I just picked up Lord of Samarcand and Other Adventure Tales of the Old Orient, a collection of Robert E. Howard's historical stories that I've had a hard time finding previously. I'm finally going to get to read the tales concerning the Norman-Irish Crusader, Cormac Fitzgeoffrey! (Keep in mind that I've literally waited about 20 years for this to happen).
The book is available from University of Nebraska Press.
| David Black Mastro wrote: |
| I just picked up Lord of Samarcand and Other Adventure Tales of the Old Orient, a collection of Robert E. Howard's historical stories that I've had a hard time finding previously. I'm finally going to get to read the tales concerning the Norman-Irish Crusader, Cormac Fitzgeoffrey! (Keep in mind that I've literally waited about 20 years for this to happen).
The book is available from University of Nebraska Press. |
Congratulations! It's a fantastic collection.
Mike (off to fashion a skull-boss on one of the shields ;) )
| Michael G. Myers wrote: | ||
Congratulations! It's a fantastic collection. Mike (off to fashion a skull-boss on one of the shields ;) ) |
LOL.
"Hawks of Outremer" was fun--I love the part where he tags the fat German crusader across the moat with his hand axe!
And I also just picked up REH's Boxing Stories, from the same publisher.
Best,
David
I have ordered it from Amazon.co.uk on your recommendation! :D
Actually I've just finished reading Fantasy Masterworks "The Conan Chronicles" volumes 1 and 2, I enjoyed it tremendously despite Howard's jaw-dropping political incorrectness (he was very much a man of his time) and amazing eclecticism where arms and armour was concerned and I was hungry for more Howard.
Actually I've just finished reading Fantasy Masterworks "The Conan Chronicles" volumes 1 and 2, I enjoyed it tremendously despite Howard's jaw-dropping political incorrectness (he was very much a man of his time) and amazing eclecticism where arms and armour was concerned and I was hungry for more Howard.
| David Black Mastro wrote: |
| "Hawks of Outremer" was fun--I love the part where he tags the fat German crusader across the moat with his hand axe!
And I also just picked up REH's Boxing Stories, from the same publisher. |
Natch, Dave, I was taking it for granted that you had picked this one up. ;)
Seriously, even better...it was the old "Iron Man" collection which first helped provide the spur to get me into a boxing gym as a teenager, btw. Great stories. The options open to fans have improved immeasurably from when you and I first discussed Howard a few years ago, Dave! Good stuff all around.
While we're at it, I'd also like to tout the "Blood of the Gods" collection out from Paul Herman and Canadian publishers, Neil and Leigh Mechem of Girasol Collectibles. Girasol has done simply wonderful pulp reprints for years, and any old Shadow pulp fans should recognize from whence they took their company name. Howard scholar, Paul Herman, gives us the text of these Great Game-inspired stories as they first appeared; while, the cover illustration and a very few interior bits (too few) are from classic pen-and-ink illustrator, Joseph Clement Coll (1881-1921). This is an attractive, tight, affordable collection of some classic Robert E. Howard stories.
The stories included are:
The Country of the Knife
Hawk of the Hills
The Daughter of Erlik Khan
Blood of the Gods
Swords of Shahrazar
Any one who has only read these stories as desperate, bowdlerized "refits" to the Conan mythos is in a for a treat.
http://www.girasolcollectables.com/index.html
Michael
On a related note, I recently got three of the new Del Rey editions: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, The Bloody Crown of Conan, and The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane.
As you may know, these Del Rey volumes are Howard's actual stories as he himself originally wrote them, purified of any tampering and "improvements" (oh, I'll "improve" you, you pompous poseurs...! *mumble grumble*) by de Camp and others - some of them practically reconstructed from Howard's handwritten notes, drafts and manuscripts. Also included are poems, very enlightening essays, synopsiss... synopseese... sises... sess... seses... (how do you correctly pluralize that damn word, anyway?), unfinished story ideas and fragments and other previously rare, even unknown, material from the Man.
