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Charles II: King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Places names and dates are blanked out in the text. I really, super hate it when authors do that. Rather than reword things around it, or make up places, I inserted some actual real words that fit and then bleeped it out in edit. But I can not even remotely begin to express to magnitude of my ire at authors doing that!! The picture used is inside the Carlsbad Caverns. To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1951/1951-h/1951-h.htm#link2HCH0001

The picture used is of Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany (1878-1957) To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#epilogueinmanila As it turns out, yes, there is a sequel to the Book of Wonder! We'll get around to it maybe early next year.

"The Book Of Wonder" was published in 1912. We don't know what time period this story was meant to be set in, so let's just use that date. 25s 6d in 1912 would be worth today, depending on what calculation you care to use, between £134 and £1,248. Which if we look up transom windows which might approximate that size (1'x2'), the low end of that price range isn't too far off from what you might expect to pay today. Maybe a bit high, but not completely off the charts insane high. Now the high end of that range would be insane for such a small window.... Of course, because this is a *magical* window, we probably should expect it to come in at the high end of the range. Penates: in ancient Roman belief, household gods worshiped in conjunction with Vesta and the lares. or / argent: heraldric terms for gold and silver, respectively. Note that while argent is technically silver, it was often in practice implemented as white. (And yellow was often used for or instead of gold.) But we have a most definite error here on Lord Dunsany's part, and one which given his own peerage he ought not to have made: in heraldry, metals were not placed upon metals. Obviously the Vatican, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, did the or-on-argent thing, so it could be done, but those are pretty much the only examples you will find in all of history, so they are the proverbial exception that proves the rule. You won't find it anywhere else, and it ought not to have been done here, unless Dunsany is suggesting to us that the dominion in this story was actually a Papal dominion? But then who is the bear? Not Muslims - aside from the European country of Albania, animals are not a thing on the flags of Islamic countries. Who else would even be in a position to attack a Papal dominion that could possibly have a bear flag? And yes, yes, there was once an imperial flag of China that was a white dragon on a yellow field (argent-on-or), I know. China was never bound by European heraldric laws :-P jackdaw: a type of bird, similar to a crow or raven, but smaller. The picture used is c.1400 – c.1416 Y Ddraig Aur (The Golden Dragon), royal standard of Owain Glyndŵr, Prince of Wales, famously raised over Caernarfon during the Battle of Tuthill in 1401 against the English. This particular depiction of the flag is by Rhŷn Williams and used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en). I know it's only one big gold dragon, not a lot of little gold dragons, but it's the only historical flag I could find that even remotely approximates the flag of interest to this story. To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#THE_WONDERFUL_WINDOW

diorite: an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-silica (mafic) gabbro and high-silica (felsic) granite. The picture used is a statue of Guan Yu at the Temple of Guandi (a Chinese temple) of Osaka, Japan, by kanegen, used here under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en). Why in Japan? Guan Yu is, after all, a figure from Chinese history. But I just couldn't find any other image I liked that was free to use of a statue of Guan Yu with a red face. The red face is apocryphal, but it is still common to depict him in that way. I couldn't think of any other red faced idols, but this one I happened to just know so I rolled with it. Chu-bu would likely then be the black faced idol in this picture. I have several pictures I took myself of Guan Yu from temples in China, but either the quality is far too poor, or there are people prominently in the picture that make it unsuitable for this purpose, so I couldn't use any of them. Pity. To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#CHU-BU_AND_SHEEMISH Chu-bu... brings to mind the old "Sit, Ubu, sit!" bit from Ubu Productions. HA! Now GET OFF MY LAWN!!

I can certainly relate to Mr. Shap... The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#THE_CORONATION_OF_MR_THOMAS_SHAP

Surrey: a county in south east England, south of London. This is one of those stories that is really just about describing a locale, not a whole lot of plot or action, but a lot of description. Edgar Allen Poe has some stories like this: "The Domain of Arnheim" and "Landor's Cottage" most notably. H.P. Lovecraft talks about this style of story as well in his essay "Notes on Writing Weird Fiction". And so Dunsany also has at least this story of this sort. We'll find out soon enough if he has others, but it seems likely. The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#HOW_ONE_CAME_AS_WAS_FORETOLD_TO_THE_CITY_OF_NEVER

