"Necromancy in Naat" is a short story by American author

Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Algernon Charles Swinburne ...

as part of his

Zothique ''Zothique'' is a collection of fantasy short stories by Clark Ashton Smith, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books as the sixteenth volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in June 1970. It was the firs ...

cycle, and first published in the July

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

issue of ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...

''.

Plot

Nomad prince Yadar finds his betrothed Dalili taken up by bandits during his hunt for gazelles in the "half-desert" region Zyra. Yadar begins a quest to find Dalili. With four of his men, they search the capitals of Zothique. While fever takes Yadar's men, Yadar finds that Dalili was sold as a slave girl to the king of Yoros as settlement for a treaty. Taking passage on a galley carrying grain and wine to Yoros, the ship is whisked off in a current called the Black River. Far from shore, Yadar learns from the galley crew that between there and the edge of the world is a land called Naat ruled by necromancers. As the galley shipwrecks onto Naat, Yadar is rescued by an undead woman. Yadar learns that the undead woman is Dalili. Initially happy, Yadar finds that undead Dalili does not reciprocate. On the beach, Yadar meets three of the necromancers (elder Vacarn and his sons Vokal and Uldalla) amid incantations. The necromancers invite Yadar to dinner where he finds the undead as servants. During the meal, he learns he was chosen rather than by chance he survived. A cannibal joins the dinner as a guest but a weasel-like creature named Esrit drinks his blood. The prince wonders if a similar fate waits for him. Two of the necromancers (Uldalla and Vokal) offer a deal for Yadar to kill their father. In return, they offer Yadar a galley, an undead crew, and Dalili. Yadar accepts. However, the murder goes awry and Yadar is mortally wounded. Reanimated, Yadar finds that Vokal and the father are burning on a funeral pyre. Undead Yadar works under the remaining necromancer Uldalla who succumbs to madness and later disembowels himself. While both are undead, Yadar works alongside Dalili which is some consolation.

Themes

In the 1988 book ''Fantasy: The 100 Best Books'', James Cawthorn and

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has work ...

noted the stories "Necromancy in Naat", "

The Witchcraft of Ulua "The Witchcraft of Ulua" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the February 1934 issue of ''Weird Tales''. Plot Sabmon lives in a house made of bones on the edge of a northern ...

", and " The Black Abbot of Puthuum" on the theme of love and lust.

Reception

Reviewing ''

Lost Worlds The lost world is a subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late-Victorian adventure romance and remains popular into the 21st century. The ge ...

'' in the

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

book ''The Guide to Supernatural Fiction'',

E. F. Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" s ...

recommended the "best stories are "The Seven Geases", "

The Isle of the Torturers "The Isle of the Torturers" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith as part of his Zothique cycle, and first published in the March 1933 issue of '' Weird Tales''. Publication history According to '' Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Asht ...

", "Necromancy in Naat", which may well be Smith's three best weird stories."

References

External links

*
Text of "Necromancy in Naat"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Necromancy in Naat Short stories by Clark Ashton Smith Fantasy short stories 1936 short stories Works originally published in Weird Tales

Plot

Themes

Reception

See also

References

External links