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Post by themirrorthief on Aug 10, 2018 16:59:13 GMT -5
I liked about half of the crusader stories really well and the other half I kinda felt Howard was trying to hard to be somebody else besides Howard. Of Course Shadow of the Vulture is the very best one IMO...totally awesome
Gates of Empire and Red Blades were cool too. Naturally I love Cormac Fitzgeoffrey there was one more I really liked but cant recall the name, De Camp later turned it into a Conan(Hawks over Egpyt??)
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Post by keith on Oct 29, 2018 7:42:23 GMT -5
Baibars from 'The Sowers of the Thunder' is one of my favourite REH characters. This is an excerpt from a letter by REH to HP Lovecraft (c. April 1932) 'By the way, Wright thought well enough of my yarn, 'The Sowers of the Thunder' published in the current Oriental Stories, to advertise it in 'Asia'. It deals with Baibars the Panther, and the overthrow of the last Christian army in Outreamer: a magnificently dramatic historical episode which I fear I have failed by a long way to do justice. I'll swear, I've written of Christian armies being defeated by Moslems until my blood fairly seethes with rage. Some day I must write of the success of the earlier Crusades to satisfy my racial vanity.'
Means to Freedom, p.281 "The Sowers of the Thunder" is a terrific story. Among the things I like about it is the contrast between Baibars and Red Cahal. Doing a bit of research on the history, though, it seemed to me that Baibars al-Bunduqdari, Baibars the Panther, was too young to be the same Baibars the Emir who was present when the Kharesmians brought fire and slaughter to Jerusalem in 1244. He certainly wasn't the General of the Mamluks, as "Sowers of the Thunder" says, because he'd have been about twenty then. I like the idea that he was the son of a Kipchak woman and a Mongol warrior, fathered when the Mongols under Subotai defeated the Don Kipchaks in 1223. Maybe a son of Subotai himself?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2018 14:53:22 GMT -5
Baibars from 'The Sowers of the Thunder' is one of my favourite REH characters. This is an excerpt from a letter by REH to HP Lovecraft (c. April 1932) 'By the way, Wright thought well enough of my yarn, 'The Sowers of the Thunder' published in the current Oriental Stories, to advertise it in 'Asia'. It deals with Baibars the Panther, and the overthrow of the last Christian army in Outreamer: a magnificently dramatic historical episode which I fear I have failed by a long way to do justice. I'll swear, I've written of Christian armies being defeated by Moslems until my blood fairly seethes with rage. Some day I must write of the success of the earlier Crusades to satisfy my racial vanity.'
Means to Freedom, p.281 "The Sowers of the Thunder" is a terrific story. Among the things I like about it is the contrast between Baibars and Red Cahal. Doing a bit of research on the history, though, it seemed to me that Baibars al-Bunduqdari, Baibars the Panther, was too young to be the same Baibars the Emir who was present when the Kharesmians brought fire and slaughter to Jerusalem in 1244. He certainly wasn't the General of the Mamluks, as "Sowers of the Thunder" says, because he'd have been about twenty then. I like the idea that he was the son of a Kipchak woman and a Mongol warrior, fathered when the Mongols under Subotai defeated the Don Kipchaks in 1223. Maybe a son of Subotai himself? Yeah, great stuff from Robert E. Howard. With all the myths and legends surrounding the elusive Baibars he could have been at Jerusalem in 1244 and at Ain Jalut in 1260 It'd be really cool if Subotai was his father. The Kipchak speaking Kazakhs have deep ancestral/tribal connections to the Turko-Mongol tribes originally united by Genghis Khan. Even the origin of Baibars is surrounded in Myth and Legend, but, I think, he was probably, according to the Kazakhs anyways, from the Bersh clan of the Junior Horde of the Kazakh nation. Whenever, I read this yarn I really want Red Cahal and Baibars the Panther to fight alongside eachother as friends.
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Post by keith on Oct 31, 2018 6:19:03 GMT -5
Some win, some lose. Red Cahal was a failed king of Ireland and Baibars became Sultan of Egypt. There's a story that he swam the Nile in full armour daily to stay fit for battle! To me Howard's fictional exchange between Cahal and Baibars when they first meet is unforgettable. "By Allah, you have the bearing of a king." "I am a king, infidel," growled the other; the wine he had drunk had touched him with a reckless and mocking madness. "And where lies your kingdom, malik?" "On the dark side of the moon," answered the Frank with a wild and bitter laugh. "Among the ruins of all the unborn or forgotten empires which etch the twilight of the lost ages … they who were my vassals lie cold and still, the bats haunt my shattered castles … So -- fill up my goblet, slave!" Now, here's a completely unprincipled plug. I've often wanted to write stories set in the Crusades, and the first time I did was for Rogue Blades Entertainment's antho, DISCOVERY! Not the Middle Eastern crusades. I used the Teutonic Knights' northern crusade against the heathen Balts for the backdrop, and one minor character was a real English knight who really did go north and fight with the Teutonic Knights amid the frost and iron-hard ice -- Thomas Holand, who later captured the Constable of France, sold his share in the ransom to King Edward III, and used the proceeds to bribe the Pope to annul the Earl of Salisbury's marriage so that he could have the Earl's wife, Joan, the legendary "Fair Maid of Kent". Oh, a splendid dashing rascal was Tom Holand. You couldn't make him up. Well, I've just submitted another story of the crusades to RBE, and I'm waiting with crossed fingers to see whether it's accepted. This one is set in the Second Crusade (a sorry inept mess if ever there was one) and the main character is Geoffrey the Bastard, who later, in Ireland, became the father of Cormac Fitzgeoffrey. At one point he jousts with a German knight, Seward von Kalmbach, clearly an ancestor of Gottfried von Kalmbach ("The Shadow of the Vulture"). And he partners Miles du Courcey (from "The Lion of Tiberias") in the same tournament. Tournaments circa 1150 were a lot less organized and polite than they had become a couple of centuries later. The jousts were minor preliminaries, just, and they were done without the protective barrier down the centre of the field we see in Hollywood movies. The main event was a mock battle, or not so mock, since men died in most of them, and they were essentially godless, undisciplined melees … from which you could make a good living in ransom and wagers, if you survived. Real historical characters include Eleanor of Aquitaine and Shirkuh the Mountain Lion.
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Post by thedarkman on Oct 31, 2018 21:10:13 GMT -5
Good luck with your Crusader tale Keith, I look forward to reading it. Howard’s Crusader yarns are some of my favorite stories, and I think you could write a pretty damn good yarn of your own!
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Post by keith on Oct 31, 2018 21:43:38 GMT -5
Good luck with your Crusader tale Keith, I look forward to reading it. Howard’s Crusader yarns are some of my favorite stories, and I think you could write a pretty damn good yarn of your own! Thanks a lot, thedarkman!
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Post by keith on Dec 24, 2018 8:22:47 GMT -5
Rogue Blades Entertainment accepted my Second Crusade story featuring Geoffrey the Bastard!
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Post by deuce on Dec 24, 2018 12:23:38 GMT -5
Rogue Blades Entertainment accepted my Second Crusade story featuring Geoffrey the Bastard! Congrats! Can't wait to read your tale of Sir Geoffrey.
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Post by zarono on Dec 26, 2018 22:04:42 GMT -5
Rogue Blades Entertainment accepted my Second Crusade story featuring Geoffrey the Bastard! Congratulations Keith!
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Post by keith on Jan 8, 2019 6:54:05 GMT -5
Deuce and Zarono -- thanks a lot! Don't know yet how my story about Geoffrey the Bastard for RBE ("Stain of Blood") will be received, but I hope it's popular, and I happen to like it so much myself that I'm doing an immediate sequel, with the same character -- "Hell Laughs Loud."
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Post by charleshelm on Feb 20, 2019 20:42:30 GMT -5
I picked up a Donald Grant edition of Road of Azreal with Grant's signature the other day...I hope this is the right place...and I swear I will try to get the good camera out again soon....
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2019 14:35:35 GMT -5
I picked up a Donald Grant edition of Road of Azreal with Grant's signature the other day...I hope this is the right place...and I swear I will try to get the good camera out again soon....
Nice, the 2 historical fiction volumes illustrated by Krenkel are fantastic.
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Post by bartonamra on Feb 26, 2019 21:35:18 GMT -5
Is the Track of Behomund a completed version or the original incomplete fragment?
I think the other Krenkel illustrated volume probably has the stronger stories. But I do have a special liking of Gates of Empire. It’s such a unique gem in everything Howard wrote.
The Road of Azrael itself is great but I don’t care for the ending. I guess it could be said that it’s a very original encounter, but I didn’t feel it right.
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Post by charleshelm on Feb 27, 2019 11:51:35 GMT -5
I believe Bohemund is the original fragment, at least that's how it looks to me.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2019 13:27:01 GMT -5
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