Book excerpt: THE HASHISH EATER (1920), an extraordinary prose-poem of malignant cosmic decadence and psychedelic evil, remains the signature work of its creator, the prolific fantasy author Clark Ashton Smith. Figuring prominently in the ranks of classic drug literature, THE HASHISH EATER clearly shows the influence on Smith of ninteenth century symbolists and visionary decadents such as Huysmans, Baudelaire, and William Beckford, allied to an avant-garde evocation of galactic horror. This special ebook edition of THE HASHISH EATER also includes the author's own summary of the work, plus a rare bonus chapter, Smith's hallucinatory fragment IN A HASHISH DREAM.