And I must say - you can tell the difference. "Two-Gun Bob" is, of course, famous for the sheer vital energy and furious drive of his writing, the almost tactile power of it, but the difference between his genuine, unadulterated text and the previously published compromised versions is like... like... well, imagine that you've been drinking Coke your whole life, and love it. And then it turns out you've actually been drinking Diet Coke, and then one day you finally get your very first sip of the Real Thing...
BLISS.
Now I just need their third and final Conan anthology The Conquering Sword of Conan (including one of my all time favorite Conan yarns, The Black Stranger) and Bran Mak Morn: The Last King... and then if they could give his (semi)historical tales - The Shadow of the Vulture, Black Canaan, The Grey God Passes and the other Black Turlogh stories, etc. - the same treatment... and the King Kull stories, too... and basically everything else, at that... :D
As you may know, these Del Rey volumes are Howard's actual stories as he himself originally wrote them, purified of any tampering and "improvements" (oh, I'll "improve" you, you pompous poseurs...! *mumble grumble*) by de Camp and others - some of them practically reconstructed from Howard's handwritten notes, drafts and manuscripts. Also included are poems, very enlightening essays, synopsiss... synopseese... sises... sess... seses... (how do you correctly pluralize that damn word, anyway?), unfinished story ideas and fragments and other previously rare, even unknown, material from the Man.
And I must say - you can tell the difference. "Two-Gun Bob" is, of course, famous for the sheer vital energy and furious drive of his writing, the almost tactile power of it, but the difference between his genuine, unadulterated text and the previously published compromised versions is like... like... well, imagine that you've been drinking Coke your whole life, and love it. And then it turns out you've actually been drinking Diet Coke, and then one day you finally get your very first sip of the Real Thing...
BLISS.
Now I just need their third and final Conan anthology The Conquering Sword of Conan (including one of my all time favorite Conan yarns, The Black Stranger) and Bran Mak Morn: The Last King... and then if they could give his (semi)historical tales - The Shadow of the Vulture, Black Canaan, The Grey God Passes and the other Black Turlogh stories, etc. - the same treatment... and the King Kull stories, too... and basically everything else, at that... :D
| Hisham Gaballa wrote: |
| I have ordered it from Amazon.co.uk on your recommendation! :D
Actually I've just finished reading Fantasy Masterworks "The Conan Chronicles" volumes 1 and 2, I enjoyed it tremendously despite Howard's jaw-dropping political incorrectness (he was very much a man of his time) and amazing eclecticism where arms and armour was concerned and I was hungry for more Howard. |
Howard was certainly a product of his times, but that never really interfered with my enjoyment of his tales.
| Michael G. Myers wrote: | ||
Natch, Dave, I was taking it for granted that you had picked this one up. ;) |
LOL.
I'll confess that when I first got into Howard's Conan stories as a teenager, I was not the (old-school) boxing fan that I am today; the fact that Howard wrote boxing tales didn't really mean all that much to me at the time.
Well, times have obviously changed, and so, when I was on the computer at Borders and Boxing Stories came up with the prompt, "In Store", I nearly soiled myself. :)
| Quote: |
| Seriously, even better...it was the old "Iron Man" collection which first helped provide the spur to get me into a boxing gym as a teenager, btw. Great stories. |
So, you have boxed, fenced, and (IIRC) wrestled--Mike, you are truly the poster boy for Western combat sports! ;) :)
| Quote: |
| The options open to fans have improved immeasurably from when you and I first discussed Howard a few years ago, Dave! Good stuff all around. |
| Quote: |
| While we're at it, I'd also like to tout the "Blood of the Gods" collection out from Paul Herman and Canadian publishers, Neil and Leigh Mechem of Girasol Collectibles. Girasol has done simply wonderful pulp reprints for years, and any old Shadow pulp fans should recognize from whence they took their company name. Howard scholar, Paul Herman, gives us the text of these Great Game-inspired stories as they first appeared; while, the cover illustration and a very few interior bits (too few) are from classic pen-and-ink illustrator, Joseph Clement Coll (1881-1921). This is an attractive, tight, affordable collection of some classic Robert E. Howard stories. |
Sounds awesome.
