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Conan's Brethren
Robert E. Howard (1906-36) is best known for his stories about Conan the Barbarian. However, Howard was a prolific writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, Westerns, detective, sports stories, true confessions and other genre fiction. During his short career, he created a number of memorable characters in the pages of Weird Tales and other pulp magazines, including the the vengeful Puritan swashbuckler Solomon Kane, King Kull of Valusia, and the Pictish chieftain Bran Mak Morn.
This companion volume to The Complete Chronicles of Conan contains stories featuring Conan's brothers-in-arms, from Howard's very first professionally published story, through the exploits of Kane, Kull, and the Picts, to a number of Oriental adventures, an early draft of a Conan story, and a posthumously published space opera in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Compiled and with a historical afterword by Stephen Jones, and lavishly illustrated by Les Edwards, this is a volume that no Robert E. Howard fan will want to miss.
This companion volume to The Complete Chronicles of Conan contains stories featuring Conan's brothers-in-arms, from Howard's very first professionally published story, through the exploits of Kane, Kull, and the Picts, to a number of Oriental adventures, an early draft of a Conan story, and a posthumously published space opera in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Compiled and with a historical afterword by Stephen Jones, and lavishly illustrated by Les Edwards, this is a volume that no Robert E. Howard fan will want to miss.
719 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
15 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
About the author
Robert E. Howard
2,982 books2,645 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 12, 2023
This collection is a bit more uneven than the collection of all of Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories that I read last year. That said, there's still a lot of tremendous stories within. I most enjoyed the stories of Bran Mak Morn, Kull the Conqueror, and the short novel Almuric. Howard isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if you like his writing, this collection is well worth your time.
August 4, 2016
The Gollancz Black Leather library editions continue with this welcome hefty tome. Robert Ervin Howard is, of course, perhaps best known for the character of Conan and his world of Hyperborea, which have already been released in such an edition.
However, less well known are the other characters created by Howard in his sadly short writing career, whose stories were often published after the author’s death. (Howard took his own life at the age of thirty, in 1936.) Here we meet a diverse range of the other characters, from the Puritan Solomon Kane to Kull the King of Atlantis and Brak Man Morn, the rebel.
As befits the other books in this series, this is a lovely edition. Yet, lovely as it is, it is not the accouterments that make the book, but the writing within that makes this book a treat. Though the names here are less well known, there are tales, ideas and characters here that are, dare I say it, at times better than the Conan stories.
The book does show its origins however. Howard was published professionally for a mere twelve years in his lifetime, work written for the pulps at a ridiculously low rate and at astonishing speed. Consequently, names become a little interchangeable and situations become increasingly frantic after dashing from one set piece to another. This was what the pulp readers wanted, divided into chapters or kept hanging until the next instalment next month or a few months after. Howard was writing for a prescribed audience and was writing to be sold for entertainment with few pretensions.
As some of the tales are over eighty years old, the purple vocabulary is passionate but can be a tad wearing: rather like spending time with a hyperactive relation, I suspect – at first rather exhilarating, but after a day or so of intense exposure rather exhausting
When in such a huge tome as this, the hyperventilated enthusiasm can become repetitive and formulaic if read in large chunks. It may be better to read only a story or two at a time and then have a break: I found this similarly with Lovecraft and Howard’s Conan, for the same reason.
Some readers may also find issue with the reflected cultures of the 1920’s and 30’s. We have African cannibals and jungle savages in the unexplored territories. The issue of ‘the noble savage’ is not really addressed here, but rather slaughtered instead as a means of entertainment. This will not sit easily with many, though it can perhaps be seen as a reflection of some views at the time of writing. (That does mean, sadly, a lack of good female characters.)
On the more positive side, what you do find here is a much broader range of tales than you get in the Conan canon, from the historic to the action-epic, from the precursor of the sword-and-sorcery tale to the Lovecraftian supernatural tale. (Howard and Lovecraft were constant correspondents.)
