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The Averoigne Legacy: Tribute Tales in the World of Clark Ashton Smith
NOT THE END OF THE STORY
The lore of Averoigne didn’t end with Clark Ashton Smith. Over the decades other writers, fascinated by this “Lovecraft country” of medieval France, added their own contributions. For the first time collected together into one volume, you can read over two dozen poems and stories of Averoigne (including some never before published) by Mythos authors like DJ Tyrer, Richard Tierney, Brian McNaughton, Michael Minnis, and James Chambers. Revisit Vyônes and Périgon, meet Luc le Chaudronnier and Azédarac once again, as tales of harpies and werewolves, ogres and giants, changelings and cockatrices await you, including:
THE ORACLE OF SADOQUA by Ron Hilger
THE WEDDING OF SHEILA-NA-GOG by G. Arthur Rahman & Richard L. Tierney
THE CULT OF THE SINGING FLAME by David Reid Ross
THE DOOM OF AZÉDARAC by Ron Hilger
THE PINK FLOWER OF SAINT ZÉNOBIE by Aaron Hollingsworth
HUGH THE DISCERNING by Garnett Elliott
THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF GHOSTLY CATS by Michael Minnis
UNHALLOWED GROUND, UNHOLY FLESH by James Chambers
THE LITTLE AND THE BIG by Michael Minnis
THE PASSING OF BELZÉVUTHE by Simon Whitechapel
THE BUTCHER OF VYÔNES by Michael Minnis
BLACK ART IN VYÔNES by Keith Chapman
THE COCKATRICE OF CORDELIERS by Michael Minnis
CLOTAIRE OF THE CROSS by Colin Harker
SYMPOSIUM OF THE GARGOYLE by Simon Whitechapel
THE QUARRY by Simon Whitechapel
THE GARGOYLES OF NOTRE DAME by Matthew Baugh
THE RETURN OF THE COLOSSUS by Brian McNaughton
THE MUSE OF AVEROIGNE by Ron Hilger & Henry J. Vester III
THE FELL FÊTE by Manuel Arenas
BOUFONOULA by D.J. Tyrer
A HONEYMOON IN AVEROIGNE by Trevor O. Childers
... PLUS over a dozen poems of Averoigne by H.P. Lovecraft, DJ Tyrer, Ashley Dioses, Wade German, Cardinal Cox, Ron Shiflet and others, AND a Map of Averoigne by multiple Hugo-award winning artist Tim Kirk!
The lore of Averoigne didn’t end with Clark Ashton Smith. Over the decades other writers, fascinated by this “Lovecraft country” of medieval France, added their own contributions. For the first time collected together into one volume, you can read over two dozen poems and stories of Averoigne (including some never before published) by Mythos authors like DJ Tyrer, Richard Tierney, Brian McNaughton, Michael Minnis, and James Chambers. Revisit Vyônes and Périgon, meet Luc le Chaudronnier and Azédarac once again, as tales of harpies and werewolves, ogres and giants, changelings and cockatrices await you, including:
THE ORACLE OF SADOQUA by Ron Hilger
THE WEDDING OF SHEILA-NA-GOG by G. Arthur Rahman & Richard L. Tierney
THE CULT OF THE SINGING FLAME by David Reid Ross
THE DOOM OF AZÉDARAC by Ron Hilger
THE PINK FLOWER OF SAINT ZÉNOBIE by Aaron Hollingsworth
HUGH THE DISCERNING by Garnett Elliott
THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF GHOSTLY CATS by Michael Minnis
UNHALLOWED GROUND, UNHOLY FLESH by James Chambers
THE LITTLE AND THE BIG by Michael Minnis
THE PASSING OF BELZÉVUTHE by Simon Whitechapel
THE BUTCHER OF VYÔNES by Michael Minnis
BLACK ART IN VYÔNES by Keith Chapman
THE COCKATRICE OF CORDELIERS by Michael Minnis
CLOTAIRE OF THE CROSS by Colin Harker
SYMPOSIUM OF THE GARGOYLE by Simon Whitechapel
THE QUARRY by Simon Whitechapel
THE GARGOYLES OF NOTRE DAME by Matthew Baugh
THE RETURN OF THE COLOSSUS by Brian McNaughton
THE MUSE OF AVEROIGNE by Ron Hilger & Henry J. Vester III
THE FELL FÊTE by Manuel Arenas
BOUFONOULA by D.J. Tyrer
A HONEYMOON IN AVEROIGNE by Trevor O. Childers
... PLUS over a dozen poems of Averoigne by H.P. Lovecraft, DJ Tyrer, Ashley Dioses, Wade German, Cardinal Cox, Ron Shiflet and others, AND a Map of Averoigne by multiple Hugo-award winning artist Tim Kirk!
