Books I Read in March 2024

 Sword & sorcery, two Irish authors, a book on writing, and a comic book this month. 

The Hour of the Dragon by Robert E. Howard (Berkley Medallion, 1977)

After his enemies use an ancient sorcerer to depose him, King Conan fights to regain his throne. Howard revisits ideas from earlier stories in this novel-length Conan tale and I think he does so effectively. I liked the episodic nature and the large cast of characters, as an older, more mature Conan travels across Hyboria encountering past allies and foes. The chapters set in Stygia were a favorite. On the other hand, there were quite a lot of chance encounters and Conan got knocked out a lot. While I don’t think this is Howard’s best Conan tale it was still a great read.

The Berkley Medallion edition includes a foreword and afterword by Karl Edward Wagner that gives interesting details about the history of Howard’s only novel-length work.

The Bloody Crown of Conan by Robert E. Howard (Del Rey, 2004)

This collects three long Conan tales by Robert E. Howard, two novellas and The Hour of the Dragon, the only novel-length story he ever completed, along with numerous illustrations by Gary Gianni. I like all the illustrators of the Howard Del Rey collections, but Gianni is my favorite. His pen and ink illustrations really remind me of pulp magazines.

Gardens of Evil: The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard, Volume 6 (Wildside Press, 2015)

This is the sixth 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 version) has six short stories and one poem. Four of the stories are Conan the Barbarian stories, three of which are fantastic. Full review here:

We Learn by Writing: Gardens of Fear: The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard, Volume 6

The Canterville Ghost, The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde (Penguin Classics, (2010)

This is a collection of Oscar Wilde’s three short story collections. 

The Happy Prince and Other Stories is a collection of five stories for children first published in 1888. The stories are filled with metaphor and allegory exploring themes of responsibility, compassion, and self-sacrifice. They’re not very subtle and while they may have been written for children, there’s plenty of humor, irony, and satire of the absurd for adults to appreciate. My favorite of the three collections.

A House of Pomegranates is a collection of four dark fairy tales first published in 1891. The stories explore themes of class, greed, cruelty, and love. All the stories have beautiful prose, but I thought “The Star Child” was too heavy handed, as was the ending of “The Young King.” On the other hand, “The Birthday of the Infanta'' was a dark gem and I loved “The Fisherman and his Soul,” a deep story that asks questions about love and the soul. I was still thinking about it after finishing it. 

Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories is a collection first published in 1891 originally consisting of four stories. A fifth story, “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.” was added to later editions. It’s not included in this Penguin collection but it’s in the Kindle edition I have. “Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime” and “The Sphinx Without a Secret” are semi-humorous mysteries, “The Model Millionaire” is a quick humorous story, and “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.” is a mystery about the person that Shakespeare dedicated his sonnets to. As with most of Wilde’s work, the stories include irony and satire. My favorite is “The Canterville Ghost,” a gothic ghost story that starts out hilarious but then becomes quite touching.

Dubliners by James Joyce (Penguin Classics, 2014) 

Dubliners is a collection of fifteen stories about Irish middle-class life at the turn of the century, first published in 1914. The stories focus on moments in characters' lives that sometimes lead to some form of self-realization. I loved the prose at times, especially the description of characters. While I enjoyed most of the stories, it took a little extra work. First, I had to refer to the appendix quite often as the stories include a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary and slang. Second, after I finished each story, I read a summary online. This helped me to understand a lot of symbolism that hadn’t been clear to me. Overall, it was worth the effort. The stories are filled with linguistic richness, and some were deeply moving leaving a strong impression on me. 

Two quotes from Colum McCann’s introduction will give you an idea of what the stories are like:

“The triumph of Dubliners is that most of the main characters — and by default, then, the reader — achieve an epiphany. The epiphany is often ambiguous, or faintly suggested. We must work to step into it.”

“The stories in Dubliners, with their sudden endings, their lack of dramatic resolution, their frequent repetitions, call on us, as readers, to constantly evaluate our own everyday lives.”

