170 replies to this topic

[nabonidus11]

I was reading Tamerlane, by Harold Lamb, this weekend. It was originally published in 1928. It seems I read somewhere that H. Lamb was an influence on REH. I may be wrong it was a long time ago when I was in High Schol and it may have been an article in Amra. At that time I was able to check out Lamb's book on the Crusades. Later I found his book on Hannibal. He wrote a few and they are all fine reads.

What about Khlit the Cossack?

Anyway I was curious if anyone had insight on...Was REH influenced by Harold Lamb?

[hajones]

Khlit the Cossack was created back in 1917, probably before that differently-spelled anatomical description was in vogue. A shame about that problem, because the stories are GOOD, really good, but almost forgotten, and they don't need any more strikes against them. I wish I could change his name, but I can't. It's taken me YEARS to get this stuff back into print.

Lamb was one of REH's favorite writers. For a sample of why, here's a scene from late in one of the Khlit novels. Khlit, at this point the Kha Khan of the mongols, is leading a horde of them against the forces of the Indian Mogul. They're in the midst of a great battle. This is from the story "The Curved Sword" published in Adventure magazine from 1920 and never reprinted. He's about to order an attack against the elephant riders, perched in their howdahs atop the elephants. I'm pretty sure you'll dig it:
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Khlit pointed to the howdah of the Northern Lord, glittering with its costly trimmings.

"Chagan, take a score of followers and slay me that chief."

By now the arrows from the howdahs were flying among the Tatar riders, and their own arrows were deflected off the armored coverings of the beasts. Khlit rose to a standing position in his saddle and surveyed the masses of fighting men. He rode swiftly from clan to clan, bidding them draw away from the riverbank. In so doing they passed near the elephant of Paluwan Khan.

Chagan had driven his horse at the head of the giant beast, clearing a path for himself with his sword. He swung at the black trunk that swayed above him, missed his stroke, and went down as his horse fell with an arrow in its throat.

"Bid your elephant kneel, cowardly lord," he bellowed, springing to his feet and avoiding the impact of the great tusks, "and fight as a man should!"

His companions being for the most part slain, Chagan seized a fresh mount that went by riderless and rode against the elephant's side. Gripping the canopy that overhung the elephant's back, with teeth and clutching fingers he drew himself up, heedless of blows delivered upon his steel headpiece and mailed chest.

"Ho!" he cried from between set teeth. "I will come to you, Northern Lord!"

An arrow seared his cheek and a knife in the hand of an archer bit into the muscles of a massive arm. Chagan's free hand seized the mahout and jerked him from behind the ears of the elephant as ripe fruit is plucked from a tree. At this the beast swayed and shivered, and for an instant the occupants of the howdah were flung back upon themselves and Chagan was nearly cast to earth.

Kneeling, holding on the howdah edge with a bleeding hand, he smote twice with his heavy sword, smashing the skull of an archer and knocking another to the ground. The remaining native thrust his shield before Paluwan Khan.
But the Northern Lord, no coward, pushed his servant aside and sprang at Chagan, scimitar in hand.

The Tatar sword-bearer, kneeling, wounded, was at a disadvantage. Swiftly he let fall his own weapon and closed with Paluwan Khan, taking the latter's stroke upon his shoulder. A clutching hand gripped the throat of the Northern Lord above the mail and Chagan roared in triumph.

Pulling his foe free of the howdah, the Tatar lifted Paluwan Khan to his shoulder and leaped from the back of the elephant.

The two mailed bodies struck the earth heavily, Paluwan Khan underneath; and it was a long moment before Chagan rose, reeling. In his bleeding hand he clasped the head of the Northern Lord. And, reeling, he made his way to Khlit, through the watchers who had halted to view the struggle upon the elephant.

"Kha Khan, look upon your foe!"

And Chagan tossed the head aside, to run, staggering, at Khlit's stirrup as the Tatars swept athwart the Mogul's line, away from the river.
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Does that rock, or what? And this is a pretty typical passage. Khlit the Cossack is the unsung grandfather of sword and sorcery. I think anyone who digs Conan will like the Khlit the Cossack stories. He's really the first modern-sounding serial adventure character. I can't believe that these stories have lain forgotten for so many years!

I'd best to do my day job!

best wishes,
Howard

[Jery]

Howard,

I appreciate Khlit, the battle-describing is great! I can imagine, REH learned from Lamb. How about the intrigues or magic in Lamb's pieces, just as good?

[Jungir Khan]

Wow! That was good! Cannot believe we have to wait a year to get them though!

Is there sorcery in these stories? I am curious as well, though it would make no difference to me if there wasn't...

[hajones]

<< I can imagine, REH learned from Lamb. How about the intrigues or magic in Lamb's pieces, just as good?>>

The intrigue--oh yes. Lamb was truly a master plotter. Have you read any Edgar Rice Burroughs? You notice how he tends to keep recycling the same plots? That almost never happens with Lamb. You can never predict, when a Lamb story starts, how it is going to turn out, or know how Khlit will get out of whatever tricky situation he's in. The villains are almost all brilliant schemers... Khlit has lived into middle-age primarily because of his craftiness, although he is still a brilliant swordsman. (His sword even has a secret history, which unfolds as the stories progress.)

As to sorcery and supernatural stuff: There are folks in the Khlit stories who claim to be sorcerors and miracle workers. We see plenty of weird stuff, but most of it can be explained away, although not in the "oh my God, it was really just Mr. Hyde-White in a mask!" kind of way. So while there are suggestions of the supernatural, and even one or two characters who seem to have a limited ability to see potential futures, you won't encounter any sorcerors raised from the dead or Elephant-headed gods... REH would be the one who invented those. Lamb was writing straight historical fiction, just with a cinematic pace that really hadn't been seen before, in really exotic settings. Have you read any of REH's awesome historical fiction pieces? The two writers sound a lot alike when you compare REH's straight history stuff to Lamb.

I became a Lamb expert by accident--I stumbled upon his stuff, loved it, and learned that there was tons of it that had never been reprinted. At some point, realizing just how good it was and how it deserved NOT to be forgotten, I swore that I'd find a way to bring it into print. When I was in my early 20s I had no idea I'd end up being a professional editor for 15 years, and thus have some actual clout when I finally tracked down the copyright holder and approached a publisher...

If you want to try some Lamb fiction now (later in life he started writing biographies and history books), there are two novels about a Crusader available through Amazon, Durandal and the Sea of Ravens, as well as a Genghis Khan novel, The Three Palladins. I wrote the intro for a reprint of a real Howardian page turner titled The Grand Cham, also available through Amazon. I just turned the manuscripts for the first two Khlit volumes over to Bison Books, and they'll be out in spring of 06, with the next two available in fall of 06.

For more info on Harold Lamb, check out the site I run at

www.haroldlamb.net

best wishes,
Howard

[Jery]

Is there sorcery in these stories? I am curious as well, though it would make no difference to me if there wasn't...

Yeah, me too. It seems, that cossacks and sorcery wouldn't sound real, at least medieval 'black magic' could add some salt... But if there's always bloody, wild action like it has been cited then just 'buy it'!

[Dragon Girl]

That excerpt was FANTASTIC! Thanks for putting that up, Hajones. I really want to read more about Khlit the Cossack.

[hajones]

Dragon Girl, thanks for your interest in Lamb's Cossack stories. It IS great stuff and it's a distinct pleasure to be so closely involved with getting these things in to print. Imagine that you knew about a great older writer whose work was all but forgotten--say by some quirk of fate it had happened to REH and you got the chance to bring it to light. That's what it's like for me bringing Lamb back. Great plotting, great action, exciting pacing--it's pretty easy to see why Robert E. Howard named him one of his favorite writers (in a letter to Lovecraft).

I'll post reminders here, if it's not too far off topic, when the first of the Lamb collections come back from the printer next spring.

Best,
Howard

[Crom]

I'll post reminders here, if it's not too far off topic, when the first of the Lamb collections come back from the printer next spring.

Best,
Howard

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No problem, Howard. OT's a good place for information like that. I've been re-reading his biography on Hannibal. I'm amazed how easily he can breath life into something that's essentially a life story, and not fiction.

[hajones]

[/quote]
No problem, Howard. OT's a good place for information like that. I've been re-reading his biography on Hannibal. I'm amazed how easily he can breath life into something that's essentially a life story, and not fiction.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[/quote]

Ah--yes, that's one of his best biographies. That was the first book by Lamb I ever read. I loved it, and became fascinated with Hannibal as a result. I loved it so much it that I sought out more by the same author. I'd hoped he'd written more about Hannibal. What I found instead was a collection of Khlit stories called the Curved Saber, which I loved as much as the early Lankhmar stories of Leiber which I had only recently read.

Turns out Lamb did write one piece of Hannibal fiction, a screenplay he co-authored that was never produced. It's in the archives in UCLA. I MUST go out there one day and read it. My favorite author writing on my favorite historical figure--I wish I could get out there to read it today...

Not all of Lamb's bios are great reading, but Hannibal is a good one. His absolute best (and his son and his current copyright holder agreed/agree with me on this) is The March of the Barbarians. Fabulous history of the Mongols, absolutely captivating.

Best,
Howard

[Crom]

I can't remember if Hannibal was the first book I read by him. It could have been Charlemagne or Genghis Khan. Bantam re-released those titles in the 60s, and I know I was impressed enough to grab all of them. Later on I found his bio on Alexander of Macedon. It was sometime later I discovered he wrote fiction, and was one of pulp magazine's best kept secrets. Kudos to you for keeping his memory alive through your website.

I didn't know about the Hannibal screenplay. I'm sure it would have been a better movie than that Victor Mature effort from 1960. I guess we'll have to wait and see if Vin Diesel comes through. Hannibal is certainly one of the great ancient generals. I'd rank him behind Alexander and ahead of Pyrhhus of Epirus (the Harold Lamb of great generals ), from where the term Pyrrhic victory originated.

[Fierro]

I finally picked up "Wolf of the Steppes," Vol I of the new University of Nebraska reprints of Harold Lamb's Khlit the Cossack stories from Adventure magazine.

Any Howard fan should jump all over these. They are great stories and the influence on Howard is unmistakable (and discussed in the introduction). Like REH, Lamb really puts you there. You sit down in your living room and you look up and you're on a horse on the steppe or in the heartless desert or confronting vast mountains. Great plots, good characters ? everything you need and riding at a breakneck pace.

Here be treasure, comrades!

[Croms Bones]

I finally picked up "Wolf of the Steppes," Vol I of the new University of Nebraska reprints of Harold Lamb's Khlit the Cossack stories from Adventure magazine.

Any Howard fan should jump all over these. They are great stories and the influence on Howard is unmistakable (and discussed in the introduction). Like REH, Lamb really puts you there. You sit down in your living room and you look up and you're on a horse on the steppe or in the heartless desert or confronting vast mountains. Great plots, good characters ? everything you need and riding at a breakneck pace.

Here be treasure, comrades!

Great! I ordered this book a few weeks ago... haven't gotten around to reading it yet, but the good review is great to hear!

[Crom]

These are fantastic books. It should be noted that both Wolf of the Steppes and Warrior of the Steppes are edited by Howard Andrew Jones, late of Flashing Swords E-Zine and now Managing Editor of Black Gate. Jones is considered one of the pre-eminent Lamb scholars. The good news is there are two more volumes coming...

[AdamJames]

I have both these volumes, and they are excellent! Lamb's plots are superb.

The twist at the end of Wolf's War made me laugh out loud!

[Mike_The_Barbarian]

I went into the bookstore I usually go to today and asked them if they had any in, or could order any, but unfortunately it's not on any of their lists.

I don't really read much Sword and Sorcery, well, any besides Robert E. Howard, because I always find myself cringing and all the cliches in them. Howard was different for me, and for some reason, I feel like giving this one a go too.

I'll probably have to check about for this though. The main character's called Khlit? Haha, what fun! I suppose it won't be long before I have this Khlit in my hands! (sorry, sorry)

After finisheding some of the books I just bought, I'm pretty much dying to get my hands on any thing worth while...And this, while I know nothing but the title of the story and the name of the character, has managed to arouse me - I mean, my interest! haha, shamless Korgoth rip-off.

[John Maddox Roberts]

I read the stories many years ago. As I recall, the foreword said that "Khlit" was supposed to sound just like a throat being slit.

[jackx]

If I recall correctly, Flashing Swords has a Khlit story in an older issue, so you could probably check if you like it without buying anything.

[Crom]

If I recall correctly, Flashing Swords has a Khlit story in an older issue, so you could probably check if you like it without buying anything.

Yes. It's called Protection, and can be found here: Flashing Swords Issue 2

The tale should give a good indication whether Lamb is for you.

You may want to check out the other yarns while you're at it. Some pretty good names in that issue.

EDIT: Oops. That was a Viking tale.

[jackx]

That's the viking/crusader one, which is excellent IMHO, but I was almost 100% sure that one of his Khlit stories was in Flashing Swords as well... can't find it, though, so maybe I was wrong.


Edit: Definitely was wrong, the 2nd Lamb story in FS is another viking one...

And yes, as Lord Durham said, check out the other stories, including those written by Lord (or should I use Bruce? xd) Durham himself.
Another favourite of mine is "The White Wyrm" by C.L. Werner, found in issue 3.

Edited by jackx, 23 September 2006 - 11:59 PM.