REH: TWO-GUN RACONTEUR NO 16

The new issue of REH: Two-Gun Raconteur has hit the streets (I got my lovely copies in the mail this week). REH: TGR No. 16 is chock full of the high quality Howard fiction, essays & artwork you can expect from the hard-working Damon Sasser.

• Full Color Cormac Mac Art Cover by Terry Pavlet
• Inside Front and Back Covers: Scenes from “The Footfalls Within” by Bob Covington
• Back Cover: The Sonora Kid by Richard Pace
• “The Diablos Trail” by Robert E. Howard, illustrated by Jim Ordolis
• “Miss High-Hat” by Robert E. Howard, illustrated by David Burton
• “All the Crowd” verse by Robert E. Howard, illustrated by David Houston
• “When the Dam Breaks: Violence and Wild Water” by David Hardy, illustrated by Nathan Furman
• “Introducing…in this Corner…Kid Socko” by Brian Leno, illustrated by Clayton Hinkle
• “One Gent too Many on Bear Creek” by Patrice Louinet, illustrated by Joe Wehrle
• “Rogues in the House: A Conan Portfolio” by Michael L. Peters
• “Robert E. Howard and the Lone Scouts: The Birth of The Junto” by Rob Roehm, illustrated by Bill Cavalier
• “Ace Jessel and the Ghost of Tom Molineaux” by Jeffrey Shanks, illustrated by Nathan Furman
• “Victory Revisited” verse by Barbara Barrett
• “Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology: A Review” by Morgan Holmes
• Plus additional artwork and features.

Some highlights from No. 16, are Howard's own works, "The Diablos Trail," a Pike Bearfield tall-tale Western. Patrice Louinet continues the tall-tale theme with a look at the text behind A Gent from Bear Creek, the only Howard novel published in his lifetime. I take a look at one of Howard's dramatic Westerns, "Wild Water," a tale of revenge & madness in Depression-era Texas.

Brian Leno reports on James K. McGuiness and his Kid Socko stories' influence on REH's boxing comedies. Jeff Shanks examines another aspect of Howard's fiction & boxing history analyzing Ace Jessel & Tom Molineaux.

Rob Roehm brings his remarkable research talents to bear on the Lone Scouts and Howard's circle of friends known as the Junto.

There's also a Howard short-short, "Miss High Hat," a saucy tale of spanking & sorority gals.

There is also poetry by Barbara Barrett and Morgan Holmes' review of Griots, a Sword & Soul anthology, as well as lavish illustrations by David Burton, Terry Pavlet, Michael Peters, Dave Houston, Bill Cavalier and many others. The print run is 200 numbered issues, so order your copy today.

-Dave Hardy

REVIEW: THE RIOT AT BUCKSNORT

By Robert E. Howard

While Robert E. Howard is best known as the guy that came up with Conan, the barbaric, unstoppable killing machine that changed the rules of fantasy forever, he was also the author of many tall-tale Westerns. Breck Elkins is a Conan with a Texas drawl, instead of a broadsword, he has his unstoppable fists. Too good-natured to be homicidal, Breck actually is the lunkhead so many assume Conan is. It’s not so much that Breck’s a bull in a china shop, but the world is too fragile for a lad of his strength. The fact that he doesn’t feel pain makes him a bit careless of regular folks, with their odd manner of reacting badly when a hot stove falls on them. Not that Breck would do that on purpose, but when he’s around he tends to throw stuff such as stoves, barrels of gunpowder, or mountain lions.

What might surprise you is how successful they were. REH never got Conan into a hard-cover collection in his lifetime, Breck Elkins was picked up by Herbert Jenkins, a British publisher eager to offer up Texan humor to the reading public of the UK. The resulting collection was titled A Gent from Bear Creek and fit a number of stories into a running storyline.

The Riot at Bucksnort takes a looser approach to Breck’s adventures. This set includes “Meet Cap’n Kidd,” perhaps the funniest of them all, detailing Breck’s encounter with a wild stallion, about the only creature that can match Breck in strength, and by far his superior in orneriness. The only ones that get the best of Breck and his ilk are the ladies, Glory McGraw in particular. Breck’s wooing of Glory formed the basis for A Gent from Bear Creek. Not that romance ever causes Breck to settle down.

Riot also contains a couple of tales featuring Pike Bearfield and Buckner J. Grimes, characters in a similar vein to Breck Elkins, though with their own quirks. All of the stories are mirthful yarns of Western slapstick, where gigantic hill-billies blunder their way across the landscape.

