If we encountered a city possessing none of the conventional dimensions of space and time, would we be able to experience its splendors? What if we were to begin to press against what could be its invisible city walls?

In this Clark Ashton Smith tale of adventure written in the early 1930s, five American archaeologists are sent by a New York museum to Eastern Turkestan to seek the ruins of the once-fabulous city of Kobar; however, the trials are harsh - only Furnham, the leader of the expedition, and his friend Langley survive the first few months out in the Gobi Desert. Parched lips, nearly dying of thirst, down to their last remaining swigs of water, the two men swelter under the flames of a blazing sun, when they suddenly come upon a striking phenomenon: in a broad, shallow valley there is a perfectly square depression nearly half a mile wide. There’s no sign of any ruins but the depression is lined with many pits suggesting the ground-plan of a once thriving city.

Ah, a hint of the inexplicable – with Clark Ashton Smith we know our adventurers are about to enter a distinctively vibrant and colorful version of The Twilight Zone. We read, “The men blinked, and both were prompted to rub their eyes as they peered through flickering heatwaves; for each had received a momentary impression of flashing light, broken into myriad spires and columns, that seemed to fill the shallow basin and fade like a mirage. “ And, then, as they proceed even further, “A growing sense of strangeness and mystery troubled the two men; and they were blinded at intervals by the flash of evanescent light that seemed to overflow the basin with phantom towers and pillars.”

Anticipating the popular hero Indiana Jones (also, not so coincidentally, an archaeologist/rough-and-ready explorer) Furnham and Langley’s curiosity and spirit of adventure supersede any trepidation of strangeness, mystery or possible danger, as in Furnham’s observation and proposition: "That basin is floored with something solid, but transparent as air — something unknown to geologists or chemists. God knows what it is, or where it came from or who put it there. We've found a mystery that puts Kobar in the shade. I move that we investigate."

Of course, courageous explorers that they are, the two men probe further, which leads to Furnham falling off a ledge and down twenty feet. But then something truly bizarre takes place: “Amazed and incomprehending, he found that he was lying at full length, prone on his stomach in mid-air, upborne by a hard, flat, invisible substance.”

Now that is bizarre! Rather than what usually happens with the force of gravity – our falling, hitting the ground hard and shattering bones – as if by some unexplainable anti-gravity, Furnham lands mid-air on an invisible cushion.

Let’s pause here and reflect on what makes such happenings so incredibly fascinating. I’m reminded of my first philosophy prof back in college, when he said: "If we were to encounter a being from another dimension, having no height, length, width, no colors or sounds, chances are we would not see it at all." Which is to say, we are locked into certain patterns of perceiving and experiencing.

So, with this in mind, I would suggest a story featuring spectacular happenings such as Clark Ashton Smith’s The Invisible City can be refreshing, exhilarating, thrilling, enlivening, stimulating and otherwise a spine-tingling treat for our imagination, a surefire formula for success that has worked since Odysseus and the Cyclops, King Arthur and the Holy Grail, Frankenstein, right up to Bilbo the Hobbit.

Back to the tale: further on in their explorations, when Furnham and Langley do finally encounter what appears to be a former inhabitant of the city, the plot not only thickens but quickly takes a deep dark turn. We read: “The object was a long, hairless, light-grey body, lying horizontally, as if in some invisible sarcophagus or tomb. Standing erect, it would have been fully seven feet in height. It was vaguely human in its outlines, and possessed two legs and two arms; but the head was quite unearthly.”

I don’t think it will be giving too much away by noting how, after receiving the proper chemical injections, Furnham and Langley finally get to see the invisible city and they also get to communicate with the city’s inhabitants, ultraviolet people who traveled to earth thousands of years ago to construct their invisible city after a cosmic catastrophe on their own home planet.

Events rapidly unfold, leading to one of the tale’s odd crescendos: “They emerged in a clear, circular space at the center of the building. Here ten or twelve of the ultra-violet people were standing about a slim column, perhaps five feet high that culminated in a shallow basin-like formation. There was a glowing oval-shaped object in the basin, large as the egg of some extinct bird. From this object, numerous spokes of light extended horizontally in all directions, seeming to transfix the heads and bodies of those who stood in a loose ring about the column. Furnham and Langley became aware of a high, thin, humming noise which emanated from the glowing egg and was somehow inseparable from the spokes of light, as if the radiance had become audible.”

What ultimately happens to our two archaeologist/adventurers, Furnham and Langley, and the ultraviolet people and their invisible city? You will have to read for yourself but let me say that, in the spirit of what we have come to love about heroes like Indiana Jones, we witness Furnham’s great courage, cleverness and a willingness to risk everything. Ah, those American archaeologist/explorers! And good thing he brought along what is frequently seen as the one American necessity while out on adventure: a high-power rifle.