As an aside, I love "classic illustrators" in general--one of my favorite pen-and-ink collections is Roy Krenkel's Swordsmen and Saurians, which has some cool Howard stuff in it. I was also really happy when I finally stumbled accross a reprint of Moby-Dick with the wonderful, stylized drawings of Rockwell Kent. And, while I don't own a copy of the 1922 edition of W.H. Prescott's The Conquest of Mexico with the incredible illustrations by Keith Henderson, I do at least have Henderson's illustrations, reproduced in The Fall of the Aztec Empire.
| Quote: |
| The stories included are:
The Country of the Knife Hawk of the Hills The Daughter of Erlik Khan Blood of the Gods Swords of Shahrazar Any one who has only read these stories as desperate, bowdlerized "refits" to the Conan mythos is in a for a treat. http://www.girasolcollectables.com/index.html |
OK you've convinced me (like that was difficult)...
Best,
David
| Mikko Kuusirati wrote: |
| On a related note, I recently got three of the new Del Rey editions: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, The Bloody Crown of Conan, and The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane. |
Yep, I have those too--great collections.
| Quote: |
| As you may know, these Del Rey volumes are Howard's actual stories as he himself originally wrote them, purified of any tampering and "improvements" (oh, I'll "improve" you, you pompous poseurs...! *mumble grumble*) by de Camp and others - some of them practically reconstructed from Howard's handwritten notes, drafts and manuscripts. Also included are poems, very enlightening essays, synopsiss... synopseese... sises... sess... seses... (how do you correctly pluralize that damn word, anyway?), unfinished story ideas and fragments and other previously rare, even unknown, material from the Man. |
And maps!
| Quote: |
| And I must say - you can tell the difference. "Two-Gun Bob" is, of course, famous for the sheer vital energy and furious drive of his writing, the almost tactile power of it, but the difference between his genuine, unadulterated text and the previously published compromised versions is like... like... well, imagine that you've been drinking Coke your whole life, and love it. And then it turns out you've actually been drinking Diet Coke, and then one day you finally get your very first sip of the Real Thing...
BLISS. |
LOL...
| Quote: |
| Now I just need their third and final Conan anthology The Conquering Sword of Conan (including one of my all time favorite Conan yarns, The Black Stranger) and Bran Mak Morn: The Last King... and then if they could give his (semi)historical tales - The Shadow of the Vulture, Black Canaan, The Grey God Passes and the other Black Turlogh stories, etc. - the same treatment... and the King Kull stories, too... and basically everything else, at that... :D |
Well, you'll be happy to know that "Shadow of the Vulture" appears in the Lord of Samarcand collection; the last time that tale was available in the U.S. was in Echoes of Valor III, I believe.
And I must confess (and Mike can verify this) that "Shadows of the Vulture" is one of my very favorite Howard stories. Maybe it's simply because it takes place during my favorite time in military history (16th century), or maybe it's because it's a genuinely kick-ass tale--probably both, now that I think about it. Gottfried von Kalmbach was such a cool character, and Red Sonya affects me sort of the way that personal trainer Nancy does on the Fit TV show, The Gym--strong, sexy, and speaks her mind--to put it in the plainest terms.
| David Black Mastro wrote: |
| And maps! |
Yes! Maps are good.
| Quote: |
| Well, you'll be happy to know that "Shadow of the Vulture" appears in the Lord of Samarcand collection; the last time that tale was available in the U.S. was in Echoes of Valor III, I believe. |
Woohoo! Good to hear!
| Quote: |
| And I must confess (and Mike can verify this) that "Shadows of the Vulture" is one of my very favorite Howard stories. Maybe it's simply because it takes place during my favorite time in military history (16th century), or maybe it's because it's a genuinely kick-ass tale--probably both, now that I think about it. Gottfried von Kalmbach was such a cool character, and Red Sonya affects me sort of the way that personal trainer Nancy does on the Fit TV show, The Gym--strong, sexy, and speaks her mind--to put it in the plainest terms. |
Red Sonya of Rogatino... mmm...
Eh!? What? Oh - sorry, I spaced out there for a while... Anyway, I agree on all counts. One of the alluring things about it is probably that everybody on both sides of the war is such a shameless badass. :D
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