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Solomon Kane #4
The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard: Moon Of Skulls
Moon of Skulls collects Robert E. Howard's fiction and poetry published in Weird Tales Magazine from October 1929 to November 1930, plus one from Oriental Stories. These works represent literary stepping-stones to Howard's infamous Cthulhu mythos stories and his most famous character of all -- Conan the Cimmerian -- and ably demonstrate that each of Howard's stories improved and added to his formidable skills as a master of fantasy and adventure. Continuing the collection of Howard's fiction and poetry in order of publication, Volume Two of The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard picks up where Volume One left off -- at one of the most startling and controversial Howard stories of Skull-Face, a potent combination of gothic themes and oriental mystique!
Included in this volume "The Gothic Orient," by Mark Finn (introduction), "Skull-Face," "Dead Man’s Hate," "The Fearsome Touch of Death," "A Song out of Midian," "Shadows on the Road," "The Moon of Skulls," "The Hills of the Dead," "Black Chant Imperial," and "The Voice of El-Lil."
Edited by Paul Herman. Cover by Stephen Fabian.
Included in this volume "The Gothic Orient," by Mark Finn (introduction), "Skull-Face," "Dead Man’s Hate," "The Fearsome Touch of Death," "A Song out of Midian," "Shadows on the Road," "The Moon of Skulls," "The Hills of the Dead," "Black Chant Imperial," and "The Voice of El-Lil."
Edited by Paul Herman. Cover by Stephen Fabian.
190 pages, Kindle Edition
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About the author
Robert E. Howard
2,979 books2,641 followersRobert Ervin Howard was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. Howard wrote "over three-hundred stories and seven-hundred poems of raw power and unbridled emotion" and is especially noted for his memorable depictions of "a sombre universe of swashbuckling adventure and darkling horror."
He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.
—Wikipedia
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.
—Wikipedia
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
September 30, 2021
Both Centaur Press and Wildside Press issued Solomon Kane collections with the same title, which leads to bibliographical confusion; I have the Centaur Press 1968 paperback. It contains two short stories, The Footfalls Within and Skulls in the Stars, and a novella, The Moon of Skulls. Kane was Howard's first great fantasy/adventure hero, predating Conan by three or four years. Howard was an excellent writer, very adept at portraying creepy atmospheres and settings, while never slowing his action-packed adventurous pace. His work is tarnished with a casual attitude of racism which was typical of his time and surroundings; in this book both the title story and The Footfalls Within are set in Africa and show little respect for the natives and there is a "yellow peril" element. Kane was a dour Puritan, a somber man who dedicated his life to defeating Evil when and where ever he encountered it; his stories are compulsively addictive page-turners, and they're among my favorites of his work.
July 1, 2014
"Skulls in the Stars" is the odd piece of this collection. It was published a year earlier than the next youngest and is a relatively conventional ghost/revenge story, compared to the lost city of "The Moon of Skulls" and the cosmic horror of "The Footfalls Within".
"The Moon of Skulls"--the prize, in my opinion--fits at least conceptually within Howard's Hyborean Age chronology, and is chock-full of prehistorical details. The fact that he visited these themes from several frameworks (with Kull, with Conan, with Bran Mak Morn, and here with Kane) is absolutely fascinating.
"The Moon of Skulls"--the prize, in my opinion--fits at least conceptually within Howard's Hyborean Age chronology, and is chock-full of prehistorical details. The fact that he visited these themes from several frameworks (with Kull, with Conan, with Bran Mak Morn, and here with Kane) is absolutely fascinating.
February 16, 2016
Overall I enjoyed volume 1 of "Howard's Weird Works" more than this one. It had a lot more variety in it and the stories were shorter so if you didn't really love one, it wasn't long before you had a shot at something else.
This book though only has five stories, and almost half of the book is taken up by "Skull-Face," a 30,000+ word, rambling Yellow Peril type of story. It has some moments but the "weird" elements are at the edges and it doesn't seem to have a definite direction. Similarly the 20,000+ word "Moon of Skulls" is a bit of an improvement, but is far more focused on adventure than the weird or horrific.
A big problem with this particular volume was that these stories get a bit samey. There's too many stories about ancient tribes who capture people meant for sacrifice to ancient gods.
All appeared in Weird Tales, except for "The Voice of El-Lil", which appeared in Oriental Stories. Poems are longer and better.
Skull-Face 33 - This is one of Howard's longest stories, coming in at 33,000~ words and is bit rambling. It has a Yellow Peril/Fu Manchu flavor, very pulpy. I did like the setting -- opium dens and foggy London streets and it's a mostly nocturnal story with a hard-boiled feel to it as well. Unfortunately it has more elements of a fast-paced crime story than a genuinely "weird" tale. A shellshocked WW1 soldier becomes a slave to opium and is forced into an organization who seeks to take over the world, run by a criminal mastermind more ancient than mankind itself!
Dead Man’s Hate - A pretty good poem, longer than most of his earlier ones, about a hanged man seeking out vengeance.
The Fearsome Touch Of Death - A very short story, coming in at 2,000~ words, but very effective. A man sitting up with a corpse has an unnerving suspicion that the corpse is watching him.
A Song Out Of Midian - A mystical poem about a woman offered everything, but she desires home.
Shadows On The Road - One of the better poems here. A traveler recounts his journey to Rome -- not a grand journey or a grand place, but one of decay and horror.
The Moon Of Skulls - Another long story, an exotic Solomon Kane adventure, coming in at about 20,000 words. It's a fast-paced story with a decadent flair which keeps most of it's weird/supernatural elements at the edges. Kane ventures into the jungles of Africa to rescue a girl from being sacrificed by a decaying tribe.
The Hills Of The Dead - This is a bit of an improvement over the previous Kane story, even though it's about a third the length. Supernatural/weird elements are more central here, there's some eerie moments and it's still a fast-paced adventure. Kane confronts a tribe of cave-dwelling vampires.
Black Chant Imperial - Definitely the darkest, grimmest, most violent poem I've read by Howard thus far. Lots of interesting imagery.
The Voice Of El-Lil - This is the one story that wasn't in Weird Tales here, it was in Oriental Stories and I thought it was fairly good. The problem is, it's yet ANOTHER "captured by a long-forgotten civilization" story. A man tells of a wicked ancient tribe who lure, and kill outsiders with a huge gong.
This book though only has five stories, and almost half of the book is taken up by "Skull-Face," a 30,000+ word, rambling Yellow Peril type of story. It has some moments but the "weird" elements are at the edges and it doesn't seem to have a definite direction. Similarly the 20,000+ word "Moon of Skulls" is a bit of an improvement, but is far more focused on adventure than the weird or horrific.
A big problem with this particular volume was that these stories get a bit samey. There's too many stories about ancient tribes who capture people meant for sacrifice to ancient gods.
All appeared in Weird Tales, except for "The Voice of El-Lil", which appeared in Oriental Stories. Poems are longer and better.
Skull-Face 33 - This is one of Howard's longest stories, coming in at 33,000~ words and is bit rambling. It has a Yellow Peril/Fu Manchu flavor, very pulpy. I did like the setting -- opium dens and foggy London streets and it's a mostly nocturnal story with a hard-boiled feel to it as well. Unfortunately it has more elements of a fast-paced crime story than a genuinely "weird" tale. A shellshocked WW1 soldier becomes a slave to opium and is forced into an organization who seeks to take over the world, run by a criminal mastermind more ancient than mankind itself!
Dead Man’s Hate - A pretty good poem, longer than most of his earlier ones, about a hanged man seeking out vengeance.
The Fearsome Touch Of Death - A very short story, coming in at 2,000~ words, but very effective. A man sitting up with a corpse has an unnerving suspicion that the corpse is watching him.
A Song Out Of Midian - A mystical poem about a woman offered everything, but she desires home.
Shadows On The Road - One of the better poems here. A traveler recounts his journey to Rome -- not a grand journey or a grand place, but one of decay and horror.
The Moon Of Skulls - Another long story, an exotic Solomon Kane adventure, coming in at about 20,000 words. It's a fast-paced story with a decadent flair which keeps most of it's weird/supernatural elements at the edges. Kane ventures into the jungles of Africa to rescue a girl from being sacrificed by a decaying tribe.
The Hills Of The Dead - This is a bit of an improvement over the previous Kane story, even though it's about a third the length. Supernatural/weird elements are more central here, there's some eerie moments and it's still a fast-paced adventure. Kane confronts a tribe of cave-dwelling vampires.
Black Chant Imperial - Definitely the darkest, grimmest, most violent poem I've read by Howard thus far. Lots of interesting imagery.
The Voice Of El-Lil - This is the one story that wasn't in Weird Tales here, it was in Oriental Stories and I thought it was fairly good. The problem is, it's yet ANOTHER "captured by a long-forgotten civilization" story. A man tells of a wicked ancient tribe who lure, and kill outsiders with a huge gong.
December 30, 2007
Continuing the chronological reprinting of Howard's stories and poems in Weird Tales. This volume sees a more mature writer, capable of very precise plotting and a strong focus on decaying societies, which we saw a bit of in the Kull stories of Volume 1. The writing in general is better, but the there is a strong vibe of racial paranoia in this one that made me uncomfortable.
While I understanding that you have to be prepared to take that into account when reading stories from this time period, it seemed to dominate the stories more so than in the first collection. There's too much of a focus on evil blacks/asians trying to take over the world for me to just chalk it up entirely to "he was just using the ideas of the time to tell a good story" which is the apology we get in the intro to this collection.
The opening story, Skull-Face, is probably the worst offended on the racial scale, featuring a white drug addict who has to stop the evil asian drug-dealer from trying to take over. It also, as the introduction notes, is stuck between horror and action. Howard as a writer tended to do that, but usually one wins out over the other. In this case, the hybrid is stuck, and therefore, I think, stillborn. Howard is better as a writer of shorter fiction. The last story is mediocre, and can be easily skipped.
Which I admit does not leave a lot of this book, but what's in the middle is the Howard I like. I still like the way Howard writes, and I feel he is very underrated as an author because of the ties to the Conan character. The Solomon Kane stories continue to be my favorite, as they have the best plots and Howard really takes the time to let you get to know Kane and why he is out there righting wrongs in the oddest of locations for a Puritan. He is a Warrior-Puritan, and we get to see all the contradictions that this entails. It's when he's looking at society from the outside in, and not when he's looking at oriental conspiracies, that we see Howard the writer really shine. Unfortunately, this grouping is not the best for that. (Library, 2006)
Trebby's Takes: Still recommended, but there's a higher wince factor in this one.
While I understanding that you have to be prepared to take that into account when reading stories from this time period, it seemed to dominate the stories more so than in the first collection. There's too much of a focus on evil blacks/asians trying to take over the world for me to just chalk it up entirely to "he was just using the ideas of the time to tell a good story" which is the apology we get in the intro to this collection.
The opening story, Skull-Face, is probably the worst offended on the racial scale, featuring a white drug addict who has to stop the evil asian drug-dealer from trying to take over. It also, as the introduction notes, is stuck between horror and action. Howard as a writer tended to do that, but usually one wins out over the other. In this case, the hybrid is stuck, and therefore, I think, stillborn. Howard is better as a writer of shorter fiction. The last story is mediocre, and can be easily skipped.
Which I admit does not leave a lot of this book, but what's in the middle is the Howard I like. I still like the way Howard writes, and I feel he is very underrated as an author because of the ties to the Conan character. The Solomon Kane stories continue to be my favorite, as they have the best plots and Howard really takes the time to let you get to know Kane and why he is out there righting wrongs in the oddest of locations for a Puritan. He is a Warrior-Puritan, and we get to see all the contradictions that this entails. It's when he's looking at society from the outside in, and not when he's looking at oriental conspiracies, that we see Howard the writer really shine. Unfortunately, this grouping is not the best for that. (Library, 2006)
Trebby's Takes: Still recommended, but there's a higher wince factor in this one.
October 24, 2018
Продължавам със "странните истории" на Робърт Хауърд. В този том имаше някои разкази, които не съм чел преди.
Skull-Face - приключения и мистика в духа на поредицата за Фу Манчу - 4/5
The Fearsome Touch of Death - посредствен хорър - 3/5
The Moon of Skulls - Соломон Кейн се изправя срещу негърска кралица вампир - 4/5
The Hills of the Dead - още един разказ за Соломон Кейн, враговете му този път са зомбита - 4/5
The Voice of El-Lil - поредната приключенско-мистична история, за съжаление доста елементарна - 3/5
Плюс няколко стихотворения, които обаче ми се видяха по-слаби от тези в предния том.
Средна оценка - 4/5.
Skull-Face - приключения и мистика в духа на поредицата за Фу Манчу - 4/5
The Fearsome Touch of Death - посредствен хорър - 3/5
The Moon of Skulls - Соломон Кейн се изправя срещу негърска кралица вампир - 4/5
The Hills of the Dead - още един разказ за Соломон Кейн, враговете му този път са зомбита - 4/5
The Voice of El-Lil - поредната приключенско-мистична история, за съжаление доста елементарна - 3/5
Плюс няколко стихотворения, които обаче ми се видяха по-слаби от тези в предния том.
Средна оценка - 4/5.
February 8, 2016
Robert E. Howard is my all time favorite writer, but for many years much of his work was heavily edited. This is another of the heavily edited collections of Robert E. Howard's stories. I am a purist when it comes to a writers works. I know some of these stories are no longer PC but they should be read as Howard wrote them and understood that he wrote in another time period. Don't read this book unless you just can't find any others of Howard's unedited books to read. Message me if you need a list of what is good from this awesome fantasy and action writer.
May 27, 2019
Skull Face - 4/5
A thrilling adventure featuring a drug-addicted boxer and an immortal skull-faced tyrant. The action in the final arc is quite literally explosive. It's bizarre and exciting.
***
Dead Man's Hate 3/5
The soul of a hanged man comes back and tortures the man that hangs him, proving that a dead man’s hate is stronger than the noose that ended his life. A strange ghost story told in the form of a poem.
***
The Fearsome Touch of Death - 3/5
Sometimes dead men just don’t know how to stay dead, or how to keep their hands to themselves. A chilling horror story.
***
The Moon of Skulls - 5/5
The Moon of Skulls was pretty incredible. The gothic imagery, the vague but interesting connections to the stone age in which Conan takes place, and most notably the insane imagery of the Moon itself which held within it the minds of a dead civilization. Kane destroys the moon and all hell breaks loose. The evil civilization having their minds destroyed turn on each other in a frenzy and thousands of wicked cultists tear each other to pieces, creating an earthquake and a river of blood like a scene from the bible.
The imagery and violence in this story was something straight out of Bloodborne.
***
The Hills of the Dead - 2/5
One of the weakest of the Kane stories. Not much buildup, anticlimactic and the action isn’t nearly as exciting or full of tension. It was okay though, pretty decent for its length.
***
The Voice of El-Lil - 2/5
A decent jungle adventure with a lot of bloody action, gothic horror and historical knowledge. It's bogged down with extreme racism, prejudice and ignorance which lowers the value of the story considerably as it was thrown around quite purposelessly.
***
Poetry - 4/5
There are various poems in this collection and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. They read like black metal and viking metal lyrics which I've always been a huge fan of so I have a soft spot for this prose style.
A thrilling adventure featuring a drug-addicted boxer and an immortal skull-faced tyrant. The action in the final arc is quite literally explosive. It's bizarre and exciting.
***
Dead Man's Hate 3/5
The soul of a hanged man comes back and tortures the man that hangs him, proving that a dead man’s hate is stronger than the noose that ended his life. A strange ghost story told in the form of a poem.
***
The Fearsome Touch of Death - 3/5
Sometimes dead men just don’t know how to stay dead, or how to keep their hands to themselves. A chilling horror story.
***
The Moon of Skulls - 5/5
The Moon of Skulls was pretty incredible. The gothic imagery, the vague but interesting connections to the stone age in which Conan takes place, and most notably the insane imagery of the Moon itself which held within it the minds of a dead civilization. Kane destroys the moon and all hell breaks loose. The evil civilization having their minds destroyed turn on each other in a frenzy and thousands of wicked cultists tear each other to pieces, creating an earthquake and a river of blood like a scene from the bible.
The imagery and violence in this story was something straight out of Bloodborne.
***
The Hills of the Dead - 2/5
One of the weakest of the Kane stories. Not much buildup, anticlimactic and the action isn’t nearly as exciting or full of tension. It was okay though, pretty decent for its length.
***
The Voice of El-Lil - 2/5
A decent jungle adventure with a lot of bloody action, gothic horror and historical knowledge. It's bogged down with extreme racism, prejudice and ignorance which lowers the value of the story considerably as it was thrown around quite purposelessly.
***
Poetry - 4/5
There are various poems in this collection and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. They read like black metal and viking metal lyrics which I've always been a huge fan of so I have a soft spot for this prose style.
March 24, 2025
"He was a man born out of his time." While this line was written about Solomon Kane, it can be equally applied to Robert E Howard. These stories, like most sci-fi/fantasy written during this time, are not politically correct. Not even close. But they are important precursors to many fantasy, and weird fiction that is being written today.
These are not necessary to read if you enjoy the genre, but they are informative of what brought us to the literary fields we plow today.
These are not necessary to read if you enjoy the genre, but they are informative of what brought us to the literary fields we plow today.
November 15, 2024
One of the long Solomon Kane tales, probably the one that comes to mind most immediately when I think of Solomon Kane. He's on a rescue mission, although we're not told that until later - just that he's after a vampire queen. He deals with falling stones, a large snake, and an ancient man-made cavern full of complex and secret passages. There's some racism in this one unfortunately as Solomon's white skin plays a role. There's a few long lore dumps from the Queen - interesting enough stuff but awkward for the pacing of the story.
May 20, 2021
Moon of Skulls is the second volume of a series that collects the fiction and poetry of Robert E. Howard as it originally appeared in Weird Tales magazine. This volume (Kindle edition) has two novellas, three short stories, and four poems.
The first story "Skull-Face," takes up the first half of the book. It was originally a three part serial. It’s basically Howard’s version of a Sax Rohmer Fu Manchu story. It’s wordy and the story rambles for long stretches until the last few chapters. After all the characters have been introduced Howards’s voice starts to come through and the story really picks up. Once the antics with a gorilla costume have been dispensed with and mummies and lost civilizations have been introduced it gets a lot more interesting.
"The Fearsome Touch of Death" is a short horror story. Howard creates a spooky atmosphere and ends with some dark humor. Well done.
"The Moon of Skulls" is the first of two Solomon Kane stories, both set in Africa. This novella was originally serialized over two issues. Howard creates a strong foil for Kane in Queen Nakari. She is intelligent and brutal. Lots of action but we also get into Kane’s head. Here is one of his thoughts as he makes his way through a lost city, “The evident antiquity of his surroundings depressed him, making him sense vaguely the fleeting and futile existence of mankind.” This kind of writing elevates Howard's work above other action adventure stories.
