I highly recommend checking out Darin Coelho Spring's new documentary CLARK ASHTON SMITH: THE EMPEROR OF DREAMS. Clark Ashton Smith is a key figure in the Shadow Pantheon of American Literature, as you will no doubt agree if you read such timeless works as "The City of the Singing Flame" (1931), "Master of the Asteroid" (1932), and THE BLACK BOOK OF CLARK ASHTON SMITH (1979). It's quite strange that 2018 should mark the debut of a pair of feature-length documentaries focusing on two of the most important visionaries to ever set foot on California soil. First came CLARK ASHTON SMITH: EMPEROR OF DREAMS (which debuted October 31st), followed by Irek Dobrowolski's STRUGGLE: THE LIFE AND LOST ART OF SZUKALSKI (which debuted only a few weeks later on December 21st). These documentaries about overlooked California outsider artists mirror each other in wonderfully unexpected ways. For example, in a synchronistic twist, one of the Szukalski aficionados who appears in STRUGGLE--painter/actor/magician Charles Schneider--is also featured prominently in CLARK ASHTON SMITH: THE EMPEROR OF DREAMS.
A few days ago I said to frequent Cryptoscatology correspondent Eric Blair, "What does it mean when serious documentaries about both Stanislaw Szukalski and Clark Ashton Smith debut within a few weeks of each other?" Eric replied that it was the universe trying to balance itself out (i.e., the Positive Madness of Szukalski and C.A. Smith balancing out the Negative Madness of... well, everything else). Perhaps Eric is more right than he knows....
Click HERE to watch the official trailer for CLARK ASHTON SMITH: THE EMPEROR OF DREAMS. If you wish to order CLARK ASHTON SMITH: THE EMPEROR OF DREAMS on Blu-ray or DVD via Hippocampus Press, simply click HERE. You can also stream the documentary through Amazon Prime and Vimeo.
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