SOURCE: "City of the Singing Flame" by Clark Ashton Smith (Wonder Stories, July 1931)

DESCRIPTION: "It is hard for me to describe or even visualize them now, for they were totally unlike anything that we are accustomed to think of as human or animal. They must have been ten feet tall, and they were moving along with colossal strides that took them from sight in a few instants, beyond a turn of the road. Their bodies were bright and shining, as if encased in some sort of armor, and their heads were equipped with high, curving appendages of opalescent hues which nodded above them like fantastic plumes, but may have been antennae or other sense-organs of a novel type. Trembling with excitement and wonder, I continued my progress through the richly-colored undergrowth. As I went on, I perceived for the first time that there were no shadows anywhere. The light came from all portions of the sunless, amber heaven, pervading everything with a soft, uniform luminosity. All was motionless and silent, as before; and there was no evidence of bird, insect or animal life in all this preternatural landscape."

NOTES: The giant sentinels attempt to warn people away from the siren call of the singing flame.

HISTORY: "City of the Singing Flame" was an influential story for many later Science Fiction writers including Harlan Ellison. Here are his own words.