Wolfshead

by Robert E. Howard

Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. He is well known for having created the character Conan the Cimmerian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond. Voracious reading, along with a natural talent for prose writing and the encouragement of teachers, conspired to create in Howard an interest in becoming a professional writer. One by one he discovered the authors that would influence his later work: Jack London and Rudyard Kipling. It's clear from Howard's earliest writings and the recollections of his friends that he suffered from severe depression from an early age. Friends recall him defending the act of suicide as a valid alternative as early as eighteen years old, describing such an end not as a tragedy but as a release from hell on earth.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Werewolves, Pulp, Adventure

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1926

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

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wolfshead was the first collection of Howard's non-Conan horror fiction to be generally distributed in a mass-market edition. It contains six stories, all of which I believe were subsequently included in various Berkley or Zebra collections, but until then they were mostly known only to readers of the elusive Arkham House books such as Skull Face and Others, or collectors of the original issues of Weird Tales, where most of them were first printed from the late 1920's - early '30's. On the negative side, some of them are quite racist in nature; male Anglo-Saxons are the heroes, everyone else was secondary. On the positive side, Howard was a gifted storyteller with a real knack of capturing fast-paced action/adventure. He set rich historical vistas and quickly moved on to supernatural thrills. His vampires and werewolves were big influences on the monster tropes we see in current supernatural fiction. This Lancer edition has a Frazetta cover that shows a mighty barbarian wrestling a giant snake and waving a sword while a shadowy sorcerer lurks in the background, and an excerpt from a letter Howard wrote to Lovecraft that serves as an introduction.

[Isobelle Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a lot of REH lately. Like HPL, his stories are needlessly marred by overt racism, but in REH's case, this racism is sometimes a literal cornerstone of the story. It makes it difficult to get through a collection like this, or Black Canaan, which is even worse. REH was a great writer and had an amazing imagination. Stories just poured out of him. To me, its something of a tragedy that so much of his material is wasted in this way. Both REH and HPL increasingly make me glad of the writings of Dunsany, who, for all I know, may have felt the same way but did not choose (so far as I have seen to this point) to express these sentiments in his fiction. The result is that Dunsany remains relatable and timeless almost 100 years later, while the others, for all of their talents are dated and their audiences limited by their incessant racial diatribes.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the earliest examples of the werewolf legend, back when they were terrifying and shrouded in dark superstitions. It almost reads like a side quest in a fantasy RPG. Simple and effective.

[Rafal Jasinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zbiór opowiadań, odkrywających nieco mniej znane obszary dorobku twórcy Conana Barbarzyńcy, który udowadnia, że R. E. Howard doskonale czuł się w przestrzeni literackiego horroru, nie ustępując w tym czołowym reprezentantom gatunku swojej epoki.

Clou zbioru to historie skupiające się na horrorze i grozie, które wiążą się z pradawną magią, obrzędami i kultami, mającymi swe źródła w tradycji i mitologii ludów afrykańskich - a właściwie w tym, jak postrzegane były owe tajemne i złowrogie rytuały przez białego człowieka. Tak więc karty tej książki wypełnione są horrorem, w których prym wiodą "dżu-dżu", magia voodoo, zombie - tu nazywane "zuvembie" (które później zapożyczono od Howarda w komiksach, w celu "oszukania" cenzorów) i wszelkiej maści zwierzołaki - nie wyłączając klasycznego wilkołaka, którego genezę wplótł autor w ramy mitologii afrykańskiej...

Wszystkie opowiadania spisane są niezwykle sugestywnym, potoczystym stylem, doskonale znanym i cenionym przez wszystkich wielbicieli jego twórczości. Klimat opowieści jest gęsty i - dzięki umiejętnie budowanemu napięciu - historie potrafią solidnie przyśpieszyć tętno - zwłaszcza cechujące się nieco kuriozalnym tytułem opowiadanie "Gołębie z piekła", wskazywane ponoć przez samego Stephena Kinga, jako jedna z najstraszniejszych rzeczy, jakie przeczytał - i mimo pewnej przewidywalności, czasem zaskoczyć.