There's another reference to Slith! (See: "Probable Adventure of the Three Literary Men" for the reference) Belgrave Square is a real place in London! It dates to the early 19th century, and is located just a little bit west of Buckingham Palace. Fancy! The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#HOW_NUTH_WOULD_HAVE_PRACTISED_HIS_ART_UPON_THE_GNOLES

Gibbelins... listening to some other recordings of this story, there is no consensus on that 'g'. Mostly the hard 'g' sound, some more of a softer 'j' sound. I could easily go either way. On the one hand, it's like goblins, but with an 'i'. On the other hand, it seems likely to be related to the word gibberish. Ugh. Once again bitten on the ass by made up words of unknowable pronunciation and no hints given by the author. The online text uses "ho rhoos okeanoio", but the text I'm reading from tries to use Greek characters, yet several of the characters are obviously wrong. Like, there's a literal italic 's' at the end of the second word - there is no character in the Greek alphabet that looks like a Latin 's'. My best guess is ζ. And they start the third word with what looks like a Latin 'a', but clearly the word they are going for is ocean, so it *must* be ω, or if you prefer upper-case: Ω. So as best I can make out, given the transliteration provided in the online text versus the weird almost-Greek alphabet spelling in my physical book text, it is probably supposed to be "δο ροοζ ωκεανοιο" - the pink ocean. I guess? I really don't know. It's all very strange. I have no idea what Homeric passage is being referenced, I'm not that much into Homer - if you recognize it, please leave a comment below. But then, shouldn't it really be Ὠκεανός (Oceanus)? Yes, that can be the name of a titan, but also the name of the world-encircling river that Homer definitely does make reference to. So okeanoio / ωκεανοιο isn't even the right word in the first place? It's all very confusing and annoying. It would be interesting to know what Dunsany wrote into his hand-written version of the text. Clearly nobody seems to have gotten it right in their transcriptions of it. Since I can't even be sure what the words are supposed to be, I can't have any idea what the pronunciation is supposed to be. C'est la vie. The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#THE_HOARD_OF_THE_GIBBELINS

Serpents of Licantara - as best I can tell, this is a made-up thing. At least, google doesn't know about it outside of this story. So I am left with no hints on how to pronounce Licantara. The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#THE_QUEST_OF_THE_QUEENS_TEARS Sounds like this Queen was quite literally a sociopath. These suitors should be glad they failed to win her hand, they dodged a real bullet. I mean, I guess in the sense that marrying a Queen gives access to power and prestige and wealth, yeah, that's all great, but having to spend the rest of your life married to a sociopath doesn't sound real appealing regardless of the upsides. But then, those princes who wanted a quest of murder and mayhem, sounds like those guys were psychopaths, so this may be one of those cases where there are no good guys, only bad guys all around.

This tale is told in the balconies of Belgrave Square and among the towers of Pont Street; men sing it at evening in the Brompton Road. ---- Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, 4.3 miles (6.9 km) southwest of Charing Cross. Roncesvalles: famous for the death of Roland in 778, during the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, when Charlemagne's rearguard was destroyed by Basque tribes. To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#MISS_CUBBIDGE_AND_THE_DRAGON_OF_ROMANCE

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies existed from 1816 to 1860, giving us a nice mid-19th century time period bracketing for this story. It was, in fact, the Kingdom of Sicily having merged with the Kingdom of Naples, which for some reason was also known as the Kingdom of Sicily. Hence the Two Sicilies. The Golden Age of Piracy was more the 17th and 18th centuries, but obviously piracy is still a problem even into the present day, it never really goes away, but Age of Sail piracy would certainly have still been a thing in the 19th century. There towards the end we see he has loot from the Spanish treasure fleet, which ended its operations in 1790. Now having some loot from the treasure fleet just means it was captured at some point in his career, not necessarily recently. But that would tend to suggest the story takes place closer to 1816 than to 1860, given life spans within the time periods in question, especially for pirates... The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#THE_LOOT_OF_BOMBASHARNA I feel like this story could be used as a basis for a whole series of other stories. Several plot hooks for other stories are already embedded in it, and we get a crewman by name, and nickname, who could easily be the main character of a spin-off story or two, if only a short explaining how he got his nickname. Lots of potential here for budding authors who want to write pirate adventures!