Perhaps the best way to convey what these stories are like is to give a little taste of fatherly advice on Bear Creek:

“Be keerful how you spend that dollar I give you,” he said. “Don’t gamble. Drink in Reason; half a gallon of corn juice is enough for any man. Don’t be techy—but don’t forget yore pap was once the rough-and-tumble champeen of Gonzales County. Texas. And whilst yo’re feelin’ for the other feller’s eye, don’t be keerless and let him chaw yore ear off.”

Words to live by.

-Dave Hardy

GLENN LORD 1931-2011

I heard the very sad news that Glenn Lord passed away yesterday, December 31, 2011. If you don't know who Glenn Lord is, he was the literary agent for the Robert E. Howard estate for many years starting back in the 1950s. Though he left that role long ago, what he did as agent had a huge and wonderful effect on REH fandom. Glenn worked hard to see all of REH's work met publication, not just Conan.

Glenn collected and published REH's poetry, his boxing stories, the tales of El Borak, REH's horror tales & Westerns, REH's tall-tale Westerns, tales of Breckenridge Elkins, Dennis Dorgan, Black Vulmea, Dark Agnes, Cormac MacArt, Kirby O'Donnell, Bran Mak Morn, Skull-Face, Black Turlough, Steve Allison, and more. Some of the stories Glenn shepherded to publication are among REH's bes: "Worms of the Earth," "Pigeons from Hell," "Marchers of Valhalla," "Gods of Bal-Sagoth," and the controversial "Black Canaan." Glenn edited the long-running 'zine The Howard Collector. Some of the best (only some, for "best" is relative amid such an opulence of riches as was assembled in the Collector) was collected in paperbacks such as The Book of Robert E. Howard and the The Second Book of Robert E. Howard.

This was the lifeblood of REH fandom. Robert E. Howard is a major inspiration for my writing, and Glenn enriched my enjoyment and understanding of REH's achievements incalculably. He was gracious and helpful to fans and researchers.

I was fortunate enough to meet Glenn at Howard Days in Cross Plains years ago. I was a gushing fan. He was courteous and kind. Later that same weekend we chatted a bit, we didn't talk about Conan or De Camp or the history of REH publishing, but East Texas towns and Houston traffic. Glenn had a life outside of fandom. He served his country in the Korean War, as other generations of the Lord family have served in more recent conflicts.  He was a quiet man, given to brief and occasionally blunt statements, but with warm, good humor.

I count myself lucky to have been able to thank Glenn for all he did for REH fandom. I last saw him at his eightieth birthday party in November, surrounded by generations of his loving family.

Thanks Glenn. I'll miss you.

-Dave Hardy

TIGERS OF THE SEA

By Robert E. Howard

If there was anyplace that Robert E. Howard loved more than his native Texas, it was Celtic fringe of Europe, the sea-girt isles where the Gaels made the last stand of Celtic culture. Most of his heroes are of Celtic descent (Francis X. Gordon, Kirby O’Donnell), or from pre-proto-Celtic groups (Kull the Atlantean, Conan the Cimmerian), or actual, honest-to-Crom, Irish Gaels (Turlough Dubh, Black Vulmea, Cormac FitzGeoffrey). Among the latter is the Gaelic sea-rover, Cormac Mac Art.

Cormac Mac Art is a true Scot, the scotti were the Irsih pirates who descended on late Roman Britain along with the Picts and Saxons. Cormac sails with his blood-brother, Wulfhere the Viking, in the days when Arthur tries to hold together the fading remnants of Roman glory.

Only two of the tales, “Swords of the Northern Sea” and “Night of the Wolf” are entirely by REH. The other two, “Tigers of the Sea” and “The Temple of Abomination” include material written by Richard Tierney. While I am usually quite negative toward “posthumous collaborations” and re-writes, I am just about willing to give Richard Tierney a pass! He is perhaps the only writer I have encountered who really seems to understand the basic motivation of REH heroes and the appropriate structure of his tales.

REH tended to thrust his Celtic heroes into exotic, hot southern lands (like Scots-Irish settlers entering the Mexican province of Tejas?). In the Cormac Mac Art series REH brings the Celtic fringe to life as Gaels, Britons, Vikings, and Picts struggle for mastery over remote isles on the fringes of the known world. These are excellent tales of action and adventure (there is relatively little fantasy, except in “Temple of Abomination”). REH’s treatment of Dark Ages Britain is a sharp contrast to the sentimental depiction of the 5th century as the flowering of pre-proto-Hippie Pagandom. Although it is out of print, Tigers of the Sea is well worth hunting down.

