(born 1893 in Long Valley Kalifornien)
Clark Ashton Smith, a contemporary and friend of Lovecraft, was probably the crossover-author' of phantastic literature. He wrote a miscellany of Horror, Fantasy and science-fiction that is unequalled until present time. His stories are about a protagonist that is confronted with evil in many different situations and faces and finally perishes on it. There is almost never a 'Happy End' - the opposite, it ends with the worst things imaginable. C.A.Smith was an autodidact par excellence, next to his talents as a writer of novels and poems he was a good painter and sculptor. Also in these areas he explored the horror genre. He died 1961 in Pacific Grove, California
(german titles translated)
The Head of Medusa
The Planet of Deads
Poseidonis
The Seed from the Grave
Taken exemplarily:
he foreign Shadow
(from 'The Planet of Deads, Suhrkamp-Verlag, TB 864 1983)
The magician Avyctes and his student Pharpetron find an ancient plate with unknown signs on it in the sea. With enormous ambition the magician tries to translate the mysterious fonts. Finally he invokes a demon that helps him decipher the secret of the plate. But then Avyctes, a master of invocation, does the magic ritual noted on the plate, inspite of the warnings of his student, that reminds him that there is no banning spell as an insurance on the plate. Nobody, neither the two sourcerers nor their domestic demons that they consulted for the invocation notice any foreign presence. Disappointed they return to other occupations. Too late they realize that they brought an ancient demon with them, in form of a shadow, that kills all participants of the invocation one by one..
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