gloaming: twilight; dusk "fate of Slith" - from the previous story in this playlist: "Probable Adventure of the Three Literary Men". If you missed it, be sure to look for it! I was starting to wonder if there was going to be any internal consistency in this book, and lo, here we have an answer. The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#THE_INJUDICIOUS_PRAYERS_OF_POMBO_THE_IDOLATER

alcaic form: a four-line verse stanza in the meter invented by the Greek poet Alcaeus, and later used in a slightly altered form by the Roman poet Horace I'm sensing a trend with Dunsany, where there is no doubt as to the fate of his characters, but the exact details of how that fate plays out is typically left mostly to your own imagination... The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#PROBABLE_ADVENTURE_OF_THE_THREE_LITERARY_MEN

I feel like this story has some level of abstraction beyond the bare facts presented, but I'm not sure what. I wonder if there could be some form of autobiographical aspect to it? I don't know anything about Lord Dunsany so I have no idea, but this is a rather odd tale otherwise. Or perhaps it is just the retelling of a dream he once had? I don't understand the phrase "this person was quite white". I'm assuming that's not a reference to race, but then to what? Is this anything like Machen's "The White People"? The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#THE_HOUSE_OF_THE_SPHINX

The syntax towards the end gets really weird. I couldn't always parse it in a way that made sense to me. Maybe it's an Irish thing? I have no idea. I tried. But hey, at least he doesn't feel the need to overload us with tons and tons of needlessly obscure and obtuse vocabulary, so there's that. The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#DISTRESSING_TALE_OF_THANGOBRIND_THE_JEWELLER

caracole: a half turn to left or right executed by a mounted horse (or, apparently, a centaur) Clio: one of the seven muses, Clio is a daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne, and is known as "the Proclaimer", the glorifier and celebrator of history, great deeds, and accomplishments. The picture used is an illustration by Sidney Sime in the 1912 edition of "The Book of Wonder". To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7477/7477-h/7477-h.htm#THE_BRIDE_OF_THE_MAN-HORSE

The final story of the Zothique cycle. Not necessarily the conclusion we might hope for, but perhaps a suitable metaphor for the final age of the earth? ---- Euvoran... how to even break that name up into syllables? Eu-vo-ran? Eu-vor-an? Euv-o-ran? Euv-or-an? Who knows! And once you decide that, now you have to decide are the syllables long or short or other? Who knows! What a terrible name to give a main character, if you aren't going to give ANY hints on how to pronounce it. Ugh. I went back and forth with myself many times over the pronunciation, and didn't even really settle upon it until I started recording. miniate: to paint with red lead or vermilion involute: involved or intricate skein: a tangled or complicated arrangement, state, or situation flagitious: criminal; villainous Yes, my text does have both the executioner and the torturer on the right side of the throne. Surely one of them was supposed to be left, and the online text puts the torturer to the left, but at that point it'd just be a random call. I left the recording with the error of the original. What actually is vagrancy anyways? Being homeless and unemployed. Which often leads to such socially dubious behavior as begging, scavenging, and pickpocketing. bastinado: a form of punishment or torture that involves caning the soles of someone's feet saltation: leaping or dancing volitation: the act or power of flying malapert: boldly disrespectful to a person of higher standing cubit: an ancient measure of length, approximately equal to the length of a forearm. It was typically about 18 inches or 44 cm librate: oscillate or seem to oscillate. adytum: the innermost sanctuary (of an ancient Greek temple) faience: glazed ceramic ware, in particular decorated tin-glazed earthenware of the type which includes delftware and maiolica byssus: a fine textile fiber and fabric of flax gonfalon: a banner or pennant, especially one with streamers, hung from a crossbar cassia: a tree, shrub, or herbaceous plant of the pea family, native to warm climates sago: presumably referring to the sago palm, a species of gymnosperm in the family Cycadaceae, native to southern Japan including the Ryukyu Islands lorikeet: arboreal parrots characterized by their specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar of various blossoms and soft fruits, preferably berries. They occur in the South Pacific. lyrebird: ground-dwelling Australian birds that compose the genus Menura, and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their impressive ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment, and the striking beauty of the male bird's huge tail when it is fanned out in courtship display. dinornis: an extinct genus of birds of New Zealand belonging to the moa family phenicopter: flamingo piacular: requiring expiation; sinful, heinous argosy: a large ship Stymphalian: of or relating to Lake Zaraka in Arcadia that according to Greek mythology was haunted by man-eating birds slain by Hercules Aepyornis: an extinct genus of elephant bird formerly endemic to Madagascar antic: grotesque or bizarre covey: a small flock of birds incult: uncultivated; naturally wild hurly-burly: uproar; tumult leveret: a young hare in its first year misericordia: long, narrow knife, used from the High Middle Ages to deliver the death stroke (the mercy stroke, hence the name of the blade, derived from the Latin misericordia, "act of mercy") to a seriously wounded knight. The blade was thin enough to strike through the gaps between armour plates. magniloquent: using high-flown or bombastic language terraqueous: consisting or formed of land and water nyctalops: one who is unable to see normally in dim light. Not sure I got the pronunciation quite right, but it seems to be rather an obscure word. megapode: stocky, medium-large, chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet in the family Megapodiidae ruddle: to color with or as if with red ocher puissant: having great power or influence. coir: a stiff coarse fiber from the outer husk of a coconut tarboosh: a fez. Well, all fezes are tarbooshes, but not all tarbooshes are fezes. But you get the idea. The picture used is an illustration by Boris Dolgov for the Weird Tales publication of "Quest of the Gazolba", a variant version of this story. To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/238/the-voyage-of-king-euvoran

