Way back on page 7, I wrote about the influence that EC comics (Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, etc) and the Amicus films (such as From Beyond the Grave) had on this story. Well, there was one other huge influence, that, for reasons that will soon become obvious, I haven’t discussed until now: “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan,” a short story by Clark Ashton Smith (try saying that title five times fast).

Smith, a contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft, was a terrific writer of fantasy and horror (often mixing both genres in the same tale), who wrote in the 1930s and ‘40s. He published short stories in magazines like “Weird Tales” and “Amazing Stories,” and would often set a series of stories in fictional places like Poseidonis (his version of Atlantis) or Hyperborea (a legendary, pre-historic arctic continent). In “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan,” Avoosl, a greedy money-lender in Hyperborea, lends money to a shady character in exchange for a large bag of incredibly valuable jewels. The jewels are worth much more than what Avoosl has lent the shady character, but Avoosl is certain that the jewels are stolen and the shady character won’t be back for them - so Avoosl has made a fortune. But the jewels have a mind of their own, and when two large emeralds roll out the door and down the street - seemingly under their own power - Avoosl greedily follows them, oblivious to whatever magic is at work...and it doesn’t end well. Sound familiar? The specifics are very different in The Good Luck Charm, but the basic ideas - the pawn shop, the incredibly valuable jewel, greed - were heavily influenced by Smith’s story.

I read this story, and the rest of Smith’s Hyperborean tales, around the same time that Greg and I were watching the Amicus films. “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan” has a strong sense of poetic justice that is very much in the vein of EC Comics, and for whatever reason the two influences mixed together in my brain...and this story came out.

At this part in the script, I originally had a dream sequence where Jim reaches for the jewel, but it slides just beyond his grasp. Jim reaches again, and the jewel escapes again. Jim chases the jewel, never quite getting it, until he is led into some sort of peril (I can’t remember what any more) and wakes up in a cold sweat. It’s pretty obviously influenced by “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan,” and I tried to make it my own without completely ripping off Smith’s story. I thought it could be a good illustration of Jim’s obsession, and a chance to do something different stylistically when we filmed it, since it was a dream. I never quite got it right, despite a few revisions, and at some point Greg said that the story probably didn’t even need it - and he was right. So out it went.

I don’t miss the dream sequence. I think the story is better without it - the dream would have slowed things down, and not told us much that we didn’t know already. Sometimes it’s better to cut things out.


shi: This is such an amazing trivia, I just have to recommend The Double Shadow, a podcast covering the weird fiction writings of American author Clark Ashton Smith. A new recording for Seedlings of Mars will be up soon! Good stuff :}