Swords of the North

by Robert E. Howard, Paul Herman (editor), Rusty Burke (introduction)

The REH Foundation Press is proud to present Swords of the North, a collection of Robert E. Howard’s Celtic/Viking adventure stories. The book checks in at 540 pages, and will be printed in hardback with dust jacket, in a limited first-print quantity of 200 copies, each individually numbered. Cover art by Aaron Miller and introduction by Rusty Burke. This volume marks the first publication of the fragment that begins with, “Between berserk battle rages,” which features Cormac Mac Art’s partner, Wulfhere Skull-splitter. It also collects for the first time in one volume all of the James Allison stories and fragments, both incomplete drafts of “The Temple of Abomination,” and other rarities.

Contents
Night Falls on Asgard, introduction by Rusty Burke

Niflheim (verse)
The Frost King’s Daughter (Amra version)
The Valley of the Worm
The Garden of Fear
Marchers of Valhalla
“Feach Air Muir Lionadhi Gealach Buidhe Mar Or” (verse)
The People of the Dark
An Echo From the Iron Harp (verse)
Kings of the Night
Swords of the Northern Sea
The Night of the Wolf
Delenda Est
The Ballad of King Geraint (verse)
The Song of the Last Briton (verse)
Memories of Alfred (verse)
Dreaming on Downs (verse)
The Song of Horsa’s Galley (verse)
Song before Clontarf (verse)
The Grey God Passes
The Dark Man
The Gods of Bal-Sagoth
The Outgoing of Sigurd the Jerusalem-Farer (verse)
Marching Song of Connacht (verse)
The Skull in the Clouds (verse)
The Ghost in the Doorway
Black Michael’s Story (verse)
Dermod’s Bane
The Cairn on the Headland
Black Harps in the Hills (verse)
Appendix 1 – James Allison
Brachan the Kelt
Genseric’s Son
The Guardian of the Idol
Akram the Mysterious
Appendix 2 – Cormac Mac Art
Tigers of the Sea
The Temple of Abomination, early draft
The Temple of Abomination, later draft
Untitled, “Between berserk battle rages”
Appendix 3 – Turlogh Dubh O’Brien
Untitled, “The Dane came in with a rush”
The Shadow of the Hun
Miscellanea
The King’s Service
Where Are Your Knights, Donn Othna? (verse)
No More the Serpent Prow (verse)
Untitled, “ ‘I,’ said Cuchulain”
The Harp of Alfred (verse)
Viking’s Vision (verse)
Thor’s Son (verse)
To Harry the Oliad Men (verse)
The Isle of Hy-Brasil (verse)
Heritage (1) (verse)
Singing Hemp (verse)
The Return of the Sea-Farer (verse)
Heritage (2) (verse)
Viking’s Trail (verse)
To a Friend (verse)
Twilight on Stonehenge (verse)
The House of Gael (verse)

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fiction

490 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2014

About the author

Robert 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.

Reviews

[Austin Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual I won't be rating the short poems included in this collection, or the unfinished stories and drafts.

The Frost King's Daughter - 3⭐

The Valley of the Worm - 3.75⭐

The Garden of Fear - 3.5⭐

Marchers of Valhalla - 3.5⭐

The People of the Dark - 3.25⭐

Kings of the Night - 3.75⭐

Swords of the Northern Sea - 3.25⭐

The Night of the Wolf - 3.25⭐

Delenda Est - 2.25⭐

The Ballad of King Geraint - 3.25⭐

The Grey God Passes - 3.25⭐

The Dark Man - 3.5⭐

The Gods of Bal-Sagoth - 3.75⭐

The Ghost in the Doorway - 2⭐

Dermod's Bane - 2.75⭐

The Cairn on the Headland - 2.75⭐

Overall this is a great collection of stories by REH, and scratch that itch for more action packed and violent tales apart from the well known heroes like Conan and Kull. Some of these have "weird" or supernatural elements (the last couple stories can also be found in the Del Rey book of horror stories by REH) but most are more traditional Norse/viking-themed stories, some with strong historical fiction elements.

[Vincent Darlage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, this is a fantastic collection. Even though I have many of the stories in other REH books, having them all collected into one volume instead of spread out among many is a godsend. Further, the organization of the book in terms of historical chronology instead of when REH wrote them was a stroke of genius, truly showing the themes Rusty Burke discusses in his introduction. This book should be on every Robert E. Howard fan's shelf. It has historical fiction, fantasy, Vikings, Celts, blood, gore, and poetry galore.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic collection of Robert E. Howard's Norse and Gaelic stories. The gems of this volume are the stories: Marchers of Valhalla, Cairn on the Headland and Valley of the Worm. You can't beat Howard for fast paced action packed writing. If you want to be swept up in a story and carried along with the action give Howard a try. Highly Recommended.

[Gregory Mele · Rating 5 out of 5]

REH doesn't need me to review his work.

Instead, what is notable is that his tales of "the Northern thing" -- the Norse and Celtic worlds of Britain and Scandinavia--are among his best work; both in his heroic historical tales (for example, the stories of Cormac mac Art), his historical fantasy (the tales of Turlough Dubh) and his straight up fantasies of James Allison's past lives that clearly draw on Norse legend. All find their way into this collection in the original form, along with reams of Howard's poetry (much of which was new to me) and unfinished tales.

There's a lot to dig into in this big book, and the presentation is excellent. One of the best of my deluxe editions.