Jesse’s Reviews > Tales of Weird Menace > Status Update
Jesse
is on page 277 of 536
“Moon of Zambebwei”
Oh, hey! This one’s set in Mississippi! …and features an imprisoned woman, assumed dead, the object of desire of the descendants of two slave-holding families. And a whole lot of other racially charged stuff, including a smuggled “carnivorous ape” treated as a living god and a weird way of framing first antagonist Ballville’s death alongside the black man who was torturing him.
— Nov 13, 2025 05:04PM
Oh, hey! This one’s set in Mississippi! …and features an imprisoned woman, assumed dead, the object of desire of the descendants of two slave-holding families. And a whole lot of other racially charged stuff, including a smuggled “carnivorous ape” treated as a living god and a weird way of framing first antagonist Ballville’s death alongside the black man who was torturing him.
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Jesse’s Previous Updates
Jesse
is on page 517 of 536
“Moon of Zambebwei (untitled synopsis)”
Again, a synopsis of the published story with few if any significant differences. I’m struggling to think of exactly where these synopses fit in with Howard’s creative process. Was this his brainstorming? It’s not as though the opening essay tells us anything about this, preferring to laud “Skull-Face”.
— Nov 15, 2025 05:21PM
Again, a synopsis of the published story with few if any significant differences. I’m struggling to think of exactly where these synopses fit in with Howard’s creative process. Was this his brainstorming? It’s not as though the opening essay tells us anything about this, preferring to laud “Skull-Face”.
Jesse
is on page 513 of 536
“The Black Hound of Death (synopsis)”
A pretty straight summary of the story. No revelations, here, except Brent’s assistant was white in the draft, but mixed race in the finished tale.
— Nov 15, 2025 05:15PM
A pretty straight summary of the story. No revelations, here, except Brent’s assistant was white in the draft, but mixed race in the finished tale.
Jesse
is on page 511 of 536
“The House of Om (synopsis)”
Sooo this is a full blow by blow synopsis of a Yellow Peril story. Now, the villain is an expatriate American, but some of the broad details are similar to “Guests of the Hoodoo Room”, including a frame-up, an heiress under the power of the bad guy, and a world domination plot. But, uh, Om’s plot sounds like QAnon talking points. Time is a circle, I guess!
— Nov 15, 2025 05:11PM
Sooo this is a full blow by blow synopsis of a Yellow Peril story. Now, the villain is an expatriate American, but some of the broad details are similar to “Guests of the Hoodoo Room”, including a frame-up, an heiress under the power of the bad guy, and a world domination plot. But, uh, Om’s plot sounds like QAnon talking points. Time is a circle, I guess!
Jesse
is on page 499 of 536
“The Devils of Dark Lake (untitled synopsis)”
As I read this synopsis I’m laughing again at how ridiculous this story is, and then I’m surprised because Howard omitted one key detail from the synopsis when writing the main story, resulting in—astoundingly—a LESS racist tale.
— Nov 15, 2025 04:09PM
As I read this synopsis I’m laughing again at how ridiculous this story is, and then I’m surprised because Howard omitted one key detail from the synopsis when writing the main story, resulting in—astoundingly—a LESS racist tale.
Jesse
is on page 493 of 536
“Sons of Hate”
Three partial synopses. They detail the evolution of the story as Howard imagined it. The first two are pretty much in-line with the final story. The third has most of the plot beats, but Howard was considering changing Stalbridge’s last name to Brandon and having Gorman getting brained by the iron slug while driving a car instead of while he was running to the rescue.
— Nov 15, 2025 04:00PM
Three partial synopses. They detail the evolution of the story as Howard imagined it. The first two are pretty much in-line with the final story. The third has most of the plot beats, but Howard was considering changing Stalbridge’s last name to Brandon and having Gorman getting brained by the iron slug while driving a car instead of while he was running to the rescue.
