Ashton Smith (1893-1961) was a lifelong resident of California, residing in the small town of Auburn, nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The otherworldly nature of much of his work-set in the imaginary realms of Zothique, Averoigne, Hyperborea, Xiccarph, and elsewhere-makes it seems as if Smith himself is a denizen of some extraterrestrial realm.

But this volume emphatically demonstrates how vital his birthplace in the Golden State was central to his life and imagination. One of his most famous stories, "The City of the Singing Flame," opens in the area of Crater Ridge, which Smith visited frequently. Other tales, such as "The Devotee of Evil," "The Return of the Sorcerer," and "Genius Loci," also utilize various settings in central California.

Smith also infused his poems and prose poems with his love of California, as such works as "The Old Waterwheel," "The Black Lake," and "Soliloquy in an Ebon Tower" attest.

This volume features tales that begin in California but take the reader on cosmic voyages throughout the universe. It has been edited by the well-known critic and editor Ronald S. Hilger and features a sensitive introduction by contemporary weird writer Marc Laidlaw.