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The Black Stranger: And Other American Tales
Robert E. Howard is celebrated as the founding father of sword-and-sorcery, the creator of Conan of Cimmeria and Kull of Atlantis. The Black Stranger and Other American Tales demonstrates that in some of his most powerful heroic fantasy and horror stories, he also explored a New World older and more haunted than that which we’ve seen in textbooks or museum exhibits. In Howard's Gothic America, dominion goes hand in hand with damnation and the present never ceases to writhe in the grip of the past.
"The Black Stranger" spearheads the collection. Located at the extreme edge of Hyborian geography and human ruthlessness, this Conan novella has seldom been available until now. All of the Cimmerian's lethal skills may not be enough inside a stockade that shelters a self-exiled, pirate-plagued count, besieged from without and bedeviled from within. Against the backdrop of a demonically hostile dreadwood, Howard recreates the worst nightmares of the earliest European invaders of North America.
In the tales that follow, Howard unearths sinister civilizations that have forgotten the mysteries of their origins on American soil tens of thousands of years ago. That soil is a dark and bloody ground, beneath which the monstrous heirs of ancient wrongs and unsuspected wars wait. A Comanche champion and a lone conquistador stumble upon empires carved out of the primordial Southwest by necromancers. Hot hate given cold flesh lurches on zuvembie legs in "Pigeons from Hell" and lurks in the shuddersome swamps of the Deep South in "Black Canaan."
These stories, here refurbished with authoritative, unexpurgated texts, have transcended the Thirties pulps in which they first saw print. With their unflinching focus on original American sin and even more original sinners, some are sure to take their place next to dark classics like "Young Goodman Brown," "Benito Cereno," and "A Rose for Emily."
"The Black Stranger" spearheads the collection. Located at the extreme edge of Hyborian geography and human ruthlessness, this Conan novella has seldom been available until now. All of the Cimmerian's lethal skills may not be enough inside a stockade that shelters a self-exiled, pirate-plagued count, besieged from without and bedeviled from within. Against the backdrop of a demonically hostile dreadwood, Howard recreates the worst nightmares of the earliest European invaders of North America.
In the tales that follow, Howard unearths sinister civilizations that have forgotten the mysteries of their origins on American soil tens of thousands of years ago. That soil is a dark and bloody ground, beneath which the monstrous heirs of ancient wrongs and unsuspected wars wait. A Comanche champion and a lone conquistador stumble upon empires carved out of the primordial Southwest by necromancers. Hot hate given cold flesh lurches on zuvembie legs in "Pigeons from Hell" and lurks in the shuddersome swamps of the Deep South in "Black Canaan."
These stories, here refurbished with authoritative, unexpurgated texts, have transcended the Thirties pulps in which they first saw print. With their unflinching focus on original American sin and even more original sinners, some are sure to take their place next to dark classics like "Young Goodman Brown," "Benito Cereno," and "A Rose for Emily."
352 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2005
9 people are currently reading
250 people want to read
About the author
Robert E. Howard
2,986 books2,650 followersRobert Ervin Howard was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. Howard wrote "over three-hundred stories and seven-hundred poems of raw power and unbridled emotion" and is especially noted for his memorable depictions of "a sombre universe of swashbuckling adventure and darkling horror."
He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.
—Wikipedia
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.
—Wikipedia
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 23, 2014
Best known for Conan, REH's writing was all over the board, but this is a collection of savagery & horror from Conan's world to Howard's. While none of the stories are all that politically correct, a couple are down right offensive. I would guess Howard's audience was primarily well-to-do, white, city dwellers of the 1930's. Keeping that firmly in mind makes more sense out of some of his word & situational choices.
"The Black Stranger" is the original of 3 stories. It was originally written as a Conan story, but wasn't accepted, so Howard re-wrote it with Black Vulmea story as the "Swords of the Red Brotherhood". It was also turned down. DeCamp later edited the story & included it in Conan: Conan the Usurper as "The Treasure of Tranicos", again featuring Conan, of course. DeCamp's changes were pretty good & made it part of Conan's saga in taking the throne of Aquilonia. If you like Conan, it's one of the very best stories.
