Conan's Brethren [Hardcover]

After Gollancz released the Complete Chronicles of Conan, which was their two volumes of the Conan Chronicles from nearly a decade prior, they have put together this companion. However their previous chronology of Howard's work included everything there was ever written about Conan by Howard whether unfinished or unpublished. Unfortunately the same isn't true for Conan's Brethren. It only contains those stories published in Weird Tales. I was expecting a complete collection of Howard's non-Conan fantasy stories. What are we missing let's take Kull first.

There are only two Kull stories plus one verse. Missing are `Exile of Atlantis', `The Altar and the Scorpion', `Delcardes' Cat', `The Skull of Silence', `By This Axe I Rule', `The Striking of the Gong', `Swords of the Purple Kingdom', `The Black City' and three other fragments. (All available in Del Rey, BAEN and Lancer Kull Collections)

There are four Bran Mak Morn stories. Missing is the short story `Men of the Shadows' and an unfinished story. Also missing are the five poems about the Picts (Del Rey and BAEM collections are complete).

Mixed up are two tales of Turlogh Dubh O'Brien or Black Turlogh. One `The Dark Man' is present with the Bran Mak Morn section of this book (the same as the BAEN and Del Ray collections). The other `The Gods of Bal-Sagoth' is in the section Savages, Swords and Sorcerers. Missing are `The Twilight of the Grey Gods' and `Shadow of the Hun' (Unfortunately there are no complete editions I can suggest only `Bran Mak Morn' collections which feature `The Dark Man' & `Gods of Bal-Sagoth'. BAEN`s `R.E. Howard Vol.V: Eons of the Night' features the story `The Twilight of the Grey Gods').

There are no Cormac Mac Art stories. `Tigers of the Sea', `Swords of the Northern Sea', `The Night of the Wolf' and `The Temple of Abomination' (All are collected in the BAEN `R.E.H: Vol I: Cormac MacArt and `Tigers of the Sea` by D.M. Grant).

There are no De Montour stories (`In The Forest of Villefere' and `Wolfsheed' are collected in BAEN`s `REH Vol.V: Eons of the Night' but not `Wolfsdung')

`Hawks of Outremer' is the only Cormac Fitzgeoffrey story. Strange as `The Blood of Belshazzar' is public domain. The unfinished story `The Slave-Princess' is also missing.

Seven Solomon Kane stories are collected and one poem `Solomon Kane's Homecoming' . Missing are several other verses and the stories `The Right Hand of Doom', `Blades of the Brotherhood', `Deaths Black Riders' (These are collected in Wordsworth's `The Right Hand of Doom and Other Tales of Solomon Kane', BAEN's `REH Vol. III: Solomon Kane' and Del Rey's `The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane').

Two of James Allison's Flashback tales are among the section; Savages, Swordsmen & Sorcerers. The other completed tale `Marchers of Valhalla' is unfortunately missing. There where also five un-complete stories by Howard (Again there is no real definitive collection of James Allison BAEN's `Eons of the Night' includes `Marchers of Valhalla' but doesn't have `The Valley of the Worm').

Other stand alone tales that are included in the section: Savages, Swordsmen and Sorcerers are 'Spear and Fang', 'The Sowers of the Thunder', 'Lord of Samarcand, The Lion of Tiberias', 'The Shadow of the Vulture', 'The Frost King's Daughter' (The same as the Conan story with a few name changes), 'Gates of Empire', 'The Ghost Kings' (verse) and the fantasy novel `Almuric'. Most of these tales are historical fiction as apposed to fantasy. Where as other fantasy tales written by Robert. E. Howard such as `The House of Arabu', `Delenda Est' and `Valley of the Lost' are nowhere to be seen (Available in various BAEN and Del Rey Howard collections).

I'd say if you want a kind of pick and mix of Howard's Fantasy and Historic stories to sit next to the leather bound `Conan Chronicles' then buy this however if you want more complete chronicles of Kull, Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane, Cormac MacArt then seek out the Del Rey and BAEN editions.

Robert E Howard wrote a lot of things besides Conan. There were other fantastic heroes such as Kull and Bran Mak Morn, the "historical" stories of Soloman Kane, puritan killer. He also wrote modern horror, such as the short story Pigeons from Hell, westerns, sea tales...whatever took his fancy, and would pay the bills. Most of this writing was short stories, but then there was the odd novel, such as Almuric. This book is a collection of stories Howard wrote, and, save for Almuric, had published in his lifetime.

Solomon Kane opens the collection, with 5 or 6 stories devoted to him. Set largely (but not exclusively) in 1500's Africa, Kane is something of a driven man, intriguing to read about.

Then there is Kull, virgin king of Valusia: The Shadow Kingdom is one of the best short sword and sorcery short stories I have ever read, a real little gem. Kull reappears later in a Bran Mak Morn tale, and, speaking of Bran Mak Morn, the Worms of the Earth is a superb weird horror story set in the early years of the Roman Empire in Britain.

There is then a collection of short stories about various heroes of various short lengths, culminating in Almuric.

Almuric is a sword and planet tale, in the tradition of Burrough's Mars. Esau Cairn is an impressive physical specimen - the most perfect man on earth, perhaps - when he kills a corrupt politician and escapes to the lost planet Almuric with the help of a random scientist. That's pretty much the first page of the story, so I am not spoiling anything there. After that, Cairn has a pile of adventures, matching strength and wits with the locals - ape-like men and beautiful-like women (they have bred themselves that way. Really).

