title: Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams (Fantasy Masterworks)
author: C. L. Moore
description: Jirel of Joiry, the first of the great female warriors, the beautiful commander of the strongest fortress in the kingdom, would face any danger to defend her beloved country. She wielded her bright sword against mighty armies, the sinister magic of evil sorcerers and fearsome castles guarded by the dead, even daring to descend into Hell itself...Northwest Smith, the scarred and weathered outlaw, the legendary hero of the spaceways, forced to confront the terrible mysteries, the terrifying, mythic monsters of the universe...Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith are C.L. Moore's greatest creations and she used them not only to spin spellbinding tales but also to explore the mysteries of the human psyche.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  Thank you for downloading this Scribner eBook.
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  Sign up for our newsletter and receive special offers, access to bonus
  content, and info on the latest new releases and other great eBooks from
  Scribner and Simon & Schuster.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [CLICK HERE TO SIGN
  UP](http://eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com/front/9781476754468)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  or visit us online to sign up at  
  [eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com](http://eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com/front/9781476754468)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Cover Page Image](../images/00002.jpeg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This book is for some of the people who built my house:
  
  
  Mary Shelley
  
  
  Bram Stoker
  
  
  H. P. Lovecraft
  
  
  Clark Ashton Smith
  
  
  Donald Wandrei
  
  
  Fritz Leiber
  
  
  August Derleth
  
  
  Shirley Jackson
  
  
  Robert Bloch
  
  
  Peter Straub
  
  
  And ARTHUR MACHEN, whose short novel The Great God Pan has haunted me all my
  life.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  That is not dead which can eternal lie,
  
  
  And with strange aeons, even death may die.
  
  
  —H. P. Lovecraft
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I
  
  
  Fifth Business. Skull Mountain. 