Marchers of Valhalla is a James Allison story, a crippled man who relives part of his past life as a barbarian warrior. More Sword & Sorcery.
The Gods of Bal-Sagoth features a couple of wild barbarians, one being Turlough O'Brien, who help overturn an ancient city, the remnant of an earlier civilization, much like the previous story. It was also published as "The Blonde Goddess of Bal-Sagoth".
Nekt Semerkeht has a conquistador stumbling on to yet another ancient civilization & causing turmoil. Unfortunately, the story was never really finished. After a rousing battle, the story suddenly ends with one paragraph that teases us with a novel's worth of information. Damn Howard for killing himself at 30, by which time he'd managed to write over 500 different stories!
Black Vulmea's Vengance is about an Irish pirate captured by the English & is one of my all time favorites. His wily pirate is smart, tough, & lucky which leads to a wonderfully exciting story.
The Strange Case of Josiah Wibarger is a very short account of what perhaps is a true southwestern legend. I don't know, but it reads like a local ghost story about a party of men attacked by Indians.
The Valley of the Lost is a Texas feud in the late 1800's that takes a horrific, supernatural turn for the worst. It's very well done.
Kelly the Conjure-man reads like another local legend about a black man in the 1870's who practiced something like voodoo in Arkansas. It's only a few pages long.
Black Canaan is again set in the late 1800's & is about a voodoo man & woman creating unrest among the blacks in a former slave holding area. If you object to the word 'nigger' don't read this. The word is all over the place from the names of creeks to how the people talk. It seemed to be used in conjunction with trackless swamps, snakes & horrific magic to prey on Howard's readers' prejudices of the time. Everything is more horrible for not only being unknown, but unknowable by the white hero. He makes a big difference between town & swamp folk, whether white or black. The rich white live in town & are far better than the "poor white trash", just as the "town niggers" are better than the "swamp niggers", so the last are doubly removed from the hero's exalted station. According to Howard, the black community of that area knows things that civilized white people just can't know, so the hero is really facing a desperate situation. Without the obvious racism, it would be an excellent story. As it is... well, it's pretty rough, but has its good points.
Pigeons From Hell is set about Howard's life time, the early 1900's since the main character drives a car, but the sheriff is riding a horse. Again, there is a lot of racism (again Howard equates blacks with an unknowable-by-white-men culture & magic to prey on his readers' prejudices) but this time with a wonderful twist. Not as bad as "Black Canaan" & a pretty good, scary story.
Old Garfield's Heart is fairly short & straight forward, reminding me of a "The Furies" by Zelazny. (I wonder if he got the idea for Corgo here?) Again Howard hints at elder civilizations & peeks at it through the eyes of 'modern' man - in this case the folks of Howard's Texas. (Horses, guns & cars, again.)
The Horror From the Mound is another horror story set in late 1800's Texas. but we don't really know that until more than halfway through, which is excellent because it is a great build up. Horror of the finest kind with a very earthy hero.
The Thunder Rider is somewhat similar to the James Allison stories, but in this case the man is having mental issues & goes to a Comanche medicine man for help. Remember that Howard lived in Texas where the Comanche stories were often told as horror stories. Here Howard makes a wonderfully savage hero - until the end. Ladies will be particularly offended.
The Classic Tale of the Southwest is from a letter to August Derleth circa January 1933. It recounts some history about the Indians, specifically Qanah Parker, a very successful half breed who lived mostly as an Indian & even became friends with Teddy Roosevelt. That Howard admires his accomplishments is quite clear.
The Grim Lands is one of Howard's many poems. He wrote reams of them.
"The Black Stranger" is the original of 3 stories. It was originally written as a Conan story, but wasn't accepted, so Howard re-wrote it with Black Vulmea story as the "Swords of the Red Brotherhood". It was also turned down. DeCamp later edited the story & included it in Conan: Conan the Usurper as "The Treasure of Tranicos", again featuring Conan, of course. DeCamp's changes were pretty good & made it part of Conan's saga in taking the throne of Aquilonia. If you like Conan, it's one of the very best stories.
