Portrait by Frank R. Paul

Usually when you mention Clark Ashton Smith you get a nod towards H. P. Lovecraft or Weird Tales. Certainly Smith did make his reputation in that publication with his ornate style of weird Fantasy, but he was not one of those authors who sold to Farnsworth Wright alone. Clark Ashton Smith took up Pulp writing to make money. He had no illusions about pumping out Cowboy yarns but he did make an interesting contribution to Science Fiction through Hugo Gernsback.

Cover by HVB

Smith appeared sixteen times in different Gernsback magazines. His first appearance was “Murder in the Fourth Dimension” in Amazing Detective Tales, October 1930. That periodical was doomed to fail but Smith moved onto Wonder Stories and Wonder Stories Quarterly. His editor was not Gernsback but a very young David Lasser, who struggled with filling magazines at the same time that Hugo was slow to pay. Lovecraft sold Gernsback only a few stories before dubbing him “Hugo the Rat” and taking his work elsewhere. Lasser worked hard with Smith but in the end he committed the ultimate insult to the Californian poet. Lasser revised “The Dweller in the Gulf” without consulting Smith. Though slow to pay, Smith had been willing to wait as long as his work was not mangled. Two last stories appeared, already purchased, and no more. The Smith-Gernsback days (October 1931-May 1933) were over. He did write more SF for other publishers but never again for Lasser and Gernsback.

Portrait by Frank R. Paul

As with all Gernsback products, the artist was usually Frank R. Paul. Paul’s strangely unimportant humans are off-set by startling building, monsters and planets. This weird talent was perfect for Smith’s tales, for he too was not overly concerned with human characters but the visual aspects of his tales. Smith was lucky enough to get six covers, all by Paul. Garish but again strangely appropriate for Smith and his tales of Super-Time and Space. Clark Ashton Smith left his mark on SF, inspiring such authors as Harlan Ellison and Jack Vance.

Art by Frank R. Paul

“Marooned in Andromeda” (Wonder Stories, October 1930)

Art by M. Marchioni

“An Adventure in Futurity” (Wonder Stories, April 1931)

Art by Frank R. Paul

Art by Frank R. Paul

“The Amazing Planet” (aka “A Captive in Serpens”) (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Summer 1931)

Art by Frank R. Paul

Art by Frank R. Paul

“The City of the Singing Flame” (Wonder Stories, July 1931)

Art by Frank R. Paul

“The Planet Entity” (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Fall 1931)

Art by Frank R. Paul

“Beyond the Singing Flame” (Wonder Stories, November 1931)

Art by Frank R. Paul

“The Eternal World” (Wonder Stories, March 1932)

Art by Frank R. Paul

Art by Frank R. Paul

“The Invisible City” (Wonder Stories, June 1932)

Art by Frank R. Paul

“Flight Into Super-Time” (Wonder Stories, August 1932)

Art by Frank R. Paul

Art by Frank R. Paul

“Master of the Asteroid” (Wonder Stories, October 1932)

Art by Frank R. Paul

“Dimension of Chance” (Wonder Stories, November 1932)

Art by Frank R. Paul

“Dweller in the Gulf” (Wonder Stories, March 1933)

Art by Frank R. Paul

“The Light From Beyond” (Wonder Stories, April 1933)

Art by Frank R. Paul

Art by Frank R. Paul

“Visitor From Mlok” (aka “A Star-Change”) (Wonder Stories, May 1933)

Clark Ashton Smith may have avoided Hugo Gernsback after 1933 but he wasn’t done with Science Fiction. He published at least a dozen more stories, though not with the regularity and verve he had for Wonder Stories. Several of pieces were reprinted in Startling Stories and Fantastic Story Quarterly.

Art by Joseph Doolin

“The Planet of the Dead” (Weird Tales, March 1932)

Art by T. Wyatt Nelson

“The Vaults of Voh-Vombis” (Weird Tales, May 1932)

Art by unknown artist

“The Demon of the Flower” (Astounding Stories, December 1933)

“The Plutonian Drug” (Amazing Stories, September 1934)

Art by Vincent Napoli

“Vulthoom” (Weird Tales, September 1935)

Art by Jack Binder

“The Dark Age” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1938)

Art by M. Marchioni

“The Great God Awto” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1940)

“The Devotee of Evil” (reprinted Stirring Science Stories, February 1941)

Art by John Forte

“The Primal City” (Comet, December 1940, reprinted from The Fantasy Fan 1934)

“Flight Through Time” (Tales of Wonder and Super Science #16, March 1942)

Art by unknown artist

“Dimension of Chance” (reprinted in Startling Stories, Spring 1946)

Art by Paul Orban

“The Amazing Planet” Reprint Fantastic Story Quarterly (Winter 1951)

Illustration by Art Sussman

“Schizoid Creator” (Fantasy Fiction, November 1953)

“Phoenix” (Time to Come, 1954) edited by August Derleth

“Monsters in the Night” (F&SF, October 1954)