‘The Horror from the Mound’ – Robert E. Howard


Page Count: 32 Pages

I never really got the hang of RSS readers, and all that, so the other day, I just did what I normally do, grabbed a whole load of posts from the blogroll of ‘We Learn By Writing’ (a favourite blog of mine) and read through them over breakfast. I really wish that I could remember which of those blogs featured a post on ‘The Horror from the Mound’ now… I’m trying to read more of Howard’s short stories, that aren’t Conan, and figured that I’d give ‘The Horror from the Mound’ a go. One Kindle purchase later...  I really enjoyed it but have no idea who to thank for the recommendation… Oh well, I’m here now so why don’t I tell you about it anyway ;o) Quick thoughts are once again the order of the day, ‘The Horror from the Mound’ is only thirty two pages long and as ever, I’ve got a stack of work to catch up with in the morning…

‘Steve Brill did not believe in ghosts or demons, Juan Lopez did. But neither the caution of of the one nor the sturdy skepticism of the other was shield against the horror that fell upon them – the horror forgotten by men for more than three hundred years – a screaming fear monstrously resurrected from the black lost ages.’

I’d normally post a little blurb but wanted to share that opening passage with you guys because, well… just read it again. The sense of inevitability is palpable; it doesn’t matter whether Steve didn’t believe in ghosts while Juan did, something was coming for them, a ‘screaming fear’ nonetheless, and there was nothing they can do. I’ll be honest, just reading that opening paragraph makes me want to read the story all over again, that’s how good Howard is here.

And the rest of this tale is just as good. I was always going to read the whole thing but the deeper into ‘The Horror’ I got, the more I realised that I didn’t have much of a choice. With two pretty big questions being asked (what is in the mound and could Brill and Lopez fight it off…?), there’s a lot to hook the reader, I had to keep going.

And fair play to Howard for taking what looks like a fairly straightforward piece and throwing in a couple of surprises along the way. I couldn’t help but try and fill in what I thought were some gaps, only to find out we were being taken in another direction entirely. And there’s one moment where Steve Brill and I had the same reaction to a very sudden jump scare, damn that caught me out…

A rich vein of horror runs through ‘The Horror from the Mound’ then and Howard works it like a master; which he was, lets be fair. I’ve got a couple of other collections of Howard’s horror work, that still need to be unpacked, and I’m going to have to go looking for them now. ‘The Horror from the Mound’ is definitely worth a read if you happen to come across it. Actually, you can read it over Here (the Kindle version was ok but had a couple of typos). You're welcome ;o)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘Day of Ascension’ – Adrian Tchaikovsky (Black Library)

Image
Page Count – 196 Pages There isn’t a lot that’s good about moving house (especially when it slowly dawns on you just how much the new place is going to cost to run, I need to get another job…) but there are some good bits if you look for them. For me, it was mostly around getting all my books unpacked and back on shelves around me again, not stuffed up in the loft where I couldn’t see them. Old favourites were back within easy reach, along with a whole load of new books that I really should have read ages ago. You can probably guess what my main New Year’s resolution will be… ;o) ‘Day of Ascension’ was one of those new books and I figured it was as good a place as any to start over in making a dent in the ol’ TBR Pile. And I’m really glad I did. On the forge world of Morod, the machines never stop and the work never ends. The population toils in the mines and factoria to protect humanity from the monsters in the void, while the Adeptus Mechanicus enjoy lives of palatial comfort. Gene
Read more

‘Worms of the Earth’ – Robert E. Howard.

Image
Page Count: 27 Pages I have a copy of this on my shelf and the plan was to pick it up for a read on the way into work this morning. Well, that was the plan but I was half asleep, leaving the house, and totally forgot… No matter though, that’s what the Kindle app is for (although if I’d been a little more awake, I’d have read it off Project Gutenberg instead, you can find ‘Worms of the Earth’ Here ). 99p later and my ‘commute reading’ was secured 😉 I always seem to fall into the trap of just reading ‘Conan’ stuff whenever I fancy reading a little Howard. Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just that there’s a lot of his other stories out there that are more than worth your time when you come across them. ‘Worms of the Earth’ is very much one of those tales but you knew that already, didn’t you? You didn’t? You should do something about that, take it from me… After witnessing one of his subjects die at the hands of Roman governor Titus Sulla, Bran Mak Morn vows vengeance on Sulla but at w
Read more

‘Deathworlder’ – Victoria Hayward (Black Library)

Image
Before I get into the review proper, thank you Black Library for sending me a copy of ‘Deathworlder’ in return for a fair and honest review. Talking of ‘fair and honest’… There will be loads of the latter but I enjoyed the hell out of ‘Deathworlder’ so… We’ll see how being fair goes ;o) That’s your only warning, lets talk ‘Deathworlder’… Lazulai is a world beyond the brink, its battle against the tyranids all but lost. Once-magnificent cities lie in ruin. The seas boil. The skies crack. Horrific alien bioforms devour. In mere days the planet will be consumed. The 903rd Catachan ‘Night Shrikes’ defend one of the last fortresses still standing. Led by Major Wulf Khan, to die fighting is all that is expected of them… until she is given one last mission: to lead a squad through the apocalypse and recover a piece of archeotech that may doom or deliver the entire Lazulai System. Facing insurmountable odds and zero hope for aid, the major must hold her squad together as they pick their way
Read more