Clark Ashton Smith's work can be divided in to a number of cycles: Averoigne, Hyperborea, Ironic-Romantic Fiction, Mars, Poseidonis, Xiccarph, Zothique Each of which represent a shared world or theme Creating for Smith the desired backdrop in to which to explore his fantasies Below is a list of works contained within each cycle and some brief notes on the cycle

As well as theses Smith classified cycles, one can break his work in to a number of other categories such as those works that can be considered part of the Cthulhu Mythos

Averoigne

The Averoigne stories are based in a relatively mundane (for Smith) province in medieval France This backdrop provides a platform for Smith to explore several 'non-fantastic' areas that the rest of his work does not Many all to human junxpositions are exploded uniquely in this cycle, such as: Animal and man; religion and science; the divine and the mortal

Description-Location: 'region in France, heavily forested — located somewhere between Tours and Moulins; a "main highway" between those two cities goes through it (The End of the Story, Clark Ashton Smith)

Several maps of Averoigne

Reference: Into the woods: The Human Geography of Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne By Stefan Dziemianowicz In The Dark Eidolon 3

• Beast of Averoigne, The (1933)
• Colossus of Ylourgne, The (1933)
• Disinterment of Venus, The (1934)
• Enchantress of Sylaire, The (1941)
• End of the Story, The (1930)
• Holiness of Azédarc, The (1933)
• Maker of Gargoyles, The (1932)
• Mandrakes, The (1933)
• Mother of Toads (1934)
• Rendezvous in Averoigne, A (1931)
• Satyr, The (1931) [Variant Conclusion to "The Satyr"]
  

Internal Chronology of Averoigne

Story	Date	Notes
The Oracle of Sodoggua	Unknown	Unwritten but an outline exists in the Black Book, set during the Roman occupation of Averunnia
The Maker of Gargoyles	1138	Date given in text
The Holiness of Azédarc	1175	Given in text; and the year 475 and 1230, as this is a tale of time travel
The Doom of Azédarc	1198	Apparently not written but an outline exists
The Colossus of Ylourgne	1281	Year given at start of Chap 2
The Beast of Averoigne	1369	Date given in text
The Mandrakes	15th century	Para 3, year not stated
The Disinterment of Venus	1550	Year given in first sentence
A Rendezvous in Averoigne	Ca 1550
The Satyr	1575
The End of the Story	1798	Given in the first sentence
The Soceress of Averoigne / The Tower of Istarelle	Unknown	Synopses only in Strange Shadows
Queen of the Sabbat	Unknown	Synopses only in Strange Shadows
The Werewolf of Averoigne	Unknown	Synopses only in Strange Shadows
The Enchantress of Sylaire	Unknown
Mother of Toads	Unknown

Adapted and updated from Some Bibliographic notes on CAS, T G L Cockcroft In Nycatalops #7
See item #60 in the Black Book for Smiths Averoigne list

Hyperborea

The Hyperborean tales represent Smith's greatest contribution to the Cthulhu Mythos but with a harder edge than Lovecraft's work They span a chaotic world where non-anthropomorphic Tsathoggua still dwells and large flesh eating worms bring icy oblivion

Description-Location: "supposed to have corresponded roughly with modern Greenland, which had formerly been joined as a peninsula to the main continent" — in Miocene times ("Ubbo-Sathla", Clark Ashton Smith)

Map of Hyperborea from the Ballantine Book collection circa 1970 (30k)

Reference: Introduction to The Book of Hyperborea from Necronomicon Press
A Hyperborean Glossary, By Laurence J Cornford

• Coming of the White Worm, The (1941)
• Door to Saturn, The (1932)
• House of Haon-Dor, The (1989)
• Ice-Demon, The (1933)
• Lament for Vixeela (1953)
• Muse of Hyperborea, The (1929)
• Seven Geases, The (1934)
• Tale of Satampra Zeiros, The (1931)
• Testament of Athammaus, The (1932)
• Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles, The (1958)
• Ubbo-Sathla (1933)
• Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, The (1932)
• White Sybil, The (1932)
  

Ironic-Romantic Fiction

These light romantic fictions are based, at least in part, upon Smith's experiences at the time Dubbed 'Adult Fiction' by DSidney-Feyer they are experiments in love, death, loss and irony not that theses themes are completely absent in Smith's other work Theses works where written with the hope of being able to sell them to a certain popular genre of magazine at the time such as Snappy Stories or 10 Story Book, Smith was quite desperate for finances most of his life.

