Better than Conan
To say this is better than Conan is to say that so much of the Conan stuff was written with magazine articles in mind and then you find that a healthy portion of those just aren't that great to begin with.
Bran is a different hero and the stories were written better in my opinion, at least better than a good deal of the Conan shorts.
My personal favorites from the Howard reissues are the Solomon Kane stories. I enjoyed those even more.
If your a Howard fan, you won't do wrong here.
Not worth the money or the time
I've enjoyed the other Robert E. Howard volumes from Del Rey, and I generally appreciate Howard's writing despite its flaws and have been willing to overlook the occasional hint of '30s racism, etc. This volume, on the other hand, is embarrassingly bad by comparison. First of all, there is hardly a handful of actual stories contained within; fully half the volume consists of fragments and rough drafts. What's more, the stories themselves contain little in the way of actual narrative. At least two of them are taken up largely with tedious exposition, mostly regarding Howard's pet theory of how the Picts were actually a "Mediterranean" race (as opposed to "aryan," I suppose). The problem is that, not only is that theory bunk to begin with, it's not even presented reasonably within the context of the stories. Seriously, Bran the Pict at one point actually says, "I'm a Mediterranean." Hearing supposedly ancient characters spout 1930s race theory is jarring, to say the least. On top of that, the race theory in question is rather uncomfortable in this day and age: Howard clearly was enamored of some of the same racial theories that the Nazis also fetishized, and while such interests are detectable in his other works, they are exceptionally prominent in this volume. That might be forgivable if the stories in question were at least entertaining, but on the whole they are not, and there are few enough of them that this defect is exacerbated.
My advice would be to skip this volume altogether. Its only value is for the completist who must have each of the volumes, regardless of their merits. Instead, do purchase Del Rey's other collection,The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard, as it also contains the story "Worms in the Earth," the only noteworthy yarn found in this volume. Moreover, that volume contains a large number of stories, many of superior quality, and all for the same price. In other words, it succeeds precisely where this one fails. Bran Mak Morn simply did not merit his own book.
Excellent, lesser known works
Before this book was published, Bran Mak Morn was one of many Robert E. Howard characters I'd never heard of. Conan and Kull get the press, but there were many other fine characters.
These few short stories build up a mythos Howard began, linking in the Picts from his Hyborean Age to the Roman occupation of Britain. One fine story actually brings in King Kull, the prototype for Conan.
This book is well worth adding to your collection.
ROBERT E. HOWARD STILL THE BEST OF THE BEST!!!
There are so many good things about this book! The introduction is superb! Here's a small sample by Rusty Burke, 'Robert E. Howard (1906-1936), in a writing career that spanned less than a dozen years, created many memorable fantasy adventure characters, such as Conan, Kull, and Solomon kane, who continue to thrill readers long after they first appeared in the legendary magazine, Weird Tales. The seemingly endlessly inventive author also created enormously popular characters in other genres, such as the wester tall tales of Breckenridge Elkins, the rollicking misadventrues of Sailor Costigan, and the Middle Easdtern exploits of El Borak and Kirby O'Donnell. But of all the many characters he created, none seem to have held for the Texas author a fascination to equal that of the people he called Picts, and their great king, Bran Mak Morn. Contents are: Foreward, Introduction, Men of the Shadows, King of the Night, A Song of the Race, Worms of the Earth, The Dark Man, The Last Race, Poem, Miscellane, The Little People, The Little People-Typescript, The Children of the Night, Bran Mak Morn, Bran Mak Morn manuscript, Synopsis, Worms of the Earth - Draft Version, Fragment, Poem - Previously Unpublished, Untitled, Appendices, REH and the Picts, A chronology, REH Bran Mak Morn and the Picts, Note on the original Howard Texts. Sketches byl Gary Gianni. Gary does a superb job on these sketches which are about every other page and coincides with the stories! How can I wear the harness of toil, And sweat at the daily round, While in my soul forever The drums of Pictdom sound? by REH on page 187 Miscellanea. Enjoy!
Also recommended: Whole Wide World by Novalyne Price who dated REH during the last few years of his life. This is a must have and also see the DVD The Whole Wide World starring Renee Zellweger and Vincent D'Onofrio as REH. Blood & Thunder, The Life & Art of REH by Mark Finn, The Last of The Trunk and The Never Ending Story by Paul Herman, Selected Letters of REH by Rob Roehm, Dark Horse comics, Roy Thomas Conan and Conan The Phenom, Two-Gun Bob, The Dark Barbarian and The Barbaric Triumph by Don Herron, Savage Sword of Conan, The Beast from the Abyss a story about Cats and my all time favorite. Check out the REH Foundation and Forum!
Kull in disguise
A significant portion of this book was just a repeat of the story in Kull. I feel I was ripped off by the ads for this book.Again, a disjointed portrayal of a great writer by the authors
(21 reviews)