Non-fiction

Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg (Vintage, 2013)

While there are a few useful ideas about sentence brevity and the writing process, most of the book consists of overly Zen-like advice which I didn’t find helpful, didn’t make sense to me, or got contradicted in later passages. There’s also quite a lot of repetition. It didn’t help that the book is written in the form of poem-like stanzas that take their time getting to the point. It all became tedious very quickly.

Comics 

The Savage Sword of Conan #1 (Titan Comics, 2024) 

A nice package marred by what I thought was awkward art in the lead story. Full review here:

We Learn by Writing: The Savage Sword of Conan #1 from Titan Comics

That's it for March. I'm currently reading The Fisherman, a horror novel by John Langan. It has a Lovecraftian vibe to it which I'm enjoying so far.

Gardens of Fear: The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard, Volume 6

“So, avid reader, prepare yourself for the journey you are about to embark upon, and read a mythology that Howard painted with broad strokes from a palette which held a spectrum of history, philosophy, and imagination.” — Benjamin Szumskyj from his introduction.

Gardens of Fear is the sixth 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 version) has six short stories and one poem. Most of the stories are Conan the Barbarian stories. The poem first appeared in The Fantasy Fan fanzine.

Queen of the Black Coast (Conan) (5/5)

(Weird Tales, May 1934) 

This chronicles how Conan met and joined a pirate crew headed by Bêlit, the Queen of the Black Coast, developed a reputation as they raided the coast, and then searched for a lost city. This story had action, adventure, romance, and a thrilling final battle with a melancholy ending. For a short story it felt epic. 

One passage in particular stood out to me. When Belit asks Conan what he thinks about “the worlds beyond the river of death,” he responds:

“Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.”

On a side note, the 2011 Conan the Barbarian movie includes a scene where Jason Momoa’s Conan has lines based on this passage. 

The Haunter of the Ring (John Kirowan) (3/5)

(Weird Tales, June 1934)

Professor Kirowan investigates after a friend believes that his wife has been trying to kill him. A standard pulp tale with a connection to Conan. The ring in this story is Thoth-Amon’s Serpent Ring of Set which was introduced in “The Phoenix on the Sword,” the very first Conan story. 

The Garden of Fear (James Allison) (3/5)

(Marvel Tales, July-August 1934)

James Allison tells a story of one of his past lives as Hunwulf of the Æsir tribe while he travels with his love, Gudrun. After a winged man, the last survivor of an ancient race kidnaps Gudrun, Hunwulf tracks them down to a tower surrounded by strange blood red flowers.

The Devil in Iron (Conan) (3/5)

(Weird Tales, August 1934)

A beautiful, enslaved woman is used to lure Conan to a deserted island in order to ambush him, but the island turns out to have a recently re-awakened demon dwelling there. While it relied a little too much on coincidence and echoed some of what has come before in previous stories, it still had its moments.

The Voices Waken Memory (Poem) (5/5)

(The Fantasy Fan, September 1934)

I really liked this dark poem. A step up from the poems in the previous volume. 

The People of the Black Circle (Conan) (5/5)

(Weird Tales, September-October-November 1934)

On the borders of Vendhya, the Hyborian version of India, Conan’s scheme to save some of his men doesn’t go as planned and he winds up having to face a group of sorcerers in their mountain fortress. Howard is on fire here. Action, plot twists, a great cast of characters, and new setting make for a thrilling novella. Speaking of characters, because of the decisions she made and the way she handled herself in the face of adversity, by the end of the story Yasmina the Devi of Vendya became one of my favorite side characters written by Howard. 

A Witch Shall Be Born (Conan) (4/5)

(Weird Tales, December 1934)

After a witch replaces her twin sister as queen of Khauran, she comes into conflict with Conan. Although there’s lots of exposition and the ending is a little anticlimactic, it was still an exciting read. This story has the iconic crucifixion scene with the vulture that was included in the 1982 Conan the Barbarian film. The scene and how things play out afterwards in this story do a fantastic job of showing Conan’s determination to survive and his brutal philosophy on life in the Hyborian age. 