Considering all of the limitations that were imposed upon them, I was surprised how varied the tales were in tone: written at such speed, I was expecting a book much more homogeneous. There’s adventure tales, horror stories and historical narratives here that suggest that there’s more to Howard than just Conan. (I’ve put a full list of the stories at the bottom of this review.) Howard’s first ever published story, Spear and Fang, from Weird Tales in 1925, is included here. Though it is a rather unremarkable caveman tale, published at the age of 19 it hints at what is later to be published. More appropriate to his skills, Solomon Kane, a 16th century Puritanical preacher seeking to destroy all sins, is a memorably sombre character as he travels the USA, England, Germany and Africa fighting ghosts, vampires and slave traders. In the seven stories and one piece of poetry about Kane given here, nearly all of the Solomon Kane stories, we see an often dis-likable character with a righteous cause, who will stop at nothing to defend what he sees as right.
Of an older historical time, the four stories of Brak Man Morn included show a tortured character that David Gemmell would’ve been proud of, the King of the beleaguered Picts, fighting Celts, Romans and (in typical Weird Tales style) the odd Lovecraftian monster. Kull the Conqueror, the exiled Last King of Atlantis and Ruler of Valusia, is the less complex, earlier template for Conan that in three stories seems more like the movie version of Conan than the Conan novels do. Sailor and boxer Steve Costigan fights both pirates and evil monsters from the ocean depths that would eat Captain Jack Sparrow for breakfast. The novel-length planetary romance Almuric tells of Esau Cairn, a muscular character of Earth displaced to a different planet and a hero not that dissimilar from Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter. Also not too far away from John Carter, James Allison is a character from 1930’s Texas* who, rather like Michael Moorcock’s later Eternal Champion, lives as a hero in many previous lives. Heroes and adventurers all, broad in range and yet similar in style, they are the epitome of pulp fiction, showing all the strengths and weaknesses of the time.
However, furthermore on the plus side, the details included as extras are worth noting. We have to start with an Introduction written by Howard to fellow writers Harold Preece and H P Lovecraft explaining the context of his characters. Howard was often interested by outsiders, by people of different races and in particular, the ‘small, dark, Mediterranean (?) aborigines of Britain.’ Here he tries to explain his interest. It is fascinating, if rather politically un-correct reading. The drawings throughout from Les Edwards are, as ever, sympathetically presented throughout and nicely done generally in black and white. The Afterword by horror writer Stephen Jones makes a nice counterpoint to the one written by him in the Conan edition, though as you might expect there is some repetition here for the benefit of those who have not experienced Howard before.
In summary, it must be said that Conan’s Brethren does reflect its age. It’s full of action and yet talky, enthusiastic, naïve, overblown and even at times clumsy. Nevertheless, once again by reading these tales I’m reminded by what a loss to Fantasy Howard was, and wonder what he could have achieved with a few more years of experience and work. The book is a testament to the skills of an imaginative writer whose efforts influenced many of today’s contemporary writers. If you want to see where George RR Martin, Karl Edward Wagner, Mike Moorcock, Fritz Leiber and many others got their inspiration from, it is important to read this book. And this edition does the work justice.**
Recommended.
*Perhaps based on Howard himself – living in Cross Plains, Texas, he enjoyed gym training and often took part in boxing matches.
