3.5
The Cthulhu Stories of Robert E. Howard
ByPublisher Description
In the early twentieth-century, in the pages of
and other pulp magazines, H. P. Lovecraft created the Cthulhu Mythos and offered it to his friends, creating a shared mythology for much of their weird fiction. Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, was one of those good friends. Fresh from dusty libraries dark with forbidden knowledge, these twelve Howard tales, bring Kull of Atlantis, Bran Mak Morn, and a steady band of warriors, adventurers, and scholars into the dark to face the Nameless and that which they left behind: Elder gods, nameless cosmic horrors greater and older than the gods themselves, ancient forms of life and worship from before the dawn of humanity. These are the Cthulhu Stories of Robert. E. Howard.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Cthulhu Stories of Robert E. Howard Reviews
3.5
“An interesting take on Lovecraftian cosmic horror
Robert e Howard is most famous for his contributions to the sword and sorcery genre creating memorable characters such as Conan the barbarian and Solomon kane. He was a close friend of Lovecraft's and not only corresponded regularly with him but was also published alongside him in weird tales magazine. These two writers had an immeasurable influence on each others work and from the moment of picking up the stories of Conan the barbarian you can see the influence of Lovecraft entails such as the tower of the elephant.
This collection gathers several of Howards stories with lovecraftian themes in order to present a collection of Howard stories that take place in the Cthulhu mythos. A great deal of these stories you may have read before in some of Howard's other collections as some of them are taken from his most popular characters such as Kull the conqueror and Bran Mac Morn. Howard's writing style presents an interesting approach to cosmic horror. Howard very often rights in a very fast pace and action packed way. One of the satisfying things of his writing is the knowledge that no matter how horrifying the monster is an axe embedded in the face will usually do the trick. This creates a very strange feeling for cosmic horror as cosmic horror relies on a helpless protagonist and very often in this collection we see characters who normally dominate their stories being thrust into situations they are not equipped to deal with. This effect really adds to that unfathomable aspect of the entities within.
My one criticism of Howard in regards to cosmic horror is that he very often sacrifices atmosphere for pace. As he was predominantly a action and fantasy author he tended to write stories with a full throttle approach that would move the narrative forward. However slowing things down turn often build that atmosphere and help the reader feel immersed in the story. However for those of you familiar with this author I do not believe this will prove an issue as this is merely his writing style.
A final note that makes this collection worth a read is the collaborative story between several weird tales authors. Entitled the challenge from beyond, each chapter is handled by a different author adding to the story and taking it in a new direction. I found this a fascinating piece that really demonstrates the different approaches of each author and if you are to take anything from this review I would recommend reading that story.”
MemorableMultilayeredOriginalAction-packedAddictiveClichédFast-pacedGripping/excitingSteady pacingSuspensefulTwistyUnpredictableAncientAtmosphericBleakDarkEerieGrittyHarshHistoricalMysteriousMysticalOtherworldlyDescriptiveEasy to readSimplisticStraightforwardMisogynyMurderRacismReligious intoleranceSexual assault
About Robert Howard
Robert E. (Ervin) Howard was born on January 22, 1906. He was interested in writing from an early age, and witnesses report seeing his first stories written as early as 9 years old. He mailed off his first submission to a publisher at 15 years of age. His first professional sale came three years later when "Spear and Fang," a cave man story, was accepted by Weird Tales, the pulp magazine with which all his greatest successes would be associated. Howard is best known as the "father of sword & sorcery," with his most famous creations—Conan, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and Kull the Conqueror—sliding (some more easily than others) into that genre. However, in addition to the sterling success of these fantasy adventure tales, Howard's versatility allowed him to support himself as a professional writer. He would write more than 100 stories between 1924 and his death in 1936 at age 30. He published regularly and wrote in genres as varied as westerns, weird westerns, horror, modern adventure stories, boxing stories, sailing adventures, and even "spicy" romance stories. Of special interest to this volume is Howard's relationship to H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft, an elder statesman of the "weird fiction" genre, was an early contributor to Weird Tales, where Howard first encountered his fiction. Howard wrote an admiring letter to Lovecraft after reading "The Rats in the Walls," and eventually through their extended correspondence became part of the "Lovecraft Circle," a group of pulp writers joined primarily through H.P. Lovecraft's efforts, with Lovecraft as the hub. Howard and Lovecraft corresponded for years, debating the merits of the human conditions of barbarism and civilization. Lovecraft is best known for his stories of "the Great Old Ones," especially Cthulhu. This shared corpus of story ideas and ancient, pre-human history of Earth, became a shared mythic backdrop for many writers published in Weird Tales. Howard's contributions to this mythos are the focus of the current volume.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul Di Filippo is a prolific science fiction, fantasy, and horror short story writer with multiple collections to his credit, among them
,
,
, and many more. He has written a number of novels as well, including
and
.
Di Filippo is also a highly regarded critic and reviewer, appearing regularly in
and the
. A recent publication, coedited with Damien Broderick, is
.
Other books by Paul Di Filippo
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