Marchers of Valhalla is a James Allison story, a crippled man who relives part of his past life as a barbarian warrior. More Sword & Sorcery.
The Gods of Bal-Sagoth features a couple of wild barbarians, one being Turlough O'Brien, who help overturn an ancient city, the remnant of an earlier civilization, much like the previous story. It was also published as "The Blonde Goddess of Bal-Sagoth".
Nekt Semerkeht has a conquistador stumbling on to yet another ancient civilization & causing turmoil. Unfortunately, the story was never really finished. After a rousing battle, the story suddenly ends with one paragraph that teases us with a novel's worth of information. Damn Howard for killing himself at 30, by which time he'd managed to write over 500 different stories!
Black Vulmea's Vengance is about an Irish pirate captured by the English & is one of my all time favorites. His wily pirate is smart, tough, & lucky which leads to a wonderfully exciting story.
The Strange Case of Josiah Wibarger is a very short account of what perhaps is a true southwestern legend. I don't know, but it reads like a local ghost story about a party of men attacked by Indians.
The Valley of the Lost is a Texas feud in the late 1800's that takes a horrific, supernatural turn for the worst. It's very well done.
Kelly the Conjure-man reads like another local legend about a black man in the 1870's who practiced something like voodoo in Arkansas. It's only a few pages long.
Black Canaan is again set in the late 1800's & is about a voodoo man & woman creating unrest among the blacks in a former slave holding area. If you object to the word 'nigger' don't read this. The word is all over the place from the names of creeks to how the people talk. It seemed to be used in conjunction with trackless swamps, snakes & horrific magic to prey on Howard's readers' prejudices of the time. Everything is more horrible for not only being unknown, but unknowable by the white hero. He makes a big difference between town & swamp folk, whether white or black. The rich white live in town & are far better than the "poor white trash", just as the "town niggers" are better than the "swamp niggers", so the last are doubly removed from the hero's exalted station. According to Howard, the black community of that area knows things that civilized white people just can't know, so the hero is really facing a desperate situation. Without the obvious racism, it would be an excellent story. As it is... well, it's pretty rough, but has its good points.
Pigeons From Hell is set about Howard's life time, the early 1900's since the main character drives a car, but the sheriff is riding a horse. Again, there is a lot of racism (again Howard equates blacks with an unknowable-by-white-men culture & magic to prey on his readers' prejudices) but this time with a wonderful twist. Not as bad as "Black Canaan" & a pretty good, scary story.
Old Garfield's Heart is fairly short & straight forward, reminding me of a "The Furies" by Zelazny. (I wonder if he got the idea for Corgo here?) Again Howard hints at elder civilizations & peeks at it through the eyes of 'modern' man - in this case the folks of Howard's Texas. (Horses, guns & cars, again.)
The Horror From the Mound is another horror story set in late 1800's Texas. but we don't really know that until more than halfway through, which is excellent because it is a great build up. Horror of the finest kind with a very earthy hero.
The Thunder Rider is somewhat similar to the James Allison stories, but in this case the man is having mental issues & goes to a Comanche medicine man for help. Remember that Howard lived in Texas where the Comanche stories were often told as horror stories. Here Howard makes a wonderfully savage hero - until the end. Ladies will be particularly offended.
The Classic Tale of the Southwest is from a letter to August Derleth circa January 1933. It recounts some history about the Indians, specifically Qanah Parker, a very successful half breed who lived mostly as an Indian & even became friends with Teddy Roosevelt. That Howard admires his accomplishments is quite clear.
The Grim Lands is one of Howard's many poems. He wrote reams of them.
May 6, 2009
Robert E. Howard (REH hereafter) is probably best known in popular culture as the creator of Conan the Barbarian, in as much as he is known at all. I suspect that most people are more likely to recognize the name Conan than they are the name of the man who created him, but then, most people's vision of Conan is based of the very fun, but not very faithful, Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Erroneous picture or not, however, it's hard to deny that in the creation of Conan, Howard gave American popular imagination a figure who has survived for nearly a century, in pastiches, comics, movies. More recently, there has be a bit of a Howard resurgence, and several companies have begun publishing not only Howard's Conan stories (which are all excellent), but a great deal of Howard's other works as well.
