What do you think?
Rate this book
Battle in the Dawn: The Complete Hok the Mighty
In the 1930s, a very unusual tale appeared in the influential Amazing Stories magazine. Unlike the usual yarns of robots and interstellar travel, 'Battle in the Dawn' featured the brutal exploits of Hok, humanity first hero. Written by Pulitzer Prize-nominee Manly Wade Wellman (Who Fears the Devil?), who would later achieve fame for his American folktales of Silver John and beat out William Faulkner for a prestigious writing award, this hit story spawned several additional adventures, in which Hok battles unrelenting cavemen, explores lost Atlantis, discovers new technology, and charts a new destiny for humanity.
Now, for the first time ever, Planet Stories presents a complete authorized collection of all of Wellman's rare Hok the Mighty tales, including an unfinished story fragment and a brand-new introduction by Wellman's longtime friend, fantasy author David Drake.
Now, for the first time ever, Planet Stories presents a complete authorized collection of all of Wellman's rare Hok the Mighty tales, including an unfinished story fragment and a brand-new introduction by Wellman's longtime friend, fantasy author David Drake.
259 pages, Paperback
First published November 17, 2010
109 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 23, 2012
The premise of the Hok the Mighty stories is simple, yet compelling. Hok is a Cro-Magnon, the strongest and cleverest of his kind. Possessed of a more daring nature than his clan-mates, he ranges further than anyone, coming into contact with a variety of interesting peoples (frequently hostile Neanderthals, but also rival tribes and even Atlanteans) and prehistoric monsters.
Hok is repeatedly referred to as "humanity's first hero", and the fact that everything he does is a first (building the first bow, inadvertently forging the first sword) adds to the excitement. Another fun twist is that Manly Wade Wellman subscribed to the belief that every fable has a hint of truth to it. He alludes to the fact that Hok's mighty deeds are the origin of the Hercules myth by placing him in a desperate struggle with some primitive beast, and then pointing out through a footnote how, distorted and exaggerated by retelling, that battle came to be known as one of Hercules' Labors. It's a minor storytelling trick, but it adds mythic resonance.
The Hok stories are solid entries in the pulp fantasy canon. While not quite as visceral as Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, his adventures compare favorably with the Tarzan tales.
Hok is repeatedly referred to as "humanity's first hero", and the fact that everything he does is a first (building the first bow, inadvertently forging the first sword) adds to the excitement. Another fun twist is that Manly Wade Wellman subscribed to the belief that every fable has a hint of truth to it. He alludes to the fact that Hok's mighty deeds are the origin of the Hercules myth by placing him in a desperate struggle with some primitive beast, and then pointing out through a footnote how, distorted and exaggerated by retelling, that battle came to be known as one of Hercules' Labors. It's a minor storytelling trick, but it adds mythic resonance.
The Hok stories are solid entries in the pulp fantasy canon. While not quite as visceral as Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, his adventures compare favorably with the Tarzan tales.
July 27, 2011
I went into this anthology looking forward to prehistoric battles and adventures, and Wellman did not disappoint. His hero Hok is reminiscent of Conan for his superior strength, wily stratagems, and undaunted courage. The adventures that Wellman concocts are fun and exciting, taking Hok to distant lands and pitting him against other peoples and some strange and dangerous beasts. The world that Wellman describes feels genuine: wild, expansive, and so far greater in breadth and scope than human beings can possibly know.
Wellman's prose is spare and eloquent. He avoids the mistake of using words and expressions that tear the reader out of the period of time in which the story is set, and his depiction of a human mindset in prehistory is believable. After reading the Silver John stories, I shouldn't be surprised that Wellman can write about prehistory so well.
More in-depth reviews of the individual stories follow below.