"Lord of the sultry, red parterres And orchards sunned by hell's unsetting flame! Amid thy garden blooms the Tree which bears Unnumbered heads of demons for its fruit; And, like a slithering serpeat, runs the root That is called Baaras; And there the forky, pale mandragoras, Self-torn from out the soil, go to and fro, Calling upon thy name: Till man new-damned will deem that devils pass, Crying in wrathful frenzy and strange woe." -Ludar's Litany to Thasaidon ---- We've heard the name Sotar come up a couple times before now, but this is the first story actually set on the island. That said, we don't get any good idea of the people or the land, just this one king. Pity. drupe: a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed, e.g., a plum, cherry, almond, or olive suppliance: supplication muffled and hodded: this is likely an error in my text - the online version below uses 'hooded'. I'm not convinced hooded makes great sense either, but more sense than hodded. Hod is a word, and can be a noun, but none of the myriad definitions makes even a slight hint of sense for this scenario. But since 'hooded' is only marginally better, I left it as 'hodded' despite the near certainty it is an error. Perhaps there is a more obscure definition for it that I could not uncover? I don't know. If you do know, leave a comment below. Ironically, near the end there where my book says "a hushed and hooded aspect", the online text says hodded. HA! Now what? bayadère: (known as devadasi in India) a female Hindu dancer, especially one at a southern Indian temple The picture used is an illustration by Jayem Wilcox from the story as published in Weird Tales. To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/76/the-garden-of-adompha The casual cruelty of Adompha reminds me a good deal of Emperor Cartagia of Babylon 5. I wonder if JMS ever read CAS?

We first heard of the Isle of the Torturers in "The Dark Eidolon", with Xylac's King Zotulla's favorite concubine, Obexah, being from Uccastrog. Achernar: a blue star with an apparent magnitude of about 0.50 that is the brightest star in the constellation Eridanus. I think I got the pronunciation right, but I'm not entirely sure. I can think of many possible pronunciations, it's one of those cursed English words you can only know how to pronounce by hearing an expert in the field say it out loud. But this is such an obscure star that there aren't many examples of it being said out there, and none from a source I would consider entirely reliable. lapidary: a cutter, polisher, or engraver of precious stones (typically those other than diamonds) amaranth: a flowering plant, ranging from maroon to crimson, so various shades of reddish colors enginery: machinery made up of engines; any device or contrivance; machinery adipocere: a grayish waxy substance formed by the decomposition of soft tissue in dead bodies subjected to moisture The picture used is an illustration by Jayem Wilcox from the story as published in Weird Tales. To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/108/the-isle-of-the-torturers "Do what'nsoever you want to do with me, Br'er Fox, but please, please, please! Don't throw me in that briar patch!" The Uncle Remus telling of Br'er Fox and Br'er Rabbit would have been popular in the late 19th century, while "The Isle of the Torturers" was published in 1931. Although given Smith's seeming attitudes on race, and his growing up in California, it's not obvious how familiar he would have been with the stories. Probably he would have heard them, but I just don't know.