-Dave Hardy

 

Tigers of the Sea 

THE SWORD WOMAN

By Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard is considered in some quarters as the ultimate writer of tales for guys about hyper-masculine men. Some might say he was the most testosterone-soaked bard of machismo to ever grunt and spit.

Maybe so, but there is another side to that. REH was fascinated with women who broke out of the restrictions society imposed on them. His tales have quite a collection of strong-willed swordswomen who contrast sharply with the rather passive and well-behaved misses his heroes rescue. The most striking of these is Dark Agnes de Chastillon, a 16th century Frenchwoman who ends her arranged marriage rather abruptly with a dagger.

So she heads to New York to sleep around and talk about shoes, OOPS! Sorry, she girds on a blade and proceeds to teach assorted French chauvinist cochons a thing or two about swashbuckling. This ain't Sex and the City, no siree.

This is a decent little set: “Sword Woman”, “Blades for France” are complete stories featuring Dark Agnes and her male sidekick Etienne de Villiers. Along with the skullduggery and sword play REH includes some intelligent observations about women’s roles in a man’s world and well-researched history.

Alas, the rest of the book doesn’t met the high quality of the first two tales (which do form over half the volume). “Mistress of Death” is based on an uncompleted Dark Agnes tale (finished by Gerald W. Page). But as Jessica Amanda Salmonson noted, the “posthumous collaboration” doesn’t live up to the quality of REH’s own work. There are two unfinished tales: “The King’s Service”, an adventure tale of a Gaelic sea-rover in Medieval India and “The Shadow of the Hun” a Turlough Dubh tale set in Russia.

One of the coolest parts is the introduction by Leigh Brackett, the multi-talented author of detective, science fiction, adventure, western stories, novels, and screenplays.

This is certainly one to add to your collection, if only because Dark Agnes is one of REH’s least known yet most interesting characters.

-Dave Hardy 

 

PS: Since writing this review, Del Rey has issued a new anthology of REH's historical adventure tales, titled,  Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures. Even more thrilling adventure! -DH

 

SON OF THE WHITE WOLF

By Robert E. Howard


(This is an old review, pre-dating the publication of El Borak & Other Desert Adventures)






Once upon a time, when people studied geography, there was a taste for swashbuckling adventure tales set in remote places. While best known for creating the fantasy world of the Hyborian Age where Conan dwelt, Robert E. Howard created his own fantastic versions of the Arabian Desert and the mountains of Afghanistan.

One of REH’s most popular series characters was Francis X. Gordon, called “El Borak”-The Swift. Arising from an imagined persona young Bob Howard created when he was ten-years old, El Borak took shape on paper as an El Paso gunslinger who has made his life among the unconquered tribes of Afghanistan and the Middle East. Along with The Lost Valley of Iskander and Three-Bladed Doom, Son of the White Wolf brings the El Borak stories together.

There are three stories in this collection and each one is a truly ripping yarn. In “Blood of the Gods” El Borak must rescue his friend, Al Wazir-a politician turned hermit, from a gang of cutthroats who want to steal a treasure Al Wazir is rumored to have. A sheik that has a blood feud with El Borak comes along for the massacre making things a bit unpredictable.

“Country of the Knife” follows Stuart Brent, a gambler who goes to Afghanistan to find El Borak and ends up in the mysterious City of Thieves where the Black Tigers hold sway. Led by a ruthless adventurer, this secret society holds the key to empire in Central Asia, but El Borak is guarding the door.

The title story is the only El Borak tale set in the Arab Revolt in WWI. While Lawrence and the geopolitics of the Great War hover in the background, in true REH style the conflict is personal. A Turkish lieutenant stages a mutiny and decides to found a new, pagan Turkish empire on the ruins of the old, Muslim one. When Lt. Osman kills one of El Borak’s friends, the hero must step in.

Son of the White Wolf is classic swashbuckling adventure in pulp style. You could say it mates Conan to Kipling, but without the sentimentality and devotion to empire that Kipling had. The closest approaches are Talbot Mundy’s Jimgrim and King series. But Mundy’s heroes are team players, they prefer to use verbal power to firepower. El Borak is a flickering blade, roaring guns, and blazing passion.  

 

-Dave Hardy

 

 

THE SAVAGE TALES OF SOLOMON KANE

By Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard’s tales of Solomon Kane are some the best and least noticed works of early Sword & Sorcery. Kane is very much an REH action hero, but decidedly quite different from the lusty, brawling Conan. Kane is a 16th century Puritan, a man of deep piety, self-denying, relentless in his pursuit of wrongdoing, and a stone killer with a sword!