"Battle in the Dawn"
The first story introduces men, as in Homo Sapiens, and pits them against Neanderthals, here referred to as Gnorrls by the first men who meet them. I am surprised by many things in this story, foremost being Wellman's desire to be true to contemporary archeological findings about the period of history in which he has set his story. There are even informative footnotes! (Were these present in the original magazine printings?) The story that Wellman tells is straightforward and brutal. Without going into painful descriptions, Wellman includes infanticide, cannibalism, and some bloody battles. Think a cut below the violence in Homer. Overall, this is more thoughtful than it is entertaining, and no less fun to read for the former quality.
"Hok Goes to Atlantis"
Again, Wellman connects his Hok character to contemporary scholarship about the period, in this case that scholarship which deals with the myth of Atlantis. Wellman's ideas for this mythical city are sound, and the story that he tells here is short and full of action. The contrast between Hok's way of life and that of the Atlantians is very reminiscent of the comparisons that Howard made between Conan and other "civilized" peoples. I like Wellman's take on Atlantis, but I do think he set it up as a paper tiger for Hok to rend asunder.
"Hok Draws the Bow" and "A Gift from Heaven"
I'm lumping these two stories together because they share the same motif: Hok finds/develops a new weapon and uses it to overcome his adversaries. In the first, Hok figures out how to create and use a bow; in the second, he stumbles upon an iron alloy that is friendly enough to be shaped like a sword. Both stories were fun, offering the usual cocktail of barbarian battle, brutality, manliness, and primitive know-how. The second story really tugged at my sense of disbelief, but this being pulpy, I just went with it. One wrinkle: Hok is becoming superlative in every way (best muscles, best hair, best grin, best beard, best javelin thrower, best bean dip, etc), which leaves all the other characters in flatland.
"Hok Visits the Land of Legends"
This is the last Hok story in the collection, and it is a good one. Hok hunts a wooly mammoth, finds a hidden valley that is temperate while the rest of the land winters, runs across the man-eating descendants of some hungry hungry dinos, and discovers a race of tree-dwelling men who barely get by in the lush and dangerous valley. Most of the story deals with a power struggle between heroic Hok and the conniving chieftain of the tree tribe. Hok has to outwit the chieftain, and some of their battles are as humorous as others are brutal.
"The Day of the Conquerors"
Martian invaders descend upon Earth, and prehistoric man resists. Awesome. Wellman does a great job pitting low technology against high. The Martians underestimate their opponents, and the humans have to understand what they are dealing with but fast. One scene in which a human figures out how to fell a robot warrior is so neat. The contrast between the aliens and the humans is nothing new, with the aliens playing the decadent side, and the humans the passionate, primitive one. Conan would definitely feel at home in this story.
Wellman's prose is spare and eloquent. He avoids the mistake of using words and expressions that tear the reader out of the period of time in which the story is set, and his depiction of a human mindset in prehistory is believable. After reading the Silver John stories, I shouldn't be surprised that Wellman can write about prehistory so well.
More in-depth reviews of the individual stories follow below.
"Battle in the Dawn"
The first story introduces men, as in Homo Sapiens, and pits them against Neanderthals, here referred to as Gnorrls by the first men who meet them. I am surprised by many things in this story, foremost being Wellman's desire to be true to contemporary archeological findings about the period of history in which he has set his story. There are even informative footnotes! (Were these present in the original magazine printings?) The story that Wellman tells is straightforward and brutal. Without going into painful descriptions, Wellman includes infanticide, cannibalism, and some bloody battles. Think a cut below the violence in Homer. Overall, this is more thoughtful than it is entertaining, and no less fun to read for the former quality.
"Hok Goes to Atlantis"
Again, Wellman connects his Hok character to contemporary scholarship about the period, in this case that scholarship which deals with the myth of Atlantis. Wellman's ideas for this mythical city are sound, and the story that he tells here is short and full of action. The contrast between Hok's way of life and that of the Atlantians is very reminiscent of the comparisons that Howard made between Conan and other "civilized" peoples. I like Wellman's take on Atlantis, but I do think he set it up as a paper tiger for Hok to rend asunder.
