"The Tale of the Satampra Zeiros"
relates how the rogue of the title lost both his hand and his partner,
Tirouv Ompallios, on the same night. Told as almost a tall tale, the
story is about how the two surprisingly educated rogues ran into the
Cthulhoid deity Tsathoggua during a heist and tied, partially
successfully, to escape with their lives.
Continuing to tell the story of Tsathoggua (here
Zhothaqquah), "The Door to Saturn" sends his worshipper,
Eibon, to his native Saturn, or Cykranosh chased by the priest Morghi.
On Saturn, the two find themselves with a quest from Zhothaqquah's
cousin. A misunderstanding leaves the two of them in a precarious
position as they come into Cykranosh's various denizens and worshippers of
Zhothaqquah and his cousin and the two must learn to put their differences
aside.
Tsathoggua appears again in "The Seven Geases,"
where he is the first subject of a geas laid on Ralibar Vooz. The
tale follows Ralibar Vooz as he completes each geas and finds himself
facing another. The pace of the story is quick, which results in
there not being a lot of meat to any of Ralibar Vooz's individual geases.
"The Coming of the White Worm" tells the
story of the Hyperborean creature Rlim Shaikorth, a giant white worm from
the arctic who travels on the giant iceberg Yikilth in search of ships and
other prey. The story describes the manner in which his prey is
frozen and saved.
"The Last Incantation" is a story of the Atlantean mage
Malygris' attempts to recapture the lost love of his youth. Once his
concerns over Nylissa's appears have been assuaged by his familiar, for
she has been dead for several years, Malygris casts his spell and
discovers that the physicality of his beloved can't restore to him what
was lost in the mists of time.
The imminent sinking of Atlantis is the catalyst for two brothers to
plan their escape in "A Voyage to Sfanomoë." The story is one of creation and
exploration, but Smith's decision to set it as part of his Atlantis cycle
raises questions about motivation in the reader's mind. Why didn't the
brothers work on a means to save their fellow citizens? Why didn't they
focus on travel from their native land to a safer continent rather than
brave the unknowns of space to travel to Sfanomoë?
All evil necromancers must die, but Smith's Malygris
doesn't like the idea. Taking place some time after "The Last
Incantation," "The Death of Malygris" details
the discovery by the world at large that Malygris has, in fact, finally
succumbed to death, although in the manner of evil necromancers
everywhere, he did not embrace death willingly. Smith has a
consortium of wizards and noblemen attempt to discover whether the rumors
of Malygris's death are true and to bring that truth to the world at
large.
"The Holiness of Azédarac" is a time travel
tale beginning in the twelfth century when a priest, Ambrose, learns dark
secrets about the past of Bishop Azéderac. While taking his evidence to
the archbishop, Ambrose is drugged by Azéderac's henchman and sent seven
centuries into the past, where he meets a witch with her own grievance
against Azéderac. Ambrose works with her to try to defeat Azéderac,
but in the process he dirties his own vows with the result that Azéderac
is able to get away and while Ambrose escapes any form of retribution, his
life takes a completely different turn.
The events of the heavens affect more terrestrial concerns in "The
Beast of Averoigne." When a comet appears in the skies, the
countryside is terrorized by a beast and the local monks, for all their
holiness, prove inept at ridding the region of the creature. When an
astrologer is called in, the situation is resolved, giving support to one
ancient belief system while portraying another as a product of stories and
myth.
"The Empire of the Necromancers" is exactly what it sounds
like. Mmatmuor and Sodosma are two necromancers who have found a
land destroyed by plague. Using their necromantic arts, they raise
the former denizens of the land who serve them as skeletons and zombies.
While characterization is never one of Smith's strong points, ironically,
its absence is very notable in this work in which most of the characters
can be expected to lack any characteristics.
Fleeing his plague-ridden kingdom, King Fulbra finds
himself on "The Isle of the Torturers" and discovers
that although there are physical tortures, mental tortures, especially
when they hold out hope, can be worse. Fulbra keeps himself going as
long as he believes there is a chance that he can escape, but once he
realizes that this hope for escape is merely another torture, he gives up
all hope and embraces the release of death, for himself, and for his
torturers.
"Necromancy in Naat" is the story of Yadar,
who left his home in Zyra to find his beloved Dalili, kidnapped by
slavetraders. His journey results in his shipwrecking on the Isle of
Naat, where he finds himself guests of the necromancers on the island of
Naat. On the island, where he is treated with a modicum of courtesy, he
discovers Dalili, who has been treated by the inhabitants and is now
practically a zombie. Unlike many of Smith's stories, Dalili and
Yadar are able to find happiness with each other.
