One of the most popular writers to publish in Weird Tales
, Smith wrote unique tales of fantasy, horror and science fiction that call to mind the Symbolist and Decadent movements more than the pulp era. This volume, the first of five scheduled to bring all his short fiction back into print, captures Smith at the point where he back-burnered his career as a poet to concentrate on crafting stories in which the erotic mingles with death and decay and the physically grotesque is rendered in sensually lush imagery. Most of the 25 works collected have been unavailable for decades, and editors Connors and Hilger have done yeoman service restoring them for readers who may find their bold expressiveness and occasionally taboo themes surprisingly modern. (Apr.)