Howard's final Conan tales are spread out through the next three volumes of the Weird Works series. Volume 7 has three stories, Volume 8 has The Hour of the Dragon novel, and Volume 9 has the last published story. I've already read The Hour of the Dragon which I have in paperback and in the second Del Rey collection, so I'll be skipping it. As much fun as it's been reading Howard's Weird Tales work in publication order I'm going to put off the other Weird Works volumes for now and jump into the third Del Rey collection. It has the final four stories from Weird Tales plus a story that wasn't published until after his death. Now that I'm getting to the last of the Conan tales, I really want to read them all together.

The Savage Sword of Conan #1 from Titan Comics

 When I heard that Titan Comics was going to do a black and white The Savage Sword of Conan comic, I was pretty excited. I have fond memories of Marvel’s black and white comic magazines, especially Planet of the Apes, but I also read a number of issues of The Savage Sword of Conan. 

My local comic book shop sold out the day of release, but I was able to pick up a copy at another larger shop a few days later. They had one copy left of the Zaffino B cover and about ten copies of the Jusko A cover. The Zaffino cover looks great, but I got the Jusko cover as I love his work.

The cover, the stories, the pinups, the prose story, and the essay all combine to make a pretty nice package just like issues from the original run. I’m glad it’s back and I hope it does well, but I have mixed feelings about this first issue. As other reviews have pointed out, there was a problem with the printing and a number of pages appear much too dark. Hopefully that will be addressed in future issues, but my main critique is of the art in the lead story. 

Conan and the Dragon Horde by John Arcudi and Max Von Fafner 

Conan is working as a mercenary for a prince seeking a treasure in a story with intrigue and lots of action. It’s great getting an extra-long story that’s complete in one issue and while I thought the story was fine, I did not care for the art at all, and not because of the dark pages. I enjoy all kinds of comic book art but to me what was presented here was wildly inconsistent. Conan looked fine and I liked the action scenes, but so many other things bothered me.

Some spoilers here as I’ll be describing scenes from the story. 

The first panel with elephants appears to be an awkward photo collage with randomly slapped on ears. After that, the elephants are drawn differently throughout the rest of the story. 

The splash page introducing Conan looked great at first glance but when looking at it again the perspective looks odd. He looks like he’s riding a pony. (I haven’t read all the Conan stories yet so if this is some kind of Cimmerian battle pony that I was unaware of, I stand corrected. Great, now I’m picturing Arnold Schwarzenegger in a King Conan movie saying, “Get to the pony!” I'd watch it though...)

The panel of a large group of characters arriving at a mountain gate looks like more photo collage, with the hand drawn characters pasted in. When the characters wind up battling a dinosaur, all the panels with the dinosaur are more awkwardly placed photos. 

When Conan meets the prince and sees an animal skeleton and pelt, he comments on the lions he killed earlier. Is that supposed to be a lion skull on the chair in the tent? In the first panel it looks like it has weird tusks, but on the next page it looks like the cartoon skull of a monkey. What's up with the tusks? Is the goofy skull on the next page a gag? I'm used to seeing gags like that in manga...but this isn't manga.

Finally, Ineah the engineer looks like she was drawn by a different artist in a different art style throughout the entire story.

I looked up the artist and didn’t find very many examples of his work. What I did find I liked more than what I read here. Some reviews I've read mention the “photo collage” art but almost every review I've come across is fine with the art. But for me the art kept pulling me out of the story. It just came across as lazy. Am I being overly critical? Maybe so, but I was expecting more, especially from the lead story of a first issue.

Sacrifice in the Sand by Jim Zub 

A prose story by the author of The Conan the Barbarian color comic book series from Titan. I enjoyed it. Pretty good for a two-page story. It fits as part of the package.

Master of the Hunt, Part One by Patrick Zircher 

Solomon Kane investigates as animals are killed and people go missing at a village. This was the highlight of the issue for me. I really enjoyed the story and its cliffhanger, and I loved the art. The poses, closeups, backgrounds, and the inks were all very well done. Luckily Zircher’s art is clear and wasn’t affected much by the printing issues. I'm really looking forward to part two.

