When Strange Tales first appeared in 1931 as a pulp magazine, it was clearly something new. Edited by Harry Bates as a companion to Astounding Stories, it combined the supernatural horror and fantasy of Weird Tales with vigorous action plots. Strange Tales rapidly attracted the most imaginative and capable writers of the day, including such Weird Tales regulars as Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Henry S. Whitehead, Hugh B. Cave, Ray Cummings, and numerous others. Had the Great Depression not intervened and killed it after seven issues, the whole history of fantastic fiction might have been different. The January 1933 issue features Hugh B. Cave's classic "Murgunstrumm," as well as stories by Robert E. Howard, Henry S. Whitehead, and many more.
'The Cairn on the Headland' is a short story by American writer Robert E. Howard, with elements of fantasy and horror. As often in Howard stories, there is a link to the Cthulhu Mythos, in this case mixed also with elements of both Norse Mythology and Catholic Christianity. James O'Brien is an Irish-American researcher who specializes in the history of Medieval Ireland - a subject which he is highly well-informed on and has a passionate feeling of partisanship towards. He speaks Gaelic fluently, can read ancient Irish manuscripts or inscriptions in their original state. and is thoroughly familiar with such works as The Book of Leinster, the Great Book of Lecan, and the Annals of the Four Masters. O'Brien's promising academic career, and his life's work, is threatened by an insidious blackmailer named Ortali. Ortali is now in possession of evidence which could implicate O'Brien in a murder he didn't commit. With this threat hanging over his head, O'Brien must give Ortali much of his salary and the money he got from various academic awards. Ortali enjoys taunting O'Brien and humiliating him.
Beware The Silence stands as a testament to the enduring allure and inherent mystery of the unsaid, the unexplained, and the eerily quiet moments that precede a storm. Spanning an impressive range of literary styles, from the gothic to the speculative, the realist to the supernatural, this collection delves into the silence that speaks volumes, exploring themes of isolation, the unknown, and the uncanny. This anthology is notable not just for its breadth but also for its depth, featuring standout pieces that showcase the unique intersections of culture, time, and psychology, marking a significant contribution to the literary landscape. The authors and editors represented in Beware The Silence collectively bring a rich mosaic of backgrounds, from the well-trodden halls of classic literature by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens to the shadowy corners explored by H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe. These authors, hailing from varied eras and regions, contribute to a multifaceted exploration of the anthology's theme, each drawing from their unique personal, historical, and cultural contexts. Their works reflect the diverse literary movements they belonged to, from Romanticism to Victorian literature, from realism to the birth of modern horror and speculative fiction, enriching the reader's understanding of how silence can signify across different temporal and cultural landscapes. Beware The Silence invites readers into a rich tapestry of narratives that promise to captivate, haunt, and challenge. It stands as a unique opportunity to traverse a wide spectrum of human emotion and experience, offering insights into the often underexplored themes of silence and the unsaid. For scholars, students, and enthusiasts of literature, this collection provides not only a voyage into the many facets of silence but also fosters a dialogue between the past and present, the said and the unsaid, making it a must-read for anyone intrigued by the complexities that define the human condition.
Here are Robert E. Howard’s greatest horror tales, all in their original, definitive versions. Some of Howard’s best-known characters—Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and sailor Steve Costigan among them—roam the forbidding locales of the author’s fevered imagination, from the swamps and bayous of the Deep South to the fiend-haunted woods outside Paris to remote jungles in Africa. The collection includes Howard’s masterpiece “Pigeons from Hell,” which Stephen King calls “one of the finest horror stories of [the twentieth] century,” a tale of two travelers who stumble upon the ruins of a Southern plantation–and into the maw of its fatal secret. In “Black Canaan” even the best warrior has little chance of taking down the evil voodoo man with unholy powers–and none at all against his wily mistress, the diabolical High Priestess of Damballah. In these and other lavishly illustrated classics, such as the revenge nightmare “Worms of the Earth” and “The Cairn on the Headland,” Howard spins tales of unrelenting terror, the legacy of one of the world’s great masters of the macabre.
The Barbaric Triumph examines all aspects of the life and work of Robert E. Howard -- the originator of the sword-&-sorcery antasy genre and the creator of Conan the Barbarian. Featured are essays by Leo Grin, Edwrad A. Waterman, Charles Hoffman, Paul Spencer, Mark Finn, Steven R. Trout, Lauric Guillaud, Scott Connors, George Knight, Don Herron, and more. From the phantoms of Hate simmering beneath Howard's blood-drenched prose to Howard's lifelong interest in philosophy, from Howard's visionary use of the American Frontier Myth to his tales of boxing, The Barbaric Triumph builds on the pioneering research of Heron's previous book on Howard, The Dark Barbarian and takes it to new levels.
Prepared by renowned Howard scholar Paul Herman with the assistance of Glenn Lord, this is the first new bibliography of Robert E. Howard since 1976. This massive volume contains more than twice as much information as the preceding biblio, The Last Celt. Robert E. Howard is considered the Godfather of Sword and Sorcery, and the creator of the international icon, Conan the Cimmerian, yet wrote successfully in numerous genres. The Neverending Hunt lists every story, poem, letter and publication in which a Howard work has appeared. It's more than you might think . . .
Robert Erving Howard is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre. Howard remains a highly read author, with his best works still reprinted, and is one of the best-selling fantasy writers of all time. Howard's distinctive literary style relies on a combination of existentialism, poetic lyricism, violence, grimness, humour, burlesque, and a degree of hardboiled realism.