Lastly there is a short essay by Stephen Jones on these other heroes, and their publication history, which is interesting reading.

The full contents are: Introduction - - Solomon Kane's Homecoming (verse) - Red Shadows - Skulls in the Stars - Rattle of Bones - The Moon of Skulls - The Hills of the Dead - The Footfalls Within - Wings in the Night - The Shadow Kingdom - The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune - The King and the Oak (verse) - The Lost Race - Kings of the Night - The Dark Man - Worms of the Earth - Spear and Fang - Hawks of Outremer - The Gods of Bal-Sagoth - The Sowers of the Thunder - Lord of Samarcand - The Lion of Tiberias - The Shadow of the Vulture - The Valley of the Worm - The Frost King's Daughter - The Garden of Fear - Gates of Empire - Almuric - The Ghost Kings (verse) - Afterword: Kinsmen of Conan by Stephen Jones

This is another excellent single volume colleciton of Howard's brawling heroes: the various Del Rey volumes have more in total (as do Wandering Star or Sub Press, if your budget stretches to it), but for a solid starting point for non-Conan Howard, you can't beat this.

Although Conan is certainly Mr. Howard's most famous creation, he's not necessarily his best. Conan's Brethren collects the other swordsmen and adventurers from Mr. Howard's many fantasy works. Solomon Kane, King Kull and Bran Mak Morn are all gathered together - a triumvirate of pouting manliness. Editor Stephen Jones has also diligently scrounged up others, such as Cormac FitzGeoffrey, Turlogh O'Brien and Esau Cairn (from the rarely-reprinted Almuric).

Behind this cacophony of Anglo-Saxon nomenclature is the real hero of this collection: the art of the short story. Mr. Howard was the king of the pulp story and, in Conan's Brethren, demonstrates the full range of his talent.

From Gaul to Atlantis, there's no setting that he couldn't master - alternatively bringing savage wilderness or crumbling empire to life in a few, compact words. The heroes are defined equally swiftly - often brooding, rarely sullen; more driven than heroic. And, best of all, within the turn of the first page, the action invariably begins.

And, as far as action is concerned, Conan's Brethren contains some of Mr. Howard's very best. With almost thirty entries, it is impossible to detail every story, but a few of the classics are definitely worth special attention.

"Wings in the Night" sets Solomon Kane (my favourite of his creations) against winged reptile-men in the heart of Africa. The self-loathing Puritan is forced to wrestle not only with vicious dinosaur people but also with his own purity; resorting to pagan ritual to fight a demonic menace.

"Worms in the Earth" deals with a similar bargain - the Pict warchief Bran Mak Morn taps into an ancient power to avenge himself against Roman conquerors. In this case, it is the uncivilised hero who unleashes the unholy, with terrible consequences. "Worms in the Earth" is a horror story in the Lovecraftian vein, down to the merely-indicative description of the final evil and the fierce regret of the story's "hero" for having released it.

"The Gods of Bal-Sagoth" features Athelstane and Turlogh O'Brien, good strapping adventuring sorts, find themselves capsized in a faraway place - an island populated by the "brown-skinned folk who knew many dark secrets of magic". Half "lost race" story and all swashbuckling, the adventurers are caught in a power play between the wizened priests of Bal-Sagoth and the Machiavellian Brunhild, a lost Viking princess with great ambitions. Surrounded by collapsing idols and heaving bosoms, the two men follow the proper Howardian moral code - looking out for one another first, the loot second and the princess third.

"The Shadow Kingdom" is the first story of King Kull of Valusia, and probably the best adventure of this particular hero. King Kull is a precursor to Conan - a barbarian warlord who has worked his way up in the world. But whilst it takes Conan some time to gain his throne, Kull is introduced to the reader as royalty. In those Lemurian days, political leaders had worse problems than noisy backbenchers - in "The Shadow Kingdom", King Kull is forced to battle a vicious coup on the part of the serpent priests - minions of a dark, reptilian god. Fortunately, the omnipresent Picts are nearby to help... (Diligent readers of Marvel's Atlantis Attacks! will be familiar with this part of the story already - I suspect Mr. Howard would've been quite tickled by it, especially since Marvel's intepretation was neatly concluded with a whack by Thor's hammer).

The whole package (again - almost thirty stories!) is neatly concluded by Stephen Jones' afterword. If you don't mind a few spoilers, I'd actually suggest reading this first. Mr. Jones deftly summarizes each of the major heroes and provides an overview of their continued presence in comic, book and film culture. He structures the characters' stories around that of Robert Howard's - a reminder of a man who, in just a few short years, penned whole universes of adventures. Conan's Brethren is also illustrated by Les Edwards, who punctuates the book with black & white illustrations that seem straight out of the pages of Weird Tales. Finally, it is worth noting that this is also a massive tome of a book - faux leather and gilt. Conan has looted wizards' towers for less.

Even beyond the entertaining, face-value interpretation of Mr. Howard's works, his stories conceal a curiously-pessimistic philosophy that is equal to H.P. Lovecraft's when it comes to making compelling reading out of subtle horror. Mr. Howard's heroes are sparks of light in an overwhelming darkness, and this is a rare chance to capture them all safely in a single volume.