“Men Shall Die for This!” — Robert E. Howard and the Vengeance of Soloman Kane by Jeffrey Shanks

A good essay with background information on the sword wielding, pistol packing avenger of wrongs, Solomon Kane. 

Final Thoughts

A mixed bag. As I mentioned, I’m glad The Savage Sword of Conan is back and I hope it does well, but if artwork like that of the lead story shows up regularly, I’ll bow out and stick with the color comic book. 

Books I Read in February 2024

Lots of sword & sorcery plus some historical fiction this month.

Black God’s Kiss by C.L. Moore (Paizo, 2007)

Black God’s Kiss collects six stories about Jirel of Joiry, a red-headed warrior woman in an imaginary medieval France with warlords and sorcerers. They first appeared in Weird Tales magazine from 1934 to 1937. In most of the stories she travels to other worlds. I liked the lush prose and the descriptions of Jirel and her fiery personality. A great selection of tales from the early days of sword and sorcery. 

When I was looking up background information on C.L. Moore I discovered that she and Robert E. Howard corresponded and were fans of each other’s work. He sent her his own story about a warrior woman in France to read, a historical adventure titled “Sword Woman.” She had good things to say about it and expressed hope that he would write more of her adventures. I figured I’d read the story as I have it in a collection I keep meaning to get to.

“Sword Woman” and “Blades for France” by Robert E. Howard from Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures (Ballantine Del Rey, 2011)

A young country girl in 16th century France flees an arranged marriage, sets out for a life of wandering and violence, and becomes known as Dark Agnes. The first story tells her origin and the second is an adventure with her sidekick. I enjoyed them both but especially the first one. There’s a draft for a third story but it was never completed. For whatever reason Howard didn’t get the stories sold and they weren’t published until after his death. In any case, they were good reads, and it was interesting comparing stories between the two authors. 

Conan the Barbarian: Bound in Black Stone by Jim Zub and Robert De La Torre (Titan Comics, 2024)

This collects the Free Comic Book Day 2023 issue (a great introduction to the character done in the style of a Prince Valiant comic strip) and issues 1-4 of the ongoing comic. There are also some essays and a gorgeous map of the Hyborian Age. The Bound in Black Stone storyline has lots of action and a mystery that is solved by the end while also setting things up for future stories. References to various Robert E. Howard stories and characters were a nice touch. While I enjoyed the story, I absolutely loved the artwork by De La Torre. The trade cover by Dan Panosian is great but I would have preferred something by De La Torre on the cover.

Valley of the Worm: The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard, Volume 5 (Wildside Press, 2006) 

Valley of the Worm is the fifth volume of a series that collects the fiction of Robert E. Howard as it originally appeared in Weird Tales magazine. This volume (Kindle version) has nine short stories and two poems. Six of the short stories are Conan the Barbarian stories. As with the previous volumes, it was interesting reading Robert E. Howard’s Weird Tales work in publication order. 

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard (Del Rey Ballantine, 2003)

This was just a partial read. I had read most of this collection a few years ago and thought I had finished it, but last month I realized there were some stories I had never gotten to. I finished up by reading the ones I had skipped, stories that never made it into Weird Tales and were published after Howard’s death. This is a great collection beautifully illustrated by Mark Schultz. It also includes drafts, maps, and an essay that goes into detail on Howard’s creation of Conan, the Hyborian Age, and the individual stories. 

Conan: The Shadow of Vengeance by Scott Oden (Titan Books, 2024)

Scott Oden channels Robert E. Howard while bringing in his own voice to this sequel to Howard’s short story “The Devil in Iron.” The set up hooked my interest, the escalation of events drew me in, and the finale had me reading with excitement. There were parts towards the end where I felt like I had been transported into a Ray Harryhausen film. Also loved the quick Lovecraft reference earlier in the story. What an entertaining read. 

This novella was originally published in twelve parts as a backup in the 2019 Savage Sword of Conan v2 comic book from Marvel Comics. It’s now part of an ebook short fiction series from Heroic Signatures and Titan Books. There are a few other Conan stories out already as well as a Solomon Kane story and a Bêlit story. A Bran Mak Morn story will be released at the end of March.