"Hok Draws the Bow" and "A Gift from Heaven"
I'm lumping these two stories together because they share the same motif: Hok finds/develops a new weapon and uses it to overcome his adversaries. In the first, Hok figures out how to create and use a bow; in the second, he stumbles upon an iron alloy that is friendly enough to be shaped like a sword. Both stories were fun, offering the usual cocktail of barbarian battle, brutality, manliness, and primitive know-how. The second story really tugged at my sense of disbelief, but this being pulpy, I just went with it. One wrinkle: Hok is becoming superlative in every way (best muscles, best hair, best grin, best beard, best javelin thrower, best bean dip, etc), which leaves all the other characters in flatland.
"Hok Visits the Land of Legends"
This is the last Hok story in the collection, and it is a good one. Hok hunts a wooly mammoth, finds a hidden valley that is temperate while the rest of the land winters, runs across the man-eating descendants of some hungry hungry dinos, and discovers a race of tree-dwelling men who barely get by in the lush and dangerous valley. Most of the story deals with a power struggle between heroic Hok and the conniving chieftain of the tree tribe. Hok has to outwit the chieftain, and some of their battles are as humorous as others are brutal.
"The Day of the Conquerors"
Martian invaders descend upon Earth, and prehistoric man resists. Awesome. Wellman does a great job pitting low technology against high. The Martians underestimate their opponents, and the humans have to understand what they are dealing with but fast. One scene in which a human figures out how to fell a robot warrior is so neat. The contrast between the aliens and the humans is nothing new, with the aliens playing the decadent side, and the humans the passionate, primitive one. Conan would definitely feel at home in this story.
April 22, 2019
Very nice collection of this older fantasy series. great entertaining and fun read. Recommended
February 20, 2017
Interesting collection of "paleo-fantasy". I really liked the idea that Hok is the precursor to Hercules. Some of the concepts of prehistory were outdated by the 1950s but the stories are still fun pulp reads. Note: The cover is a bit deceiving as Hok only wields a proto-sword in one story.
July 16, 2011
Old fashioned Gonzo fun. A great read if you like action, adventure, and/or cavemen.
February 11, 2025
Tales in the collection are: Battle in the Dawn, Hok Goes to Atlantis, Hok and the Gift of Heaven, Hok Visits the Land of Legends, and The Love of Oloana (An unpublished piece about Hok’s wife). There’s a final story called The Day of the Conquerors, which features a character much like Hok and introduces us to a Martian invasion that is defeated by the human savages. There’s also an untitled fragment featuring Hok. Wellman espouses the fairly common idea that modern legends and myths have their roots in ancient realities. The concept allows for some fun stories.
These stories are actually the best thing I’ve read by Wellman. I’m not a huge fan of his work, mainly because his prose is very workman-like and doesn’t really have much poetry to it—unlike writers such as Robert E. Howard. However, the action here and the quickly sketched character interactions and relationships were satisfying.
These stories are actually the best thing I’ve read by Wellman. I’m not a huge fan of his work, mainly because his prose is very workman-like and doesn’t really have much poetry to it—unlike writers such as Robert E. Howard. However, the action here and the quickly sketched character interactions and relationships were satisfying.
July 21, 2020
It’s a decent sword & X style set of stories. I think MWW has an authenticity to him a lot of pulp authors don’t have, given the fact he grew up in tribal Angola. His experiences play well into Hok the Mighty, his Stone Age character. I don’t think these are as “fun” or “weird” as many others in the genre. The Atlantis story is probably the best. I don’t know what you would call these as they have no fantasy to them. So it’s not exactly sword and sorcery. More like sword and sandal, but it’s flint and javelin. Idk, I’m sure there is a name for this micro genre of style. It’s worth checking out of if your a pulp enthusiast.
January 22, 2015
Wellman’s skills as a writer prevent these stories from succumbing to boredom, but they are very simplistic. Each tale is molded around inventions of tool and process made by early man, which just happen to be developed by Hok according to Wellman. The adventures and action are well drawn, but the character work and overall plot to each are pretty flimsy.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews