Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893-August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne.

A story from the renowned tales of "Xiccarph": Before Tiglari, many brave souls had the same noble dream of scaling and crossing through the forbidding palace of Maal Dweb. So far, none who attempted this feat has ever returned or have been seen again. But Tiglari, the jungle hunter skilled in destroying dangerous beasts, was undeterred by the hideous odds that lay before him!

A story from the acclaimed tales of "Hyperborea": A grotesque, deadly black form undulated toward them. Closer and closer it came, almost toying with the frightened, fleeing men who sought treasure in the long-deserted Hyperborean capital....

With inhuman solemnity, the voice of the necromancer went on in a priest-like chant until the last echoes died out in hollow, sepulchral vibrations. Then the colored vapors cleared away. But the pale unearthly glow still filled the changer, and between Malygris and the door where hung the unicorn's head there stood the apparition of Nylissa!

Thomas Ligotti’s debut collection, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, and his second, Grimscribe, permanently inscribed a new name in the pantheon of horror fiction. Influenced by the strange terrors of Lovecraft and Poe and by the brutal absurdity of Kafka, Ligotti eschews cheap, gory thrills for his own brand of horror, which shocks at the deepest, existential, levels.