The saga of Esau Cairn takes the same twists and turns in the its second quarter as do other interplanetary adventures: capture, attraction, tension, validation, initiation, and is done so uniquely well by Howard I have no wish to ruin the story. This is the
section in which Howard describes the ordering of his barbaric fantasy planet, through the vantage of the marooned earthling evolving from animal savagery up to barbarism in the monolithic stronghold of Koth.
The humans of Almuric are known as Guras, and have evolved in gender specific ways.
The masculine culture is overtly Homeric, revolving around individual deeds and loyalties, and shares characteristics of Viking and American frontier culture, with the men physically evolved to an apish peak of ferocious strength. They are loud, gloomy and not overly intelligent and devote themselves to wandering, war and the hunt.
The feminine culture is somewhat Homeric, involving a life lived within monolithic cities which are not safe to leave. the women occupy themselves weaving, music, singing, and engaging in intellectual pursuits. The lives of these women are much like the lives of American Indian women minus the hard work—the lives of upper class Homeric women
What you end up with is something like a tribe of bikers whose wives are geishas.
As an experiment I had my editor, Danica, read this to me. She is a dainty type with a masters degree who stays indoors, plays music, sings, makes her own clothing, and is generally horrified and fascinating by my lifestyle and the urban decay that has rendered the streets of her city a hunting ground.
She likes Howard's flare and was wondering what she would think of this. By the time she completed reading the family structure and gender roles section of cairn's narrative she was laughing out loud and said, "He is describing us, an educated, stay at home girl and a ferocious, nomadic savage! You just have to replace the hyenas and baboons with hoodrats and this is our life!"
Below is her favorite passage:
"Her scope is narrow, few women never set foot outside the city in which they are born, unless carried off in a raid... they well know the perils that hem the cities in, and they are content in the protection of their ferocious mates and masters."
My favorite passage is a Spartan rejection of materialism:
"No ornaments are worn, either by men or women, and there are no such things as coins. There is no medium of exchange... Fresh meat, the principal food of the Guras, is furnished by hunting..."
It seems, the deeper one reads in this rough and raucous adventure, that Esau Cairn is a man out of time, dreaming of a masculine paradise.
