The Demon of the Flower by Clark Ashton Smith

"The Survivors" is a short story by Algernon Blackwood, first published in his 1935 collection, SHOCKS. "After a dramatic accident, a man wanders through London observing subtle but unsettling changes in himself and the world around him." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Xeethra" is a Zothique Cycle story by Clark Ashton Smith, first published in the December 1934 edition of Weird Tales. "A strange tale about a goatherd who had been king in the olden days, and how he regained and lost again his kingship." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Crib of Hell" is a short story by Arthur Pendragon, first published in Fantastic Stories of Imagination, May 1965. "He could never erase from his memory the evil face of the child of horror . . . the loathsome thing that waited in . . . the Crib of Hell." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you like to immerse yourself in the world of weird fiction? The grimy weird is speculative fiction at its finest — a realm of horror, science fiction, and dark fantasy. Coming to you from SpectreVision Radio, is The HorrorBabble Podcast. We produce recordings of stories by the pioneers of the genre — H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard — while breathing new life into forgotten classics penned by lesser-known authors. With new recordings published twice weekly — Tuesdays and Fridays — you’ll encounter Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, from the Nameless City to the Colour Out of Space; Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique, where cosmic entities linger in a dying world; Robert E. Howard’s legendary tales of Bran Mak Morn and Conan; and everything else weird fiction has to offer: baffling beasts and deadly bargains, haunted houses and polar terrors, caverns and crypts, dreams and nightmares, vampires and werewolves… the list goes on. If you have a taste for the macabre, you’re certain to find something to satisfy your ghoulish appetite. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Dispossession" is a short story by the English author, C. H. B. Kitchin, published in the 1929 anthology, SHUDDERS. "A carefree London man is shaken when sudden blackouts and missing days begin to fracture his routine life." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The People of the Pit" by A. Merritt, first appeared in All-Story Weekly in its January 1918 edition, and tells of a man's return from a terrifying voyage into the depths of the Earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Spirits of the Lake" is a short story by Alonzo Deen Cole, author and director of the 1930s radio series, The Witch's Tale. The story first appeared in the November 1941 edition of Weird Tales. "Was it at the bidding of the 'Old Ones' that slime—loathsome, hideously green—rose from the lake's dreadful depths?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Weaver in the Vault" is a Zothique Cycle story by Clark Ashton Smith, first published in the January 1934 edition of Weird Tales. "A story of the weird and ghastly-beautiful horror that came upon the searchers in the eery tombs of Chaon Gacca." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Twister" is a short story by the American writer, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, first published in the January 1940 edition of Weird Tales. "Ghostly was the village where the newly wedded couple stopped for gasoline, and weird was their experience there." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Tomb-Spawn" is a Zothique Cycle story by Clark Ashton Smith, first published in the May 1934 edition of Weird Tales. "A tale of a star-spawned monstrosity, and the eldritch magic of a powerful king and wizard." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices