C. L. Moore is an extremely gifted young woman of 25—a fact as well as fiction writer. Her stories are rivaled (now that Bob Howard is dead) only by Klarkash-Ton’s, & contain a highly unique element of convincing unreality—which could be still better but for a certain stereotyped romanticism & occasional concession to the pulp ideal.
—H. P. Lovecraft to Virgil Finlay, [25 Sep 1936], Letters to Hyman Bradofsky & Others 447
“Tree of Life,” published in the October 1936 issue of Weird Tales, isn’t technically the last of the Northwest Smith stories. Yet for many readers, it would have been seen as practically the last. Smith would not appear in print again until “Quest of the Starstone” (WT Nov 1937), a full year later, and the final brief coda “Song in a Minor Key” would only see print in a fanzine in 1940. So too, Moore’s star at Weird Tales was waning. This would be her 13th story published at Weird Tales in just three years, but in the next four years she would publish only three more stories in the magazine.
What changed? The death of Moore’s fiancé in early 1936, her ongoing need to provide for her family with her real job, Weird Tales‘ slow payments and her shift to other pulp markets likely all had their part to play. Yet that was in the future. For now, readers could enjoy this tale and imagine the many other adventures of Northwest Smith that the future might hold for them.
It was an unusually elaborate well, and amazingly well preserved. Its rim had been inlaid with a mosaic pattern whose symbolism must once have borne deep meaning, and above it in a great fan of time-defying bronze an elaborate grille-work portrayed the inevitable tree-of-life pattern which so often appears in the symbolism of the three worlds. Smith looked at it a bit incredulously from his shelter, it was so miraculously preserved amidst all this chaos of broken stone, casting a delicate tracery of shadow on the sunny pavement as perfectly as it must have done a million years ago when dusty travelers paused here to drink.
—C. L. Moore, “Tree of Life” (WT Oct 1936)
In broad strokes, “Tree of Life” looks like several other Northwest Smith stories. The opening is reminiscent of “Werewoman” (1938), with Smith on the run. A ruin that rests between two worlds, as in “Julhi” (1935). A pattern that transports Smith between worlds, as in “Scarlet Dream” (1934). The story lives in that space that Moore carved out between science and sorcery, between the interplanetary tale and sheer fantasy.
One of the things that stands out in the story is the strange and terrible Thag—who is reminiscent, thematically, of the monster Thog in Robert E. Howard’s “The Slithering Shadow” (WT Sep 1933), who likewise keeps an entire population in fear. So what are the odds of Robert E. Howard calling one of his tentacled horrors
Thog, and C. L. Moore calling one of hers Thag? Is it just coincidence, or was one borrowing from the other?
In many ways, Robert Ervin Howard and Catherine Lucille Moore were operating on the same wavelength. While he wrote for Weird Tales earlier and more prolifically, both of them had a way of lighting on similar themes. Erotic tentacles appear in Howard’s “The Slithering Shadow” (WT Sep 1933) and in Moore’s “Shambleau” (WT Nov 1933). Both would conceive of French swordswomen in “Black God’s Kiss” (WT Oct 1934) and “Sword Woman” (written c.1934, but not published until after Howard’s death), and create series characters that would be remembered by generations of Weird Tales fans
Technically they were in competition from 1933-1936, but in reality Howard wrote more, and sold more, during that period. Moore had a day job, while Howard was a full-time writer. They admired one another, and had similar themes. C. L. Moore’s “science fiction” stories of Northwest Smith, while set on distant planets and involving force-guns and spaceships, were written like fantasies with ancient gods, sorcerers, and creatures from Outside. Howard’s fantasies, by contrast, sometimes came up very close to science fiction: the city of Xuthal in “The Slithering Shadow” is lit by radium-lamps, and golden wine quaffed by Conan recalls super science medicines as much as some alchemical potion
Howard’s Thog is not exactly cast in the mode of any earlier entity, but the name might have been influenced by weird precursors like H. P. Lovecraft’s Yog-Sothoth and Clark Ashton Smith’s Tsathoggua; a similar entity named Thaug appeared in another Conan tale, “A Witch Shall Be Born” (WT Dec 1934). He would also use similar names for entirely different creatures, the ape-man Thak in “Rogues in the House” (WT Jan 1934), and the god Thak, the Hairy One, in the posthumously published Almuric (WT May-Jun-Aug 1939)—so perhaps he derived the name, or simply came up with it on his own and liked the sound of it.
If “Thog” and “Thaug” were inspired by Tsa-THOG-ga, it would not be a great surprise. Many of names in the early Mythos fiction invoke some of the same elements; the “-oth” ending for example appears in Sheol-Nugganoth (Lord Dunsany); Yog-Sothoth, Azathoth, Rhan-Tegoth, shoggoth (Lovecraft); Abhoth, Rlim Shaikorth (Smith); Gol-goroth, Bal-Sagoth (Howard). Lovecraft, Howard, and Smith also made a particular habit of working variations on their names—in Howard’s case, in “The Moon of Skulls” (WT Jun-July 1930) the ancient god is Golgor, in “The Children of the Night” (WT Apr-May 1931) and “The Gods of Bal-Sagoth” (WT Oct 1931) the god is named Gol-goroth.
C. L. Moore left no record of similar-sounding names for her horrors; her approach to naming was by her own account more spontaneous. She also did not, except for one round-robin story, play the kind of game that Lovecraft, Smith, and Howard did by putting references to one another’s works in her fiction of Northwest Smith or Jirel of Joiry. Yet at the same time, if Moore drew some thread of inspiration from that game and worked up a similar-named entity for her own fiction—she did make it her own.
While Thog and Thag both prey on their captive populations, that is about where the similarities end. Thog is monstrous but definitely material, able to be cut and chopped and stabbed, while Thag is something altogether weirder, vulnerable at only a single point. While both stories may be classed as science-fantasy, “The Slithering Shadow” leans more toward sword-and-sorcery than “Tree of Life”; as outclassed as Conan and Northwest Smith might be, there is more of a focus on battle and human drama in Howard’s story. Northwest Smith destroyed or defeated Thag, but Conan made Thog bleed.
Read together, the choice of names is less interesting than how each writer pursued a similar theme, each in their own way…and showcased how these two writers could, coming at similar ideas from different perspectives, create two different but equally enjoyable narratives—and in the end Northwest Smith returned to Mars, to live and fight another day.
I was glad to see the return of Northwest Smith.
—John V. Baltadonis, The ‘Eyrie’ in Weird Tales (Dec 1936)Moore never disappoints, having that rare gift of imagination inexhaustible which keeps this author’s yarns different.
—B. M. Reynolds, The ‘Eyrie’ in Weird Tales (Dec 1936)
Fan response was positive, based on the letters published in The ‘Eyrie.’ Lovecraft’s appreciation was more muted, but honest:
C L M’s “Tree of Life” adheres more or less to her formula, though it has effective atmospheric touches
—H. P. Lovecraft to R. H. Barlow, 31 Sep 1936, OFF 367“Tree of Life” runs a bit to the Moore formula, but is distinctive for all that.
—H. P. Lovecraft to Duane W. Rimel, 24 Oct 1936, LFB 334Moore item is average, & “House of Duryea” has a clever ending.
—H. P. Lovecraft to August Derleth, 24 Oct 1936, ES2.752In Oct. the high spots were C L M’s “Tree of Life” & Bloch’s yarn—the Quick, Peirce, & Kuttner efforts deserving honourable mention.
—H. P. Lovecraft to Richard F. Searight, 19 Nov 1936, LPS 432
Lovecraft, who was still corresponding with C. L. Moore all through the turmoil of 1936, probably had a better idea of what she was going through than most. It’s not clear what impact their correspondence had on Moore’s writing—was Lovecraft’s gentle suggestion to pursue writing for artistic sake rather than commercial reasons part of the reason why Moore would cease writing Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry? We may never know. Yet to describe “Tree of Life” as an “average” Moore story for the period is no insult. It is still a solid piece of writing, reflecting Moore’s interests and personality, showcases her effort to straddle the lines of multiple genres to produce something truly weird.
“Tree of Life” was published in the Oct 1936 issue of Weird Tales. Scans of this story are available on the Internet Archive.
Bobby Derie is the author of Weird Talers: Essays on Robert E. Howard and Others and Sex and the Cthulhu Mythos.
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Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein 