The Martian Horrors of Clark Ashton Smith, Part 2

 

cover art by C.S. Senf

Read/Watch 'em In Order #183

 

Smith's second trip to Mars was a vast improvement over his first. Perhaps because this was purely his own story--he didn't have to work from someone else's plot this time. But regardless of the reason, "Vaults of Yoh-Vombis," published in the May 1932 issue of Weird Tales, is fantastic. 

Well, the original version is fantastic. When Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright first received the manuscript, he asked for some revisions. He wanted faster pacing. Smith, in a letter to H.P. Lovecraft (whose At the Mountains of Madness is an obvious influence on Martian tale), wrote "I suppose I can throw out a lot of the descriptive matter, but it's a crime all the same."

Smith was right, of course. Smith's vivid description of Mars is a vital part of generating the proper atmosphere. Without it, it's still a good story. But it's not a GREAT story.

The story is a first-person account of the only survivor of an archeological expedition to the ruins of the ancient Martian city of Yoh-Vambis. The scientists are all Earthmen, but they know a far amount about Martian history and legends. For instance, they know the race that built Yoh-Vambis died off forty thousand years ago. They also know the legend that suggests the race was killed by "something too horrible and outre to be mentioned even in a myth."

Here's a teaching moment: If you are about to enter the vaults of an ancient alien city AND there's a legend about something horrible having once been in the area AND if the Martian natives you've hired refuse to enter the vaults with you.... DON'T GO IN. It won't end well for you.

They do go in, of course. They find a mummy. When the mummy collapses into dust, "the strange cowl it was wearing began to curl and twitch upward at the corners, it writhed with a verminous motion, it fell from the withered cranium, seeing to fold and unfold convulsively in mid-air as it fell. Then it dropped on the bare head of [one of the scientists]..."

Agony, screaming and the apparent control of dead bodies by the parasitic creature follows. I don't want to give too much away, because you should experience it for yourself. Just remember--DON'T GO INTO THE VAULTS!

You can read the proper complete version of the story HERE, which is also where I got the background information about its writing and publication. 

Smith will return to Mars twice more. Next week, we'll look at his third trip to the Red Planet and examine another case in which bad editing decisions lessen the impact of a good story.