Minusem okazać się może fakt, iż są to dzieła swoich czasów, jeśli chodzi o kwestię postrzegania i traktowania w nich czarnoskórych, zarówno mieszkańców Afryki, jak i - głównie - niewolników w Ameryce. Niemal wszyscy biali bohaterowie tej książki, to ludzie pełni uprzedzeń i przesądów, traktujący czarnoskórych z pogardą i bezwzględnym okrucieństwem. Czytanie opisów, w których odmawia się czarnoskórym człowieczeństwa - porównując ich bezpośrednio do bestii i małp - upokarza i bezpardonowo demonizuje ich kulturę, powoduje jednak pewien dyskomfort.

Jakkolwiek, lektura warta uwagi - faktor grozy jest tu naprawdę wysoki i z pewnością znajdziecie tu, co najmniej jedno lub dwa opowiadania, które w ramach gatunku można uznać za wybitne. Polecam!

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains six short stories, The Black Stone, The Valley of the Worm, Wolfshead, The Fire of Asshurbanipal, The House of Arabu, and The Horror From the Mound with an introduction by Robert Bloch. Every story was outstanding with the only exception being Wolfshead which I liked but not as much as the rest. I enjoy Howards ability to give you stories with a historical base and then take you into a spine tingling adventure of horror and action. In Wolfshead and The Horror From the Mound you get two examples of werewolf and vampire stories which are far more believable than the junk that is pushed on the reading public of today. In fact the latter story had me all a tingling by the end of the tale! Loved it! Two other stories I really loved was The valley of the Worm where he uses a reincarnation base remembrance to tell the tale of ancient days of a story which caused all the legends of dragon slaying and The House of Arabu where we have a man of old Aryan stock who has wandered down to old Sumeria land and takes on natural and supernatural foes alike. Great use of the legends and demonic characters of that culture. Cannot praise these stories enough.

[Peregrine 12 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of R.E. Howard's best short stories are in this collection. Considering that these stories were written in the 1920's and 30's - long before our popular notions of werewolves and vampires were described ad nauseum - Howard's stories paint pictures of terror and the unknown that is refreshing to read, and lots and lots of fun.

Contents: The Black Stone; The Valley of the Worm; Wolfshead; The Fire of Asshurbanipal; The House of Arabu; The Horror from the Mound.

In this man's opinion, only 'The House of Arabu' failed to live up to the suspense and adventure of the rest. (Still, 'Arabu' was a fun read - hey, it was about a barbarian!)

[Leothefox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wound up ordering this book via Amazon after the coffee shop where I first found it refused to sell it to me or take another book in trade (jerks).

Robert E. Howard collections have always been worthwhile (for me, at least) and this was no exception. I'd read "The Black Stone" and "The Valley of the Worm" in other ones, but the other four were new to me and well worthwhile.

The Robert Bloch introduction is interesting too, especially if you're aware of his infamous blast at Conan in a letter to Weird Tales (which he addresses).

"The Fire of Asshurbanipal" and "The House of Arabu" were highlights. They both bring that Lovecraft flavor, enhanced by the trademark Howard steroids. Elder Gods, vampires, werewolves, witches, djins, devils, and sword wielding henchmen all add up to awesome energetic reading.

[Genna · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent representative of the weird fiction category, but loses an extra star for being irritatingly and unnecessarily racist.

[Benjamin Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great fantasy & horror stories. REH was more than a competent wordsmith and catches the reader in the sweeping heroics or blood-chilling terror of the tale he's weaving. Whatever the main character was feeling, I felt it, too, as I read.

The pieces here all have a horror bent, with cosmic beings and ancient fiends terrorizing either some unlucky explorer or doing battle with some sword-swinging hero. Monsters abound, vampires and werewolves are real, and the netherworld can be entered with a demon holding your hand (bring an enchanted scimitar just in case).

There were a few gruesome moments that shocked me, especially for stories written in the 1930s. Tentacled monsters eating villains is one thing, but the human sacrifice visions of the collection's first story "The Black Stone" turned me off. I'm glad I continued after that story. REH did not have the most positive outlook on humanity, so it's expected for some darkness to creep in, but I felt more comfortable with his stories about barbarians battling primordial creatures than straight-up horror.