The Black Stranger is, for the most part, a collection of REH's stories dealing with America. I say for the most part, because the titular story is actually a Conan tale, taking place in Howard's fictional Hyborian Age, rather than on the American continent proper. The story still fits perfectly, however, with it's dark, brooding forests, savage Picts (who are essentially Hollywood Indians with the serial numbers filed off), and stranded sailors, the story certainly feels like it could be set in a colonial or pre-colonial America. It's a very dark story, with murder, mysterious spirits, bloodthirsty tribes, and of course, some pirates. One of the creepier Conan stories, but compared with the other stories in this collection, it's actually rather...well, not uplifting, I suppose, but the protagonist gets out alive, which is more than can be said for some of them in the other stories.
The rest of the stories do take place on the American continent, though not all of them are "historical" by any stretch. "Marchers of Valhalla" follows a company of Vikings who have gotten themselves severely lost in an area that will eventually become Texas. Several other stories deal with Howard's vision of pre-Colombian America, which features mysterious civilizations paying homage to alien gods, conflict between civilization and barbarism (naturally), and, not infrequently, white men messing around with things they don't understand, and possibly should know better. As I alluded to earlier, some of these stories are pretty grim, and not filled with the sort of cheery derring-do that readers might expect. Which does not make them any less fun.
As the collection moves forward, the stories begin to move into areas of recorded history, and Howard's writing moves in a more horrific vein. "Black Cannan" tells a story of conflict between white and black residents of an insular area of Texas, while "Pigeons from Hell" is, in essence, a classic haunted house story. For the record, despite the possibly goofy title, "Pigeons from Hell" was, for my money, the most frightening story in this collection. If you have trouble sleeping after reading, don't finish off your night with this one.
The collection culminates with a couple of letters from REH, which are more interesting for their insights into Howard's mind and thoughts than they are for any literary enjoyment, and a single poem, "the Grim Land", which I enjoyed, but I'm not a big poetry reader.
The blurb on the back of this book compares the stories in this collection to dark classics like "Young Goodman Brown," "Benito Cereno," and "A Rose for Emily." I confess to not actually having READ those stories, so I'm hard pressed to say if the comparison is accurate. I can say that these stories are fantastic reading, full of mystery, horror, and adventure. Howard continues to impress me not just as a fun author to read, but as an author who really should be taken much more seriously on a literary level. This stuff is pure gold.
The Black Stranger is, for the most part, a collection of REH's stories dealing with America. I say for the most part, because the titular story is actually a Conan tale, taking place in Howard's fictional Hyborian Age, rather than on the American continent proper. The story still fits perfectly, however, with it's dark, brooding forests, savage Picts (who are essentially Hollywood Indians with the serial numbers filed off), and stranded sailors, the story certainly feels like it could be set in a colonial or pre-colonial America. It's a very dark story, with murder, mysterious spirits, bloodthirsty tribes, and of course, some pirates. One of the creepier Conan stories, but compared with the other stories in this collection, it's actually rather...well, not uplifting, I suppose, but the protagonist gets out alive, which is more than can be said for some of them in the other stories.
The rest of the stories do take place on the American continent, though not all of them are "historical" by any stretch. "Marchers of Valhalla" follows a company of Vikings who have gotten themselves severely lost in an area that will eventually become Texas. Several other stories deal with Howard's vision of pre-Colombian America, which features mysterious civilizations paying homage to alien gods, conflict between civilization and barbarism (naturally), and, not infrequently, white men messing around with things they don't understand, and possibly should know better. As I alluded to earlier, some of these stories are pretty grim, and not filled with the sort of cheery derring-do that readers might expect. Which does not make them any less fun.
