User:DoctorWho42/The Abominations of Yondo

"The Abominations of Yondo" is a short story by American author Clark Ashton Smith. It was first published in the April 1926 issue of Overland Monthly.

Publication history
According to Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography (1978) by Donald Sidney-Fryer, "The Abominations of Yondo" was first published in the April 1926 issue of The Overland Monthly. It was included in the March 1944 issue of Celephais, The Abominations of Yondo (1960), and Hyperborea (1971).

Plot
Released from the inquisition of lion-headed god Ong, someone wanders the desert of Yondo which lies at the world's rim. He leaves a cacti forest but dreads the animal life he encounters as the long-legged insects. He hopes to reach the north and join a nomadic tribe to survive. He encounters an egg-shaped monster with nine legs. He runs but it does not pursue him. He hears the screams of a woman and makes for a rescue. He finds a marble statue so leaves but it remains screaming. A shadow begins following him. The sun begins to set and he hopes he leaves the desert before night. He runs into a faceless ghost in chainmail. It regards him but continues on. He then runs into a mummy who tries to strangle him. As night falls, he runs back to the inquisition of Ong.

Reception
Reviewing Hyperborea for Luna Monthly, Robert FitzOsbert said "hitherto-uncategorized classics as "The Abominations of Yondo," [...] deserve the reader's full attention in their own right."