The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard

[Werewoman]

You do that too?....and here I thought I was the only anal-retentive person here....

Bran Mak Morn is as tragic and valiant a character as Howard himself.

 

[j d worthington]

Nope. I tend to do the same, even with collections/anthologies I've read many times before....

 

[Connavar]

Nope. I tend to do the same, even with collections/anthologies I've read many times before....

I dont really do it when its a collection of an author new to me or anthologies with some authors i want try before others. Le Fanu's collection i read Green Tea cause it was first and then jumped many pages to Carmilla.

But when its Howard i forced myself to become use to reading short story after another in the page number chrono order.

Lucky i did with this collection since the werewolf stories at first are linked. The same with those stories about Faring town i think its called.

 

[Fried Egg]

Hmmm...."Worms of the Earth" wasn't in the Wordsworth collection I read..shame.

 

[Connavar]

Thats why i didnt get that collection despite how cheap it was in comparison.

This collection has almost everything he wrote in horror, i was afraid of finishing the wordsworth collection too fast since there werent many stories in it.

Worms of the Earth is the only REH story i have double copies of in Bran Mak Morn collection and in the horror collection.

 

[Fried Egg]

Thats why i didnt get that collection despite how cheap it was in comparison.

This collection has almost everything he wrote in horror, i was afraid of finishing the wordsworth collection too fast since there werent many stories in it.

Worms of the Earth is the only REH story i have double copies of in Bran Mak Morn collection and in the horror collection.

Mind you, some of the horror stories in the WordsWorth collection were quite mediocre. If it was a selection of his better horror works, I'm glad I don't have the lot.

 

[Connavar]

Mind you, some of the horror stories in the WordsWorth collection were quite mediocre. If it was a selection of his better horror works, I'm glad I don't have the lot.

In this collection in the introduction the editor talks about the most famous REH horror stories and 9/10 wasnt in the wordsworth collection. Even before that you knew which horror had more fame than others.

If you keep reading REH i would recommend this collection. Many historical type stories that arent similar to his fantasy but have different type of horror elements.

 

[Fried Egg]

The next book I get by REH will probably be:



Again, it's probably not a definitive collection of his Solomon Kane tales but it's just too good to turn down for that price.

 

[Connavar]

I will get the complete Solomon Kane collection by Del Rey or some old out of print copy of a complete collection.

Wordworth is too cheap paperback quality for when i collect one of my favorite authors.
Its good for trying out authors,getting horror,wierd anthologies but not for authors you collect all of their works.

I just have finish Bran Mak Morn before getting Solomon Kane.

 

[Werewoman]

Hey Connaver,

Did you read "Worms of the Earth Yet"?

It starts out really gruesome...and gets worse....

 

[Connavar]

Hey Connaver,

Did you read "Worms of the Earth Yet"?

It starts out really gruesome...and gets worse....

I read Worms of the Earth two nights ago in my Bran Last King collection.

It was a masterpiece,a great Bran,REH story. It might not be as good adventure,action as the other Bran stories but it was very strong horror story.
Also it is the only Pict,Bran Mak Morn story told in the POV of a pict or Bran makes it very special.

It reminded me of the more creepy,horrific Conan stories but the fact that it was Roman Briton days,revenge story made it even better.

Its a shame more stories wasnt written in POV of Bran Mak Morn. He is a great REH hero.

 

[Werewoman]

Good to see you, Connavar!

I agree. I found Bran Mak Morn's POV to be moving in that it gave full voice to his strenghth of character and resolve.

I also like the deep sense of history REH puts into his stories. Each race has it's own conclusion as to the origin of Dagon's Ring, but only Bran Mak Morn knows it's true antiquity.

 

[Connavar]

Good to see you, Connavar!

I agree. I found Bran Mak Morn's POV to be moving in that it gave full voice to his strenghth of character and resolve.

I also like the deep sense of history REH puts into his stories. Each race has it's own conclusion as to the origin of Dagon's Ring, but only Bran Mak Morn knows it's true antiquity.

Sense of history is why i just today ordered his historical fiction collection about the crusades even if the shipping cost was a murder.

He is great at that. I read The Dark Man after The Worms of The Earth which didnt feature Bran but a tough outcast of a Gael in the 11th century. In few pages REH drew a clear picture of the celtic history in those times,the clans the vikings raiding the saxons,Norman before the story focused on the Picts,Bran.

 

[Werewoman]

That's the real attraction for me...the fact that he spent so much time studying other cultures so far removed from his own place and time...and then wove that knowledge into his characters and their place and time.

I've come across a lot of biographical material on him and historical accuracy was very important to him. He did mounds of research, though I don't know which came first, the story idea, and then the research, or if he studied history for the love of history. I think it was more the latter than former. He was definitely a history buff.

 

[Connavar]

That's the real attraction for me...the fact that he spent so much time studying other cultures so far removed from his own place and time...and then wove that knowledge into his characters and their place and time.