Valley of the Worm: The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard, Volume 5

“He was a complex writer with many interests, and he was also a highly skilled professional with the ability to mold entertaining fast-moving stories out of many different sorts of clay.” — James Reasoner from his introduction.

Valley of the Worm is the fifth 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 version) has nine short stories, as well as two poems. Most of the short stories are Conan the Barbarian stories. The poems first appeared in Modern American Poetry as Howard had stopped submitting poetry to Weird Tales at this point. 

Black Colossus (Conan) (5/5)

(Weird Tales, June 1933)

In this story Conan is a mercenary captain and gets put in command of an army by princess Yasmela whose kingdom is in danger from a sorcerer. Howard packs a lot into this tale, an ancient evil, complex characters including a princess who makes quick decisions, and an epic battle between two large armies. I liked how Conan’s character is really fleshed out. James Reasoner explains in his introduction:

“ ‘Black Colossus’ is an important story, as well, because although in previous stories we have seen Conan as both a king and a young thief, in “Black Colossus” we see him take the first steps in metamorphosis between those two stages in his life, a change profound enough to be commented upon by his comrade in arms Amalric.”

A number of scenes stood out to me. The opening with the master thief Shevatas which sets things up really well, the humor of the scene when the princess reveals Conan to her men, Conan’s interactions with the men he winds up leading, and the climactic battle between two large forces.

Reading this story and the ones in the previous volume really hit home the difference between the general public’s perception of Conan and how he’s actually portrayed in the stories: smart, cunning, and thinking like a leader. When one of the men rushes off leading men into what Conan feels is a trap, a character points out that Conan would have probably done the same thing in his younger days. Conan's response tells us something about where he is at this stage of his life.

“You grow sober with authority,” quoth Amalric. “Such madness as that was always your particular joy.”

“Aye, when I had only my own life to consider,” answered Conan. 

As in an earlier published story “The Scarlet Citadel,” Conan wears armor in some scenes. When Yasmela meets Conan he’s wearing chain mail, a hauberk, greaves, and a helmet. Afterwards he gets suited up in full plate armor. I find it interesting that Howard wrote Conan wearing armor in some stories but it’s not a look really associated with the character.

“Black Colossus” is the first Conan story to be featured on the cover of Weird Tales. The cover by Margaret Brundage depicts a scene at the beginning where princess Yasmela asks the god Mitra for help. In the story when she plans on approaching the statue in the nude to show humbleness, her maid convinces her to keep her clothing on. It's not hard to believe that editor Farnworth Wright might have thought the maid's idea would make for a better cover and sell more copies.

 

The Man on the Ground (3/5)

(Weird Tales, July 1933)

A weird western about a shootout between two lifelong enemies with a twist ending. Short and sweet. 

The Slithering Shadow (Conan) (4/5)

Howard’s original title title: Xuthal of the Dusk

(Weird Tales, September 1933)

On the run from enemies after a large battle, Conan and a young woman named Natalia enter a mysterious city in the desert. There they encounter a Stygian woman named Thalis who explains that the people of the city spend all their time dreaming while Thog the Ancient wanders the city taking human sacrifices when it grows hungry. I liked the Lovecraftian aspect of Thog, how the story highlights one of Howard’s favorite themes of civilization vs. and barbarism, and the intense battle at the end.

This story is featured on the cover of the issue it appears in but the scene it depicts feels forced. Thalis who seemed pretty smart before this scene, puts herself in danger in order to take time to whip Natalia. In any case it got Howard another cover by Margaret Brundage. Editor Farnsworth Wright changed the title for this story. As much as I like Howard’s original title, I think “The Slithering Shadow” is actually pretty good.

The Pool of the Black One (Conan) (3/5)

(Weird Tales, October 1933)

Conan joins a pirate crew and after they stop at an island, he goes from fighting their captain to fighting strange creatures among mysterious ruins. Fast paced with lots of action. Not bad but not a favorite. 

