It had been some time since I last read the collection King Kull. Picking it from the shelf was rewarding. The general impression and memory of a Kull story is one of blood soaked battles, with a half-naked Kull butchering a dozen men with an ax. But while there is the occasional red-mist set piece,… Continue reading The Kull Dialectics
Tag: Robert E. Howard
Harold Lamb’s “Alexander of Macedon.”
Without really meaning to I’ve become relatively familiar with the life and doings of Alexander the Great. He — whether as a main character or an essential secondary character — featured in any number of historical novels I picked up as a kid (e.g. Mary Renault’s books) and over the following decades. Most recently I… Continue reading Harold Lamb’s “Alexander of Macedon.”
The Last of the Mohicans: Part of the DNA of American Fiction
While reading my copy of James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans I found between the pages a bank deposit slip of mine from 1986. So I know I must have read this copy before — the binding shows some wear — or at least reached about the midpoint and left a book marker… Continue reading The Last of the Mohicans: Part of the DNA of American Fiction
Part III of a Review of “A Treasury of Fantasy.” (REH Has Entered the Chat.)
Following is my review of the last half of A Treasury of Fantasy. Part I is here. Part II here. The Wood Beyond the World. William Morris. This is not my first Morris novel, though it is, perhaps, my favorite thus far. Morris continues to employ deliberately archaic language, as one might expect. I still… Continue reading Part III of a Review of “A Treasury of Fantasy.” (REH Has Entered the Chat.)
More Quick Hits. “The Lost Valley of Iskander” and “Expendables 2: The Rings of Tantalus.”
Francis Xavier Gordon — El Borak — is a quintessential Robert E. Howard hero. He is an American, a crack shot and wickedly fast swordsman, an intrepid and renowned explorer of the East, featured in conversations in caravanserai to bazaar from Kabul to Delhi. The Lost Valley of Iskander collects three tales of El Borak.… Continue reading More Quick Hits. “The Lost Valley of Iskander” and “Expendables 2: The Rings of Tantalus.”
Robert E. Howard’s Dennis Dorgan. Plus Savage Journal Entry 50.
Dennis Dorgan, the character whose exploits are collected in The Incredible Adventures of Dennis Dorgan, is definitely not Popeye the Sailor Man, despite his creation shortly after the release of E.C. Segar’s classic character in 1929. Dennis makes this perfectly clear by his stated dislike of canned spinach. Though both men are sailors, speak in… Continue reading Robert E. Howard’s Dennis Dorgan. Plus Savage Journal Entry 50.
Weird Tales Four, Plus Savage Journal Entry 49.
I picked up this book for the cover. I mean look at it. There’s a story in that artwork. Unfortunately that story isn’t in this book. Not even tangentially. There are other disappointments. It is haphazardly edited and printed. The introduction (which opens the book for a page at the front, then is continued at… Continue reading Weird Tales Four, Plus Savage Journal Entry 49.
Breckinridge Elkins: A Gent From Bear Creek. Plus Savage Journal Entry 47.
I enjoyed an eventful Saturday: I finished reading Robert E. Howard’s A Gent From Bear Creek and hosted the first pool party of the season here at Casa Lizzi. If any of you who attended are reading, thanks for coming. That was fun. As was Gent, a fix-up novel stringing together several of REH’s Breckinridge… Continue reading Breckinridge Elkins: A Gent From Bear Creek. Plus Savage Journal Entry 47.
Howard’s Historicals: The Sowers of the Thunder. Plus Savage Journal Entry 45
I won’t delay any surprise here: the anthology of Robert E. Howard historical novellas The Sowers of the Thunder is an absolute treat. There, you can head off the used bookstore or open another tab and start the hunt at eBay or ThriftBooks. Or you can stay and keep reading. Roy G. Krenkel’s introduction is… Continue reading Howard’s Historicals: The Sowers of the Thunder. Plus Savage Journal Entry 45