"The Isle of the Torturers" 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 cycle, and first published in the March

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

issue of '' Weird Tales''.

Publication history

According to '' Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography'' (

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

) by

Donald Sidney-Fryer Donald Sidney-Fryer (born September 8, 1934) is a poet and entertainer principally influenced by Edmund Spenser and Clark Ashton Smith. Born and raised in the Atlantic coastal community of New Bedford, Massachusetts, Sidney-Fryer enlisted in ...

, "The Isle of the Torturers" was first published in the March

issue of '' Weird Tales''. It was included in the books ''Keep on the Light'' (

) edited by

Christine Campbell Thomson Christine Hartley, better known as Christine Campbell Thomson (1897–1985), was a British horror fiction author best known for the ''Not at Night'' series. She also wrote under the name Flavia Richardson. Mike Ashley , ''Who's Who in Horror and ...

as "Isle of Torturers", ''

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 ...

'' (

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

), and '' Zothique'' (

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

Plot

A long-foretold plague called the Silver Death comes from the star Achernar to Yoros. King Fulbra is protected by a magical ring made by his loyal sorcerer Vemdeez. The ring protects its wearer from illness and from spreading the plague, but the moment it is removed the Silver Death will return. Everyone in Yoros dies except Fulbra and three slaves. They set sail for the vassal state of Cyntrom. A storm drives them to Uccastrog, also known as the Isle of the Torturers. Fulbra meets Ildrac, king of Uccastrog. Ildrac refuses to allow Fulbra to leave and strips him of his weapons. As Fuldra is escorted to his room, he passes a girl, Ilvaa, who whispers in the language of Yoros that she wants to help him. From his room, Fulbra can see the bodies of his slaves floating in the sea. The next day, Ilvaa encourages Fulbra to endure the coming tortures and says that she will try to help him escape that evening. That evening, she visits Fulbra in his room. She says her plan has failed, but she will try again tomorrow. Fulbra survives another day of torture by thinking of Ilvaa. That night, Ilvaa does not come. The next day, while Fulbra is on a breaking wheel, Ilvaa mocks him for believing that she would help him. She prepares to feed him drugged wine that will take away his memories. Fulbra, wishing to die, decides to tempt Ildrac to remove the ring. He pretends to be afraid of what will happen if the ring is removed. Ildrac removes the ring and places it on his own finger. The Silver Death is unleashed, killing everyone except Ildrac. Ildrac, afraid that the ring is the source of the plague, throws it into the ocean and dies as well.

Reception

Reviewing ''

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

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

book '' Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers'',

Will Murray William Murray (born 1953) is an American novelist, journalist, short story, and comic book writer. Much of his fiction has been published under pseudonyms. With artist Steve Ditko, he co-created the superhero Squirrel Girl. Biography Early ...

appraised the story with "hope and futility are expertly balanced." Reviewing the March 1933 issue of ''Weird Tales'' in the

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

book ''The Weird Tales Story'', Robert Weinberg called it "the best story" and "had an especially effective ending."

References

External links

*
Text of "The Isle of the Torturers"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isle of the Torturers, The Short stories by Clark Ashton Smith Fantasy short stories 1933 short stories Works originally published in Weird Tales

Publication history

Plot

Reception

See also

References

External links