One Who Comes at Eventide (Poem) 

(Modern American Poetry, 1933)

To a Woman (Though fathoms…) (Poem) 

(Modern American Poetry, 1933)

I enjoyed the two poems, but not nearly as much as Howard's poetry in the previous volumes.

Old Garfield’s Heart (4/5)

(Weird Tales, December 1933)

After he is injured breaking in a horse, delirious Old Jim Garfield tells the story of how a Lipan Indian chief saved his life many years ago. A weird western with some interesting references to Texas history and geography. 

Rogues in the House (Conan) (4/5)

(Weird Tales, January 1934)

A tale from a time when Conan was a thief. After the corrupt aristocrat Murilo is threatened by Nabonidis, known as the Red Priest and actually the shadow ruler of the city, Murilo turns to Conan for help. Things don’t go as planned. Not only do all three wind up in the Red Priest’s dungeon, they have to deal with a creature that the Red Priest trained but is now on the loose. Intriguing adventure ensues. 

I liked the character of Murilo. In the beginning of the story Howard tells us:

“But Murillo, for all his scented black curls and foppish apparel, was no weakling to bend his neck to the knife without a struggle.” 

Howard then spends the rest of the story backing up the description by showing us Murilo’s actions. I also liked how Howard once again brings up the theme of civilization vs. barbarism. Howard does this after the final battle but also in an earlier scene. My favorite exchange is when Nabonidis tells Murilo he should be ashamed for his corruption and Murilo responds: 

“I have no more cause for shame than you, you vulture-hearted plunderer,” answered Murilo promptly. “You exploit a whole kingdom for your personal greed, and, under the guise of disinterested statesmanship, you swindle the king, beggar the rich, oppress the poor, and sacrifice the whole future of the nation for your ruthless ambition. You are no more than a fat hog with his snout in the trough. You are a greater thief than I am. This Cimmerian is the most honest man of the three of us, because he steals and murders openly.” 

Powerful stuff.

The Valley of the Worm (James Allison) (4/5)

(Weird Tales, February 1934)

James Allison narrates a tale of one his past lives.  After fighting with a group of Picts, he hunts a mysterious creature, a god of The Old Ones, that wiped out a group of his people. The battles and the Lovecraftian creature make for an exciting read. This quote from the beginning explains the story pretty well: 

“It is the adventure of Niord Wormbane of which I speak — the root stem of a whole cycle of hero-tales which has not yet reached its end, the grisly underlying reality that lurks behind time-distorted myths of dragons, fiends, and monsters.”

Gods of the North (5/5) 

(The Fantasy Fan fanzine, March 1934)

Originally an early Conan story titled “The Frost Giant’s Daughter,” it was rejected by Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright. Howard changed Conan’s name to Amra (a name Conan went by as a pirate) and the story was retitled and published in The Fantasy Fan. The original version of the story wasn’t published until after Howard’s death.

After a battle on a frozen tundra, Amra of Akbitana encounters the beautiful Atali. After she taunts him, Amra pursues her and she lures him into an ambush where he winds up fighting frost giants. Possibly inspired by the myths of Atalanta and Daphne and Apollo, the story has a very mythological feel with some beautiful descriptions and poetic language. 

There is debate on whether Amara/Conan acts of his own free will or has been put under a spell when he lustfully pursues Atali. I agree that there appear to be clues that point to a spell, but I can understand not everyone being convinced.

Shadows in the Moonlight (Conan) (5/5)

Howard’s original title: Iron Shadows in the Moon

(Weird Tales, April 1943)

Conan winds up protecting Olivia, the daughter of a king, encounters mysterious ruins on an island, and then has to deal with pirates. The story starts with a bang and keeps going until the end. I loved Conan’s entrance, how we observe Conan from Olivia’s perspective, and how civilization vs. barbarism comes up again. While this story has similarities to “The Pool of the Black One” (beautiful woman, pirates, mysterious island), I liked the characters, action, and obstacles, in this one much more. As for the title, I prefer Howard’s original title.

As with the previous volumes, it was interesting reading Robert E. Howard’s Weird Tales work in publication order. I’m looking forward to reading the next volume.