Zothique by Clark Ashton Smith

A masterful collection of the tales of the Zothique story cycle. Zothique is an island chain that makes up the last of the land masses on Earth in the far-flung future.
In this setting, technology and science have long since passed, and the age of magic and necromancy has come full circle. Smith's view of the last days of mankind is wonderfully bleak but yet still full of mystery and weirdness. After all, how can you expect the values of the present to have any validity in the waning years of man's furthest horizons when the sun that brings life is dimming. Smith's command of language and description is beyond compare. To paraphrase Ray Bradbury's introduction to Smith's A Rendezvous In Averoigne (Arkham House, 1988), Smith has an incomparable ability to make you lose yourself in his world just with his choice of words, and that is half the battle. Enjoy!