Reference: O Amor Atque Realitas!, Clark Ashton Smith's First Adult Fiction By D Sidney-Fryer In The Dark Eidolon 3

All except 'Something New' Can be found in the book Strange Shadows

• Checkmate (Nov, 7, 1930)
• Expert Lover, The (Winter, 1924-1925)
• Flirt, The (Dec 22, 1921)
• Gossip (Winter-Spring, 1923) Fragment
• Perfect Woman, The (Feb 28, 1923) Plot sketch
• Platonic Entanglement, A (Winter-Spring, 1923) Start of a longer story ?
• Something New (1924)
  

Mars

Clark Ashton smith wrote five (four by himself one of which was a fragment and one with a plot provided by E M Johnson) stories that are based on Mars Unlike his contemporaries, Mars is not a place of Green Bug-eyed Martians set to invade the earth (see below), rather, a backdrop similar to Zothique Mars is described in all but Vulthoom (Vulthoom is set in the commercial metropolis of Mars - Igarth, with its 'old quarter' being much like Lovecraft's Dunwich) as a hash arid world possibly near its end It is used as a stage in which to 'drop' unwitting earthlings Once with in the alien situation our lead characters show typical human emotions of exploitative zeal usually followed by fear and loathing

While The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis and The Dweller in the Gulf would of been equally effective stories had they been set on earth Seedling of Mars and Vulthoom utilised the 'alien invasion' motif popular in the pulps at the time However, theses did not contain your typical alien invasion scenarios Vulthoom was an alien 'god' (plant like) who came to mars when humans "were still the blood-brothers of the ape," and now wishes to move to Earth Vulthoom's plot is only temporarily foiled by being put back to sleep for a thousand years The plant thing in Seedling of Mars has better luck in that it does get to take over the earth

• Dweller in the Gulf, The (1933)
• Mnemoka (1955) Fragment
• Vaults of Yoh-Vombis, The (1931)
• Vulthoom (1935)
• Seedling of Mars or The Planet Entity [plot by - E M Johnson] (1931)[An alternative background to the proceeding 4 stories]

Poseidonis

It was Plato that Greek philosopher who first dreamed Atlantis but I'm sure his dreams where not as weird as Smith's Poseidonis is "the last isle of foundering Atlantis" One common theme can found is this short cycle that is, every thing comes to an end, and the end usually is not a pleasant one

Description-Location: "a large isle", "the last isle of foundering Atlantis" — "with its opulent seaports, its eon-surviving monuments of art and architecture, its fertile inland valleys, and mountains lifting their spires of snow above semi-tropic jungles" — "mountains of the interior" — people thought of themselves as Atlanteans — "members of an aboriginal race of Atlantis" survived on Poseidonis as slaves ("A Voyage to Sfanomoe", Clark Ashton Smith)

• Atlantis (1912)
• Death of Malygris, The (1933)
• Double Shadow, The (1933)
• Last Incantation, The (1930)
• Muse of Atlantis, The (1922)
• Tolometh (1958)
• Vintage from Atlantis, A (1933)
• Voyage to Sfanomoe, A (1931)
  

Xiccarph

One of the smallest cycles but an interesting one In both stories the all powerful sorcerer Maal Dweb tries to stem his boredom by playing with lesser beings However, in the end he returns to his sullen ennui

Description-Location: "planet — has "four diminutive moons" [because of their size or because each is "decrescent"?] — "the juice of a jungle plant [is] repugnant to all the fauna of Xiccarph" — chimera-skin used as leather — has reptiles, dragons, pterodactyls, chimeras, poisonous "winged vipers", ape-like creatures — three suns, all dawn in the east, set in west: the earliest sun is "gamboge-yellow", second is emerald, third is carmine" ("The Maze of Maal Dweb", Clark Ashton Smith)

• Flower-Women, The (1935)
• Maze of Maal Dweb, The (1938)
  

Zothique

The Largest of Smith's cycle and lying in the far future as opposed to Hyperboreas distance past It consumed most of his writing time during the 30's although he continued to add to his Hyperborea and Averoigne cycles The Last Hieroglyph was not only his last Zothique tale it was also his last story for a considerable amount of time

Description-Location: "inhabited isles far to the east — continent — many think "madness is a sacred thing" and give hospitality to crazed wanderers — probably in the southern hemisphere" ("Xeethra", Clark Ashton Smith)

Map of Zothtique Drawn by Lin Carter (60k)

Reference: Tales of Zothique, Introduction by Will Murray from Necronomicon Press

• Black Abbot of Puthuum, The (1936)
• Charnel God, The (1934)
• Dark Eidolon, The (1935)
• Dead will Cuckold You, The (1950)
• Death of Ilalotha, The (1937)
• Empire of the Necromancers, The (1932)
• Garden of Adompha, The (1938)
• In the Book of Vergama (1934)
• Isle of the Torturers, The (1933)
• Last Hieroglyph, The (1935)
• Mandor's Enemy (1989)
• Master of the Crabs, The (1948)
• Morthylla (1953)
• Necromancy in Naat (1937)
• Shapes of Adamant (1935)
• Tomb-Spawn, The (1934)
• Voyage of King Euvoran, The (1931) [Illustration "Quest of the Gazolba" By Boris Dolgov]
• Weaver in the Vault, The (1934)[CAS Illustration]
• Witchcraft of Ulua, The (1934)
• Xeethra (1934 [CAS Illustration]
• <Zothique (1951)