Series of fantasy short stories by Clark Ashton Smith
This article is about the series of short stories. For the Ballantine Books collection of stories, see Hyperborea (collection).
The Hyperborean cycle is a series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that take place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea. Smith's cycle takes cues from his friends, H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard and their works.
The cycle combines cosmic horror with an Iron Age setting. Adding to the peril is the rapidly approaching ice age, which threatens to wipe out all life on the Hyperborean continent. A host of deities play important roles in the cycle; foremost is the toad-god Tsathoggua, who dwells in Mount Voormithadreth.
Lovecraft wrote to Smith in a letter dated 3 December 1929: "I must not delay in expressing my well-nigh delirious delight at The Tale of Satampra Zeiros [Smith's short story]... [W]hat an atmosphere! I can see & feel & smell the jungle around immemorial Commoriom, which I am sure must lie buried today in glacial ice near Olathoe, in the Land of Lomar!".[1] Soon afterward, Lovecraft included Smith's Tsathoggua (which originally appeared in "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros") in the story "The Mound", ghostwritten for Zealia Bishop in December 1929. Lovecraft also mentioned Tsathoggua in "The Whisperer in Darkness", which he began on February 24, 1930,[2] and in "At the Mountains of Madness" a year later, along with the Hyperborean cities of Commoriom and Uzuldaroum.
Because Smith in turn borrowed numerous Lovecraftian elements, the cycle itself may be regarded as a branch of the Cthulhu Mythos. In a letter to August Derleth dated 26 July 1944, Smith wrote: "In common with other weird tales writers, I have ... made a few passing references (often under slightly altered names, such as Iog-Sotot for Yog-Sothoth and Kthulhut for Cthulhu) to some of the Lovecraftian deities. My Hyperborean tales, it seems to me, with their primordial, prehuman and sometimes premundane background and figures, are the closest to the Cthulhu Mythos, but most of them are written in a vein of grotesque humor that differentiates them vastly. However, such a tale as "The Coming of the White Worm" might be regarded as a direct contribution to the Mythos."[3]
^Cf. Selected Letters III, pp. 87–8, Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1998. ISBN 0-87054-032-7.
^Schultz, "Notes Toward a History of the Cthulhu Mythos", pp. 16–17, note #6.
^Schultz, "Notes Toward a History of the Cthulhu Mythos", p. 29, note #46.
The Hyperboreancycle is a series of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that take place in the fictional prehistoric setting of Hyperborea. Smith's cycle...
In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans (Ancient Greek: ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, pronounced [hyperbóre(ː)oi̯]; Latin: Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in...
creation of American writer Clark Ashton Smith and is part of his Hyperboreancycle. Tsathoggua/Zhothaqquah is described as an Old One, a god-like being...
entity supposedly responsible for the origin of life on Earth in the Hyperboreancycle written by Clark Ashton Smith. At the Mountains of Madness includes...
written in 1929 by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Hyperboreancycle, and first published in the November 1931 issue of Weird Tales. It...
a short story by American writer Clark Ashton Smith, part of his Hyperboreancycle. It was published in the October 1932 issue of Weird Tales. According...
rising sea levels caused by the sinking of Poseidonis. Averoigne Hyperboreancycle Zothique Clark Ashton Smith bibliography William Scott Elliot, The...
and Carter used geographical place names from Clark Ashton Smith's HyperboreanCycle. "The Phoenix on the Sword" (novelette; vol. 20, #6, December 1932)...
1, the protagonist Noé Archiviste is said to come from Averoigne. Hyperboreancycle Poseidonis Zothique Clark Ashton Smith bibliography Castle Amber Rahman...
a series of high fantasy stories, many of which were part of his Hyperboreancycle. Robert Bloch, later to become well known as the writer of the movie...
that the Metonic cycle was applied to Numa's calendar. Diodorus Siculus reports that Apollo is said to have visited the Hyperboreans once every 19 years...
it was given that name in 1987, alternatively the Hyperborean craton, in reference to the hyperboreans in Greek mythology. Nikolay Shatsky (Shatsky 1935)...
are also identified as Hyperboreans. In attempting to raise the spiritual development of the earthbound races, the Hyperborean divyas (a Sanskrit term...
Sonaten für Viola und Klavier ECM New Series ECM 1631 1997 Arild Andersen Hyperborean ECM 1632 1997 Stephan Micus The Garden of Mirrors ECM 1633 1998 Ketil...
Makeup Best Hair Katie Ballantyne, Jonathan Craig and Karlee Morse, The Hyperborean Dominique T. Hasbani, Ru Fatema Hoque, Who's Yer Father? Dan Martin,...
languages 493 Non-Semitic Afro-Asiatic languages 494 Altaic, Uralic, Hyperborean, Dravidian languages, miscellaneous languages of south Asia 495 Languages...
his creatures to an endless cycle of involuntary reincarnation on the earthly plane to no higher purpose. The Hyperboreans recoiled in horror from this...
at the Olympic Games and showed to Abaris the Hyperborean as proof of his identity as the "Hyperborean Apollo". Supposedly, the priest of Apollo gave...
Script" of that land and contains a detailed account of the lineage of the Hyperborean gods, most notably Tsathoggua. The Pnakotic Manuscripts were created...
wolf-slayer in his role as the god who protected flocks from predators. The Hyperborean worship of Apollo bears the strongest marks of Apollo being worshipped...
Hera from where the gods got their immortality. Hyperborea Home of the Hyperboreans in the far north of Greece or southern Europe. Laistrygon Home to a tribe...
inflicted on him by a boar during a hunt in his youth. To the mythical Hyperboreans, the boar represented spiritual authority. Several Greek myths use the...
women's labour naturally led to her becoming associated with the menstrual cycle in course of time, thus the Moon. Selene, just like Artemis, was linked...
befriended her. Another late source, Aelian, also links Leto with wolves and Hyperboreans: Wolves are not easily delivered of their young, only after twelve days...
realities of a mysterious era". He further explained that the Atlantans and Hyperboreans were the ancestors of modern humans, and the first humans on earth were...
extent to the tribes in the far north and western coasts, particularly hyperborean nomads like the Inuit. Orthodoxy would arrive in mainland Canada with...
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