Sword & Sorcery Favorites You Might Have Missed IV

With favorites you are always going to find others who have read those stories, and to those people I will apologize, but it surprises me in the comments how many people haven’t read these stories. So if these are new to you, enjoy, because this is the good stuff.

“The God in the Bowl” by Robert E. Howard (1952) originally appeared in Space Science Fiction, September 1952.

The owner of the museum, Publico’s Temple, is murdered within its walls. Conan, a thief, is blamed for the death though he denies it completely. Slowly over the evening Demetrio unwinds the mystery surrounding the weird metal object that Publico has stolen and opened in his museum. Arus, the guardsman, swears he saw a rope that Conan used to enter the building but it disappears. Only after the monster shows up in the end do all the accusers flee. Conan stays, cutting the beautiful head off a body that is all snake.

This tale is interesting because you can see Howard trying a different kind of plot for a Conan story, namely that of a detective story. Conan doesn’t act as detective so much as does Demetrio. There are those critics who feel all genre fiction: detective, Western and S&S are basically the same, only the settings vary. This story adds weight to that idea, though it is not a typical S&S tale.

Barry Smith’s version of the God in the Bowl from Conan the Barbarian #7

“The Unspeakalbe Shrine” by John Jakes originally appeared in Brak the Barbarian (1968).

Brak comes to Kambda Kai in the Ice Marshes on his way to Kurdisan. He is accosted by a beggar then attacked by the Darter Boys, weird kidnappers for the sacrificial altar of Yob-Haggoth. In his struggle, Brak encounters the beautiful but treacherous Ariane.

The Darter Boys capture the barbarian and throw him in a cell with two men, Friar Jerome, a worshipper of the Nameless God, and Tyresias, the blind bard. They explain to Brak that he is in the middle of a holy war between the evil Yob-Haggoth and the Nameless God. All three men are to be sacrificed on Yob-Haggoth’s altar.

Ariane, Septegundus’s daughter, pulls Brak’s soul from his body and takes him on an enchanted dream chariot ride through the sky. During this trip she tries to convince him to give up his soul to her in exchange for his life. Brak refuses. Ariane gives Brak a necklace with a magic bubble on it that can instantly summon her if he should change his mind.

Brak wakes to find himself on the altar, awaiting the ceremony. Here he meets Septegundus for the first time. The ceremony begins and Brak sees the stone statue of Yob-Haggoth coming to life. Brak gets his hands on his sword and uses it to stab the statue in a vital area, a burning crevisse in his belly.

Septegundus corners Brak and powers up his sacrificial blade into a magic weapon, and shoots it at the barbarian. Brak grabs the bubble on the necklace, summoning Ariane just in time for the magic dagger to kill her. The giant statue of Yob-Haggoth crumbles and Septegundus escapes in the confusion. He leaves Brak with a warning, that when he is on the road to Kurdisan, he will come for him. Brak meets up with Father Jerome and Tyresias before heading off on his journey.

When John Jakes decided to corral all the Brak stories into a chronology he had to go back to the beginning and write about Brak’s first adventure among civilization and the forces of Yob-Haggoth. This story was the only original Brak tale to get an adaptation by Marvel. It appeared in Savage Tales #7 (November 1974) and #8 (January 1975). The story was adapted by Doug Moench and drawn by Steve Gan. Jakes would pen an original Brak comic called “Spell of the Dragon”. John Jakes has promised (and written?) the final Brak tale will end with a showdown between Septegundus and Brak, bringing the saga full circle.

“The Vault of Silence” by Lin Carter originally appeared in Swords Against Tomorrow (1970).

Carthalla, a princess of Sarkovy is captured by brutish Thungoda warriors, who drag her off to the mountains. Kellory shows up and faces off with them, before zapping them all dead with a lightning spell.

The warlock is on a mission to find a spell book of a dead wizard, Yaohim, and can’t turn back. Instead he takes Carthalla with him. He wants the spell book so he can take on the Thungoda horde coming to Sarkovy.

They stop for the night near the Black River. Carthalla sneaks off to bathe, when a slimy black tentacle monster grabs her. Kellory saves her with magic, draining his soul-power. Weakened, they continue on to Yaohim’s glass-like castle. There are no more guardians (Kellory’s attack on the shioggua may have driven them off.) They search the castle but don’t find the book.

They are arguing when Carthalla mentions her father’s throne back in Khev. Kellory realizes his mistake and searches for a secret throne room, which he finds. He is attacked by Yaohim’s spirit. They duel in the halfworld of the Dubious Lands. Kellory wins, driving off Yaohim’s soul. He doesn’t find the book and must continue searching. Carthalla decides to go with him.

“The Vault of Silence” is the opening chapter of the novel Kellory the Warlock (published 1984, fourteen years after it appeared in this anthology) and it was the only section published separately. Some critics have said the Kellory novel is Carter’s version of Michael Moorcock’s Elric and I agree to a point. I think Carter was pastiching Moorcock characters in general. Kellory is dark and unlikeable as is Elric but he is also horribly scarred and maimed like Dorian Hawkmoon. Other critics feel Carter was starting to find his own way (less pastiche, more original) but the shioggua (Tsathoggua/shoggoth) begs differently. Still, I enjoyed it.

“Largarut’s Bane ” by Ray Capella  originally appeared in Swords Against Darkness, 1977.

Largarut has to go to the city to see a wise-woman because his daughter is tormented by nightly visits from a weird bird-like thing that appears in the father’s dreams. Largarut unwisely chided the gods and finds himself cursed because of it.

The wise-woman gives Largarut a bow and two arrows and tells him to practice in secret at night (since bows are outlawed) and to put the other arrow under his daughter’s pillow. He practices but knows he is not good enough to shoot the quick-moving monster. In the end the daughter kills the bird and Largarut realizes he was given the bow simply to keep him out of the way so she could use it.

Ray Capella’s short stories usually appeared in Amra. This one went straight to Andy Offutt’s anthology. “Largarut’s Bane” is not part of a series and not set in Hyboria like most of his tales.

“The Places of Aache” by Roger Zelazny originally appeared in Other Worlds #2, (January 1980).

Dilvish and Black are set upon by a highwayman who tries to rob them without fighting but in the end has to face Dilvish’s blade. After Dilvish kills him, he finds he is haunted by a spirit whenever he sleeps.

Going to the temple of Aache, Dilvish discovers that his penance to be rid of the haunter is all his money and a year of taking the dead man’s place. The highwayman was robbing travelers to buy honey to feed the goddess of the temple, Aache.

He encounters the deity:

Abruptly, the water stirred. The face of a woman emerged and regarded him. Her eyes were green and very large, her skin extremely pale. Tight ringlets of black hair covered her head like a helmet. Her chin was pointed, and there was something unnatural to the shape of her tongue when she spoke aloud…She continued to rise—neck, shoulders, breasts, all pale—and abruptly all human semblance vanished, for below her waist were more long slender limbs than Dilvish could count.

Dilvish strikes upon a better plan: why not mine the local metals and make much more money. He shows the temple servants how to smelt the ore and is prepared to take the first load south to market. The morning he is about to depart he finds the temple priest Trask fleeing. The temple has burned to the ground, killing the goddess. That night Aache’s spirit takes her vengeance on Trask and Dilvish buries the body.

A good example of Zelazny the professional spinning yarns to meet a market rather than being driven by a need to tell a history of Dilvish. You can see how his style has become quite comfortable after twelve years and any number of Hugos and Nebulas. I think it’s a fun play of a name “Aache- Ache”.