The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane is Del Rey’s (once it was  a Wandering Star book, but that's another story) collection of Kane tales. It is absolutely thorough and includes all published and unpublished Kane stories as well as poems about Kane, synopses and fragments. This is a Kaniac’s dream.

REH is often assumed to have an affinity with the brutal and the bloodthirsty. His stories sometimes have a reputation for misogyny. Reading the tales of Kane will correct that. One of REH’s friends commented that of all his heroes, Howard was most like Kane, a believer in justice and chivalry.

The Kane stories are set in various places in Europe and Africa. “Red Shadows” is the tale that blasted the explosive force of Kane’s fury across the printed page. It is essential reading as it details Kane’s obsessive hunt of a French bandit, Le Loup. M. Le Loup is no Robin Hood, he is a rapist and cold blooded killer. Kane stalks him all the way to Africa, and meets his great ally and spiritual mentor N’Longa the Witchdoctor. Other yarns tell of battles with tribes of bloodthirsty revenants, visits to lost civilizations, and warfare with demonic hordes.

The book is richly illustrated by Gary Gianni, the full color plates that adorn the Wandering Star edition appear in half-tones in the Del Rey trade paperback. There are tons of black and white sketches. 

The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane is the definitive collection of Solomon Kane stories and a landmark in Sword and Sorcery. If you are a serious S&S fan, buy this book.

-Dave Hardy

MARCHERS OF VALHALLA

By Robert E. Howard

This collection of early Robert E. Howard tales shows the development of REH as a sword & sorcery writer. In the introduction, Fritz Leiber describes them as a cross-section of REH’s interests, a sampler of the obsessions that were the foundation of his most successful work.

Although only one of the stories was published in REH’s life, this is not a set of cast-offs. “The Grey God Passes” is a fantasy tale set at the battle of Clontarf, the decisive confrontation between Brian Boru and the Vikings in Ireland. For a short tale, “Grey God” packs a wallop, Norse myth, an escaped slave, a Cassandra-like prophet, and Medieval Ireland’s greatest hero collide in battle.

“The Marchers of Valhalla” comes from the James Allison series. Allison is a crippled young man in Texas, caused to remember his past lives by none other than Ishtar, he recounts an epic adventure in Pre-historic Texas filled with barbarian hordes, lost cities, and that magnificent, beautiful, death-loving sense of wonder REH had.

“The Thunder Rider” is another past-life memory tale. John Garfield is a successful professional, a Princeton man, and cultured sophisticate. He also loathes the stultifying and decadent world he lives in. To integrate himself he must relive his past life as Iron-Heart, the Comanche brave in a swashbuckling tale of ancient races, lost cities, and a beautiful warrior maiden.

Those are just my favorites. According to Barbara Baum, “For the Love of Barbara Allen” is the most romantic REH tale. Really this set is pure gold. It’s not just for REH fans, but for anyone who loves fantasy adventure tales.

-Dave Hardy

 

THE LOST VALLEY OF ISKANDER

By Robert E. Howard

There once was a time when Afghanistan was a remote country, little touched by the vicissitudes of global politics. It was also one of the few countries in the world not ruled by someone else’s empire. For Robert E. Howard, Afghanistan was a land where bold warriors lived and died by the code of the hills, an iron law of equal parts honor, loyalty, and revenge.

The Lost Valley of Iskander is a collection of REH’s excellent tales of Afghanistan and the Northwest Frontier (nowadays known as the part of Pakistan where Osama bin Laden hides and the US drops bombs, sometimes inaccurately).  The hero of the yarns is Francis X. Gordon, an El Paso gunslinger who traveled east and now lives with the Afridi tribe. Known as El Borak (the Swift) by the Afghans, he is a character from the Wild West in the Wild East.

The tales here lean on the fantastic side. There are plenty of crooked Europeans, international spies, and foreign agents. REH was a fantasy writer, he created larger than life heroes with larger than life adventurers, and they couldn’t be fenced in. The title tale involves El Borak with a lost city founded by no less than Alexander the Great, and still inhabited by Ancient Greeks! The collection leads off with "The Daughter of Erlik Khan", another “lost city” adventure involving a pair of English desperadoes, an old friend of El Borak’s, a horde of Turkoman bandits, and a tribe of devil worshippers. Alliances make and break with dizzying speed in this one. The third tale, "Hawk of the Hills", is a straight up range-war story. El Borak’s Afridi friends have been treacherously attacked and now they’re fighting back. But a British diplomat has showed up to end the fighting. El Borak has to show him that not all things are equal in tribal warfare. El Borak is the sort of REH character who cuts through prevarication to separate right from wrong. The wrongdoers are punished and the innocents are protected. We could use El Borak today.