I've come across a lot of biographical material on him and historical accuracy was very important to him. He did mounds of research, though I don't know which came first, the story idea, and then the research, or if he studied history for the love of history. I think it was more the latter than former. He was definitely a history buff.

He studied history for the love of history. I read bio info about him saying that he created his first character at the age 12 cause he read historical books. El Borak was a character he wrote as kid and an adult.
Bran Mak Morn he created next long before he wrote his stories. He read some 19 century books about the real pics,their history around the world ending up in britain. Thats why only El Borak,Picts stories are the ones he wrote at the start of his career and the end. All other he gave up on or started writing late in his career.

 

[GOLLUM]

I read Worms of the Earth two nights ago in my Bran Last King collection..

This is generally considered a masterpiece by Howard and probably his best Bran story.

You seem to have a good eye for the quality read Conn. Most impressive young Sir....


The complete Solomon Kane collection by Del Rey is worth a look for sure.

 

[Connavar]

Worms of the Earth is a masterpiece yeah but it seems like that it overshadow too much other great Bran stories like Kings of the Night among REH fans. A story i thought was almost as great, also had one of the best battles i have read in fantasy.

Robert.E Howard is the biggest reason for my taste in similar fiction, other older authors. He opened the flood gates made me think if a guy from the 20s,30s pulp era is this great why not others. Thats the reason i have read Le Fanu,Hodgson,Dunsany and many others.

The Complete Solomon Kane by Baen along with Kull is my next purchase of REH. I would prefer new copies but im allergic as you know against fully illustrated.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I've been reading the Robert E Howard collection THE HAUNTER OF THE RING AND OTHER TALES, and it's an interesting experience. This is the first time I've read a bunch of his horror stories collected in one place. It is arranged chronologically and I find myself most drawn to the early stories, where REH is toying about with his reincarnation theme and trying on horror archetypes like the vampire tale (transplanted very nicely to America), the werewolf tale, and the purely psychological tale of terror. When he attempts to write a Lovecraftian tale, he is obviously out of his element; he does a game job of it, but REH's mode of plot advancement is very different from HPL's. Some of his best stuff is what people call the Haunted Midwest material, and there are some excellent later stories shorn of Mythos influences, but I feel the damage had been done and the raw energy and wonder (horror is just a darker version of wonder, after all) of the earliest tales is never regained (however this includes some excellent stories, praised by other commentators on this thread; I shall attempt to re-assess these stories at a later point - one factor may have been my weariness after some of the less than stellar material included).

This collection includes a selection of REH's Steve Harrison tales, which feel out of place being action/mystery stories without supernatural elements. Some of these pile on the violence to an extent that should not be surprising to me, but still feel more like a shortcut to writing a story in a genre REH was not comfortable with than the glorious celebration of barbarianism in the Conan stories (not that I share REH's penchant for primal brutality; but when he wrote in that vein in a Conan or Kull tale it seems of a piece with the character and setting).

 

[j d worthington]

When he attempts to write a Lovecraftian tale, he is obviously out of his element; he does a game job of it, but REH's mode of plot advancement is very different from HPL's.

I'd say that's a fair assessment. He has some very good ideas with his Mythos material, and even some fine moments here and there, but most of this simply doesn't quite come off. He was better when he used Lovecraftian elements as background material or allusions to cast a bit of atmosphere (much the way Lovecraft originally intended) but went his own way.

Some of his best stuff is what people call the Haunted Midwest material, and there are some excellent later stories shorn of Mythos influences, but I feel the damage had been done and the raw energy and wonder (horror is just a darker version of wonder, after all) of the earliest tales is never regained (however this includes some excellent stories, praised by other commentators on this thread; I shall attempt to re-assess these stories at a later point - one factor may have been my weariness after some of the less than stellar material included).

I hope you do revisit them later. I think some of them would indeed get a different response.

This collection includes a selection of REH's Steve Harrison tales, which feel out of place being action/mystery stories without supernatural elements. Some of these pile on the violence to an extent that should not be surprising to me, but still feel more like a shortcut to writing a story in a genre REH was not comfortable with than the glorious celebration of barbarianism in the Conan stories[....]

I don't have this particular collection, so I don't know if this was discussed in any introduction; but, yes, he was indeed very uncomfortable with the detective or mystery tale; he wrote them simply to sell more work to more markets in order to make a living, but he also stated flat-out that he had absolutely no talent nor interest in this type of tale, and was lousy at it. I wouldn't go quite that far -- there are some very nice touches in some of these -- but overall I think it's a fair assessment....

 

[Connavar]

The Haunter is far from being a great collection of REH horror. The best ones from the collection that this thread is named isnt included there.

His early werewolfs,others are good but his later weird westerns,other horror stories are very strong imo.

I didnt know Steve Harrison was included in Haunter collection, i would get it just to try those stories. Lousy REH stories is hard to believe even when he is out of his element.