"The Hills of the Dead" is a shorter Soloman Kane story. I enjoyed this one even more than the previous one. Howard has an interesting take on vampires here. I liked his original take on werewolves in the previous volume and I like his take in vampires in this one. This story re-introduces N’Longa the witch doctor who was introduced in the first Kane story, Red Shadows. N’longa gives Kane a magic staff and later winds up helping him from a great distance. At the end of the story Kane asks him how this was all possible. The answer he gives makes N’longa one of my favorite Howard characters. It’s poetic and deals with themes Howard comes to again and again. The story is set up well, is dripping with atmosphere, and the ending was a real page turner.
"The Voice of El-Lil" is a short story that first appeared in Oriental Stories. It starts out as an average lost city story, pauses a few times for some lecturing, and then erupts into action, excitement, and tragedy. Nothing too deep but it wound up really grabbing me.
Once again on the negative side, Howard brings up race and racial purity in some stories. Sometimes it’s just a few lines and sometimes it’s more. It definitely pulled me out of the story whenever it came up. Something to be aware of when reading Howard. On the other hand, Howard creates strong African characters in two of the stories. Queen Nakari and N’Longa are great characters, one a villain and one an ally.
Something else I noticed, while some stories are stronger than others overall, they all have strong endings.
I enjoyed the poems again. Black Chant Imperial is really, really dark, and sounds like it could be a black metal song.
I’m looking forward to reading volume three.
Skull-Face (2/5)
Dead Man’s Hate (poem)
The Fearsome Touch of Death (4/5)
A Song Out of Midian (poem)
Shadows on the Road (poem)
The Moon of Skulls (Solomon Kane) (4.5/5)
The Hills of the Dead (Solomon Kane) (5/5)
Black Chant Imperial (poem)
The Voice of El-Lil (3.5/5)
The first story "Skull-Face," takes up the first half of the book. It was originally a three part serial. It’s basically Howard’s version of a Sax Rohmer Fu Manchu story. It’s wordy and the story rambles for long stretches until the last few chapters. After all the characters have been introduced Howards’s voice starts to come through and the story really picks up. Once the antics with a gorilla costume have been dispensed with and mummies and lost civilizations have been introduced it gets a lot more interesting.
"The Fearsome Touch of Death" is a short horror story. Howard creates a spooky atmosphere and ends with some dark humor. Well done.
"The Moon of Skulls" is the first of two Solomon Kane stories, both set in Africa. This novella was originally serialized over two issues. Howard creates a strong foil for Kane in Queen Nakari. She is intelligent and brutal. Lots of action but we also get into Kane’s head. Here is one of his thoughts as he makes his way through a lost city, “The evident antiquity of his surroundings depressed him, making him sense vaguely the fleeting and futile existence of mankind.” This kind of writing elevates Howard's work above other action adventure stories.
"The Hills of the Dead" is a shorter Soloman Kane story. I enjoyed this one even more than the previous one. Howard has an interesting take on vampires here. I liked his original take on werewolves in the previous volume and I like his take in vampires in this one. This story re-introduces N’Longa the witch doctor who was introduced in the first Kane story, Red Shadows. N’longa gives Kane a magic staff and later winds up helping him from a great distance. At the end of the story Kane asks him how this was all possible. The answer he gives makes N’longa one of my favorite Howard characters. It’s poetic and deals with themes Howard comes to again and again. The story is set up well, is dripping with atmosphere, and the ending was a real page turner.
"The Voice of El-Lil" is a short story that first appeared in Oriental Stories. It starts out as an average lost city story, pauses a few times for some lecturing, and then erupts into action, excitement, and tragedy. Nothing too deep but it wound up really grabbing me.
Once again on the negative side, Howard brings up race and racial purity in some stories. Sometimes it’s just a few lines and sometimes it’s more. It definitely pulled me out of the story whenever it came up. Something to be aware of when reading Howard. On the other hand, Howard creates strong African characters in two of the stories. Queen Nakari and N’Longa are great characters, one a villain and one an ally.
Something else I noticed, while some stories are stronger than others overall, they all have strong endings.
I enjoyed the poems again. Black Chant Imperial is really, really dark, and sounds like it could be a black metal song.
I’m looking forward to reading volume three.
Skull-Face (2/5)
Dead Man’s Hate (poem)
The Fearsome Touch of Death (4/5)
A Song Out of Midian (poem)
Shadows on the Road (poem)
The Moon of Skulls (Solomon Kane) (4.5/5)
The Hills of the Dead (Solomon Kane) (5/5)
Black Chant Imperial (poem)
The Voice of El-Lil (3.5/5)
August 12, 2022
I loved this. High adventure at its best.
October 10, 2021
https://archive.org/details/WeirdTale...
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...
https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/060...
The fourth story about Solomon Kane, sharing some Atlantis based backstory with the Kull stories.
Six of the seven chapters starts with a quote from The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton, about the idealised exploits of the Saxon King Alfred the Great, published in 1911. Written in ballad form, the work has been described as one of the last great traditional epic poems ever written in the English language. The poem narrates how Alfred was able to defeat the invading Danes at the Battle of Ethandun with the aid of the Virgin Mary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bal...
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Ba...
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tal...
https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/060...
The fourth story about Solomon Kane, sharing some Atlantis based backstory with the Kull stories.
"The sea! The ancient and everlasting! The sea which I have never seen, but which cradled the glory of my ancestors! Tell me, stranger, have you, like they, sailed across the breast of the great blue monster, and have your eyes looked on the golden spires of Atlantis and the crimson walls of Mu?"
Six of the seven chapters starts with a quote from The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton, about the idealised exploits of the Saxon King Alfred the Great, published in 1911. Written in ballad form, the work has been described as one of the last great traditional epic poems ever written in the English language. The poem narrates how Alfred was able to defeat the invading Danes at the Battle of Ethandun with the aid of the Virgin Mary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bal...
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Ba...
May 29, 2024
«Луна черепов» Действие этого рассказа, как и многих про Соломона Кейна происходит на черном континенте – т.е. в Африке. На момент жизни Роберта Говарда этот континент был еще полон тайн, а потому куда же еще отправлять пуританина, охотника за приключениями. На этот раз Соломон идет по следу похищенной девушку, дочери его друга. Тропа приводит его в затерянный в горах Африки город, где правит жестокая королева, приносящая людей в жертву своим богам.
В рассказе упоминается народ Атлантиды, его жрецы некогда построили древний город, но затем власть в нем захватили рабы, и жрецы превратились в серых кардиналов, которые совершали обряды, пока на трон не пришла последняя королева, которая истребили последних жрецов. Вот так Кейн опять оказывается в эпицентре разборок богов, жрецов, людей, монстров и все погибнут от его рапиры.
В рассказе упоминается народ Атлантиды, его жрецы некогда построили древний город, но затем власть в нем захватили рабы, и жрецы превратились в серых кардиналов, которые совершали обряды, пока на трон не пришла последняя королева, которая истребили последних жрецов. Вот так Кейн опять оказывается в эпицентре разборок богов, жрецов, людей, монстров и все погибнут от его рапиры.
October 11, 2025
Una muy amena serie de relatos, llenos de aventura y un viaje de racismo muy normal de su época. Los relatos de Kane son muy buenos, y el primero, Skull-Face, es interesante pese a que la trama es Los Negros Vienen A Por Nosotros
March 15, 2012
It's only really dawned on me in recent years just how prolific Robert E. Howard was as a writer. He wrote a lot, no joke. When I first discovered Howard through those Ace Conan paperbacks, my interest never strayed too far from Conan. I read some Kull, some Bran Mak Morn, some Solomon Kane but never really explored Howard's writing past that. Getting into some of his other work has been a treat.
Moon Of Skulls collects several "weird works" of Howard's, as the title suggests. Some of these weird works are poems. In his introduction, Mark Finn warns the reader against skipping these because he or she will miss some good writing. I agree. It struck me, reading "Dead Man's Hate" and "Black Chant Imperial" especially, that Howard was not a bad poet. He may not have been a great poet but he knew how to use his words.
"The Fearsome Touch Of Death" and "The Voice Of El-Lil" are two general sort of horror tales, the earlier being the better, in my humble opinion. They're good but, included as they are with "The Moon Of Skulls" and "The Hills Of The Dead" (both Solomon Kane stories), as well as "Skull-Face" (which originally appeared in two parts in Weird Tales), they get lost in the shuffle.
"Skull-Face" is almost a novella and is full of all sorts of mystery, intrigue, conspiracy and a great plot to destroy civilization. White civilization, as a matter of fact. I suppose, at some point, I'll have to get over the blatant racism (and sexism) of some of these authors from the earlier half of the 20th century. Howard was obviously in possession of a number of bigoted views and his pal, Lovecraft, was a confirmed racist as well. Clark Ashton Smith seems to have been the enlightened one of the bunch, but I don't know that for certain. It doesn't really detract from my enjoyment of their work, but I am unable to ignore it. I suppose, for me, it's similar to The Bad Brains being homophobic, blatantly so, in some cases, yet I still love their music, though anything after Quickness is pretty boring in my humble opinion. I suppose Howard and Lovecraft were products of their time but it's still disappointing to realize these talented authors were quite ignorant in many ways.
The two Solomon Kane stories are my favorites from this collection. I find Solomon Kane, as a character, fascinating. The hell bent puritan hunts down and destroys evil with sword and pistol in hand. He's awesome, like an old world Punisher. Kane resonated with me as a kid because he was a righteous, pure hearted avenger who did what it took to right wrongs and destroy evil. Murder and mayhem are all in a day's work for Solomon Kane! I suppose today he would be considered a religious zealot and end up in jail but, in the 17th century, he was your only hope if you were a damsel who'd been kidnapped, changed hands quite a lot and ended up the prisoner of a beautiful yet horrible jungle queen.
This Wildside Press collection is good but I am sold on the Del Rey Howard collections with their excellent essays and thorough scholarship. I can't wait to read the Del Rey Solomon Kane book.
Moon Of Skulls collects several "weird works" of Howard's, as the title suggests. Some of these weird works are poems. In his introduction, Mark Finn warns the reader against skipping these because he or she will miss some good writing. I agree. It struck me, reading "Dead Man's Hate" and "Black Chant Imperial" especially, that Howard was not a bad poet. He may not have been a great poet but he knew how to use his words.
"The Fearsome Touch Of Death" and "The Voice Of El-Lil" are two general sort of horror tales, the earlier being the better, in my humble opinion. They're good but, included as they are with "The Moon Of Skulls" and "The Hills Of The Dead" (both Solomon Kane stories), as well as "Skull-Face" (which originally appeared in two parts in Weird Tales), they get lost in the shuffle.
"Skull-Face" is almost a novella and is full of all sorts of mystery, intrigue, conspiracy and a great plot to destroy civilization. White civilization, as a matter of fact. I suppose, at some point, I'll have to get over the blatant racism (and sexism) of some of these authors from the earlier half of the 20th century. Howard was obviously in possession of a number of bigoted views and his pal, Lovecraft, was a confirmed racist as well. Clark Ashton Smith seems to have been the enlightened one of the bunch, but I don't know that for certain. It doesn't really detract from my enjoyment of their work, but I am unable to ignore it. I suppose, for me, it's similar to The Bad Brains being homophobic, blatantly so, in some cases, yet I still love their music, though anything after Quickness is pretty boring in my humble opinion. I suppose Howard and Lovecraft were products of their time but it's still disappointing to realize these talented authors were quite ignorant in many ways.
The two Solomon Kane stories are my favorites from this collection. I find Solomon Kane, as a character, fascinating. The hell bent puritan hunts down and destroys evil with sword and pistol in hand. He's awesome, like an old world Punisher. Kane resonated with me as a kid because he was a righteous, pure hearted avenger who did what it took to right wrongs and destroy evil. Murder and mayhem are all in a day's work for Solomon Kane! I suppose today he would be considered a religious zealot and end up in jail but, in the 17th century, he was your only hope if you were a damsel who'd been kidnapped, changed hands quite a lot and ended up the prisoner of a beautiful yet horrible jungle queen.
This Wildside Press collection is good but I am sold on the Del Rey Howard collections with their excellent essays and thorough scholarship. I can't wait to read the Del Rey Solomon Kane book.
March 6, 2009
Wildside Press have made a clever attempt to repackage Robert E. Howard's fiction by releasing it in the order it was first published. This is the second volume, covering the author's weird fiction in the 1929/1930 period.
This is a slim book and there doesn't seem to be a great deal of substance in it, but that's because half of the volume is taken up with the author's short novel, SKULL-FACE. This is an obvious retread of Sax Rohmer's FU MANCHU stories, complete with racism, a British secret agent hero modelled on Nayland Smith, secret passages, an age-old Oriental villain and plenty of two-fisted action. Howard doesn't seem too comfortable with this kind of story and it stalls sometimes during the 70-odd pages, but I still liked it a lot. The action is as well described as ever and Atlantis born Skull-Face makes for a great villain.
The rest of the collection is divided between poetry and fiction. I've read a few of the author's poems dotted in anthologies here and there and this was the chance for me to read a few more. A SONG OUT OF MIDIAN and BLACK CHANT IMPERIAL are middling but nothing memorable, but DEAD MAN's HATE and SHADOWS ON THE ROAD are two FANTASTIC efforts and the best this anthology has to offer. Howard's use of imagery is spot on and he conjures up an atmosphere of creeping dread found in the best of his efforts.
There are four other short stories in the collection and two of them, THE MOON OF SKULLS and THE HILLS OF THE DEAD, are Solomon Kane yarns that I'd already read in THE SAVAGE TALES OF SOLOMON KANE, so I skipped them (I remember MOON being average and HILLS being very good).
The other two are minor works. THE FEARSOME TOUCH OF DEATH is a short psychological horror yarn about a guy spending the night with a corpse and THE VOICE OF EL-LIL treads familiar ground in the story of two adventurers finding an undiscovered civilisation in darkest Africa. I don't know about you, but Howard seemed to write dozens of these 'lost kingdom' stories, whether the hero was Conan, Solomon Kane or a stand-alone one, and the familiarity of the storyline is now boring. However, it's a not-bad effort and the description of ancient Asian societies was fun to read.