This is a great little collection. While a number of El Borak tales are back in print, there is no one collection that gives El Borak the attention he deserves. It’s a great pity, so beg, borrow or steal a copy of this one.

-Dave Hardy

PS Since this was written, Del Rey has published  El Borak and other Desert Adventures, containing all that is in this volume and more. -DH

LORD OF SAMARCAND

By Robert E. Howard

I thanked the editor personally when this came out and let me tell you I don’t do that often. Mostly, because I’m not on a first name basis with many editors, but even if I DIDN’T know Rusty Burke I would want to pump his hand up and down and tell him I wanted to have his baby on account of Lord of Samarcand is one butt-kicking collection of REH yarns!

Most readers know Robert E. Howard from his enormously successful Conan stories and their myriad spin-offs in comics, film, and endless pastiches. But what is often missed, especially in the cheap-n-cheerful spin-offs, is REH’s deep love of history, especially when told as a blood and guts adventure tale. The Conan tales are infused with bits and pieces of the romantic furnishings of martial conflict. Assyria’s bronze-clad warriors might tackle a Free Company straight from a chevauchee, or swaggering buccaneers could hold converse with horsemen from the Golden Horde.

Naturally when REH got the chance he wrote straight-up historical adventure. There was quite a taste for adventures set in the wild outlands of Asia back in the ‘30s and REH did his best to satisfy. This collection brings under one set of covers material heretofore scattered adventure tales. The reader will find REH’s tales of Crusaders and Saracens, Tatars and Cossacks and others of the great pageant of history.

Some standouts here are “The Lion of Tiberias” a tale of a man’s climb to power and the bodies he climbs over. It is a story that brings to the fore one of REH's most characteristic themes: arrogance humbled by an indomitable will to acheive vengeance. The title tale follows a similar arc, and brings together Tamerlane the Conqueror with a Highlander called Donald MacDeesa, a true Central Asian odd couple. Two of my favorites are “The Road of Azrael” which shows just how completely REH could go off the rails in crafting a denouement and just how enjoyable it is when he chucks all the rules of writing out the window. I won’t breathe a word about it because it’s a surprise. The best entry is “Shadow of the Vulture” the tale that introduced Red Sonya to the world. She emerges not as a fantasy (ok not a Sword & Sorcery) character but as a 16th century mercenary swordswoman. This is a gal who can handle heavy artillery. Her comrade-in-arms is Nicholas von Kalmbach, a rougish German landsknecht. Together they battle Sulemein the Magnificent’s jannisary hordes at the siege of Vienna. Dashing heroes, unstoppable legions of doom, a turning point of history, “Shadow of the Vulture” has it all. Buy it for this story.

For REH scholars there is a wealth of fragments, synopses, and odds and ends to show REH tinkering with his work. I bought my copy in Providence at the Brown University bookstore. Who says the Ivy League is out of touch?
 

-Dave Hardy

 

THE LAST RIDE

By Robert E. Howard

If you asked who Robert E. Howard loved most intensely and with the fiercest passion (aside from his mother and father) the answer might be Texas. Which is why I am at a bit of a loss with this collection. 

If I had to describe the perfect Western author, he would combine Elmer Kelton’s deep sense of place with Louis L’Amour’s wholehearted commitment to adventure. That sounds an awful lot like Robert E. Howard. Imagine a Texas that resonates with magic and Western heroes who stride into battle like Conan. To be honest I don’t quite feel that with these stories.

The tales are good, they are filled with action and decent characterization. “The Last Ride” tells of a man seeking to redeem himself after living as an outlaw. “The Extermination of Yellow Donory” is about a young cowhand who is reckoned a coward and must redeem his reputation.  The Sonora Kid appears in “Knife, Bullet, and Noose” and “The Devil’s Joker”. The Kid lives on the edge of the law, in “Knife” he must survive a conspiracy to kill him and rob his employer, while in “Joker” he is forced to turn outlaw. “Vultures’ Sanctuary”, “Law Shooters of Cowtown”, and “Gunman’s Debt” are also included. 

