In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

Clark Ashton Smith

Here’s another gem from the heyday of the pulps, originally appearing in the October, 1932 Wonder Stories under a title not of the author’s choosing, “Master of the Asteroid.” The space explorer was trapped in his wrecked ship on an asteroid which was large enough to hold a thin atmosphere and support a host of odd beings who seemed to think the crashed explorer was a god. Perhaps he should have wondered if they had mistaken him for someone—or something—else . . .

Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961), a poet, sculptor, and painter, was also a prolific author of sf, fantasy, and horror stories, writing close to 300 short stories. He was a star contributor to the great fantasy-horror pulp, Weird Tales, where his stories appeared alongside those of such other luminaries as H.P. Lovecraft (with whom Smith carried on a long and voluminous correspondence), Robert E. Howard, and Seabury Quinn. He also wrote science fiction stories, including such standout classics as “The City of the Singing Flame” and its sequel, “Beyond the Singing Flame.” Some of his sf tales had a horror slant, and when they appeared in Hugo Gernsback’s Wonder Stories they were apparently a bit too intense for the editor, who often published them with cuts to make them less horrific. Thanks to William A. Dorman and Scott Connors, this is the version as Smith originally wrote it, with no cuts and all shivers intact.