As the collection moves forward, the stories begin to move into areas of recorded history, and Howard's writing moves in a more horrific vein. "Black Cannan" tells a story of conflict between white and black residents of an insular area of Texas, while "Pigeons from Hell" is, in essence, a classic haunted house story. For the record, despite the possibly goofy title, "Pigeons from Hell" was, for my money, the most frightening story in this collection. If you have trouble sleeping after reading, don't finish off your night with this one.
The collection culminates with a couple of letters from REH, which are more interesting for their insights into Howard's mind and thoughts than they are for any literary enjoyment, and a single poem, "the Grim Land", which I enjoyed, but I'm not a big poetry reader.
The blurb on the back of this book compares the stories in this collection to dark classics like "Young Goodman Brown," "Benito Cereno," and "A Rose for Emily." I confess to not actually having READ those stories, so I'm hard pressed to say if the comparison is accurate. I can say that these stories are fantastic reading, full of mystery, horror, and adventure. Howard continues to impress me not just as a fun author to read, but as an author who really should be taken much more seriously on a literary level. This stuff is pure gold.
June 22, 2010
Having just encountered "Black Canaan" in another collection (of zombie tales by assorted writers) developed an urge to offer a few thoughts on this collection, of which "Black Canaan" is one of the more notable offerings.
A point we fans of Howard fequently have to make allowances for is the time and social milieu he lived in. Howard whas a white male in mid-30s Texas, and the social attitudes inherent to that show in many of his stories, particularly in this collection. I do not think Howard was an overt racist, but he clearly accepted the less enlighened assumptions of his day.
This is actually part of what makes Howard interesting to read, that we get to see an imagination working in a world devoid of our modern notions of political correctness. We see a mind unbounded by the self-restraint of a modern socially conscious writer, and yet one not poisoned by the deliberate hatred of a modern racist. Very interesting if you can tolerate the change from our modern viewpoint.
The theme of this book is Howard tales with a connection to America, or at least the New World. Most are set in the historical past, varying from fantasies to westerns, though there is also a Conan story collected here, "The Black Stranger," which may be better know to some fans in an adulterated form as "The Treasure of Tranicos." This is the Howard original, with the real ending, and ever so much better for it.
That a Conan story may be included in a book of "American" tales may seem odd to a Conan reader, but the inclusion is entirely justifiable on thematic grounds. Those Conan tales in which the Picts appear feature elements taken from classic frontier myth and then inserted into Howard's Hyborean Age. But on those grounds I am inclined to think that "Beyond the Black River" would have been a more appropriate choice of Conan stories, being very nearly something James Fenimore Cooper might have written.
A point we fans of Howard fequently have to make allowances for is the time and social milieu he lived in. Howard whas a white male in mid-30s Texas, and the social attitudes inherent to that show in many of his stories, particularly in this collection. I do not think Howard was an overt racist, but he clearly accepted the less enlighened assumptions of his day.
This is actually part of what makes Howard interesting to read, that we get to see an imagination working in a world devoid of our modern notions of political correctness. We see a mind unbounded by the self-restraint of a modern socially conscious writer, and yet one not poisoned by the deliberate hatred of a modern racist. Very interesting if you can tolerate the change from our modern viewpoint.
The theme of this book is Howard tales with a connection to America, or at least the New World. Most are set in the historical past, varying from fantasies to westerns, though there is also a Conan story collected here, "The Black Stranger," which may be better know to some fans in an adulterated form as "The Treasure of Tranicos." This is the Howard original, with the real ending, and ever so much better for it.
That a Conan story may be included in a book of "American" tales may seem odd to a Conan reader, but the inclusion is entirely justifiable on thematic grounds. Those Conan tales in which the Picts appear feature elements taken from classic frontier myth and then inserted into Howard's Hyborean Age. But on those grounds I am inclined to think that "Beyond the Black River" would have been a more appropriate choice of Conan stories, being very nearly something James Fenimore Cooper might have written.
July 11, 2009
There are some great tales in this book, "Pigeons from Hell," "Old Garfield's Heart," and "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth." There are also some lesser tales, and "Nekht Semerkeht", which began excellently but really trails off to a kind of oultine by the end. The order in which the stories are presented is a bit odd to me as well, but the prose of Robert E. Howard carries them all.