( )

If we encountered a city possessing none of the conventional dimensions of space and time, would we be able to experience its splendors? What if we were to begin to press against what could be its invisible city walls? In this Clark Ashton Smith tale of adventure written in the early 1930s, five American archaeologists are sent by a New York museum to Eastern Turkestan to seek the ruins of the once-fabulous city of Kobar; however, the trials are harsh - only Furnham, the leader of the expedition, and his friend Langley survive the first few months out in the Gobi Desert. Parched lips, nearly dying of thirst, down to their last remaining swigs of water, the two men swelter under the flames of a blazing sun, when they suddenly come upon a striking phenomenon: in a broad, shallow valley there is a perfectly square depression nearly half a mile wide. There’s no sign of any ruins but the depression is lined with many pits suggesting the ground-plan of a once thriving city.

Ah, a hint of the inexplicable – with Clark Ashton Smith we know our adventurers are about to enter a distinctively vibrant and colorful version of The Twilight Zone. We read, “The men blinked, and both were prompted to rub their eyes as they peered through flickering heatwaves; for each had received a momentary impression of flashing light, broken into myriad spires and columns, that seemed to fill the shallow basin and fade like a mirage. “ And, then, as they proceed even further, “A growing sense of strangeness and mystery troubled the two men; and they were blinded at intervals by the flash of evanescent light that seemed to overflow the basin with phantom towers and pillars.”

Anticipating the popular hero Indiana Jones (also, not so coincidentally, an archaeologist/rough-and-ready explorer) Furnham and Langley’s curiosity and spirit of adventure supersede any trepidation of strangeness, mystery or possible danger, as in Furnham’s observation and proposition: "That basin is floored with something solid, but transparent as air — something unknown to geologists or chemists. God knows what it is, or where it came from or who put it there. We've found a mystery that puts Kobar in the shade. I move that we investigate." Of course, courageous explorers that they are, the two men probe further, which leads to Furnham falling off a ledge and down twenty feet. But then something truly bizarre takes place: “Amazed and incomprehending, he found that he was lying at full length, prone on his stomach in mid-air, upborne by a hard, flat, invisible substance.” Now that is bizarre! Rather than what usually happens with the force of gravity – our falling, hitting the ground hard and shattering bones – as if by some unexplainable anti-gravity, Furnham lands mid-air on an invisible cushion.

Let’s pause here and reflect on what makes such happenings so incredibly fascinating. I’m reminded of my first philosophy prof back in college, when he said ‘if we were to encounter a being from another dimension, having no height, length, width, no colors or sounds, chances are we would not see it at all.’ Which is to say, we are locked into certain patterns of perceiving and experiencing. So, with this in mind, I would suggest a story featuring spectacular happenings such as Clark Ashton Smith’s The Invisible City can be refreshing, exhilarating, thrilling, enlivening, stimulating and otherwise a spine-tingling treat for our imagination, a sure-fire formula for success that has worked since Odysseus and the Cyclops, King Arthur and the Holy Grail, Frankenstein, right up to Bilbo the Hobbit.

Anyway, back to the tale: further on in their explorations, when Furnham and Langley do finally encounter what appears to be a former inhabitant of the city, the plot not only thickens but quickly takes a deep dark turn. We read: “The object was a long, hairless, light-grey body, lying horizontally, as if in some invisible sarcophagus or tomb. Standing erect, it would have been fully seven feet in height. It was vaguely human in its outlines, and possessed two legs and two arms; but the head was quite unearthly.”

I don’t think it will be giving too much away by noting how, after receiving the proper chemical injections, Furnham and Langley finally get to see the invisible city and they also get to communicate with the city’s inhabitants, ultraviolet people who traveled to earth thousands of years ago to construct their invisible city after a cosmic catastrophe on their own home planet. Events rapidly unfold, leading to one of the tale’s odd crescendos: “They emerged in a clear, circular space at the center of the building. Here ten or twelve of the ultra-violet people were standing about a slim column, perhaps five feet high that culminated in a shallow basin-like formation. There was a glowing oval-shaped object in the basin, large as the egg of some extinct bird. From this object, numerous spokes of light extended horizontally in all directions, seeming to transfix the heads and bodies of those who stood in a loose ring about the column. Furnham and Langley became aware of a high, thin, humming noise which emanated from the glowing egg and was somehow inseparable from the spokes of light, as if the radiance had become audible.”

What ultimately happens to our two archaeologist/adventurers, Furnham and Langley, and the ultraviolet people and their invisible city? You will have to read for yourself but let me say that, in the spirit of what we have come to love about heroes like Indiana Jones, we witness Furnham’s great courage, cleverness and a willingness to risk everything. Ah, those American archaeologist/explorers! And good thing he brought along that one American necessity while out on adventure: a high-power rifle.
( )