Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) was a poet, an artist, and the author of more than a hundred tales of fantasy and horror. He was a member of the famous 'Lovecraft circle' and was a major contributor to Weird Tales, along with Robert E. Howard and Lovecraft himself.
S. T. Joshi is a freelance writer and editor. He has edited several Penguin Classics volumes, including The Call of Cthulhu, The White People and Other Weird Stories, and American Supernatural Tales.