My advice for the reader is to go directly to the stories first. The introduction is very well written but I'd suggest you read it 'after' you finish the stories.
My advice for the reader is to go directly to the stories first. The introduction is very well written but I'd suggest you read it 'after' you finish the stories.
August 4, 2018
A good collection of lesser known Howard stories. The title story is actually a story from the Conan mythos but has many aspects that could be transferred to the Americas - the savage Picts as an American tribe & the nationalities changing from Hyborian Age nations to Spain and England. The other stories are a collection of his sword-and-sorcery fiction like "Black Vulmea's Vengeance" which Roy Thomas adapted as a Conan story for the Marvel Comics series. Others, like "The Horror From The Mound" are distinctly American in their setting. "Black Canaan" explores the racial divide between Blacks and Whites in backwater Louisiana - the N-word is freely used so beware of this is upsetting to you. "Pigeons From Hell", considered by some to be the best American horror story, is quite effective dealing with an abandoned Southern mansion and the horrors within - it was adapted for Boris Karloff's "Thriller" in the early 1960s. Other stories deal with ancient American civilizations, Native American folklore and even some excerpts from letters from Howard to August Derleth and HP Lovecraft explaining the history of Indians in Texas. If action & horror oriented sword-and-sorcery stories interest you, I'd highly recommend these less well-known Howard tales.
July 27, 2011
This book was okay - not Robert E Howard's all time best stuff, but a good collection of stories you probably won't find anywhere else. REH's more polished works can easily be found in other compendiums so I wouldn't recommend this edition unless you want to read some of his rougher, less finished works.
Best stories: Pigeons From Hell, The Horror From the Mound, The Valley of the Lost. Worst: Black Stranger and the next 2 or 3 stories that have virtually identical storylines with different lead characters. One story, Nekht Semerkhet, simply ends with a one paragraph synopsis of how the story was meant to end - they are notes only, and not the actual story. I found that very odd.
I bought the book for its cover - a Cthulhu-like monster - but was disappointed that not a single Cthulhu mythos story was contained inside. I was looking forward to reading more of Howard's horror stories but this book was mostly sword-and-sorcery.
Best stories: Pigeons From Hell, The Horror From the Mound, The Valley of the Lost. Worst: Black Stranger and the next 2 or 3 stories that have virtually identical storylines with different lead characters. One story, Nekht Semerkhet, simply ends with a one paragraph synopsis of how the story was meant to end - they are notes only, and not the actual story. I found that very odd.
I bought the book for its cover - a Cthulhu-like monster - but was disappointed that not a single Cthulhu mythos story was contained inside. I was looking forward to reading more of Howard's horror stories but this book was mostly sword-and-sorcery.
April 6, 2025
There is so much to say about Howard. I guess in the first place because his quality is so scattershot. Most of his work is solid, kinetic, and imaginative, but also forgettable. At his worst, he's heavily reliant on tropes and the plots are adolescent, even puerile. But then you read the best of his work and see why he's foundational, especially for American fantasy authors.
Having a collection of his American stories is wonderful for that reason. Like the rest of his work, it's all over, with Pigeons from Hell and Valley of the Lost the standouts here. Howard and Lovecraft bring the supernatural folk horror of the British Isles to an American context--Lovecraft New England, and Howard the South. I think there's a lot to say in these stories about guilt, and the fear of retribution, and this idea of civilizational decay that Howard keeps returning to. He would have loved Ibn Khaldun.
As a fan of adventure and supernatural storytelling I enjoy seeing the tropes that saturate that fiction done so well here. I mean burial mounds, hidden treasure, Mummies, Pirates, lost civilizations...everything from Indiana Jones to Scooby Doo is part of the same tradition.
I want to save Stephen King's comments, because they capture my feelings well. He calls Pigeons from Hell one of the finest horror stories of the 20th Century. Then:
"In his best work, Howard’s writing seems so highly charged with energy that it nearly gives off sparks. Stories such as The People of the Black Circle glow with the fierce and eldritch light of his frenzied intensity. At his best, Howard was the Thomas Wolfe of fantasy, and most of his Conan tales seem to almost fall over themselves in their need to get out. Yet his other work was either unremarkable or just abysmal….The word will hurt and anger his legion of fans, but I don’t believe any other word fits."