424 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 13, 2020
When I started reading this book, I had some pretty strong preconceptions about what I would find in it. The last thing I expected was to be surprised. But as I came to the end of its nearly three dozen stories and poems, I had to admit it had surprised me twice. First, with how many writers had given their time and energy to crafting these stories and poems in tribute to the work of a man who, for all his virtues, was never more than a lesser light in the field of 20th century American literary fantasy. And second, with how well so many of these writers had done it.
By doing it well I do not mean producing slavish imitations. These stories are not, with a few exceptions, stylistic pastiches of Smith. They are better described as "Smith-adjacent." Like his own stories of Averoigne, they fall between medieval chronicle and fairy tale, between bitter irony and ribald jest. But while the writers of these stories have respected the boundaries set by Smith, within those boundaries they have exercised their freedom to tell their tales in their own way. And their tales are the better for it.
David Reid Ross's "The Cult of the Singing Flame" was one of the first to impress me. It is less a story than an enigmatic fragment, like the ancient document it purports to transcribe. What story there is is not very exciting, only the history of a churchman's musical education. Yet through it all sound the sinister notes of mysticism and deviltry, notes that ultimately lead the churchman--where?
James Chambers's story, "Unhallowed Ground, Unholy Flesh," is one of two sequels to Smith's "The Colossus of Ylourgne." Smith's tale is not quite a horror story, but Chambers's surely is. It is also the closest most of us will ever get to the experience of being hunted by a giant.
Colin Harker's long tale of "Clotaire of the Cross" is a fascinating meld of Averoignian fantasy and Victorian Gothicism. With its mystery and melancholy, its wistful memory of days long past and its uncertain progress between wakefulness and dream, it recalls the best work of Sheridan LeFanu. If LeFanu had written an Averoigne story, it might have read like this.
Michael Minnis wrote four of the stories in this collection. His stories are probably the most medieval: the most earthy and humorous, and the most casually accepting of miracles and monsters. His tone is as light as anyone gets in this book, but he can do horror too. I particularly enjoyed his vampire tale, "The Butcher of Vyones."
Simon Whitechapel wrote three of the stories. He is the king of the stylistic pastiche, as the opening pages of "The Passing of Belzevuthe" and "Symposium of the Gargoyle" clearly show. Sadly, the promise of his beginnings is not always kept by his middles and ends. But "The Quarry" is something else. This quiet tale of a fisherman's encounter with a nyad is perfect through and through.
Brian McNaughton's "The Return of the Colossus" is the other sequel to "The Colossus of Ylourgne," this one resurrecting the titular being on a battlefield of the first World War. This story is better than perfect. It is as monumental in its way as the creature it describes, and written in a manner that should make the rest of us want to fold up our laptops and go home.
Not all of the stories rise to such heights, and some fall considerably below them. That is the risk an editor runs when he sets out to collect virtually everything that has been written on too wide or narrow a subject. One or two goats are bound to get in with the sheep. But sheep or goat, there was no story here that did not engage my interest as a student of Averoigne. There was no story I did not get some joy out of reading.
By doing it well I do not mean producing slavish imitations. These stories are not, with a few exceptions, stylistic pastiches of Smith. They are better described as "Smith-adjacent." Like his own stories of Averoigne, they fall between medieval chronicle and fairy tale, between bitter irony and ribald jest. But while the writers of these stories have respected the boundaries set by Smith, within those boundaries they have exercised their freedom to tell their tales in their own way. And their tales are the better for it.
David Reid Ross's "The Cult of the Singing Flame" was one of the first to impress me. It is less a story than an enigmatic fragment, like the ancient document it purports to transcribe. What story there is is not very exciting, only the history of a churchman's musical education. Yet through it all sound the sinister notes of mysticism and deviltry, notes that ultimately lead the churchman--where?
James Chambers's story, "Unhallowed Ground, Unholy Flesh," is one of two sequels to Smith's "The Colossus of Ylourgne." Smith's tale is not quite a horror story, but Chambers's surely is. It is also the closest most of us will ever get to the experience of being hunted by a giant.