"Xeethra" follows the young
shepherd of the title who deserts his flocks to explore a mysterious cave,
wherein he gains the memories of long-dead King Amero of Calyz. Xeethra's
personalities is subsumed to King Amero's and he goes on a quest for his
lost city's glory days. While most of the tales set in lost Zothique
are dark, as is Xeethra, there is a certain amount of nostalgic yearning
in Xeethra's adventures.
One of Smith's recurring characters is Maal Dweb, the
lord and tyrant of an entire solar system. In "The Maze of Maal Dweb,"
Smith relates how Maal Dweb absconded with the most beautiful women of his
realm and turned them into statues in order to fully appreciate their
beauty. In an attempt to rescue his beloved Athlé, the hunter
Tiglari braves Maal Dweb's palace and finds himself lost in the ruler's
treacherous maze.
"The Flower-Women" is another story of
Maal Dweb, this time showing a little of the tyrant's more generous
side. Traveling to the planet Votalp, located on the opposite side
of the solar system from his home, he works to save strange vampiric
flower women from the pterodactyls who prey upon them. In this
story, Smith shows a side of Maal Dweb which would not be obvious from the
tyrant of "The Maze of Maal Dweb" or even from the initial
depictions of the character in this story.
There is an almost symbiotic relationship between the
humans who live in Lospar and the plants that grow in the area. This is
epitomized by the sacrifice the Losparians make to the Voorqual, an
enormous plan in the center of the city in "The Demon of the
Flower." When Nala, the love of King Lunithi's life, is to be
sacrificed, the King decides to act against the Voorqual. Although Smith
could have written about the breakdown of the symbiosis between man and
plant, he instead expands the story to examine the strength of tradition
and lore.
"The Plutonian Drug" may be one of Smith's
most science fictional stories. In a solar system which has seen man
visit all the planets, including the then-newly discovered then-planet
Pluto, each planet offers its own pharmacology for the benefit or abuse of
mankind. In his manner of detailing the effects of the drug
plutonium (this was seven years before the element was isolated) is
reminiscent of some of the writings of the 1960s. Its effects are
interesting and at the end of the story, which is predictable, the reader
still wants to know more.
"The Planet of the Dead
" is Smith's entry in the planetary romance genre, much in the vein
of Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter series. In this instance,
amateur astronomer Francis Melchior tranports himself to Phandiom where he
takes over the person of the poet Antarion and is in love with the
princess Thameera. Smith details their relationship and, of course,
the means by which Antarion rescues Thameera from the libidinous clutches
of an evil monarch.
In "The Gorgon," Smith takes the creature
of the classic Greek myth and depicts her as a form of temptation.
Set in modern day London (well, the 1930s, when the story was written),
the head of Medusa is being used by a mysterious man as a lure for those
who enjoy an interest in the occult, although as with many of Smith's
stories, the purpose of luring them in an showing them Medusa's head in
never examined, instead he simply is trying to create an aura of horror.
Smith presents a response of sorts to H.G. Wells's The
Time Machine with "The Letters from Mohaun Los."
One of the things many have criticized about Wells's story (and other time
travel stories) is that they ignore the fact that the Earth moves through
space as it moves through time. Smith's time travelers, Domitian
Malgraff and his servant Li Wong, find themselves in the future adrift in
interstellar space. Eventually, they managed to travel in time until
they are on a planet, although it isn't earth. The story takes the
classic narrative delivered to someone who is in our own world, but some
of the depictions, particularly of Li Wong, will grate on the modern
reader.
"The Light from Beyond" is
another story warning of inspecting the occult. In this case, artist
Dorian Wiermoth has fled civilization for the high Sierras for a year's
respite. While hiking one day, he finds a cairn which had not
existed during his previous day's hike. As a typical Smith
character, he finds himself pulled into the weird world beyond the
cairn. Although through no volition of his own, he eventually
manages to return to the Earth he knows, he does so with an altered
appreciation for his world and life.
Smith's alter-ego in his stories is the weird story
author Philip Halstane, who makes an appearance in 1931's "The City
of the Singing Flame" (in Out of Time and
Space) and again in "The Hunters from Beyond." In this
story, Halstane finds himself bedeviled by a creature he first saw in a
collection of artwork by Goya. A visit to his cousin, the artist Cyprian
Sincaul demonstrates that his vision of the Goya is more real than he
would want to admit. When Cyprian's model, Marta, is abducted by the
grotesqueries in Cyprian's work, Halstane tries to help his cousin
retrieve her,
resulting in the realization of just what Cyprian's interest in the occult
cost him.
As with so many of the dark weird tales of the 1930s, "The Treader of the Dust"
focuses on the power of a book of arcane lore, in this case, The
Testament of Carnamagos. Less important than the nature of the
supernatural being Quachil Uttaus, the Treader of the Dust of the title,
or even the inherent clichéd warning of knowledge man was not meant to
know, is the vitality and importance of the written word.
