“Read these stories and enjoy. Dip into the exciting horrors and adventures of Robert E. Howard. Do not come into them with an academic mind. Come into them with an eager heart. That way they will give you much. Because they know little of logic, and much of desire - and desire drives us. Howard knew that. Let him share this knowledge with you.” - Joe R. Lansdale, from his introduction.
People of the Dark is the third volume of a series that collects the fiction and poetry of Robert E. Howard as it originally appeared in Weird Tales magazine. This volume (Kindle edition) has nine short stories and two poems.
In these stories you’ll encounter Bran Mak Morn, King Kull, Solomon Kane, 11th century Irishman Turlogh Dubh O’Brian, forbidden texts, the Cthulhu Mythos, and the reaver Conan, a character Howard wrote a story about just before creating the one that would become more famous.
In “Kings of the Night,” Kull of Atlantis, the king of Valusia gets pulled from the past to help Bran Mak Morn, king of the Picts fight a battle against Romans. The first two parts set everything up, the third and concluding part is one intense battle. I enjoyed the crossover aspect of this story having read the Kull stories in volume one. The fighting scenes are fast paced and exciting but what I really like about this story is the brooding sense of melancholy that hangs over everything.
“Children of the Night'' begins with a group of men, which include Howard’s character Professor John Kirowan, in a discussion. Topics move from anthropology, weird fiction, to secret cults and forbidden texts like the Necronomicon. During the discussion the narrator O'Donnel thinks to himself that one of the men, Ketrick, seems strange because of his features and goes on about racial purity. Later the narrator gets knocked unconscious and finds himself reliving part of a past life in battle against the Children of the Night, a snake-like people. There are some great action scenes but the racial purity aspect which pops up again at the end took me out of the story. This is the one story in this collection that I didn’t enjoy.
“The Footfalls Within” begins with Solomon Kane tracking a group of slavers in Africa. After Kane gets captured trying to rescue a woman, the group discovers an ancient mausoleum in the jungle. Hoping to find treasure the leader of the slavers decides to open it. Chaos ensues. The action and the background we get regarding the ancient staff Kane received from N'Longa in “Hills of the Dead” (from volume two) made this a fun read.
“The Gods of Bal-Sagoth” is a sequel to ‘The Dark Man” but was published first. Irish outlaw Turlogh Dubh and his rival, the Saxon Athelstan, wind up shipwrecked together on an island. They encounter a lost civilization and try to help a woman reclaim her crown. The rivalry between Turlogh and Athlestane, plus lots of action made this an exciting read.
“The Black Stone'' begins with the narrator reading about a strange stone in the book Nameless Cults (also known as The Black Book) by von Juntz. Nameless Cults is a fictional forbidden book created by Howard and first introduced in his story “The Children of the Night.” Later after conferring with August Derleth, H. P. Lovecraft gave the book a name in German, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, and both writers used the book in their stories. In this story the narrator travels to the mountain village in Hungary where the stone is located. He has what he believes is a dream about ritual sacrifices and a toad-like monster. Violent and creepy.
“The Dark Man” is the first story that Howard wrote about Turlogh Dubh of the Clan na O’Brian. Although now an outlaw he sets out to rescue Moira, a woman from his clan that has been kidnapped by a Viking raider. On the way to the island where the raiders have their camp he discovers a strange dark statue and brings it with him. The statue appears to protect him as he survives a storm. He arrives at the island and sneaks into the raider’s longhouse. Among the Vikings are women and children and a Saxon by the name of Athelstane who has been raiding with the Vikings. An absolutely brutal battle follows. At the end of the story we learn that the dark statue is a statue of a king from centuries in the past. One of my favorite stories in this collection.
“The Thing on the Roof” begins with the history of the book Nameless Cults. Hoping to find gold, the book is used to find a lost tomb, The Temple of the Toad. Something gets released. The story also includes references to the Necronomicon and the Black Stone in Hungary. It was okay but so far I prefer Howard's other stories over his Cthulhu stories.
In “Horror From the Mound” a former cowboy ignores the warnings of his Mexican neighbor and digs into an Indian burial mound, hoping to find gold. I could see that this was not going to turn out well and I wasn’t surprised when something got released. I was surprised by what was released though. Another example of Howard putting his own spin on a traditional monster. Great story.
In “People of the Dark” the narrator enters Dagon’s Cave with a gun intending to kill a man who is a rival for the woman he loves. After a fall he relives a past life as a reaver named Conan. Not that Conan. Howard will use that name again for a character in upcoming stories. The phrase "by the thunder of Crom" is used by the narrator though. In this story Conan of the reavers has chased a beautiful woman and her protector into the cave, his goal being to kill the protector and capture the woman. He soon realizes that he has entered “the dread Cavern of the Children of the Night.” The three soon discover they are not alone and wind up having to work together. I feel Howard makes much better use of the “reliving a past life” idea here than he did in “Children of the Night.” A dark story with a bittersweet ending. Another one of my favorites in this collection.
As in the previous volumes I liked the poetry. Dark and atmospheric.
One of the things I’m really enjoying about this series is reading Howard’s stories in the order that they appeared in Weird Tales, being able to see how his stories connected and how his storytelling progressed. It was also really interesting to learn that Howard used the names Conan and Crom in a story that predates the more famous Conan stories.
Looking forward to reading volume four.
Kings of the Night (Bran Mak Morn/Kull) (4/5)
The Song of the Mad Minstrel (poem)
The Children of the Night (John Kirowan/Cthulhu Mythos) (2/5)
The Footfalls Within (Solomon Kane) (4/5)
The Gods of Bal-Sagoth (Turlogh O’Brian) (4/5)
The Black Stone (Cthulhu Mythos) (3/5)
The Dark Man (first Turlogh O’Brian) (5/5)
The Thing on the Roof (Cthulhu Mythos) (3/5)
The Last Day (poem)
Horror From the Mound (4/5)
People of the Dark (from Strange Tales) (Cthulhu Mythos) (5/5)
Overall (4/5)
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