Jesse
is on page 487 of 536
“”James Norris…””
This synopsis is a blueprint for a murder mystery with zero occult trappings. I mean, fair enough! I’ve read enough exploitative racism to last the rest of my life and this has none of the like.
— Nov 15, 2025 03:52PM
This synopsis is a blueprint for a murder mystery with zero occult trappings. I mean, fair enough! I’ve read enough exploitative racism to last the rest of my life and this has none of the like.
Jesse
is on page 485 of 536
“The Spell of Damballah”
A Kirby of unknown provenance investigates a case where a man’s fiance has been hypnotized. But, no, it’s not Oriental, here, but a Haitian con-man who is using voodoo to control affluent young women into stealing their fathers’ riches and then running off with him. As this fragment terminates, Loup is 0 for 2 but has just taken a potshot at our hero, the bullet grazing his scalp.
— Nov 15, 2025 03:47PM
A Kirby of unknown provenance investigates a case where a man’s fiance has been hypnotized. But, no, it’s not Oriental, here, but a Haitian con-man who is using voodoo to control affluent young women into stealing their fathers’ riches and then running off with him. As this fragment terminates, Loup is 0 for 2 but has just taken a potshot at our hero, the bullet grazing his scalp.
Jesse
is on page 479 of 536
“Spectres in the Dark”
A city is under siege from spectres that are haunting people and appear to be capable of possessing them, driving them into murderous rampages. This story doesn’t go so far as to reveal what the cause of this epidemic is, but if the weird aside between the narrator and his brother in law is any indication, then it’s some sort of Oriental hypnotism / mesmerism at play.
— Nov 15, 2025 10:24AM
A city is under siege from spectres that are haunting people and appear to be capable of possessing them, driving them into murderous rampages. This story doesn’t go so far as to reveal what the cause of this epidemic is, but if the weird aside between the narrator and his brother in law is any indication, then it’s some sort of Oriental hypnotism / mesmerism at play.
Jesse
is on page 465 of 536
“The Jade God”
Another night, another cursed treasure. This one APPEARS to be set in the antebellum South and has two men rushing to the defense of a third, who talks about “the jade god” right before he expires. And their locale is kind of isolated due to a recent flood. And the dead man had just entrusted a jade idol to one of his two would-be rescuers.
— Nov 15, 2025 09:47AM
Another night, another cursed treasure. This one APPEARS to be set in the antebellum South and has two men rushing to the defense of a third, who talks about “the jade god” right before he expires. And their locale is kind of isolated due to a recent flood. And the dead man had just entrusted a jade idol to one of his two would-be rescuers.
Jesse
is on page 459 of 536
“Yellow Laughter”
A bizarre fragment, the setup of which I don’t entirely understand. It looks like some sailor’s boat was taken over by Chinese malcontents, one of whom he knows by name. The “yellow” paranoia is palpable, concluding with an image of all the invaders laughing at the MC while he rows away in a small watercraft, which he presumes is his means of escape. God only knows where this was going.
— Nov 15, 2025 08:35AM
A bizarre fragment, the setup of which I don’t entirely understand. It looks like some sailor’s boat was taken over by Chinese malcontents, one of whom he knows by name. The “yellow” paranoia is palpable, concluding with an image of all the invaders laughing at the MC while he rows away in a small watercraft, which he presumes is his means of escape. God only knows where this was going.
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rated it 4 stars
Nov 13, 2025 05:11PM
Constance’s plight initially reminded me of the love triangle in Of One Blood. Also, the protagonist here, McGrath, comes off as a bit of a dope. He’s still a Howard Superman when the chips are down. He still looks like a buffoon when de Albor gets one over on him not once but twice. Howard offers some excuses on his behalf, but McGrath is as dumb as the story requires him to be as befits a melodrama, and in these cases he is quite dumb.
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A lot of the stuff surrounding the Ballville estate is 1930s racist cringe. Also, what the heck is up with Ballville? At least the last two under siege estates had manservants and the like. All we have here is an executed Arabian friend 4 life.
