The Abominations of Yondo by Clark Ashton SmithThis short story by CAS was one of the first things I ever read by this author. The fantastic use of language, the incredible imaginative landscape, and the imagery of the things that the main character comes across as he ventures into the desert really hit home for me. While I would not recommend this sort of thing to just anyone, those already steeped in the pulp fiction world will absolutely enjoy unpacking the parts of this little piece and savor the language.
I would consider it almost prose poetry, as it does not really follow the normal “rules” of storytelling. Perhaps a hidden Gem in the CAS corpus.
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