Not a bad lot of stories if you can get past Howard's rampant racism and his demeaning treatment of women, which I couldn't. The racism in Black Canaan is especially appalling leaving the story beyond even historical significance. The other stories are not as bad (but still pretty bad at times). Howard makes Lovecraft's racism look positively genteel in comparison. Not sure University of Nebraska should be proud to publish this.

Some of these stories were somewhat obscure although others (the excellent Pigeons From Hell) are oft anthologized. Despite the Introduction I couldn't see the inherent "Americanism" of the Conan stories or the others that are set outside the North American continent. In other words, I didn't buy the American Tales as a unifying theme. I suppose you could say that any of Howard's tales, not just these, are American because of where he was born and lived.

All this given, I actually enjoyed this. I haven't read many Conan stories or the like since that just isn't my thing but I enjoyed the barbarian and pirate tales here. Most of the weird tales were pretty good and some actually scary in a pulpy way. Howard was unique for writing true weird tales with a real Western (as in C&W) milieu. However frontier stories just don't seem like a setting that works for me personally in the weird tale vein, the Horror from the Mound being an exception.

Oh, and it's got a really cool cover by Mike Mignola that has absolutely nothing to do with the book. ( )

Having read about half of the tales in this collection before I only read those that were new to me.

As usual with collected shorts by REH, the quality ranges from average, to good, to great.

"Black Vulmea's Vengeance" is a notable highlight, featuring the type of adventure tale that you might expect to read in a Conan story. ( )

Best known for Conan, REH's writing was all over the board, but this is a collection of savagery & horror from Conan's world to Howard's. While none of the stories are all that politically correct, a couple are down right offensive. I would guess Howard's audience was primarily well-to-do, white, city dwellers of the 1930's. Keeping that firmly in mind makes more sense out of some of his word & situational choices.

"The Black Stranger" is the original of 3 stories. It was originally written as a Conan story, but wasn't accepted, so Howard re-wrote it with Black Vulmea story as the "Swords of the Red Brotherhood". It was also turned down. DeCamp later edited the story & included it in [b:Conan: Conan the Usurper|152226|Conan Conan the Usurper (Book 8)|Robert E. Howard|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189783561s/152226.jpg|1204553] as "The Treasure of Tranicos", again featuring Conan, of course. DeCamp's changes were pretty good & made it part of Conan's saga in taking the throne of Aquilonia. If you like Conan, it's one of the very best stories.

Marchers of Valhalla is a James Allison story, a crippled man who relives part of his past life as a barbarian warrior. More Sword & Sorcery.

The Gods of Bal-Sagoth features a couple of wild barbarians, one being Turlough O'Brien, who help overturn an ancient city, the remnant of an earlier civilization, much like the previous story. It was also published as "The Blonde Goddess of Bal-Sagoth".

Nekt Semerkeht has a conquistador stumbling on to yet another ancient civilization & causing turmoil. Unfortunately, the story was never really finished. After a rousing battle, the story suddenly ends with one paragraph that teases us with a novel's worth of information. Damn Howard for killing himself at 30, by which time he'd managed to write over 500 different stories!

Black Vulmea's Vengance is about an Irish pirate captured by the English & is one of my all time favorites. His wily pirate is smart, tough, & lucky which leads to a wonderfully exciting story. I especially appreciate how the seeming superstition & supernatural turn out to be completely (if not particularly logically) true & natural.

The Strange Case of Josiah Wibarger is a very short account of what perhaps is a true southwestern legend. I don't know, but it reads like a local ghost story about a party of men attacked by Indians.

The Valley of the Lost is a Texas feud in the late 1800's that takes a horrific, supernatural turn for the worst. It's very well done.

Kelly the Conjure-man reads like another local legend about a black man in the 1870's who practiced something like voodoo in Arkansas. It's only a few pages long.

Black Canaan is again set in the late 1800's & is about a voodoo man & woman creating unrest among the blacks in a former slave holding area. If you object to the word 'nigger' don't read this. The word is all over the place from the names of creeks to how the people talk. It seemed to be used in conjunction with trackless swamps, snakes & horrific magic to prey on Howard's readers' prejudices of the time. Everything is more horrible for not only being unknown, but unknowable by the white hero. He makes a big difference between town & swamp folk, whether white or black. The rich white live in town & are far better than the "poor white trash", just as the "town niggers" are better than the "swamp niggers", so the last are doubly removed from the hero's exalted station. According to Howard, the black community of that area knows things that civilized white people just can't know, so the hero is really facing a desperate situation. Without the obvious racism, it would be an excellent story. As it is... well, it's pretty rough, but has its good points.

Pigeons From Hell is set about Howard's life time, the early 1900's since the main character drives a car, but the sheriff is riding a horse. Again, there is a lot of racism (again Howard equates blacks with an unknowable-by-white-men culture & magic to prey on his readers' prejudices) but this time with a wonderful twist. The harsh slave master winds up cursed by the slave she abused through the workings of a voodoo man, who didn't realize what he had done. Black magic (in all ways in that it was evil & performed by blacks) brings a kind of horrific justice - well, more like vengeance. Not as bad as "Black Canaan" & a pretty good, scary story.

Old Garfield's Heart is fairly short & straight forward, reminding me of a "The Furies" by Zelazny. (I wonder if he got the idea for Corgo here?) Again Howard hints at elder civilizations & peeks at it through the eyes of 'modern' man - in this case the folks of Howard's Texas. (Horses, guns & cars, again.)

The Horror From the Mound is another horror story set in late 1800's Texas. It's a vampire story, but we don't really know that until more than halfway through, which is excellent because it is a great build up. Horror of the finest kind with a very earthy hero.

The Thunder Rider is somewhat similar to the James Allison stories, but in this case the man is having mental issues & goes to a Comanche medicine man for help. Remember that Howard lived in Texas where the Comanche stories were often told as horror stories. Here Howard makes a wonderfully savage hero - until the end. Ladies will be particularly offended. The hero decides the girl is wonderful so he will take her as his. She disagrees, so he pins her face down on the ground with his foot & beats her with his bow until she gives in. Then he sends her to fetch the horses & takes her home to live happily ever after...Sure.

The Classic Tale of the Southwest is from a letter to August Derleth circa January 1933. It recounts some history about the Indians, specifically Qanah Parker, a very successful half breed who lived mostly as an Indian & even became friends with Teddy Roosevelt. That Howard admires his accomplishments is quite clear.

The Grim Lands is one of Howard's many poems. He wrote reams of them. ( )

http://www.sfsite.com/08b/bs206.htm ( )

This is manly, pulpy, purply stuff. Howard's descriptive powers far outweigh the groan-inducing dialogue. It's OK, but there's only so much celebrating of the Aryan race and fear of being domesticated by women that I can take. ( )