While I find these stories enjoyable, I didn’t receive the absolute thrill I found on reading Solomon Kane or Conan, for example. Perhaps it’s because I only came across The Last Ride as an adult, not a wide-eyed teen. But I think there is something else here. Howard wrote amazing tales of Texas and located all sorts of lost treasures, ancient races, and hidden citadels in it. He also wrote any number of tall-tale westerns full of broad humor. But in his conventional westerns the fantastic is off limits and humor is sparse. Without two of best tools, REH doesn’t shine so brightly. Maybe had he lived he would have turned more seriously to writing westerns and have given them the full drama he gave to his historical tales of the Crusades or his EL Borak adventures.

 

-Dave Hardy

 

 

REVIEW: ECHOES OF VALOR III

Edited by Karl Edward Wagner

This is a set of fantasy and adventure tales by various pulp authors. The lead tale is "Shadow of the Vulture" by Robert E Howard. It is one of his best historical adventure tales and feature Sonya of Rogatino, the Cossack sword-woman who was the precursor of Red Sonja of the comics. It’s a ripping story set at the siege of Vienna in 1529.

There is a marvelous Jack Williamson yarn, "Wolves of Darkness", with a brilliant mix of science-fiction a horror that pre-figures the novel Darker than You Think.

While there are some decent tales by Manly Wade Wellman and Henry Kuttner, the real discovery here is Nictzin Dyalhis. Now nearly forgotten, Dyalhis was a regular contributor to Weird Tales. His work has a true sense of wonder with stories that could almost be fairy tales, gentle and dark at the same time.

Echoes of Valor III is definitely worth adding to one’s collection.

-Dave Hardy

THE COMING OF CONAN THE CIMMERIAN

By Robert E. Howard

This anthology is part one of a three-part collection of all Robert E Howard’s Conan stories. The editors have arranged the tales in the order they were written (a major departure from the de Camp series that arranged the stories to relate to phases in Conan’s life).

Let me just say I consider Robert E Howard’s Conan series as one of about three perfect sword and sorcery series (the other two being Fafhrd and the Grey Mouserand Elric of Melnibone) so this stuff is straight up gold to me.

Which is not to say it is all that to all readers. REH was still getting his feet with the character in these early stories. "The God in the Bowl", a curious mix of sword & sorcery with the detective story, is probably the weakest of the lot. What is amazing is how many of them are so powerful. "The Frost Giant’s Daughter" manages to bring modern fantasy into myth (of the dark and ferocious kind). "Queen of the Black Coast" is perhaps the best of them all, it has adventure, wild love, battle, and the epic saga of the rise and fall, not of a civilization, but of an entire undreamed–of pre-human race.

For a fan who knows these stories well, the real bonus is to see them in the order that they came off REH’s typewriter. We see how one tale would inspire the next, from king to thief, to pirate to mercenary, not as a random agglomeration, but as a that-reminds-me-of-the-time cycle.

Extras include fragments, synopses and a very good critical essay by REH scholar Patrice Louinet. The art by Mark Schultz (Cadillacs and Dinosaurs) is excellent. The Coming of Conan is part of a growing library of REH classics released by Wandering Star in conjunction with Del Rey. Wandering Star editions are hardbound with full color illustration (publisher Marcello Anciano will occasionally pulp a run if the color balance is less that perfect). The Del Rey trade paperbacks have black and white versions of the color plates along with a plethora of line drawings. Mark Schultz’ masterpiece here is “The Dance of Belit”, barbaric and sexy.

The Coming of Conan is a must have for any fan of sword & sorcery.
 

-Dave Hardy

THE BLOODY CROWN OF CONAN

by Robert E. Howard

This is book two of the three-part collection of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories by Wandering Star (released as a trade paperback by Del Rey). In these tales REH had hit his stride, and the Cimmerian was loose in all his grit and glory. For those readers more familiar with the old de Camp edited editions of Conan, this collection features the Conan stories in the order they were written with no “posthumous collaboration”: pastiches, re-writes of stories to convert them into Conan tales, or fleshing out of uncompleted synopses.

What you’ll find is two novellas and a novel. The opener is People of the Black Circle. Conan is in the lands of the East leading a gang of Afguli bandits. It’s the sort of thing that would get you a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay these days. He ends up kidnapping a princess entirely by mistake while trying to rescue some of his men from jail. A lot of writers would stop there, but Howard involves a sect of ghastly evil wizards, a spy from a rival empire, and a renegade adept and his girlfriend who are sort of a sorcerous Bonnie & Clyde. REH takes all this complex set of rivalries, adds a few here and there and juggles ‘em all until the end when he begins pitching them through plate glass windows.

The bulk of the book is The Hour of the Dragon, a full scale Conan novel. Conan is king of Aquilonia here, but a conspiracy of rebel nobles, rival kings, and an undead wizard deposes him. Conan sets off of a trek that crosses much of the Hyborian world in his quest to regain his throne. In addition to sword-play, treacherous twists and turns, and perils from grisly demonic forces, Conan has to confront what it means to be king. He has to choose to regain his throne rather than return to the life of a footloose adventurer. The action is cranked to maximum from beginning to end.    

The collection winds up with A Witch Shall be Born. Conan is serving as a mercenary captain for a remote kingdom when a conspiracy overthrows the ruling princess. In the process Conan faces his ultimate challenge: he is crucified (the scene is reproduced in the movie Conan). It is the ultimate in tough guy tale-telling, pushing the Cimmerian into the realms of Odin and Christ.

There are lots of tidbits in the appendices. There are drafts, synopses, and an unpublished fragment. There is also a critical essay by Patrice Louinet and copious notes on the typescripts. While this is of interest mostly to REH scholars, everyone will enjoy the many black and white drawings and plates by Gary Gianni (who also illustrated Bran Mak Morn and Savage Tales of Solomon Kane).

This is the ultimate in sword and sorcery. Buy it now!

-Dave Hardy

ALMURIC

By Robert E. Howard

There is a certain sub-genre of science fiction that is sometimes called “sword & planet”. It has its roots in A Princess of Mars and other tales of John Carter on Barsoom by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The hallmarks are an alien world filled with decadent science, barbaric warriors and an outsider from earth who shakes up the scene.

Robert E. Howard of Conan fame made his own foray into the field with Almuric, perhaps his most extended science fiction work. In fact Almuric is one of REH’s few novels (it was serialized in Weird Tales but never issued as a novel until the ‘70s). The hero is Esau Cairn, a man too strong for civilized life. When fate puts him outside the law a kindly scientist helps Cairn out with a dimensional transporter that shoots him to Almuric, a planet remote from earth. The inhabitants are shaggy ape-men and gorgeous barbarian princesses. On Almuric, a fellow is judged by his courage and strength, not his bank account so Esau Ironhand fits right in.

Alas, there is always a hitch. The demonic Yagas, a race of winged fiends, tyrannize over Almuric. When they massacre Cairn’s friends, it means war. 

While not as well developed as the Hyborian Age, Almuric is an entertaining imaginary world. I enjoyed the naïve and romantic story telling of A Princess of Mars. In Almuric we get REH’s take on that style of story telling: bold, direct, and swashbuckling.

-Dave Hardy

 

 

 

BLACK VULMEA’S VENGEANCE

By Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard, though best known for his horror and sword & sorcery, was at heart an adventure writer. He buckled anything that swashed. What better subject for swashbuckling adventure than piracy on the high seas?

Black Terence Vulmea is REH’s pirate hero. He is an Irish sea-rover, a survivor of England’s tyrannous rule over the Emerald Isle. We get two Black Vulmea stories: “Blades of the Red Brotherhood” and “Black Vulmea’s Vengeance”. “Blades” should be familiar to many Conan fans. It was originally a Conan tale and re-written as apirate sotry. L. Sprague de Camp re-re-wrote it as “The Treasure of Tranicos”. It’s a darn fine adventure as Black Vulmea finds himself stranded on a remote shore and involved with an exiled French nobleman, a rival pirate, hostile Indians, and a legendary lost treasure. It’s a festival of sword-play, double-crosses, and thrilling action.

“Vengeance” lets us get much closer to the pirate’s character. Vulmea is captured by Wentworth, a haughty Royal Navy captain. But the pirate is nobody’s fool and soon the tables are turned. This yarn is an interesting one in that REH gives full vent to his feelings on England’s rule of Ireland, and how a strong man deals with a bully. You might be surprised.

“Isle of Pirates Doom” rounds out the book. While it is a pirate tale, Black Vulmea is not present. Instead REH gives us one of his one of his sword-women: Helen Tavrel, the wildest she-pirate afloat. While Helen Tavrel has never gotten the notice that Belit (“Queen of the Black Coast”), Valeria (“Red Nails”), or Dark Agnes (“Sword Woman”) have received, this is an interesting story. Helen Tavrel isn’t just a man in drag or a sex-kitten with a sword. She has her own complex web of relationships and womanly sense of propriety. She’s no man-hater, but don’t take liberties, you’ll regret it.

Sadly out-of-print, Black Vulmea’s Vengeance is as fine a set of pirate yarns as was ever penned by a salty sea dog.