Colin Harker's long tale of "Clotaire of the Cross" is a fascinating meld of Averoignian fantasy and Victorian Gothicism. With its mystery and melancholy, its wistful memory of days long past and its uncertain progress between wakefulness and dream, it recalls the best work of Sheridan LeFanu. If LeFanu had written an Averoigne story, it might have read like this.
Michael Minnis wrote four of the stories in this collection. His stories are probably the most medieval: the most earthy and humorous, and the most casually accepting of miracles and monsters. His tone is as light as anyone gets in this book, but he can do horror too. I particularly enjoyed his vampire tale, "The Butcher of Vyones."
Simon Whitechapel wrote three of the stories. He is the king of the stylistic pastiche, as the opening pages of "The Passing of Belzevuthe" and "Symposium of the Gargoyle" clearly show. Sadly, the promise of his beginnings is not always kept by his middles and ends. But "The Quarry" is something else. This quiet tale of a fisherman's encounter with a nyad is perfect through and through.
Brian McNaughton's "The Return of the Colossus" is the other sequel to "The Colossus of Ylourgne," this one resurrecting the titular being on a battlefield of the first World War. This story is better than perfect. It is as monumental in its way as the creature it describes, and written in a manner that should make the rest of us want to fold up our laptops and go home.
Not all of the stories rise to such heights, and some fall considerably below them. That is the risk an editor runs when he sets out to collect virtually everything that has been written on too wide or narrow a subject. One or two goats are bound to get in with the sheep. But sheep or goat, there was no story here that did not engage my interest as a student of Averoigne. There was no story I did not get some joy out of reading.
January 12, 2021
Clark Ashton Smith's "Averoigne" cycle of short stories is a classic and is some of his work that I've enjoyed the most despite the fact that I had to wait until comparatively recently to finally read it because it used to be kind of hard to find, if not impossible.
This collection uses the characters and setting in the original story but explores them from the point of view of several different authors paying homage to Ashton Smith's creation. Some are based on the author's notes for furture stories he never got to write, but others are completely original.
I personally enjoyed the most the stories that strayed from the original medieval setting to explore stuff like Roman-occupied Averoigne or the province during the First or Second World War, and even pay homage to other authors in addition to the obvious H.P. Lovecraft, like when one of the stories mentions the character of Jirel du Joiry, protagonist of C.L. Moore's own cycle of short stories, as a historical figure, which makes total sense since those stories also took place in a fictional province of medieval France and involved fantasy and horror elements. I especially enjoyed a story that's smack in the middle of the book about an executioner and a fool that run afoul of an asshole knight and his paramour, and end up facing a strange beast that they take to be a giant variant of a cockatrice but even if the description the author makes isn't enough for you, the end of the story makes it clear that it was actually basically the last living velociraptor. I think that one was my favorite story, but that's not to say that others are just as good, or at least almost as good.
In sum, this is an excellent volume if you're into the old pulps, and definitely a worthy continuation to Clark Ashton Smith's original Averoigne cycle. I'm glad to see it recognized as the great work it is and inspire so many great homages and tributes.
This collection uses the characters and setting in the original story but explores them from the point of view of several different authors paying homage to Ashton Smith's creation. Some are based on the author's notes for furture stories he never got to write, but others are completely original.
I personally enjoyed the most the stories that strayed from the original medieval setting to explore stuff like Roman-occupied Averoigne or the province during the First or Second World War, and even pay homage to other authors in addition to the obvious H.P. Lovecraft, like when one of the stories mentions the character of Jirel du Joiry, protagonist of C.L. Moore's own cycle of short stories, as a historical figure, which makes total sense since those stories also took place in a fictional province of medieval France and involved fantasy and horror elements. I especially enjoyed a story that's smack in the middle of the book about an executioner and a fool that run afoul of an asshole knight and his paramour, and end up facing a strange beast that they take to be a giant variant of a cockatrice but even if the description the author makes isn't enough for you, the end of the story makes it clear that it was actually basically the last living velociraptor. I think that one was my favorite story, but that's not to say that others are just as good, or at least almost as good.
In sum, this is an excellent volume if you're into the old pulps, and definitely a worthy continuation to Clark Ashton Smith's original Averoigne cycle. I'm glad to see it recognized as the great work it is and inspire so many great homages and tributes.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews