Part three of an article written by Rick Lai about the Legend of El Borak.
Search Results for: the gods of the north
19
Feb
Feb
Part two of an article written by Rick Lai about the Legend of El Borak.
19
Feb
Feb
An article written by Rick Lai about the Legend of El Borak. Best known for his tales of heroic fantasy, Robert E. Howard (1906-36) also wrote contemporary tales of adventure for the pulps. Howard was influenced by Talbot Mundy, a major writer for Adventure in the 1920’s. Mundy’s heroes were American and British adventurers roving around India and the Middle East. Utilizing Mundy’s settings, Howard fashioned his own band of protagonists. Among Howard’s soldiers of fortune, the most famous is Francis Xavier Gordon.
13
Aug
Aug
WORMS OF THE EARTH. It was originally published in the magazine Weird Tales in November 1932. The story features one of Howard’s recurring protagonists, Bran Mak Morn, a legendary king of the Picts.
05
Aug
Aug
THE VOICE OF EL-LIL is an adventure tale. An Englishman and an American venture into Somaliland where they discover a tribe of people who have not advanced/progressed with the rest of the world and have remained as they were about 3,000 years earlier.
First published in Oriental Stories Volume 1 Number 1, October/November 1930.
Usurp the Night. Considered part of the Cthulhu Mythos. Cats, dogs, babies, children, and tramps successively and mysteriously disappear from the neighborhood.
Alternate title: THE HOOFED THING.
THE TREASURES OF TARTARY.
Kirby O’Donnell is an American treasure hunter, created by Howard, in early-twentieth-century Afghanistan disguised as a Kurdish merchant, “Ali el Ghazi”. Howard only wrote three stories about O’Donnell, one of which was not published within his lifetime.
30
Jul
Jul
“The Tale of the Rajah’s Ring” is a story set in the vibrant backdrop of Meerut, featuring Lal Singh, a bold and cunning Sikh warrior embroiled in a dangerous quest involving a precious ring belonging to a local rajah.
27
Jul
Jul
“The Sowers of the Thunder” is a historical fiction short story by Howard, originally published in Oriental Stories, Winter 1932. It takes place in Outremer (the Crusader states) in the time of General Baibars and deals with the General’s friendly/adversarial relationship with Cahal Ruadh O’Donnell, an Irish Crusader with a troubled past cut in the Howardian mold. Both the Siege of Jerusalem (1244) and the Battle of La Forbie feature in the plot.
25
Jul
Jul
“Son of the White Wolf” is an El Borak short story by Howard. It was originally published in the December 1936 issue of the pulp magazine Thrilling Adventures.
El Borak is a contemporary of T.E. Lawrence, and Lawrence is mentioned several times in the story “Son of the White Wolf,” setting this tale firmly during World War I. Gordon is well-known to the Arabs; the name El Borak is used to striking fear into the hearts of children.