The world itself, in the end, shall be turned to a round cipher. -Old prophecy of Zothique ---- The referenced destruction of Ummaos in the distant past is no doubt a reference to Namirrha in the story "The Dark Eidolon". Which you can find here on my channel! mantic: relating to divination or prophecy mobled: being wrapped or muffled in or as if in a hood ossicle: a small piece of calcified material forming part of a skeleton ossuary: a container or room in which the bones of dead people are placed purl: flow with a swirling motion and babbling sound inchoate: just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary fagots: of course we mean here a bundle of sticks or twigs bound together as fuel. Calm down, youtube! immure: enclose or confine (someone) against their will. sough: a moaning, whistling, or rushing sound as made by the wind in the trees or the sea. There are two pronunciations for this word, the one I used here, and one that has the 'gh' take an 'f' sound, so 'suf'. The picture used is an illustration by Jack Binder for this story as published in Weird Tales. To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/111/the-last-hieroglyph

levin: lightning architrave: a main beam resting across the tops of columns, specifically the lower third entablature clepsydra: a water clock burnoose: a long cloak of coarse woollen fabric with a pointed hood, often white in colour, traditionally worn by Arab and Berber men in North Africa elephantine apparently has numerous accepted pronunciations. Ugh. Well, mine is one of them, so if you would pronounce it differently, that's ok, we're both right! The picture used is of Palmyra, Syria - the ruins of an ancient desert city. Unfortunately no Weird Tales illustration for this one, and while there is a particularly good illustration of Nioth Korghai on Deviant Art by KingOvRats, he didn't grant any usage rights for it. But it's worth looking up, it's still a great piece even so. To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/220/the-tomb-spawn Another story from Smith of cosmic horror. Well, it would be more of a cosmic horror if the final boss didn't off himself, and was still out there somewhere waiting for fresh victims. Ah well, it was horrifying at least up to that moment.

Let the grape yield for us its purple flame, And rosy love put off its maidenhood: By blackening moons, in lands without a name, We slew the Incubus and all his brood. -Song of King Hoaraph's Bowmen ---- pulchritude: beauty candent: glowing from, or as if from, great heat debouchment: emerge, issue piebald: having irregular patches of two colors, typically black and white cataphract: in this context, a suit of armor for the whole body gelding: a castrated male horse sendal: a fine, rich silk material, chiefly used to make ceremonial robes and banners sistra: plural of sistrum, a musical instrument of the percussion family, used most notably by the ancient Egyptians. It consists of a handle and a U-shaped metal frame, made of brass or bronze and ranging from 30–76 cm (12–30 in) in width. When shaken, the small rings or loops of thin metal on its movable crossbars produce a sound that can vary from a soft clank to a loud jangling. welkin: sky or heaven seraglio: the women's apartments (harem) in an Ottoman palace nictitation: a reflex that closes and opens the eyes rapidly; repeated blinking or winking trow: believe hebetude: the state of being dull or lethargic dubitation: doubt or hesitation syenite: a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock with a general composition similar to that of granite, but deficient in quartz susurrous: characterized by whispering expiation: the act of making amends or reparation for guilt or wrongdoing; atonement interstice: intervening space, especially a very small one. My whole life I never came across the word until I started doing these short stories here on youtube. Now I've come across it quite a few times in these stories, although still never in any other circumstance. And no matter how many times I encounter it, I can never remember the correct pronunciation and always have to re-record it in edit. Ugh. 3 inches = 7.6 centimeters fledging: I'm pretty sure Smith meant fletching, but both my text and the online text use fledging here. Which is a real word, and the best fit would be 'to provide an arrow with feathers', but clearly it should be fletching. That said, despite the obvious error, I left it as it appears in both texts. aurochs: an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. The last known aurochs died in 1627 in Poland. captious: marked by an often ill-natured inclination to stress faults and raise objections sortilege: divination by lots. (Also apparently some liqueur made from Canadian whisky and maple syrup. Not sure how I feel about that... either whisky from Canada or the addition of maple syrup to it!) The picture used is an illustration by Virgil Finlay for the story as published in Weird Tales To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/15/the-black-abbot-of-puthuum

Anacreontic: written in the style of the ancient Greek poet Anacreon, known for his celebrations of love and wine incitant: an inciting agent fescennine: scurrilous, obscene lissom: thin, supple, graceful lupanar: brothel senescent: growing old importunate: persistent, especially to the point of annoyance or intrusion The picture used is an illustration for the story by WH Silvey, as published in Weird Tales. To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/142/morthylla No, you're not crazy, it really does go into repeat mode there at the end.