**Later edit: Since this review was written, the book has become available on the Kindle and other e-book readers.
Full Story list:
INTRODUCTION by Robert E. Howard
Solomon Kane
SOLOMON KANE’S HOMECOMING (verse)
RED SHADOWS
SKULLS IN THE STARS
RATTLE OF BONES
THE MOON OF SKULLS
THE HILLS OF THE DEAD
THE FOOTFALLS WITHIN
WINGS IN THE NIGHT
King Kull
THE SHADOW KINGDOM
THE MIRRORS OF TUZUN THUNE
THE KING AND THE OAK (verse)
Bran Mak Morn & the Picts
THE LOST RACE
KINGS OF THE NIGHT
THE DARK MAN
WORMS OF THE EARTH
Savages, Swordsmen & Sorcerers
SPEAR AND FANG
HAWKS OF OUTREMER
THE GODS OF BAL-SAGOTH
THE SOWERS OF THE THUNDER
LORD OF SAMARCAND
THE LION OF TIBERIAS
THE SHADOW OF THE VULTURE
THE VALLEY OF THE WORM
THE FROST KING’S DAUGHTER
THE GARDEN OF FEAR
GATES OF EMPIRE
ALMURIC
THE GHOST KINGS (verse)
AFTERWORD: KINSMEN OF CONAN by Stephen Jones
However, less well known are the other characters created by Howard in his sadly short writing career, whose stories were often published after the author’s death. (Howard took his own life at the age of thirty, in 1936.) Here we meet a diverse range of the other characters, from the Puritan Solomon Kane to Kull the King of Atlantis and Brak Man Morn, the rebel.
As befits the other books in this series, this is a lovely edition. Yet, lovely as it is, it is not the accouterments that make the book, but the writing within that makes this book a treat. Though the names here are less well known, there are tales, ideas and characters here that are, dare I say it, at times better than the Conan stories.
The book does show its origins however. Howard was published professionally for a mere twelve years in his lifetime, work written for the pulps at a ridiculously low rate and at astonishing speed. Consequently, names become a little interchangeable and situations become increasingly frantic after dashing from one set piece to another. This was what the pulp readers wanted, divided into chapters or kept hanging until the next instalment next month or a few months after. Howard was writing for a prescribed audience and was writing to be sold for entertainment with few pretensions.
As some of the tales are over eighty years old, the purple vocabulary is passionate but can be a tad wearing: rather like spending time with a hyperactive relation, I suspect – at first rather exhilarating, but after a day or so of intense exposure rather exhausting
When in such a huge tome as this, the hyperventilated enthusiasm can become repetitive and formulaic if read in large chunks. It may be better to read only a story or two at a time and then have a break: I found this similarly with Lovecraft and Howard’s Conan, for the same reason.
Some readers may also find issue with the reflected cultures of the 1920’s and 30’s. We have African cannibals and jungle savages in the unexplored territories. The issue of ‘the noble savage’ is not really addressed here, but rather slaughtered instead as a means of entertainment. This will not sit easily with many, though it can perhaps be seen as a reflection of some views at the time of writing. (That does mean, sadly, a lack of good female characters.)
On the more positive side, what you do find here is a much broader range of tales than you get in the Conan canon, from the historic to the action-epic, from the precursor of the sword-and-sorcery tale to the Lovecraftian supernatural tale. (Howard and Lovecraft were constant correspondents.)
Considering all of the limitations that were imposed upon them, I was surprised how varied the tales were in tone: written at such speed, I was expecting a book much more homogeneous. There’s adventure tales, horror stories and historical narratives here that suggest that there’s more to Howard than just Conan. (I’ve put a full list of the stories at the bottom of this review.) Howard’s first ever published story, Spear and Fang, from Weird Tales in 1925, is included here. Though it is a rather unremarkable caveman tale, published at the age of 19 it hints at what is later to be published. More appropriate to his skills, Solomon Kane, a 16th century Puritanical preacher seeking to destroy all sins, is a memorably sombre character as he travels the USA, England, Germany and Africa fighting ghosts, vampires and slave traders. In the seven stories and one piece of poetry about Kane given here, nearly all of the Solomon Kane stories, we see an often dis-likable character with a righteous cause, who will stop at nothing to defend what he sees as right.
