The Cromcast: A Weird Fiction Podcast

Happy Cromtober, and Happy Halloween! This year, we decided to spend some time around the seasonal Cromtober fire ruminating on hauntings - haunted places, haunted houses, haunted people... with Ambrose Bierce's The Spook House and HP Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch House as discussion fodder. It's a good one. 

Stay spooky, Cromrades!

Welcome Cromrades to the final episode of our Clark Ashton Smith journey. We've loved our time with the poet of Auburn, CA and we hope you are all finding more to read from him. We send him off with a creepy, twisted, parasitic episode focused on "The Vaults of Yoh Vombis". Join us in the shadows won't you...?

Show Notes: 

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/231/the-vaults-of-yoh-vombis 

Evaluation of CAS stories

https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2022/12/30/sifting-the-good-from-the-bad-a-quick-and-dirty-evaluation-of-clark-ashton-smith-stories/

One Things

Joshua: Making impactful decisions in The Witcher 3

Luke: In the midst of a Nolan fest and finally watched The Prestige 

Jonathan: Finding inner peace with The Question

Also... Did you know there's an upcoming CAS Conference in Auburn, CA, in Jan? Check it out! 

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

Did you know that we're on Facebook?

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Outro: 'Life on Mars' by David Bowie. Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work! 

Hile, Cromrades! We return with a new story, one from MARS! Herein we discuss 'The Dweller in the Gulf,' by none other than Clark Ashton Smith. You can access an open source version of the text here! Join us, won't you?

One Things

Jon: No Man's Sky, on a ton of gaming platforms!

Josh: Salt and Sanctuary, on a ton of gaming platforms!

Luke: Sinners, which is his fave movie of the year (so far)!

Also... Did you know there's an upcoming CAS Conference in Auburn, CA, in Jan? Check it out! Grassroots pulp lit conventions, FTW!!!!!!

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

Did you know that we're on Facebook?

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Outro: 'Debaser' by The Pixies. Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work! 

Welcome back, Cromrades! We hope you are eagerly anticipating this episode of the big show, where we discuss Clark Ashton Smith's Mother of Toads. 

One Things

Jon: Tom Scioli's Stan Lee biography "I Am Stan".

Josh: The D&D Adventure System board game, "Castle Ravenloft". 

Luke: Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields  by Charles Bowden. 

Check out the upcoming Clark Ashton Smith Conference in Auburn, CA January 10, 2026! 

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

Did you know that we're on Facebook?

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Outro: 'Bang Bang' by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nikki Minaj. (This is all Josh's fault.) Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work! 

Behold listeners! A colossal Cromcast episode, stuffed with meat and bones and ready for your earholes. Join the crew as they dissect the Clark Ashton Smith tale, "The Colossus of Ylourgne". This tale of revenge and woe is our first foray into Smith's version of France known as Averoigne. Read it here if you dare: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/27/the-colossus-of-ylourgne 

One Things

Luke: "The Last of Us" on HBO

Josh: "LOST" a classic from the aughts

Jon: "The Old Man & the Gun" starring Robert Redford. 

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

Did you know that we're on Facebook?

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Outro: 'Giants Fall' by Miracle of Sound, from the game The Shadow of the Colossus. Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work! 

Hile, Cromrades! We return with another yarn from Zothique by one Clark Ashton Smith. You can access an open source version of the text here! Join us, won't you?

One Things

Jon: John Gwynne's 'The Shadow of the Gods'!

Josh: 'Grotten,' by Sunzenaut!

Luke: The Smith Circle, a CAS Conference coming 10 Jan 2026!

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

Did you know that we're on Facebook?

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Outro: 'Wings Wetted Down' by THE Blue Oyster Cult. Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work! 

Hello there, Cromrades! We hope you are hale, healthy, and well rested!  Pray, won't you join us on holiday? We are planning a visit to the island of 

One Things

Jon: Mike Mignola - Drawing Monsters documentary

Josh: Mini Mork Manual - a Mork Borg Solo Experience.

Luke: Soundtracks for Reading - Remember the Future by Nektar, or maybe you'd be more interested in some cosmic banjo?

Here is the March 1933 issue of Weird Tales, where The Isle of the Torturers was first published! 

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

Did you know that we're on Facebook?

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Outro: Vicarious by Tool from their album 10,000 Days. Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work! 

The Cromcast is going down deep to its roots, but this time we're digging into the literature of Clark Ashton Smith. In this first episode of our 22nd season, we discuss the man and author himself and reveal our reading list. Tune in for weird tales fun!

Welcome back, all! We're rounding out our 21st season with a series of Howardian film selections from the Cromrades:

Jon - All the President's Men (1976)

Luke - Ladyhawke (1985)

Josh - Hidalgo (2004)

Where do we go from here, you may ask? You'll have to listen 'til the end to find out!

Welcome back, Cromrades! This week, we take on two combat sports movies that damage us right where it hurts - the emotions! We're talking Million Dollar Baby directed by Clint Eastwood, and starring Eastwood, Hilary Swank, and Morgan Freeman. Then, we enter the squared circle to face off against the Von Erich family in The Iron Claw, directed by Sean Durkin and starring Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, , Maura Tierney, Stanley Simons, Holt McCallany, and Lily James. 

We're talking raw emotional damage, folks. 

Would Robert E. Howard have found something to like about this double feature? Let us know! 

One Things

Jon: Peaceful Neighbor: Discovering the Counter Cultural Mr. Rogers by Michael Long

Josh: On Boxing by Joyce Carol Oates

Luke: Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins by Annie Jacobsen

Questions? Comments? Curses?

Call us at (859) 429-CROM!

Did you know that we're on Facebook?

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Themes by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Outro: Tom Sawyer by Rush! Music obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!