Alright, one more CAS story for now, and we’ll move on to Howard for a few stories. This is longer than the previous ones. Say hello to The Seven Geases, by CAS.
In my opinion, The Seven Geases is the single most important short story by Smith to read, even if you don’t like this stuff. There’s not a lot of horror here, and Smith keeps things moving at a brisk pace. This one is three and a half times as long as Ubbo-Sathla (21 pages) but still on the shorter side for a Lovecraft story.
Why is this such an important story? Not only does it impact the Mythos in many ways, but it also was a huge influence on Gary Gygax and Dungeons and Dragons.
In OD&D, there’s no guarantee that things are fair. One of Gary’s and Rob Kuntz’s favorite stories, says Mornard, was Clark Ashton Smith’s The Seven Geases, in which (spoilers removed) That was one of the seminal texts of D&D, said Mornard, and one of the stories it was designed to model. “The story that D&D tells,” said Mike, “is the story of the world. (spoiler removed).
I’ll give you the full quote in the review.
Now, having read that, are you interested in reading Seven Geases? Here we go!
The Seven Geases by Clark Ashton Smith