Commonplace Web-Log

artsparrow:

Inside the Portrait Studio: The Women of Mad Men! For all six illustrations, visit my blog & tumblr here: blog.artsparrow.com & artsparrow.tumblr.com xo, Andrea Sparacio (artsparrow)

thedoubleshadow:

This week covers “A Rendezvous in Averoigne,” the second story in Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne Cycle. Rendezvous was first published in the April/May 1931 issue of Weird Tales, alongside Robert E. Howard’s “The Children of the Night” and H.P. Lovecraft’s poem “Alienation” (#32 from Fungi from Yuggoth).

You can download the episode here or subscribe in iTunes or via RSS.

The Ray Bradbury quote was from the intro to Arkham House’s 1988 collection A Rendezvous in Averoigne: The Best Fantastic Tales of Clark Ashton Smith. The title is a trifle misleading, as this contains stories from throughout Smith’s career, not just his Averoigne works (nor all of them).

The film The Fearless Vampire Killers was released in 1967 and was written by and co-stars a young Roman Polanski.

And shout out to the Podcast to the Curious, about the works of M.R. James. We’re fans of more than their accents.

Join us again on May 30th as we read “The Maker of Gargoyles.”

thedoubleshadow:

The Double Shadow: Episode 2 - “The End of the Story”

You can download the episode here. Or subscribe in iTunes. Or subscribe via RSS.

 ”The End of the Story” was first published in Weird Tales in May of 1930.

(picture from Dark in the Dark)

If you’re looking for more lamia, “Lamia” by John Keats.

The novel Phil mentioned was The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers. This is a novel that concerns lamia and vampires and amounts to in-depth re-working of the lamia/vampire myth using Keats and historical accounts and all kinds of stuff. The title was taken from a CAS poem. (Ruth’s note—looks fascinating!)

Listener @GenusUnknown also pointed out to us when reading for this week that the “the almost vanished and evilly famous ruins of Château Faussesflammes” are mentioned in H.P. Lovecraft’s collaboration with Hazel Heald, “Out of the Aeons.”

Join us in 2 weeks (May 16th) for “A Rendezvous in Averoigne.”

thedoubleshadow:

The Double Shadow Episode: 01 - Introduction

Download the episode (coming soon to iTunes!)

The very first episode of The Double Shadow, a podcast that will explore the life and works of 20th Century weird fiction author Clark Ashton Smith. Episode One talks about Ashton Smith’s importance as a Weird Fiction author, his place in history and an overview of what the show will cover.

Show Notes:

Intro & Outro music courtesy of Kevin MacLeod.

The Averoigne stories in the order in which we’ll cover them (publication order):

• The End of the Story
• A Rendezvous in Averoigne
• The Maker of Gargoyles
• The Colossus of Ylourgne
• The Holiness of Azédarac
• The Beast of Averoigne (published) and the original version rejected by Weird Tales
• The Mandrakes
• The Disinterment of Venus
• Mother of Toads
• The Enchantress of Sylaire
• The Satyr

A map of Averoigne (click to expand):

The map was created by Tim Kirk and posted on the Eldritch Dark website.

Phil’s quoted interview with Clark Ashton Smith came from Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle. The interviewer was George Haas. Phil notes:

Haas seems to have been kind of an interesting figure, very involved in Fortean activities throughout CA and San Francisco in particular.   He wrote two accounts of meeting CAS, in one of them he notes that they got together with Anton Szandor LaVey for a cook out.  I find that idea amazing. 

The book Ruth mentioned is Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith, published by Arkham House, 2003.

More biographical information about Clark Ashton Smith is available on the Eldritch Dark website and on Wikipedia.

housingworksbookstore:

Andrea Sparacio is back at it with this great illustration for our Geek Week next week! More info on events at housingworks.org/events. Everything is free, and all week sci fi, fantasy, computer, comic, science and math books are on sale.

(via artsparrow)

housingworksbookstore:

We just announced this event we’re having at Housing Works, with McNally Jackson, The Rumpus, and the newly “out” Dear Sugar herself, the inimitable Cheryl Strayed. It’s going to be amazing. So amazing. Get a ticket soon, it will sell out!

Poster design and illustration by Andrea Sparacio.

(via artsparrow)

housingworksbookstore:

The super-talented and amazing Andrea Sparacio (artsparrow) made this great illustration for our week of Valentine’s-related programming next week! See you every single night, right? Do you like me? Check yes or no.

https://plus.google.com/115371600334699605198/posts/EXjNLBSgCun

The Tabletop Wizard joins Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to vanquish role-playing evil!