Perhaps the best of the tales was "The Valley of the Worm," a pulpy memory of a past life, involving clashing barbarian tribes, ruins of an ancient civilization, and plenty of monster slaying. "The Fire of Asshurbanipal" and "The House of Arabu" are pretty great, too.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 6 stories captured in Wolfshead are not about Conan, are longer than most of his Conan works, and held to be some of his finest writings. I have to agree that they are some of the finest Howard stories I have read (note that my list of Howard works is simply this book and Conan). In short, the writing was beautifully haunting and drew me in time and again; however, this wordy skill is off-balanced by the few racist references and sexist overtone. While I can stand in awe of Howard’s wordsmith, I’m also adult enough to acknowledge the white male chauvinism embedded in the works without dismissing them as ‘due to the times and location’ (Howard wrote in 1920s Texas).

[Little Timmy · Rating 1 out of 5]

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.

[Mark Tallen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Werewolf story but with a welcome difference. An early Robert E. Howard horror story.

[John Reis]

This book contains six of Howard’s horror stories.

“The Black Stone” An unnamed narrator becomes interested in stories of an old eccentric who died in odd circumstances after visiting a village in Eastern Europe.
The narrator travels there with great difficulty and talks to the villagers of a black stone in a field nearby. He visits the stone and sees, or only hallucinates a ceremony to a slimy, frog-like god.

“The Valley of the Worm” tells the tale of a Norsemen who learns that members of his tribe who have gone off to start a new tribe have all been killed horribly by some strange horror that crept out of a pit.

“Wolfshead” A man hosts a party at his home, warning his guests to bar their doors at night. Not all of them take him seriously.

“The Fire of Asshurbanipal” Yar Ali and Steve Clarney hear a tale of a great fiery pearl and go in quest of it.

“The House of Arabu” Pyrrhas is a soldier in Naram-ninub’s army. One night in his feast hall, Pyrrhas sees an apparition come out of a dancing girl. He kills her. Several more such experiences bring him to seek out an old priest, Gimil-ishbi. He is given a spell and potion to discover the person haunting him.

“The Horror from the Mound” Steve Brill is a starving farmer in the Old West. He becomes curious about an old Indian burial mound on the border of his property. His neighbor Lopez warns against it. Ignoring Lopez, he digs into the mound releasing an ancient menace.

Horror is not my thing, but these are all good little stories. My favorites are: The Black Stone, The Valley of the Worm, Wolfshead and the Horror from the Mound.

[Nolan Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read the majority of Robert E. Howard's Conan books, and picked this one up at a store as one I've never seen before.

These stories are decent, a few superb, a few approaching, pros and cons to each. If you've read much of Howard's work, you'll notice the formula within them and some of the patterns he relies on, especially if you read them all in one sitting.

A few of the stories start slowly- and I certainly had a few moments of disappointment along with a deep sigh at the racism involved in most of them- but overall I enjoyed the collection. I can always count on this author to have pitched something that is still interesting even after all this time.

My favorites were The Black Stone and The Fire of Asshurbanipal.

Recommend to readers of fantasy and weird fiction and horror.

[Dubzor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is tough to review. While the writing is actually quite good and the stories engaging and delightfully pulpy...

The racism...holy God the racism is impossible to overlook. It overshadows every story it shows up in, which is most of them, and immediately halted any enjoyment I was having.

If it isn't the blatant glorification of the "anglo-saxon" it's the casual and wanton belittling and degradation of Africans, Mexicans, Native peoples, Women, Muslims, Jews...no one is safe. Worst of all, it makes all protagonists immediately unlikable if not horrific people.

If you can look passed all that, it's fun monster pulp. I just can't see myself reading any more of his work if this is any indication.