I agree with The People of the Black Circle. And he's got a half dozen which are even better.
Having a collection of his American stories is wonderful for that reason. Like the rest of his work, it's all over, with Pigeons from Hell and Valley of the Lost the standouts here. Howard and Lovecraft bring the supernatural folk horror of the British Isles to an American context--Lovecraft New England, and Howard the South. I think there's a lot to say in these stories about guilt, and the fear of retribution, and this idea of civilizational decay that Howard keeps returning to. He would have loved Ibn Khaldun.
As a fan of adventure and supernatural storytelling I enjoy seeing the tropes that saturate that fiction done so well here. I mean burial mounds, hidden treasure, Mummies, Pirates, lost civilizations...everything from Indiana Jones to Scooby Doo is part of the same tradition.
I want to save Stephen King's comments, because they capture my feelings well. He calls Pigeons from Hell one of the finest horror stories of the 20th Century. Then:
"In his best work, Howard’s writing seems so highly charged with energy that it nearly gives off sparks. Stories such as The People of the Black Circle glow with the fierce and eldritch light of his frenzied intensity. At his best, Howard was the Thomas Wolfe of fantasy, and most of his Conan tales seem to almost fall over themselves in their need to get out. Yet his other work was either unremarkable or just abysmal….The word will hurt and anger his legion of fans, but I don’t believe any other word fits."
I agree with The People of the Black Circle. And he's got a half dozen which are even better.
May 16, 2022
Supernatural horror tales set in America, mostly the Southwest.
June 13, 2011
The short stories in this book were generally fantastic (in both senses) individually, however my one critique was that they all followed the exact same formula. The lead characters was always strong warrior men, typically there was a secondary male character. The women were portrayed as weak, evil, occasionally love interests of the men and subjected to mistreatments. The antagonists and settings varied a bit, but all had almost identical effects on the plots, which also were very similar. Reading this was like reading the same story being told repeatedly with the details changes. However, it was very well written.
February 13, 2009
Steve Tompkins has an unusual way of looking at Robert E. Howard’s tales of horror and adventure. Tompkins makes grand leaps that pull in unexpected connections, his appraisal of REH is as likely to include critical tools taken from D.H. Lawrence and Leslie Fiedler as from H.P. Lovecraft.
http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2008...
http://fireandsword.blogspot.com/2008...
December 8, 2010
This book's theme features stories by Robert E. Howard that take place in America. Although the editors stretch things a bit to meet this story, the collection is nonetheless very strong. The title story, The Black Stranger, is a lengthy Conan story, and is one of the book's highlights. I also enjoy Black Canaan and Pigeons from Hell quite a bit.
November 4, 2016
Having read about half of the tales in this collection before I only read those that were new to me.
As usual with collected shorts by REH, the quality ranges from average, to good, to great.
"Black Vulmea's Vengeance" is a notable highlight, featuring the type of adventure tale that you might expect to read in a Conan story.
As usual with collected shorts by REH, the quality ranges from average, to good, to great.
"Black Vulmea's Vengeance" is a notable highlight, featuring the type of adventure tale that you might expect to read in a Conan story.
Read
July 24, 2011Robert E. Howard ia an amazing author (created Conan). I have pretty much everything he ever wrote. This collection of tales feature some great ones and a few not so great. Always a great escape to read him.
Read
September 25, 2010I lost it, have to buy it again. It's Howard, so it's well worth it!
June 21, 2010
There are a couple really good stories in this collection.
August 21, 2013
Excellent. Such a prolific author who died too young. Looking forward to hitting more of his collections, very soon.
October 20, 2013
A slightly unbalanced selection of horror stories, mostly set in modern times. There are many classics, but a few rarely-reprinted pieces as well. The quality is uneven.
February 9, 2016
Fantastic selection of unedited horror stories by Howard. Awesome read from my favorite writer. Highly recommended
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