As most Smith-philes probably recall, back in 1933-1934 CAS was contributing to an early fanzine called The Fantasy Fan - along with H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and others. Smith became embroiled in a tiff with arch-fanboy Forrest J. Ackerman on fantasy vs. science fiction in the letter column "The Boiling Point", which ran through several issues and embroiled responses from various folks. For anyone that doesn't have the original issues, Lance Thingmaker did a hardcover facsimile reprint of the whole run several years back (called simply The Fantasy Fan), and a couple decades before that Necronomicon Press released The Boiling Point which reprints the letters-column, and is now long out of print...

...and just recently Les Thomas released a thin pamphlet (~16 pages, side-stapled) covering just the CAS/Ackerman tiff entitled Boiling Point: Clark Ashton Smith v. Forrest J. Ackerman. At $5 it might not be everybody's cup of tea, but it's a helluva lot cheaper and more available than the other options. Couple copies still up on ebay, or you can contact Thomas directly over at 13th Hour books.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12 Apr 17 | 05:18PM by Ancient History.

The Boiling Point
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The complete "Boiling Point" exchange is also included in both DAWNWARD SPIRE, LONELY HILL, the "complete" (at least as complete as currently possible) correspondence between Smith and Lovecraft, as well as in my forthcoming edition of Smith's published letters and essays.

I own a facsimile copy of THE FANTASY FAN, but had never read the "Boiling Point" column before. I just read it now. All I can say is, I don't think the editor was wrong to shut down the column.