-Dave Hardy

 

 

BRAN MAK MORN: THE LAST KING

By Robert E. Howard

This is Wandering Star's comprehensive collection of Bran Mak Morn tales and it’s a stunner [Note: While WS has moved on, Del Rey still publishes this book as a trade paperback]. It is very thorough and includes all the Bran Mak Morn tales (“Men of the Shadows”, “Kings of the Night”, and “Worms of the Earth”) and the Turlough Dubh yarn, “The Dark Man”. It also has another Pictish tale, “The Lost Race” as well as poetry, fragments, an early draft of “Worms” and a whole chronology (including excerpts from REH letters) of REH and the Picts. Even so it is still not a complete Pictology when you consider the import of Pictish supporting characters and foes in the James Allison stories, the Conan series and the Cormac MacArt tales. To get all that in there you’d need another volume.

For those readers unfamiliar with Bran Mak Morn and the Picts these were some of Robert E. Howard’s favorite themes. The historic Picts were the inhabitants of Northern Britain outside of Roman control. Historians and archaeologists believe their culture was a mix of Celtic and indigenous, pre-Indo-European peoples. For Howard they represented the old-people, the precursors of his beloved Celts. They were his Big Other, playing Indians to the Celtic cowboys. Bran Mak Morn is their last hope as Rome’s power grows. He knows his people’s time on the stage of history is just about up, but they ain’t going quietly.

The stories range from the ok (“The Lost Race”) to the outstanding (“Worms of the Earth”). Quite frankly, “Worms of the Earth” is one of REH’s best yarns. Don’t expect tons of blazing action, this is the story where REH displayed his talent as a creator of mood and atmosphere. The feel is closer to Lovecraftian horror than Conan-style sword-and-sorcery. It is also a good example of REH at his most thoughtful as Bran must repeatedly confront the question: how far would you go to strike at a foe?

The illustrations by Gary Gianni are magnificent. Gianni depicts bloody hand-to-hand struggle as deftly as he captures the moody, fog-bound feel of the Celtic twilight.  True some have criticized the cover art as making the Picts look too much like dwarves. Well, how the hell do you depict people regularly described as stunted giants?

As for the historical Picts, their kingdom survived into the Dark Ages. Finally, racked by internal wars and Viking invasions, the Picts succumbed to a take-over by the Scots of Dal Riada. The kingdom of the Picts became the home of the Gaelic Highlanders.

-Dave Hardy

BARBARIAN DAYS: THE TRAILER

I just recently saw the trailer for "Barbarian Days" a documentary from the fellows at Goodspeed Productions about the annual gathering of Howard Heads in Cross Plains, Texas and the people who make it special. The film follows Rusty Burke, Mark Finn, Chris Gruber, all super REH scholars and, I am proud to add, good friends of mine. Watch the trailer for special appearances from Paul Herman, Lee Breakiron, & Mrs. Dave. Not to mention a very special guest!

You can find it on FaceBook at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=434270614084&ref=mf

Coming features

First off what's new:

"Demons of the Dark Sun" is online at Sorcerous Signals. It's by the multi-talented Mitch Allen. I say multi since there are two writers at work here. If you like Pre-Colombian America and Sword & sorcery this is up your alley. Coyotl the Chcihimec is a ttribal warrior who meets the Aztec empire. There are more of Coyotl's adventures waiting to be told.

Next what's ready to order:

El Borak and other Desert Adventures is available from Del Rey. If you don't know about this. El Borak is the nom de guerre of Francis Gordon, a Texas gunslinger who has migrated to the Wild East. Instead of outlaws and Apaches, the stories about Afghans, Central Asian bandits, psycopathic fascists, and Lost Cities in the Hindu Kush. It's not exactly Indiana Jones, these tales more like hard-boiled Westerns in the Near East.




Finally, what's on the horizon:

The Early Adventures of El Borak from the REH Foundation collects the early efforts of Howard to write El Borak Stories. This set of fragments and juvenalia is for collectors and REH scholars. Also collected are the early Sonora Kid fragments, ranging from domestic drama to Westerns.

Enjoy!

-Dave Hardy

REH Audio

In a hunt for something totally unrelated, I ran across these various older REH audio projects.

The first two are apparently from a 1975 radio drama series that was planned, but only these two ever got produced.

These are hosted on mediafire and you may need to register to download, but registration is free.
TOWER OF THE ELEPHANT

THE FROST GIANT'S DAUGHTER

Librivox.org has eight Howard works recorded for free download, including Bear Creek.

LIBRIVOX HOWARD WORKS

Enjoy!
Julie
Winner of the Howard Widow Lifetime Achievement Award