Simulcast on Black Gate,9/30/2025:
Clark Ashton Smith Conference - A Rendezvous in Smith's hometown, Auburn, California
For many enthusiasts of pulp fiction, there is a rite of passage in which the reader stumbles into H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, or Clark Ashton Smith, and as they track down stories or read adjacent publications, they learn about the others and they were pen pals and shared numerous cross-over characters/ideas. People usually discover Howard or Lovecraft first, and are often floored last by the poetic, cosmic madness of Smith. Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) was a poet at heart, also a sculptor and artist, and his approach to weird fiction was to introduce lyricism and literary depth. Indeed, he is a major reason I started interviewing authors on their take on "Beauty in Weird Fiction" in 2014, the series hosted by Black Gate since 2018. Check out the Eldritch Dark website for his fiction, nonfiction, and images of his drawings and sculptures.
He could not tell the duration of the weaving, the term of his enthrallment. Dimly, at last, he beheld the thinning of the luminous threads, the retraction of the trembling arabesques. The globe, a thing of evil beauty, alive and aware in some holocryptic fashion, had risen now from the empty armor of Yanur. Diminishing to its former size, and putting off its colors of blood and opal, it hung for a little while above the chasm...
- From "Weaver in the Vault", a Zothique tale, CAS (1934)
So, it is with great pleasure that we spotlight a conference dedicated to Clark Ashton Smith, duly hosted in the author's hometown (Auburn, CA, to be held Jan 10th, 2026)! Read this to find out all the details, the amazing panelists, and get an inside perspective from the organizer about the origin of the event.
Key Details
- The Smith Circle: A Clark Ashton Smith Conference will be held on
January 10th, 2026, the Saturday before Smith's 133rd birthday
- The conference will be in Smith's hometown
Auburn, California. Auburn Carnegie Library (175 Almond St.)
- The historic Auburn Carnegie Library (175 Almond St.) which Smith used himself, and was the setting for a scene in his The Devotee of Evil story.
- It is a 1-day, ticketed event, starting at 10am. Tickets are available here.
- There will be five discussion panels, including a lunch break, with a variety of authors, artists and scholars as guests. There will also be an exhibit of Smith's art and books, and a self-guided tour of Smith sites around Auburn.
- See the Event Schedule for more information.
Inspiration from Nils, Event Organizer
I live in Sacramento, about 40 miles from Auburn. I heard about Smith in relation to Lovecraft, but didn't realize until the mid 2010s that he was from Auburn. I visited the 4 commemorative sites for Smith in Auburn in 2014.
Then, in 2023, I went to Robert E. Howard Days. There I met a big Smith fan who said he'd love to visit Auburn just to see what kind of environment would have influenced his incredible stories. I also met Jason Ray Carney there, who was talking about starting a Amateur Press Association of zines about the pulp genre. When I got home, I put the two together and decided to start my 12 Leagues to Averoigne zine (12 Leagues = 40 miles), hoping to give a more local view of Smith and his influences. Through working on my zine, I've found what I believe to be the actual physical PO box Smith used in the 1920s when corresponding with HP Lovecraft, Samuel Loveman, and many others.I also "discovered" a previously unknown mini art review flame war between Sacramento art critics about a 1942 museum showing of Smith's works, and at least one previously undocumented letter from Smith. I've also interviewed Darin Coelho Spring, the creator of the Emperor of Dreams documentary, and am currently publishing an interview with Ron Hilger, one of the main editors of recent Smith collections. And with all the additional Smithian research I've done, I've put together a walking/driving tour of Auburn that includes the 4 main Smith commemorative spots, and a number of other smaller spots. I am available to provide the Smith tour for any fans passing through the area. The zine can be found at my very minimal blog.During this time, I started talking to a local bookstore employee who is also a Smith fan. This progressed into the showing of the Smith documentary at the bookstore in January of this year in honor of Smith's birthday. A few Smith fans hung out after the showing and talked about all things Smith. The idea of expanding the movie showing into a full event was mentioned. With the encouragement of the bookstore employee, along with Darin and Ron immediately offering to participate, I started to plan the event.Harlan Ellison's discussion of the Smith Circle in the documentary stuck with me, so I decided on that as the conference title. I was brilliantly lucky that S. T. Joshi is working on a Smith biography, so he immediately said yes when I contacted him. And all the other panelists eagerly jumped at the chance to participate too. I was also equally lucky that the historic Auburn Carnegie library had recently been refurbished and was reopened as a community event venue. Having the event in the same building that Smith used himself, and was the setting for a scene in Smith's The Devotee of Evil story was too perfect. So I picked the Saturday closest to Smith's birthday and moved ahead with the plans.
Panelists (Link to Bios
Look at this amazing line-up: S. T. Joshi, Ron Hilger, Cody Goodfellow, Darin Coelho Spring, Skinner, Charles Schneider, Jason Bradley Thompson, and John R. Fultz.
About Nils, Champion of The Clark Ashton Smith Conference
I had been a fan of Smith for a while, when I discovered I live nearby his hometown of Auburn, California. Being able to easily visit Auburn and the different library collections in the area, I started a 2-page zine on Smith, trying to provide a more local viewpoint. The zine, 12 Leagues to Averoigne, is part of the Trigon Amateur Press Association which covers pulp era subjects. My zine has had articles on the local collection of Smith's books and art, interviews with Smithian luminaries, and published previously unknown Smith-related ephemera. The (mostly) monthly zine has been published for about 2 years. I hope you're able to make it to the conference and take in Auburn and the Carnegie in all its telluric delights.
After that, there were ages of fever, thirst and madness, of torment and slumber, and recurrent struggling against the massive block that held him prisoner. He babbled insanely, he howled like a wolf; or, lying supine and silent, he heard the multitudinous, muttering voices of ghouls that conspired against him. Gangrening swiftly, his crushed extremities seemed to throb like those of a Titan. He drew his sword with the strength of delirium, and endeavored to saw himself free at the shins, only to swoon from loss of blood.
- From "Weaver in the Vault", a Zothique tale , CAS (1934)
S.E. Lindberg is a Managing Editor at Black Gate, regularly reviewing books and interviewing authors on the topic of “Beauty & Art in Weird-Fantasy Fiction.” He has taken lead roles organizing the Gen Con Writers’ Symposium (chairing it in 2023), is the lead moderator of the Goodreads Sword & Sorcery Group and was an intern for Tales from the Magician’s Skull magazine. As for crafting stories, he has contributed eight entries across Perseid Press’s Heroes in Hell and Heroika series, has an entry in Weirdbook Annual #3: Zombies. He independently publishes novels under the banner Dyscrasia Fiction; short stories of Dyscrasia Fiction have appeared in Whetstone, Swords & Sorcery online magazine, Rogues In the House Podcast’s A Book of Blades, DMR’s Terra Incognita, Tales From the Magician’s Skull, and Savage Realms Magazine.