Of an older historical time, the four stories of Brak Man Morn included show a tortured character that David Gemmell would’ve been proud of, the King of the beleaguered Picts, fighting Celts, Romans and (in typical Weird Tales style) the odd Lovecraftian monster. Kull the Conqueror, the exiled Last King of Atlantis and Ruler of Valusia, is the less complex, earlier template for Conan that in three stories seems more like the movie version of Conan than the Conan novels do. Sailor and boxer Steve Costigan fights both pirates and evil monsters from the ocean depths that would eat Captain Jack Sparrow for breakfast. The novel-length planetary romance Almuric tells of Esau Cairn, a muscular character of Earth displaced to a different planet and a hero not that dissimilar from Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter. Also not too far away from John Carter, James Allison is a character from 1930’s Texas* who, rather like Michael Moorcock’s later Eternal Champion, lives as a hero in many previous lives. Heroes and adventurers all, broad in range and yet similar in style, they are the epitome of pulp fiction, showing all the strengths and weaknesses of the time.
However, furthermore on the plus side, the details included as extras are worth noting. We have to start with an Introduction written by Howard to fellow writers Harold Preece and H P Lovecraft explaining the context of his characters. Howard was often interested by outsiders, by people of different races and in particular, the ‘small, dark, Mediterranean (?) aborigines of Britain.’ Here he tries to explain his interest. It is fascinating, if rather politically un-correct reading. The drawings throughout from Les Edwards are, as ever, sympathetically presented throughout and nicely done generally in black and white. The Afterword by horror writer Stephen Jones makes a nice counterpoint to the one written by him in the Conan edition, though as you might expect there is some repetition here for the benefit of those who have not experienced Howard before.
In summary, it must be said that Conan’s Brethren does reflect its age. It’s full of action and yet talky, enthusiastic, naïve, overblown and even at times clumsy. Nevertheless, once again by reading these tales I’m reminded by what a loss to Fantasy Howard was, and wonder what he could have achieved with a few more years of experience and work. The book is a testament to the skills of an imaginative writer whose efforts influenced many of today’s contemporary writers. If you want to see where George RR Martin, Karl Edward Wagner, Mike Moorcock, Fritz Leiber and many others got their inspiration from, it is important to read this book. And this edition does the work justice.**
Recommended.
*Perhaps based on Howard himself – living in Cross Plains, Texas, he enjoyed gym training and often took part in boxing matches.
**Later edit: Since this review was written, the book has become available on the Kindle and other e-book readers.
Full Story list:
INTRODUCTION by Robert E. Howard
Solomon Kane
SOLOMON KANE’S HOMECOMING (verse)
RED SHADOWS
SKULLS IN THE STARS
RATTLE OF BONES
THE MOON OF SKULLS
THE HILLS OF THE DEAD
THE FOOTFALLS WITHIN
WINGS IN THE NIGHT
King Kull
THE SHADOW KINGDOM
THE MIRRORS OF TUZUN THUNE
THE KING AND THE OAK (verse)
Bran Mak Morn & the Picts
THE LOST RACE
KINGS OF THE NIGHT
THE DARK MAN
WORMS OF THE EARTH
Savages, Swordsmen & Sorcerers
SPEAR AND FANG
HAWKS OF OUTREMER
THE GODS OF BAL-SAGOTH
THE SOWERS OF THE THUNDER
LORD OF SAMARCAND
THE LION OF TIBERIAS
THE SHADOW OF THE VULTURE
THE VALLEY OF THE WORM
THE FROST KING’S DAUGHTER
THE GARDEN OF FEAR
GATES OF EMPIRE
ALMURIC
THE GHOST KINGS (verse)
AFTERWORD: KINSMEN OF CONAN by Stephen Jones
October 5, 2025
This is an excellent book that contains a good range of Robert E.Howard stories. Some of the stories I've previously read in the excellent DelRey editions, but it is great they are in here too. This book is the perfect place to sample some of REH'S other works and it is nice to have sitting alongside the publisher's other volume, The Complete Chronicles Of Conan. This volume is available on Kindle as well and it does contain the artwork that is in the printed volume. There is a very informative afterward by the editor of the book, Stephen Jones. Overall, a highly recommend edition.
