By Smith's standards, this is pretty restrained. Get him writing about Zothique or another one of those fantasy places he invented, and he gets drunk on poetry and entomology.
He has another story in this vein that, while certainly good, I found vaguely disappointing, "The Return of the Sorceror". Thinking back on it, I think the difference is that "Sorceror" is confined, whereas this story taps into vistas of horror and madness far wider and wilder. I've not yet read Zothique, but it is in my (never-ending) TBR list.
By Smith's standards, this is pretty restrained. Get him writing about Zothique or another one of those fantasy places he invented, and he gets drunk on poetry and entomology.
He has another story in this vein that, while certainly good, I found vaguely disappointing, "The Return of the Sorceror". Thinking back on it, I think the difference is that "Sorceror" is confined, whereas this story taps into vistas of horror and madness far wider and wilder. I've not yet read Zothique, but it is in my (never-ending) TBR list.