Clark Ashton Smith Review: A Star-Change

The usual critical reaction of one of Smith’s stories was:

1. Smith disparages it;
2. Lovecraft raves over it;
3. August Derleth offers editorial advice which may or may not be beneficial;
4. An editor, often Hugo Gernsback, rejects it unless massive changes are made.

That process got stood on its ear by “A Star-Change.”

The story is about a human transported to an alien planet but he cannot adapt to it. Because of the different star, the wavelengths of light were different. Because of the atmosphere, sound waves traveled differently. The aliens operated on the man, giving his senses a fine tuning, geared to the new world. This worked wonders on the alien world but when he returned to Earth, his senses were still attuned to the other planet. This drove him mad, and he died in the hospital, thought due to a withdrawal from drugs or alcohol, although not a trace was found in his system.

Smith was proud of the story, telling Lovecraft it was “a whale of an idea.” Derleth dismissed it as “not very good, I regret to say” and Lovecraft, normally Smith’s biggest cheerleader, wrote to Derleth that “The idea is magnificient–but as you say, the mode of handling is mediocre.”

“A Star-Change” was rejected twice before being accepted in Wonder Stories but was not warmly received. Future science fiction luminary and the man who coined “Sci-Fi,” Forrest J. Ackerman, wrote to Wonder Stories letter column to request no more stories like “A Star-Change.”

I have to agree with Lovecraft that the idea is thought-provoking but the execution is slow-paced and difficult to get through. Smith’s descriptive style worked against him here.

With very little action, after a while, describing sensory details bogs down, no matter how well composed. Smith’s extensive vocabulary and complex sentences made these alien sensations even harder to comprehend. If ever there was a case for Hemingway’s simple words and short sentences, it was here.

That said, the idea is compelling. Aliens in Star Trek/Wars almost always breathe the same air, share the same gravity, and sense their environment the same way. Smith was bringing up a valid idea not just about creatures from other planets but animals from Earth as well. Many see different wavelengths, hear at different frequencies, and even have entirely nonhuman senses.

James Dickey, author of Deliverance, wrote a poem called “The Sheep Child” about a grotesque human/sheep hybrid which saw the world as both man and beast. It’s not exactly what Smith was going for but more effective.

“A Star-Change” is a hard story to evaluate. As Lovecraft noted, the concept makes it worth reading but the actual delivery doesn’t live up to its promise.