February 20, 2015
Some stories were good, but most were excellent. It was refreshing to read tales different from Conan's, although most of Howard's characters were quite alike.
Most of the stories were interlinked by minor (or major) details even if separated by hundreds of years which made the whole book stand together quite well.
Although it was a bit long, I wish there were more stories about Kull and Bran Mak Morn. Fortunately, I have other books at home with more stories about these two.
Anyway, if you enjoyed any book by Howard, you're going to enjoy this one as well. The final story was especially good (and way longer than any other in the book). I loved it!
Most of the stories were interlinked by minor (or major) details even if separated by hundreds of years which made the whole book stand together quite well.
Although it was a bit long, I wish there were more stories about Kull and Bran Mak Morn. Fortunately, I have other books at home with more stories about these two.
Anyway, if you enjoyed any book by Howard, you're going to enjoy this one as well. The final story was especially good (and way longer than any other in the book). I loved it!
Read
August 23, 2016Never before had I read Robert E. Howard, but I picked up this tome on sale in a tiny bookstore and was not disappointed. Howard was a superb storyteller. He wrote with an eloquence I don’t frequent in modern fiction; even the many battle scenes are poetic. My only beef lies with the early twentieth-century vernacular that reduces the tribes to heathen savages and racist caricatures, and an utter lack of strong, or even interesting, female characters. Every maid is a maiden in distress, save one heroine who readers are consistently reminded is butch and unseemly, as if beautified femininity was relevant to warfare. But all in all, a great opus of conquest, sprinkled with onslaughts by the occult.
June 2, 2017
What can I say? I've never been a strong reader, but this book, which I actually finished, has ignited the fire in me to start reading again. There were sections in the book that had me completely mesmerised. Thanks Robert E. Howard... a genius before your time. As the originator of so many epic characters and ideas, your stories will always be an inspiration.
August 4, 2011
Great collection from Robert E. Howard, just can't go wrong.
January 13, 2013
Anyone who loves fantasy would love this book
December 4, 2019
Particularly loved the stories of Solomon Kane.
September 30, 2020
A huge tome, so reviewed in its sections as I go.
Solomon Kane: The image of the Puritan adventurer cutting and shooting a swathe through the monsters and demons of darkest Africa is a strong and strange one, but despite the relentless action and retrospection, it's a shame Howard never really gets into the background of such an individual character, though there are hints of tormented dreams and near-invulnerability; most of these stories suffer from some rather extended historical info dumps midway through which slow the pace considerably, though the invention is always there.
King Kull: It seems likely that Kull was a template for Conan (at least in his reign of Aquilonia), as these stories seem to introduce far more potential than content, being, aside from names and situations, largely indistinguishable from the Cimmerian's adventures, awash with interest and detail, but more a glimpse of what might have been.
Bran Mak Morn & the Picts: A series of skirmishes and battles between British tribes and the Romans, clearly showing Howard's love of history, mythology, and strategy, and of invention. Easily the best of these is Worms of the Earth, skirting Lovecraft's Mythos and producing an eerie and atmospheric tale of deals with devils.
Savages, Swordsmen & Sorcerers: The bulk of the book, this reads much like a miscellany, from Howard's earliest formative writings, the first non-Conan version of The Frost-Giant's Daughter, the enjoyable adventures of the reincarnated hero James Allison (The Valley of the Worm being the best of these), and quite a few tales of Franks vs Muslims in the Middle East Crusades, stories lighter on plot and action, and filled with names of people and places, irrelevant minutiae which made hard work, so I'm afraid I skimmed these a little.
Almuric: Although included in the previous section, this warrants a separate entry, as it's a novel-length tale, very much in the vein of Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, and varying little from that template - intelligent brute propelled across space to another planet, where he fights and unites its disparate tribes and finds love with a beautiful woman. But I like John Carter, so this suffices very well.
