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Black Canaan
Black Canaan by Robert Ervin Howard From the age of nine he dreamed of becoming a writer of adventure fiction but did not have real success until he was 23. Thereafter, until his death by suicide at age 30, Howard's writings were published in a wide selection of magazines, journals, and newspapers, and he had become successful in several genres. Although a Conan novel was nearly published in 1934, his stories never appeared in book form during his lifetime. The main outlet for his stories was the pulp magazine Weird Tales.
76 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
7 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Robert E. Howard
2,984 books2,650 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 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 8, 2021
This is a collection of Howard's lesser stories, of interest primarily to completists and die-hards. His energy and enthusiasm is evident, but a couple of them are insufferably racist in nature and some he seemed to lose interest before he got to the end. He only sold three of them before his death, all to Weird Tales; the rest were sold by his estate in the late '60's and early '70's when Conan was taking off in popular society. There's a surprisingly honest and heart-felt introduction by Gahan Wilson, and my Berkley edition has a blurb on the cover that says: "Illustrated * Full Color Fold-Out Poster Inside," but they neglect to identify the artist, Ken Kelly.
September 11, 2014
In his introduction, Gahan Wilson is very frank: "This is, first off, not a collection of the best stories that Howard ever wrote; it is for the completist, for someone seriously intrigued by the author and his works".
And there is quite a bit of snouts and entrails in this collection, depending on how the reader considers the racially charged/incendiary "Black Canaan" and "Moon of Zambebwei".
Both stories hang their tension on fear of the Other, here being the rural African-Americans, the descendants of plantation slaves, who are considered to be a bare step up from the primitive circumstances of their ancestors, reverting to blood worship and violence when exposed to mystic forces or charismatic rabble-rousers. A weak and lesser people without real agency.
The publisher included a 'fold out color poster', all of about 12 inches by 6, of the cover art (from "People of the Black Coast"). It's all very generous, but there's no clear way to actually remove it. So I'm not sure of the purpose.
And there is quite a bit of snouts and entrails in this collection, depending on how the reader considers the racially charged/incendiary "Black Canaan" and "Moon of Zambebwei".
Both stories hang their tension on fear of the Other, here being the rural African-Americans, the descendants of plantation slaves, who are considered to be a bare step up from the primitive circumstances of their ancestors, reverting to blood worship and violence when exposed to mystic forces or charismatic rabble-rousers. A weak and lesser people without real agency.
The publisher included a 'fold out color poster', all of about 12 inches by 6, of the cover art (from "People of the Black Coast"). It's all very generous, but there's no clear way to actually remove it. So I'm not sure of the purpose.
March 6, 2017
This is sort of a collection of Howard's b-sides, lesser known stories for the completist (or so says Gahan Wilson in the prologue). Already being a Howard fan, it was an interesting read.
Right off the bat, some of these stories (including the title story) had huge and obvious problems. Many of which have a promising setup and then abruptly end, like “Dermod's Bane”, which is almost a fragment. “People of the Black Coast” (which is illustrated on the cover and fold-in poster), starts to unroll a Lovecraftian flavor before descending into a sort-of weird montage. Both “Delenda Est” and “The Cobra in the Dream” are partly guilty of the same issue.
As always, Howard's writing is amazingly energetic, pumping straight dramatic power right into your face, so that tends to steam over any problems the stories have. The problem is that his stuff is so good that you want more of it. “The Haunter in the Ring” has a lot of great stuff in it, and I was totally along for the ride, but it dropped me off a little too soon (serious, I would read a whole novella of that). “The Noseless Horror” has a lot of fun bits in it, but skimps on some important stuff and I can't quite get over the unfortunate title.
“Moon of Zambebwei” (which I'd read previously as “Grizzly Horror”) and “The Dwellers Under the Tombs” are both straight up awesome and really left me with no complaints. “The House in the Oaks” is almost there, but I think the repair job by August Derleth might impair it slightly.
I've read and reviewed that title story before... It got high marks from no less a writer than H.P. Lovecraft, and one can see why. It's not Howard's best stuff, and it wallows a too deeply in that old racial quagmire.
Still, the collection on the whole was well worthwile.
Right off the bat, some of these stories (including the title story) had huge and obvious problems. Many of which have a promising setup and then abruptly end, like “Dermod's Bane”, which is almost a fragment. “People of the Black Coast” (which is illustrated on the cover and fold-in poster), starts to unroll a Lovecraftian flavor before descending into a sort-of weird montage. Both “Delenda Est” and “The Cobra in the Dream” are partly guilty of the same issue.
As always, Howard's writing is amazingly energetic, pumping straight dramatic power right into your face, so that tends to steam over any problems the stories have. The problem is that his stuff is so good that you want more of it. “The Haunter in the Ring” has a lot of great stuff in it, and I was totally along for the ride, but it dropped me off a little too soon (serious, I would read a whole novella of that). “The Noseless Horror” has a lot of fun bits in it, but skimps on some important stuff and I can't quite get over the unfortunate title.
“Moon of Zambebwei” (which I'd read previously as “Grizzly Horror”) and “The Dwellers Under the Tombs” are both straight up awesome and really left me with no complaints. “The House in the Oaks” is almost there, but I think the repair job by August Derleth might impair it slightly.
I've read and reviewed that title story before... It got high marks from no less a writer than H.P. Lovecraft, and one can see why. It's not Howard's best stuff, and it wallows a too deeply in that old racial quagmire.
Still, the collection on the whole was well worthwile.
April 28, 2013
Good collection of stories. Black Canaan is a favorite of mine. I have some doubts that REH would have finished "The House" with the suicide of John Conrad, but it is a Lovecraftian ending (Augest Derleth finished the REH fragment in this volume).
March 1, 2025
In the dark depths of the Louisiana bayou, Kirby Buckner returns to his homeland, troubled by a mysterious warning of impending doom.
Anyway, we find ourselves in 1870s Arkansas, a secluded area cut off by rivers from the outside world. This is Canaan, practically a seperate country that discourages outsiders and minds its own sullen business. It's populated by the descendants of the first white settlers and by the descendants of their slaves. Frankly, racial violence waiting to happen.
A malevolent conjure man, Saul Stark. Enchanted by a mysterious quadroon girl, Buckner is drawn into a whirlwind of voodoo and supernatural forces as they cause chaos. Because apperantly there's no other logical reason black people in the Jim Crow South would be angry.
Robert E Howard trying to be racially tolerant? The story is also likely to offend just about everyone in one way or another. There's a drawback to reading 1930s pulp stories.
Interesting.
1.5/5 The writing is well done.
Can't say I'd read it twice.
Or ever again.
Blech.
Anyway, we find ourselves in 1870s Arkansas, a secluded area cut off by rivers from the outside world. This is Canaan, practically a seperate country that discourages outsiders and minds its own sullen business. It's populated by the descendants of the first white settlers and by the descendants of their slaves. Frankly, racial violence waiting to happen.
A malevolent conjure man, Saul Stark. Enchanted by a mysterious quadroon girl, Buckner is drawn into a whirlwind of voodoo and supernatural forces as they cause chaos. Because apperantly there's no other logical reason black people in the Jim Crow South would be angry.
Robert E Howard trying to be racially tolerant? The story is also likely to offend just about everyone in one way or another. There's a drawback to reading 1930s pulp stories.
Interesting.
1.5/5 The writing is well done.
Can't say I'd read it twice.
Or ever again.
Blech.
March 1, 2021
This story is flat out offensive.
May 5, 2024
Everyone, even Gahan Wilson himself, said this book was only for completionists, that it was some of Robert Howard's most crap stories.
Well... I guess I'm that completionist, because I read it.
BLACK CANAAN
The titular story of the collection might be Howard's most racist, and would make Lovecraft himself proud. Taking place in a swampland country, it tells the story of a macho-man hero running around said swamp, investigating the mysterious disappearance of all the... ...ah... ...of all the 'N-words' (A word that is said roughly ten thousand times, because not only is it the only thing the swamp folk can think to call their slaves, but its also a name of the topography). Why are they missing? Where did they go? The natural conclusion can only be that they're massing for an attack, just as they've done before! This time they've been roused by a powerful voodoo man and his evil, sexy daughter/wife (I forget which it turned out to be), who is sexy because she's well-spoken, and has white-woman features, even though she's black.
What immediately struck me about this story (besides the great relief that I was not reading it out loud) was the skin-crawling feeling that this story was almost too real. A bunch of gun-toting white dudes discover that some black people have run away, so their response is "They must be BUILDING AN ARMY in the swamp! GIT ALL THE BOYS, GIT THE GUNS! We'll raid 'em first, stop 'em from doing any of their unspeakable black acts upon our good women-folk!"
Yeesh. *tugs collar*. Boy was I happy to be done with THIS one.
THE HAUNTER OF THE RING
I barely remembered what 'Delenda Est' was about, so let's move on to The Haunter of the Ring, which mercifully did not involve black people (but DID, I think, involve an evil asian guy, so... you win a little, you lose a little).
The Haunter of the Ring begins a strange trend with this book of stories that would have felt far more at home penned by a different Howard. "Gibber jabber about past lives, long lengthy exposition of terrible events, and the main characters are upper-middle-class academics? This feels LOVECRAFTIAN more than like a Robert E Howard story!"
But let's face it, had this been Lovecraft, the woman in the story would have gotten ZERO lines instead of only a few.
THE HOUSE IN THE OAKS
Another story that felt more like a work of Lovecraft than Howard, considering it ends with madness and death and no one "reacts with lightning speed and instinct" to shoot/punch a monster in the face. This story I almost kind of liked. It didn't bring anything new or great to the table, but, well- it wasn't bad.
Next up was a trio of short, bland, bland BLAND little stories. In THE COBRA AND THE DREAM a man dies from his new-found phobia of snakes. DERMODS BANE was a snoozer, and PEOPLE OF THE BLACK COAST was clearly some sort of revenge fantasy Howard had against crabs.
THE NOSELESS HORROR
...Or, as I like to call it, 'The Most Absurd Red Herring'.
The Story is called 'The Noseless Horror'. Our protagonists, heading to the house of their explorer-friend (who has just recovered a mummy), are met at the door by a noseless indian man. Their friend is attacked in the night, and before he dies he yells something about "The noseless horror!".
...the horror, as it turns out, is NOT the noseless servant, but the mummy.
So, there we go.
(As a final note, this story reminded me of 'Out of the Aeons' by Hazel Heald. Someone turned into a still-living mummy? Gatanothoa's right around the corner, chuckling it up!)
MOON OF ZAMBEBWEI
More racist caricatures of black people, led by a smart black guy who's smart because he looks white, worship a big gorilla in a swamp.
That's about it.
IN SUMMARY
Well, everyone said it. Even Gahan Wilson himself. These were terrible stories, fit only for those who want to say "I've read EVERY SINGLE Robert E Howard Story!". They ranged from terrible to not great.
...But, as a completionist... I suppose I did still find some interest in it. It's Robert Howard, which means, even as bad as it was, it still could have been far, far WORSE and more uncomfortable in the hands of other authors doing the same thing. I'll look forward to reading some much better Howard in the future, but I was not wholly displeased to have read this one, gaining a little picture of what Robert Howard looked like when he wasn't churning out gold.
But don't read it unless you're a completionist.
PS: Hold the phone! There was ONE story in this one I kind of actually liked! THE DWELLERS UNDER THE TOMBS! It's a bit meandering, with a bit of a bait-and-switch as far as what's going on, but I still thought it was kind of neat and spooky. Plus it reminded me of a Call of Cthulhu module I ran called 'Darkness Beneath the Hill'. So, maybe you'll like this one if you, like me, have also played Call of Cthulhu and run through 'Darkness Beneath the Hill'.
Well... I guess I'm that completionist, because I read it.
BLACK CANAAN
The titular story of the collection might be Howard's most racist, and would make Lovecraft himself proud. Taking place in a swampland country, it tells the story of a macho-man hero running around said swamp, investigating the mysterious disappearance of all the... ...ah... ...of all the 'N-words' (A word that is said roughly ten thousand times, because not only is it the only thing the swamp folk can think to call their slaves, but its also a name of the topography). Why are they missing? Where did they go? The natural conclusion can only be that they're massing for an attack, just as they've done before! This time they've been roused by a powerful voodoo man and his evil, sexy daughter/wife (I forget which it turned out to be), who is sexy because she's well-spoken, and has white-woman features, even though she's black.
What immediately struck me about this story (besides the great relief that I was not reading it out loud) was the skin-crawling feeling that this story was almost too real. A bunch of gun-toting white dudes discover that some black people have run away, so their response is "They must be BUILDING AN ARMY in the swamp! GIT ALL THE BOYS, GIT THE GUNS! We'll raid 'em first, stop 'em from doing any of their unspeakable black acts upon our good women-folk!"
Yeesh. *tugs collar*. Boy was I happy to be done with THIS one.
THE HAUNTER OF THE RING
I barely remembered what 'Delenda Est' was about, so let's move on to The Haunter of the Ring, which mercifully did not involve black people (but DID, I think, involve an evil asian guy, so... you win a little, you lose a little).
The Haunter of the Ring begins a strange trend with this book of stories that would have felt far more at home penned by a different Howard. "Gibber jabber about past lives, long lengthy exposition of terrible events, and the main characters are upper-middle-class academics? This feels LOVECRAFTIAN more than like a Robert E Howard story!"
But let's face it, had this been Lovecraft, the woman in the story would have gotten ZERO lines instead of only a few.
THE HOUSE IN THE OAKS
Another story that felt more like a work of Lovecraft than Howard, considering it ends with madness and death and no one "reacts with lightning speed and instinct" to shoot/punch a monster in the face. This story I almost kind of liked. It didn't bring anything new or great to the table, but, well- it wasn't bad.
Next up was a trio of short, bland, bland BLAND little stories. In THE COBRA AND THE DREAM a man dies from his new-found phobia of snakes. DERMODS BANE was a snoozer, and PEOPLE OF THE BLACK COAST was clearly some sort of revenge fantasy Howard had against crabs.
THE NOSELESS HORROR
...Or, as I like to call it, 'The Most Absurd Red Herring'.
The Story is called 'The Noseless Horror'. Our protagonists, heading to the house of their explorer-friend (who has just recovered a mummy), are met at the door by a noseless indian man. Their friend is attacked in the night, and before he dies he yells something about "The noseless horror!".
...the horror, as it turns out, is NOT the noseless servant, but the mummy.
So, there we go.
(As a final note, this story reminded me of 'Out of the Aeons' by Hazel Heald. Someone turned into a still-living mummy? Gatanothoa's right around the corner, chuckling it up!)
MOON OF ZAMBEBWEI
More racist caricatures of black people, led by a smart black guy who's smart because he looks white, worship a big gorilla in a swamp.
That's about it.
IN SUMMARY
Well, everyone said it. Even Gahan Wilson himself. These were terrible stories, fit only for those who want to say "I've read EVERY SINGLE Robert E Howard Story!". They ranged from terrible to not great.
...But, as a completionist... I suppose I did still find some interest in it. It's Robert Howard, which means, even as bad as it was, it still could have been far, far WORSE and more uncomfortable in the hands of other authors doing the same thing. I'll look forward to reading some much better Howard in the future, but I was not wholly displeased to have read this one, gaining a little picture of what Robert Howard looked like when he wasn't churning out gold.
But don't read it unless you're a completionist.
PS: Hold the phone! There was ONE story in this one I kind of actually liked! THE DWELLERS UNDER THE TOMBS! It's a bit meandering, with a bit of a bait-and-switch as far as what's going on, but I still thought it was kind of neat and spooky. Plus it reminded me of a Call of Cthulhu module I ran called 'Darkness Beneath the Hill'. So, maybe you'll like this one if you, like me, have also played Call of Cthulhu and run through 'Darkness Beneath the Hill'.
March 1, 2025
Another collection of Howard’s horror stories. Most can be found in other collections. A serious money grab in the 1970s? Two of them were not published in his lifetime. One of which was finished by August Derleth.
An introduction was written by cartoonist Gahan Wilson. He is nothing but critical of Howard, his writing and his stories.
“The House in the Oaks” – (A Cthulhu story) Conrad tells Kirowan of his obsession with the poet Justin Geoffrey. They visit a house which was a subject of Geoffrey’s poetry and later, psychosis. Later, Conrad breaks in and stays most of the night, until he flees in terror.
“The Dwellers under the Tombs” – (A Cthulu story) Job Kiles visits Conrad and Kirowan and claims he has seen his brother, even though he died last week and is buried in an elaborate tomb under a hill. They all visit the gravesite and here someone crying “Help!”
An introduction was written by cartoonist Gahan Wilson. He is nothing but critical of Howard, his writing and his stories.
“The House in the Oaks” – (A Cthulhu story) Conrad tells Kirowan of his obsession with the poet Justin Geoffrey. They visit a house which was a subject of Geoffrey’s poetry and later, psychosis. Later, Conrad breaks in and stays most of the night, until he flees in terror.
“The Dwellers under the Tombs” – (A Cthulu story) Job Kiles visits Conrad and Kirowan and claims he has seen his brother, even though he died last week and is buried in an elaborate tomb under a hill. They all visit the gravesite and here someone crying “Help!”
June 2, 2025
This is the worst... well, the worst thing of any kind I've ever read. To get any worse it would have to be The Turner Diaries. But in all its grotesque, monstrous racism, it's highly instructive of what conservatives actually think. This is how the right-wing actually views Black people when you strip away their euphemisms and plausible deniability, and they hate "political correctness" or "wokeness" because it prevents them from saying this stuff out loud like they were able to 100 years ago. Read this if you want to truly understand how Republicans think.
September 28, 2020
A random collection of REH's works. Contains ghosts, juju men, vampires, snakes, crabs, and, of course, degenerate humanoids living under the earth. Some of these are not his best but they're still thrilling like all his works. Some are very good. "Black Canaan" is an excellent story, super racist, but plenty exciting. Get this more to have a complete collection than for the quality.
December 6, 2020
A lighthearted romp in the bayou, not.
June 7, 2022
A variety of small stories, most of them are interesting
June 20, 2024
A man comes home to his backwoods town to find it under threat by a bokor
November 28, 2019
Wer seine Robert E. Howard Sammlung auf deutsch komplettieren will, gut, der Rest kann es getrost ignorieren.
February 12, 2025
A very good book to help you formulate an image of the enemy if you don't have the talent to do it yourself.
October 23, 2014
Not politically correct today, it's pretty good horror in Howard's heroic style.
January 3, 2009
I might give this 3 and a half stars. It's some of Howard's lesser horror works, although there are some fine stories here. Overall, the collection is not his strongest.
May 11, 2017
Some of the stories here are good, but the title story and the last story in the collection are pretty awful.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews