'The Abominations of Yondo' - Clark Ashton-Smith

Last week's dose of Covid put rather a large dent in last weeks reading plans and left me not able to concentrate on an awful lot this week. I'm not complaining though, just thankful really that it was only a light dose this time round. Anyway...

What is a Graeme to do in situations like these? You know what this Graeme does, he goes out and pinches posts, from earlier blogs of his, to fill in a gap here. And that's ok ;o) Sometimes, you have to do what you need to.

I thought I'd found all my old 'Clark Ashton-Smith' posts, and brought them here, but it turns out that 'The Abominations of Yondo' was still hiding away... Not any longer it isn't! ;o) If you're after the original post, you'll find that over Here. I've changed a little bit here and there but nothing major. If you're after reading the story itself (and you really should, trust me) then you'll find it waiting for you over Here. If you're still with me, let me tell you about 'The Abominations of Yondo'...

'The Abominations of Yondo' is the recounting of a heretic's misadventures in Yondo after being banished by the Inquisitors of Ong. I love those names by the way. They sound completely made up, whatever the first syllable was that came to Ashton-Smith's mind, but they all seem to work and sound just right. What lies on the plains of Yondo that is so terrifying it will drive our hero back to the less than tender ministrations of the Inquisitors? The simple answer is... Everything.

My original blog post was put together from my phone. a real shame (in a sense) as I didn't get to to give all the quotes that I want to. In a strange quirk of fate, the same kind of thing has happened here as my brain is full of 'post Covid tiredness' and I've got a full day with my kids looming... You need to appreciate the lyricism of that prose though so... The link is up the page, click on it. Seriously ;o)

For now though, think of a land so close to the edge of the world that you can see ‘fallen asteroids half buried in that abysmal sand’ and ‘the hoary genii of stars abolished and decrepit demons left homeless by the destruction of antiquated hells.’ That doesn’t sound too bad when you first read it. I mean, what’s to be scared of when you’re faced with the prospect of an elderly demon? 
There’s more to it than that though. Ashton-Smith really plays on his character’s fear of the unknown and builds this up into something that resonates with a reader discovering all of this at the same time. The land itself has been bent into terrible shapes (‘the swollen, fulvous, dying and half rotten growths’) and it’s clearly somewhere that not only do you not want to be but you don’t want to hang around to see what happens next.

Our ‘hero’ does hang around though and the creatures that greet him are cleverly arranged, by Ashton-Smith, to rack up the tension; starting with the merely unsettling (the creature by the lake) and ending up with the terrifying (the ‘titanic lich’ with something even worse riding it). The weird shadow that chases our hero deserves a special mention as well, just for that gripping stand-off where no-one knows what will happen next.

And what an image to be left with at the end. Our hero running towards certain death, at the hands of the Inquisitors, with certain death following in his footsteps. A strangely downbeat ending but one that was inevitable. No-one survives Yondo unscathed and there’s no reason why it should be any different here. I’m a bit of a fan of ‘Dying/Dead World’ stories and ‘The Abominations of Yondo’ had everything that I was looking for; namely the remnants of civilisation and the creatures that exist in the ruins, all written in such a way that Yondo will stay in my mind for a while to come. Have a read if you can, it’s glorious.