Hey, y'all -- it's time for REH Days, the annual tribute of fans of Texas writer Robert E. Howard, in his hometown of Cross Plains, Texas. This year the festival runs from Thursday through Saturday (June 11-13). It's mostly free, so drop by if you get a chance. In REH's honor, I'm re-running some of my previous about him and his stories -- including some you may not expect!
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People of the Black Circle
by Robert E. Howard
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| Image by Hansuan for pixabay |
And despite the racy cover of the September 1934 Weird Tales, which serialized the novella, Yasmina, in typical Howardian fashion, wins without stooping to the exploitation of her sexuality. Not even to gain the aid of the warrior Conan, turning up in a surprisingly non-Hyborian context.
Briefly, as Bunda Chand, king of Vendhya, lies dying, he reveals to his beloved sister, the Devi Yasmina, that he has been “ensorcelled by the wizards of the Himelians,” who are intent on imprisoning his soul in the body of a demon. The distraught Yasmina determines to free her brother’s soul. To do so, she travels incognito to the borders of Himelian territory, determined to find the famous Conan and force him to aid her in penetrating the wizards’ fastness.
The Devi finds the tables turned on her more than once in a typically twisty Howard plot, but she and Conan will eventually acknowledge each other as the best of enemies.
“. . . of all the Conan-girls, I have a special fondness for Yasmina,” writes the reviewer at http://www.pulpanddagger.com/conan/people.html/. “Somehow, Howard combines in her a perfect blending of imperious strength and fetching vulnerability that makes her stand out from all the rest.”
Conan thought so, too.
As the story ends (spoiler alert!) he tells Yasmina, now queen of her own country, “‘I will
collect your ransom in my own way, at my own time. . . And I will come with
fifty thousand men to see that the scales are fair.’”
“She laughed, gathering her reins into her hands. ‘And I will meet you on the shores of the Jhumda with a hundred thousand!’”
Where did Howard (not to mention Conan) get this appreciation for strong women? In spite of the disapprobation heaped on Howard’s mother, Hester Ervin Howard, who added her surname to the name of her only son, I suspect he appreciated her strength, both as she and his father argued famously and as she endured an agonizing death from tuberculosis.
But not surprisingly, Howard never married. And although Conan sometimes appears about to take the plunge, I can’t remember one of his stories that ended with a wedding, either.
“She laughed, gathering her reins into her hands. ‘And I will meet you on the shores of the Jhumda with a hundred thousand!’”
Where did Howard (not to mention Conan) get this appreciation for strong women? In spite of the disapprobation heaped on Howard’s mother, Hester Ervin Howard, who added her surname to the name of her only son, I suspect he appreciated her strength, both as she and his father argued famously and as she endured an agonizing death from tuberculosis.
But not surprisingly, Howard never married. And although Conan sometimes appears about to take the plunge, I can’t remember one of his stories that ended with a wedding, either.
(Want more Howard? Listen to a free audio trial of People of the Black Circle at www.audiobooks.com or stay tuned here for more!)