All in all, I'd liked to have enjoyed this more than I did, and as much as I expected to. Collected together like this - only Howard's completed stories, so no posthumous collaborations (barring a little necessary fix-up work on Almuric) - the barbarians pale beside the more vividly imagined, varied, and detailed Conan adventures, Solomon Kane strikes the same note in every story, and the Crusades stories, as mentioned, bored me.
Solomon Kane: The image of the Puritan adventurer cutting and shooting a swathe through the monsters and demons of darkest Africa is a strong and strange one, but despite the relentless action and retrospection, it's a shame Howard never really gets into the background of such an individual character, though there are hints of tormented dreams and near-invulnerability; most of these stories suffer from some rather extended historical info dumps midway through which slow the pace considerably, though the invention is always there.
King Kull: It seems likely that Kull was a template for Conan (at least in his reign of Aquilonia), as these stories seem to introduce far more potential than content, being, aside from names and situations, largely indistinguishable from the Cimmerian's adventures, awash with interest and detail, but more a glimpse of what might have been.
Bran Mak Morn & the Picts: A series of skirmishes and battles between British tribes and the Romans, clearly showing Howard's love of history, mythology, and strategy, and of invention. Easily the best of these is Worms of the Earth, skirting Lovecraft's Mythos and producing an eerie and atmospheric tale of deals with devils.
Savages, Swordsmen & Sorcerers: The bulk of the book, this reads much like a miscellany, from Howard's earliest formative writings, the first non-Conan version of The Frost-Giant's Daughter, the enjoyable adventures of the reincarnated hero James Allison (The Valley of the Worm being the best of these), and quite a few tales of Franks vs Muslims in the Middle East Crusades, stories lighter on plot and action, and filled with names of people and places, irrelevant minutiae which made hard work, so I'm afraid I skimmed these a little.
Almuric: Although included in the previous section, this warrants a separate entry, as it's a novel-length tale, very much in the vein of Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, and varying little from that template - intelligent brute propelled across space to another planet, where he fights and unites its disparate tribes and finds love with a beautiful woman. But I like John Carter, so this suffices very well.
All in all, I'd liked to have enjoyed this more than I did, and as much as I expected to. Collected together like this - only Howard's completed stories, so no posthumous collaborations (barring a little necessary fix-up work on Almuric) - the barbarians pale beside the more vividly imagined, varied, and detailed Conan adventures, Solomon Kane strikes the same note in every story, and the Crusades stories, as mentioned, bored me.
August 14, 2022
Only worth reading to substantiate that, yes, Howard's tedious macho posturing and despicable racism extends to his other sword and sorcery series too. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
March 22, 2017
Red Sonja's story was as much fun as I had hoped.
January 11, 2014
It has its ups and downs, but overall this collection of Howard's non-Conan fiction and historical fiction is an entertaining read. However, it is by no means a "complete collection" - the title on Goodreads is mistaken and the correct title is "The Classic Heroes".
Personally, I enjoyed the Solomon Kane stories the best although there were some pearls amongst the rest of the stories as well. The few stories where Howard errs in the genre of historical fiction are perhaps the hardest going: they contain less story and more exposition and history lessons than is good for Howard's otherwise energetic style.
Overall, a worthy read for any fan of fantasy and historical adventure!
Personally, I enjoyed the Solomon Kane stories the best although there were some pearls amongst the rest of the stories as well. The few stories where Howard errs in the genre of historical fiction are perhaps the hardest going: they contain less story and more exposition and history lessons than is good for Howard's otherwise energetic style.
Overall, a worthy read for any fan of fantasy and historical adventure!
May 31, 2013
Great read - lots of new Howard stories I hadn't read before
April 15, 2014
No one cleaves a man from shoulder to breast bone like Robert E Howard
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews