer]] Namirrha's backstory in ''The Dark Eidolon''
* [[Big Screwed Up Family]]: One of Smith's more notable contributions to the Mythos is the idea that the various [[Eldritch Abomination]] are all related to each other in some way or another like a classical pantheon, rather than a bunch of random, unrelated extradimensional aliens. For instance, Hastur is supposedly Cthulhu's half-brother. And he's married to Shub Niggurath and therefore, presumably the father of at least some of her enigmatic Thousand Young.
* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]]: One of Smith's more notable contributions to the Mythos is the idea that the various [[Eldritch Abomination]] are all related to each other in some way or another like a classical pantheon, rather than a bunch of random, unrelated extradimensional aliens. For instance, Hastur is supposedly Cthulhu's half-brother. And he's married to Shub Niggurath and therefore, presumably the father of at least some of her enigmatic Thousand Young.
* [[Black Comedy]]
* [[Black Comedy]]
* [[Body Horror]]
* [[Body Horror]]
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* [[Charm Person]]: Part of the repertory of every self-respecting evil female caster.
* [[Charm Person]]: Part of the repertory of every self-respecting evil female caster.
* [[Chased By Angry Natives]]
* [[Chased By Angry Natives]]
* [[Cold Blooded Torture]]
* [[Cold-Blooded Torture]]
* [[Comet of Doom]]
* [[Comet of Doom]]
* [[Cosmic Horror Story]]: Used straight and subverted.
* [[Cosmic Horror Story]]: Used straight and subverted.
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* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: ''The Dark Eidolon'' is all about this.
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: ''The Dark Eidolon'' is all about this.
* [[Doomed Protagonist]]
* [[Doomed Protagonist]]
* [[Downer Ending]]: Toyed with a lot. Sometimes we get a simple [[The Bad Guy Wins]] downer; sometimes a [[Kill Em All]] ending, where the villains go down as well; and sometimes a straight happy ending.
* [[Downer Ending]]: Toyed with a lot. Sometimes we get a simple [[The Bad Guy Wins]] downer; sometimes a [[Kill'Em All]] ending, where the villains go down as well; and sometimes a straight happy ending.
* [[Dragged Off to Hell]]: Inverted {{spoiler|in ''The Devotee of Evil''.}} Averted {{spoiler|in ''Xeethra'' to the surprise of the main character. It's still a [[Downer Ending]] though.}}
* [[Dragged Off to Hell]]: Inverted {{spoiler|in ''The Devotee of Evil''.}} Averted {{spoiler|in ''Xeethra'' to the surprise of the main character. It's still a [[Downer Ending]] though.}}
* [[Drives Like Crazy]]: The titular cult in his [[Future Imperfect]] satire "The Great God Awto." A postscript reveals that in the 60th Century, people drive like crazy in stratospheric rocket ships, although of course they don't do this as part of some savage religion like Awto's barbaric "Hammuriquanean" worshippers.
* [[Drives Like Crazy]]: The titular cult in his [[Future Imperfect]] satire "The Great God Awto." A postscript reveals that in the 60th Century, people drive like crazy in stratospheric rocket ships, although of course they don't do this as part of some savage religion like Awto's barbaric "Hammuriquanean" worshippers.
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* [[Empty Piles of Clothing]]: In ''The Weaver in the Vault''.
* [[Empty Piles of Clothing]]: In ''The Weaver in the Vault''.
* [[The End of the World As We Know It]]
* [[The End of the World As We Know It]]
* [[Everythings Sparkly With Jewelry]]
* [[Everything's Sparkly With Jewelry]]
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: In ''The Dark Eidolon'', the archdemon Thasaidon, Lord of the Seven Hells, refuses to help the sorcerer Namirrha in his plan for vengeance. This may be because all the people who would be killed by the plan are evil, and therefore unwitting servants of Thasaidon.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: In ''The Dark Eidolon'', the archdemon Thasaidon, Lord of the Seven Hells, refuses to help the sorcerer Namirrha in his plan for vengeance. This may be because all the people who would be killed by the plan are evil, and therefore unwitting servants of Thasaidon.
* [[Evil Is Deathly Cold]]: In ''The Coming of the White Worm'' and ''The Ice Demon''.
* [[Evil Is Deathly Cold]]: In ''The Coming of the White Worm'' and ''The Ice Demon''.
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* [[It Got Worse]]
* [[It Got Worse]]
* [[Irony]]
* [[Irony]]
* [[Kill Em All]]: Repeatedly, to various degrees of scale and completeness.
* [[Kill'Em All]]: Repeatedly, to various degrees of scale and completeness.
* [[Kiss of Death]]: Most notably the non-vampiric one in ''The Kiss of Zoraida''.
* [[Kiss of Death]]: Most notably the non-vampiric one in ''The Kiss of Zoraida''.
* [[Kiss of the Vampire]]
* [[Kiss of the Vampire]]
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* [[Loveable Rogue]]: Satampra Zeiros.
* [[Loveable Rogue]]: Satampra Zeiros.
* [[Love Potion]]: In ''The Mandrakes'' and ''The Mother of Toads''.
* [[Love Potion]]: In ''The Mandrakes'' and ''The Mother of Toads''.
* [[Mad Scientists Beautiful Daughter]]: Subverted in ''The Dark Age''.
* [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter]]: Subverted in ''The Dark Age''.
* [[Magic Mirror]]: Present with different powers in ''Necromancy In Naat'' and ''The Enchantress of Sylaire''.
* [[Magic Mirror]]: Present with different powers in ''Necromancy In Naat'' and ''The Enchantress of Sylaire''.
* [[Magic Wand]]: Used by Maal Dweb in ''The Flower Women''.
* [[Magic Wand]]: Used by Maal Dweb in ''The Flower Women''.
* [[Magnificent Bastard]]: Maal Dweb.
* [[Magnificent Bastard]]: Maal Dweb.
* [[Malevolent Masked Men]]: In ''The Charnel God''.
* [[Malevolent Masked Men]]: In ''The Charnel God''.
* [[Man Eating Plant]]
* [[Man-Eating Plant]]
* [[The Middle Ages]]: Where the Averoigne stories take place.
* [[The Middle Ages]]: Where the Averoigne stories take place.
* [[Muck Monster]]: Abhoth, appearing in "The Seven Geases".
* [[Muck Monster]]: Abhoth, appearing in "The Seven Geases".
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* [[Victory Is Boring]]: Affects Maal Dweb.
* [[Victory Is Boring]]: Affects Maal Dweb.
* [[Villain Protagonist]]: Repeatedly.
* [[Villain Protagonist]]: Repeatedly.
* [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs]]: The [[Narrative Poem]] ''The Hashish-Eater, or the Apocalypse of Evil'' plays with/subverts/does ''something'' to this trope. Its narrator travels through various fantastic visions, but apart from the title, it contains no mention of drugs.
* [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs?]]: The [[Narrative Poem]] ''The Hashish-Eater, or the Apocalypse of Evil'' plays with/subverts/does ''something'' to this trope. Its narrator travels through various fantastic visions, but apart from the title, it contains no mention of drugs.
* [[Wicked Witch]]: In ''The Mother of Toads''.
* [[Wicked Witch]]: In ''The Mother of Toads''.
* [[Woman Scorned]]: Ilalotha in ''The Death of Ilalotha''.
* [[Woman Scorned]]: Ilalotha in ''The Death of Ilalotha''.

Revision as of 06:31, 9 January 2014

Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) was an American writer of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction. He is most notable for being one of the founders of the Cthulhu Mythos along with HP Lovecraft, Robert E Howard and others.

Compared to Lovecraft's, Smith's stories tend to focus less on the Cosmic Horror Story and more on the pure exoticism of the setting. Some Mythos entities recur between them, such as the god Tsathoggua, but these entities tend to be less malevolent in Smith's portrayal than in Lovecraft's.

Also unlike Lovecraft, sexuality plays a strong role in many of Smith's works and female characters are a lot stronger and more prominent than in Lovecraft (most likely to Smith having a much more... active love life than Lovecraft). Unlike Howard, sorcerers in Smith tend to have the upper hand against swordsmen and Smith has many sorcerer protagonists, both good and evil. Unlike both Lovecraft and Howard, Smith was not a racist or a xenophobe, which can be seen best in stories like The Great God Awto and A Star-Change.

Smith was fond of playing with tropes and his stories occasionally feature Black Comedy.

Tropes found in Clark Ashton Smith's works:

 There were tables strewn with archaic instruments of doubtful use, with astrological charts, with skulls and alembics and crystals, with censers such as are used in the Catholic Church, and volumes bound in worm-eaten leather with verdigris-mottled clasps. In one corner stood the skeleton of a large ape; in another, a human skeleton; and overhead a stuffed crocodile was suspended.

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Clark_Ashton_Smith?oldid=508636"