This is a slim book and there doesn't seem to be a great deal of substance in it, but that's because half of the volume is taken up with the author's short novel, SKULL-FACE. This is an obvious retread of Sax Rohmer's FU MANCHU stories, complete with racism, a British secret agent hero modelled on Nayland Smith, secret passages, an age-old Oriental villain and plenty of two-fisted action. Howard doesn't seem too comfortable with this kind of story and it stalls sometimes during the 70-odd pages, but I still liked it a lot. The action is as well described as ever and Atlantis born Skull-Face makes for a great villain.
The rest of the collection is divided between poetry and fiction. I've read a few of the author's poems dotted in anthologies here and there and this was the chance for me to read a few more. A SONG OUT OF MIDIAN and BLACK CHANT IMPERIAL are middling but nothing memorable, but DEAD MAN's HATE and SHADOWS ON THE ROAD are two FANTASTIC efforts and the best this anthology has to offer. Howard's use of imagery is spot on and he conjures up an atmosphere of creeping dread found in the best of his efforts.
There are four other short stories in the collection and two of them, THE MOON OF SKULLS and THE HILLS OF THE DEAD, are Solomon Kane yarns that I'd already read in THE SAVAGE TALES OF SOLOMON KANE, so I skipped them (I remember MOON being average and HILLS being very good).
The other two are minor works. THE FEARSOME TOUCH OF DEATH is a short psychological horror yarn about a guy spending the night with a corpse and THE VOICE OF EL-LIL treads familiar ground in the story of two adventurers finding an undiscovered civilisation in darkest Africa. I don't know about you, but Howard seemed to write dozens of these 'lost kingdom' stories, whether the hero was Conan, Solomon Kane or a stand-alone one, and the familiarity of the storyline is now boring. However, it's a not-bad effort and the description of ancient Asian societies was fun to read.
January 3, 2010
First of all, Howard is an amazing author who writes heroes from the puritan standpoint as believably and interestingly as from the pagan standpoint. They are all fearless but come from different motivations which he writes so fervently that if you didn't know that Soloman Kane's creator was also the creator of Conan the Barbarian one might assume that author was a true puritan himself. He does not write as an extension of his own beliefs but rather fully embodies the characters. As for Moon of Skulls specifically, I enjoyed many of the elements but I have to say my heart lies with Howard's less civilized heroes. Still, excellently written despite the slight frequency in publishing typos.
June 20, 2009
I love this book. And I love this character. Solomon Kane is the classic and infinitely interesting "good guy with a problem" and when you consider he was written in the 30's when the 'Sword and Sorcery' genre was considered hack work and not literature in any sense of the word, you appreciate it even more. The only downturn is that it does have a touch of racism in the writing (which may or may not be intentional). Still - it's a great read by a classic author. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the complete works of Solomon Kane when I finish this one.
May 4, 2011
I've been reading this book once a year for the past 10 years. Always a great quick read in between the larger books that I usually read. It's always refreshing reading a Robert E. Howard book every now and then. Robert's heroes are always uncomplicated-straight to the point men of action. Unlike the "heroes" of todays Sci-Fi who end up being such pussies,
January 15, 2012
The Moon of Skulls is early Howard (pre-Conan), following the 16th century Puritan hero (just that description got me to pick it up out of the paperback bin at the book sale) Solomon Kane through one longer and two shorter tales of adventure where he confronts evil with an implacable will and great violence.
October 27, 2014
4.5 stars.. I'm a fan of Robert E Howard and this is up there with his best. Solomon is such a great character, and yet again Howard writes an interesting story. I especially like how Kane talks, the language he uses and how he invokes the name of God for his strength and fights for good. I urge everyone to read Solomon Kane.
January 25, 2017
I downloaded free copies of "Weird Works" Volumes 1, 2, & 4 to read the short stories that were new to me. Transpires that all the unread material were short poems, so I soon got through these books.
I'm no fan of poetry, but Howard's style is palatable. The prose tales in this collection are the main attraction and I recommend them to anyone new to the works of this great writer.
I'm no fan of poetry, but Howard's style is palatable. The prose tales in this collection are the main attraction and I recommend them to anyone new to the works of this great writer.
January 23, 2016
Collecting the second year of Howard's writings. One of his best stories "Skull-Face" is in this volume. These stories are presented unedited as they originally appeared in the magazine. Highly recommended
September 15, 2022
Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the end of the first story. The overt racism and xenophobia were too much to overlook. Others have passed this off as being a product of its time, but the story Skull-Face at times reads like White Genocide propaganda. It's horrendous.
January 2, 2009
Another Solomon Kane collection from Centaur Press.
October 4, 2012
A typical Howard tale. Kane just isn't Conan, but still, it was fun.
April 5, 2013
He wasn't refined, his plots were not complex, and neither were his characters. But for sheer excitement and bloody action, nobody has ever done it better than Howard.
November 11, 2013
3 Solomon Kane short stories.
January 10, 2016
A quick read, brain candy,fantasy fiction at its best
September 19, 2016
read between summer 1970 & summer 1974
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