Heroes in the Wind: From Kull to Conan by Robert E Howard
Heroes in the Wind: From Kull to Conan by Robert E Howard
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Sunday, 06, Sep 2009 03:52
Published by Penguin Classics, out now, 541pp, £10.99.
In a nutshell...
Gory, gothic, epic, manly, marauding.
What's it all about?
An anthology of some of the best short stories of celebrated pulp novelist Robert E Howard. It includes four tales of his most famous creation, Conan the Cimmerian (aka Barbarian) and stories of other lesser known heroes including Kull the Atlantean and Bran Mak Morn, king of the Picts, and their respective struggles and wars. These fantasy tales are set in pseudo-historical pre-Roman Britain and Howard's own imagined continent of Hyboria.
Who's it by?
1930s writer Robert E Howard is hailed as being to the 'Swords and Sorcery' genre what Tolkien is to 'Epic Fantasy'.
As an example.
"'Let us go and sack that city!'
Conan agreed. He generally agreed to her plans. Hers was a mind that directed their raids, his the arm that carried out her idea. It mattered little to him where they sailed or whom they fought, so long as they sailed and fought."
Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster
Plenty of potential, with four Howard adaptations already having been made and a rumoured Conan movie (2011) in the pipeline.
So is it any good?
This is writing for men, with muscular prose and all the requisite clichés you would expect from the genre except; Howard transcends the limitations of the much maligned 'pulp' genre, investing tremendous energy into a vivid and incredibly richly realised world. The quality of his often poetic writing is far superior to the easily attained satisfaction that can be found in more modern Gemmellesque fantasy writing.
So while you get talk of enormous muscles, scantily clad maidens, evil wizards, assorted demons and more loot than you can shake a bejewelled broadsword at, it is evident that Howard is a master who can write the viscera and dynamic violence while also retaining a reverent lyricism in his stories.
Heroes in the Wind is a thoroughly entertaining fantasy collection written by a pioneer of the genre and a recommended introduction to all newcomers to Howard's writing.
7/10
Adrian Gibbs