[David Macpherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flowery overwritten prose? check. Unspeakable horror discovered in a buried mound that should be avoided but isn't? check? Racist attitudes? check. Really affecting horror stories? check, dammit. I liked this group of stories more than I thought I would. Some of them were cheesy, the title story for instance. But the cthulhu pieces are really good, so it evens out. I liked this collection more than the Conan stories I've read.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six horror stories from the pulp master. Although a couple deal with the more traditional monsters, i.e.: a werewolf and a vampire, "The Valley Of The Worm" is more in line with the classic Howard tale of past life regression, a Norse barbarian, and an ancient horror.
Also, as Howard has done in other stories, he advances the Lovecraft mythos and his world of old gods and unspeakable terrors.
Perhaps not Howard's best, but always entertaining.

[Charles Winters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Lovecraft stories that were not written by Lovecraft himself.

[Christian Ovsenik · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last story, "The Horror from the Mound", was really the best. Unfortunately it was filled with racism.

[Forked Radish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be sure to read In the Forest of Villefere first.

[John Dembowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Predictable but fun.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for the werewolf story. Written by a friend of Lovecraft. Extremely racist

[Pedro Plasencia Martínez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuación directa de 'En el bosque de Villefere', aunque en algunas ediciones vienen las dos historias juntas como una. Esta es considerablemente más larga y en ella aparecen un grupo amplio de personajes, mientras que en el anterior relato solo había dos y servía prácticamente como una introducción. 'Wolfshead' se lee con menos impresión y carece del misticismo original que había en el primer fantasmagórico cuento, aunque hay una situación novedosa interesante, pues las tornas han cambiado y el pobre De Montour debe sobrellevar ahora una carga demasiado grande sin levantar sospechas. Los añadidos de las tribus africanas que merodean y de las sospechas que surgen entre los invitados cuando empiezan las muertes dentro del refugio consiguen mantener el interés del lector y que no sea más de lo mismo, hay suficientes diferencias como para valorarla como una buena segunda parte que sí tiene algo que aportar.

ENGLISH
A direct sequel to 'In the Forest of Villefere,' although some editions include both stories together. This one is considerably longer and features a larger cast of characters, whereas the previous tale only had two and served primarily as an introduction. 'Wolfshead' is less impactful and lacks the original mysticism of the first ghostly story, though it does present an interesting new situation: the tables have turned, and poor De Montour must now bear an unbearable burden without arousing suspicion. The addition of the lurking African tribes and the suspicions that arise among the guests when the deaths begin within the refuge manage to maintain the reader's interest and prevent it from feeling like more of the same. There are enough differences to consider it a good sequel that does have something new to offer.

[Per · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://archive.org/details/WeirdTale...
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601...

This is the second short story featuring de Montour (of Normandy), In the Forest of Villefère(*) being the first. Werewolf stories are a dime a dozen in the early Weird Tales, so it takes a bit more than this one to reach a three star rating from me. Howard himself seems to have agreed, since "[o]n reading 'Wolfshead' in Weird Tales [he] became dismayed with his writing."

(*) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Marko · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are very early stories by Robert E. Howard and nowhere near to his best work. I enjoyed In the Forest of Villefère more than I did its sequel. Even though it is the simpler and more straight-forward of the two, it seems to hearken back to the simple horror/fairy tales that I grew up reading. Both of these stories provide an interesting point of view to the werewolf myth and are very much worth a read.

Full review:
http://susimetsa.blogspot.fi/2015/09/...

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published when he was only 20 (1926), this is an accomplished werewolf story (one of three about the tormented nobleman De Montour) set in the slave trading Africa of the Ancien Regime.

There is a slight momentary slip into the dull exposition of an explanatory mythos which is one of Howard's tics but it is otherwise thrilling pulp with good characterisation.

Needless to say, the politically correct will find aspects of the tale abhorrent but then they should read little written before 1940 and so save themselves sleepless nights, the sensitive little flowers.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Wolfshead, by REH is a classic no nonsense werewolf story. It takes place in Africa, and there is all the baggage that entails from 1920's pulps. There is also as usual, action and adventure. This can be found in 'The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard', Audible edition.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains "The Valley of the Worm," my absolute favorite REH story.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

did not read this edition with intro. by Bloch; read ( I think the Ace edition) SOMETIME in 2002

[James Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of acquaintances visit a African homestead and company. Mysterious attacks start to occur. Is a werewolf to blame?