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Post by KiramidHead on Feb 19, 2016 21:09:43 GMT -5
I really liked Turlogh O'Brien in "The Dark Man." I'd like to read more his tales, provided they're out there. I just loved how he was such a bastard, but with a streak of humanity.
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Post by deuce on Feb 19, 2016 21:20:20 GMT -5
I really liked Turlogh O'Brien in "The Dark Man." I'd like to read more his tales, provided they're out there. I just loved how he was such a bastard, but with a streak of humanity. Turlogh grew up hard. Watching your people get raided, enslaved and/or taxed by foreigners can give one a bad attitude. I've been a fan since I read The Grey God Passes. Here are all the TOB tales and every book they were ever published in: howardworks.com/subject.htm#turloughHoward Works is every REH fan's friend.
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Post by KiramidHead on Feb 19, 2016 21:23:23 GMT -5
I really liked Turlogh O'Brien in "The Dark Man." I'd like to read more his tales, provided they're out there. I just loved how he was such a bastard, but with a streak of humanity. Turlogh grew up hard. Watching your people get raided, enslaved and/or taxed by foreigners can give one a bad attitude. I've been a fan since I read The Grey God Passes. Here are all the TOB tales and every book they were ever published in: howardworks.com/subject.htm#turloughHoward Works is every REH fan's friend. Well, I now have a reason not to skip over the "Best of" collections like I'd considered.
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Post by thedarkman on Feb 19, 2016 23:27:43 GMT -5
Conan of the Reavers, from People of the Dark. That Gaelic Iron Age pirate really captured my imagination. Cut from the same cloth as several of his barbaric/Celtic heroes, Howard seemed to give this one a little more sandpaper in his character, a touch more grit. A true iron man from rough, crude Iron Age. I would love to try a few pastiche short stories about this Conan, and possibly expand on his adventures just a little.., Yeah, I thought that from the first time I read TPotD. Conan of Eir-ann was a bloody-handed killer. IMO, he and FitzGeoffrey and Conn (TGGP) were all prototypes of Conan that REH was working toward. Conan the Reaver could definitely have had other cool adventures. Just guessing, I'd say they would take place sometime around 1AD. That is, between the time of Caesar's failed invasion and the Claudian one. On a similar note, I am a huge fan of Eithriall the Gaul ( Two Against Tyre). I read that tale before I ever read any REH Conan. In high school, I came up with a rough outline of adventures for him with various illos I drew myself. I spent several years trying to nail down the likely period and decided the "Shalmaneser" in the tale had to be Shalmaneser V mentioned in the Bible: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalmaneser_VA tumultuous period and ripe for tales of blood and skullduggery. I started with Conan in the Ace editions back in the day, but the book that really opened my eyes to Howard's prose was Sowers of the Thunder, paperback edition. It simply blew me away back then, and it sits on my shelf to this day. Worn, tattered and much loved...
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Post by deuce on Feb 20, 2016 15:56:38 GMT -5
I started with Conan in the Ace editions back in the day, but the book that really opened my eyes to Howard's prose was Sowers of the Thunder, paperback edition. It simply blew me away back then, and it sits on my shelf to this day. Worn, tattered and much loved... Hell yeah. I bought "Sowers" (Zebra) sometime around '79-80. Those tales are just bad-ass. It doesn't get much darker (from REH) than Lord of Samarkand. Krenkel's foreword is a classic. Lost my copy in the Flood.
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Post by KiramidHead on Feb 27, 2016 0:27:45 GMT -5
I've started reading the El Borak collection, and damn, this is some good stuff so far. And the Bradstreet art is tops.
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Post by joethoms on Feb 29, 2016 12:26:20 GMT -5
I've started reading the El Borak collection, and damn, this is some good stuff so far. And the Bradstreet art is tops. Francis X. Gordon is one of my favorite REH characters. I like the Kirby O'Donnell yarns but they don't have that El Borak cynicism. I am always amazed at REH's versatility.
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Post by deuce on Mar 7, 2016 10:17:09 GMT -5
I would like to know what other characters REH readers like? My favorites are Sailor Steve Costigan, El Borak, and Breckinridge Elkins. I feel Mark Finn was right in that the "funny" stories by Howard are given short shrift. All three are great choices, Joe. In the '30s, the Costigan yarns were more popular than the Conans, one reason REH wrote about twice as many Sailor tales than those of the Cimmerian. The Costigans, beside the humor, can be appreciated as adventure stories as well. El Borak/Francis X. Gordon was a direct influence on Indiana Jones. I love the Kirby O'Donnell tales as well. The Breck stories are just a hoot. Make Li'l Abner twice as strong as Conan and turn him loose in the Old West!
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Post by Von K on Mar 7, 2016 12:12:52 GMT -5
I was going to answer this question on the old forum, so I started writing down a list, and the list kept growing and growing...
Though perhaps I ought to say REH himself.
Maybe it's like HPL said, his stories/characters are so good because he himself is in every one of them.
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Post by deuce on Mar 11, 2016 15:13:03 GMT -5
Francis X. Gordon is one of my favorite REH characters. I like the Kirby O'Donnell yarns but they don't have that El Borak cynicism. I am always amazed at REH's versatility. Hey Joe! I'm just curious... What do you feel is so cynical about Gordon? To me, Kirby always seemed far more cynical.
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Post by KiramidHead on Mar 11, 2016 19:27:05 GMT -5
Well, the ending of "Hawk of the Hills" definitely has solidified Gordon as one of my favorite characters. Oh, and I kept getting deja-vu during "Three-Bladed Doom," only to find that I had gotten Sprague'd again, courtesy of SSOC.
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Libaax
Wanderer
Burhan the Puntlander
Posts: 25
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Post by Libaax on Mar 11, 2016 21:20:46 GMT -5
Francis X.Gordon is my alltime nr.1 hero so he has to be nr.1 REH character for me too. He has taken the spot ahead of Solomon Kane,Conan for me. El Borak is such hardcore,grim but still noble hero that he ruined Indiana Jones for me after reading stories. I love Indy but he is no El Borak So top 5 characters that isnt Kane/Conan/Kull/Bran Mak Morn: 1. El Borak 2. Dark Agnes 3. Breckinridge Elkins 4. Steve Costigan 5. Turlough O'Brien I dont underrate the funny stories of REH, Elkins book was one of the funniest things i have ever read, read Costigan short story collection last year so i expect really funny stuff from REH. Reading the master of S&S,historical adventures, El Borak adventures,horror writing funny tall tales is one of those times i really wonder about....the freakish multitalent levels of Mr Robert E. Howard.
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Libaax
Wanderer
Burhan the Puntlander
Posts: 25
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Post by Libaax on Mar 11, 2016 21:41:27 GMT -5
I've started reading the El Borak collection, and damn, this is some good stuff so far. And the Bradstreet art is tops. As an hardcore El Borak fan i envy you so much because i remember the magic feeling of reading El Borak collection by Del Rey for the first time. I could smell almost the desert of Aghanistan etc and see El Borak hunt his enemies down, his undying loyalty for his friends, the vivid brutal way Borak fights. I almost never re-read books but i re-read El Borak collection the same month cover to cover
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2016 5:51:09 GMT -5
He's only in one story, but I kinda like Baibars, from Sowers of the Thunder.
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Post by sherlock on Aug 19, 2016 6:26:03 GMT -5
I didn't notice Steve Harrison mentioned here. Which goes to my point that Harrison isn't one of REH's more popular characters. Though Fu Manchu author William Patrick Maynard is a big fan of him. There have been three Harrison-centric essays over at Two Gun Raconteur this year. Two of them almost present a pro and con on the hardboiled PI between Bill Maynard's post and mine. I wrote as short post on my blog so I could get all three links together. almostholmes.wordpress.com/2016/07/28/steve-harrison-rehs-pi-gets-mixed-reviews/Just wanted to get Harrison on the map of this thread.
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