Thasaidon, lord of seven hells Wherein the single Serpent dwells, With volumes drawn from pit to pit Through fire and darkness infinite — Thasaidon, sun of nether skies, Thine ancient evil never dies, For aye thy somber fulgors flame On sunken worlds that have no name, Man's heart enthrones thee, still supreme, Though the false sorcerers blaspheme. -The Song of Xeethra ---- After such a long recording session for "The Charnel God", there was no way I could immediately follow that with an even longer recording session for this story, so this was recorded in several sessions. If there are any obvious or abrupt changes in recording quality, ambient noise, etc., that is why. ---- Eidolon: a spirit-image of a living or dead person; a shade or phantom look-alike of the human form simoom: a strong, hot, dry, dust-laden wind Canicule: Sirius, the Dog Star capricole: This word, appearing both in my text and in the online text, does not seem to exist. Now there is the word "capriole", which is when a horse leaps from the ground and kicks out its hind legs at the peak of the leap. That would fit in this context, and is probably what was intended, but both my text and the online text use the word "capricole", so that's the word I read into the recording. cope: in construction, cover (a joint or structure) with a coping (the covering course of a wall usually with a sloping top) suzerain: a feudal overlord paunch: a large or protruding abdomen or stomach magistral: in this context: extremely effective louting: bowing and scraping farced: stuffed, as for roasting chaps: in this context: the forepart of the face hautboy: oboe insupporable: unbearable. Note the online text linked to below replaces this word in 'insupportable', and indeed google really wants to pretend it doesn't know the word 'insupporable' and wants to redirect me to 'insupportable', but no, 'insupportable' is an insupportable substitution in this context. pash: smash haliotis: a genus (the type of the family Haliotidae) of gastropod mollusks comprising the abalones. Couldn't find any audio of this word being said, but I did find the IPA notation for it. Hope I got it right! emmets: ants The name Thasaidon is really killing me. Apparently I really want to pronounce it tha-say-don if I am not otherwise consciously thinking about it, yet the pronunciation I *really* want to use, which requires considerable conscious thought (or re-recording in edit) is 'tha-said-on'. Sometimes I even do 'tha-sigh-don'. Ugh. Anyways, given the frequency of use in this story, I really made the effort to make it consistent throughout. It's possible one or two of these alternate pronunciations may have slipped through, but hopefully not. Really wish Smith had left a pronunciation guide for us... The picture used is an illustration by Clark Ashton Smith for the story's publication in Weird Tales To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/212/the-dark-eidolon The second half especially was very badly plagued with pops and mouth noises. It was so much that I just couldn't clean it up as well as I normally would, it got to be such a time-consuming bother. I edited out the worst of it, but not all of it. Sorry. If it were a shorter story I might have tried harder, but it's so long and was taking so much time to work through even to the degree I did, I just couldn't spare any more time for it.

ossuary: a container or room in which the bones of dead people are placed gymnosophist: any of a sect of ascetics in ancient India who went naked and practiced meditation migniard: dainty; delicate obliquitous: exhibiting or characterized by obliquity, i.e. deviation from moral rectitude or sound thinking sybaritic: fond of sensuous luxury or pleasure; self-indulgent Lunalia sounds very Hawaiian to me. Nothing else to say about the name, just its Hawaiian flavor to my ear. Although I can't recall if I pronounced it the same way in the last story, I may not have and it may not have sounded so Hawaiian as a result, but this time that thought clicked with me, so now it gets this pronunciation regardless of whatever I used last time. Even Ulua could potentially be Hawaiian... Famorgh, however, cannot be a Hawaiian name. elk folk: the text linked to below uses "elf folk", but my text definitely says "elk folk". While elf folk does seem more obvious, none the less it is entirely possible there may be some remote nomadic tribe of pymgies in Zothique that go by the name elk folk, we really can't say. It's one of those occasions where what seems like an obvious enough error in the text I am reading from I am going to let stand as printed. thurible: a censer. What's a censer? A container in which incense is burned. euphrasy: an eyebright, i.e. any of a genus (Euphrasia) of plants of the figwort family, formerly used in treating eye disorders. empusae: a shape-shifting female being in Greek mythology, said to possess a single leg of copper, commanded by Hecate, whose precise nature is obscure. In Late Antiquity, the empousai have been described as a category of phantoms or spectres, equated with the lamiai and mormolykeia, thought to seduce and feed on young men. emmets: ants palfrey: a riding horse. Typically lighter in weight, with a smoother gait and friendly demeanor, well suited for riding long distances. in a trice: very quickly The picture used is "Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things" by Sophie Gengembre Anderson To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/248/the-witchcraft-of-ulua