Necromancy in Naat by Clark Ashton Smith

Necromancy in Naat by Clark Ashton Smith

I have had the pleasure of reading a half dozen or so Clark Ashton Smith stories over the past year and this is easily the best of all of them. It starts with a classic problem in fantasy literature. The hero, Yadar, is trying to rescue the love of his life, Dalili, after she has been captured and enslaved. By the end, this will cease to be a simple recovery story and turn into a genuinely touching romance—something I never expected from Clark Ashton Smith whose previous stories led me to think he saw women as either prizes or evil seductresses.

 

In the opening pages, Smith mentions many adventures that Yadar endures in what are essentially throwaway paragraphs. Some authors would have used these adventures to build a novel. Smith uses them to exquisitely construct Yadar’s reputation with the reader. He’s a Sinbad or a Conan, capable of both martial feats and great cleverness, and these clearly incredible challenges he overcame are barely worth mentioning as footnotes compared to the true story to come. And what a challenge the real story presents. Dalili has fallen into the possession of the Necromancers of Naat and turned into a zombie. You read that right—before the story truly beings—Yadar has lost. And yet, Smith still manages to create a fantastic story that ends with a haunting and yet surprisingly beautiful expression of true and enduring love.

 

I’ve always enjoyed Clark Aston Smith’s work, but this story makes me realize just how capable he truly was.

 

I’d like to add a note about the narrator of this story, because it’s through him that I discovered these Clark Ashton Smith tales. Will Hahn is an amazingly talented reader who brings drama and excitement with every word he utters. So when I found out he had chosen to narrate a handful of stories from CASiana Enterprises Ltd., I wondered what it was about them that drew his interest. After listening to the tales, I not only understood, it made me want to see what other gems he’s uncovered and could share with the rest of us.