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Banshee, whole no. 3, December 1943
Page 5
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True, his name is held in veneration by the Old Guard, but compare his fame with that of the less original H.P Lovecraft! And Nessra. Derleth and Wandrei have to my knowledge given no indication of any plan to issue Howard's works in book form -- they, of course, being the logical people to do it. I frankly confess complete inability to account for this curious neglect. I am not, it is true, an authority on Howard's writings: I've read only "The Phoenix on the Sword," "The Tower of the Elephant" "The Scarlet Citadel," "Worms of the Earth," three or four Solomon Kane stories, and one of the tales of King Kull -- but these all impressed me very favorably, particularly the first four, which, I judge, represent Howard's artistic maturity. He did not, of course, write for the weak-stomached; his pages are drenched with gore, and he leers, half malignantly, at nameless abominations which irresistibly produce horrified gulpings and shivers from the victim -- or reader.But, after all, one of the main purposes of weird fiction is to scare the reader silly, and Howard was very successful in terrifying, at least, me. Nor should the abundance of action and blood-letting be labelled, derisively "blood-and-thunder"; it is an electrifying manifestation of a tremendous lust for excitement, of living life to the hilt, embodies most strikingly in Conan the Cimmorian. On the score of imagination, Howard fails us no more than on those of excitement and terror: I am not likely soon to forget the elephant headed idol which sat on its throne in the ancient tower, and wept, nor the multitudinous ghastly creations of the evil sorcerer in "The Scarlet Citadel" nor yet the anomalous entities lurking beneath Roman Britain in "Worms of the Earth". And Howard's style (as I recall it -- I haven't laid eyes on a work of his in several years) is powerfully vivid, with an exhilarating rhythmic sweep. I suppose we must wait the duration before anything concrete can be done, but let's at least lay the foundations for production of a representative collection of Howard's fantasies, *** I conclude this installment of my column with the embarrassed feeling that for all one can glean from it I've never so much as heard of the FAPA. Fact is, I'm rapturously in love with it, but those carrying on the various discussions seem far better suited to the job than I, and as for criticisms of the fapazines themselves -- well, I regard all the current (Fall) batch with complete contentment. Well done, good and faithful slans! *** LA FINO FLASH (1-1-44): Many of U probly noe already, but if not - BY GOUT ORDER NO MORE 20 LB MIMEO PAPER CAN BE MADE! If paper in this & future: Shes is fantasticly mixt, excuse it pliz; (THAT BLOT TOO!) but necessity is the mother of CONVERSATION (VOICE OF THE) (and [imitation?] is U-noe-what Larry
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True, his name is held in veneration by the Old Guard, but compare his fame with that of the less original H.P Lovecraft! And Nessra. Derleth and Wandrei have to my knowledge given no indication of any plan to issue Howard's works in book form -- they, of course, being the logical people to do it. I frankly confess complete inability to account for this curious neglect. I am not, it is true, an authority on Howard's writings: I've read only "The Phoenix on the Sword," "The Tower of the Elephant" "The Scarlet Citadel," "Worms of the Earth," three or four Solomon Kane stories, and one of the tales of King Kull -- but these all impressed me very favorably, particularly the first four, which, I judge, represent Howard's artistic maturity. He did not, of course, write for the weak-stomached; his pages are drenched with gore, and he leers, half malignantly, at nameless abominations which irresistibly produce horrified gulpings and shivers from the victim -- or reader.But, after all, one of the main purposes of weird fiction is to scare the reader silly, and Howard was very successful in terrifying, at least, me. Nor should the abundance of action and blood-letting be labelled, derisively "blood-and-thunder"; it is an electrifying manifestation of a tremendous lust for excitement, of living life to the hilt, embodies most strikingly in Conan the Cimmorian. On the score of imagination, Howard fails us no more than on those of excitement and terror: I am not likely soon to forget the elephant headed idol which sat on its throne in the ancient tower, and wept, nor the multitudinous ghastly creations of the evil sorcerer in "The Scarlet Citadel" nor yet the anomalous entities lurking beneath Roman Britain in "Worms of the Earth". And Howard's style (as I recall it -- I haven't laid eyes on a work of his in several years) is powerfully vivid, with an exhilarating rhythmic sweep. I suppose we must wait the duration before anything concrete can be done, but let's at least lay the foundations for production of a representative collection of Howard's fantasies, *** I conclude this installment of my column with the embarrassed feeling that for all one can glean from it I've never so much as heard of the FAPA. Fact is, I'm rapturously in love with it, but those carrying on the various discussions seem far better suited to the job than I, and as for criticisms of the fapazines themselves -- well, I regard all the current (Fall) batch with complete contentment. Well done, good and faithful slans! *** LA FINO FLASH (1-1-44): Many of U probly noe already, but if not - BY GOUT ORDER NO MORE 20 LB MIMEO PAPER CAN BE MADE! If paper in this & future: Shes is fantasticly mixt, excuse it pliz; (THAT BLOT TOO!) but necessity is the mother of CONVERSATION (VOICE OF THE) (and [imitation?] is U-noe-what Larry
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