1978, Berkley, NY, 215 pages
Cover
Robert E. Howard
Marchers of Valhalla [red on black]
By the Creator of CONAN
[A psychotically brutal Nordic axe battle by an excellent artists who is not credited in the book]
Illustrated – Full Color Fold-Out Poster Inside [This is the wrap around front-back cover art, signed, but illegible to this reader]
The fierce and doomful clashes of a heroic age when the gods and men crossed blades
Back Cover
Robert E. Howard
RAGNAROK, WHEN THE SKIES RAN RED WITH THE BLOOD OF THE GODS [red on black]
“A great battle is gathering,” said the One-eyed One, “unlike anything Earth has ever known. Now comes the reaping of Kings, the garnering of Chiefs as in a harvest. Gigantic shadows stalk red-handed across the world, and night is falling. To each being there is an appointed time, and even the gods must die…”
In these brooding tales of Earth’s distant and heroic past, Robert E. Howard, the creator of CONAN, foreshadows both his greatest works—and his own tragic and mysterious death.
Contents
All, with the exception of Sea Curse, unpublished in Howard’s life time:
The Gray God Passes…7
A Thunder of Trumpets…53
Marchers of Valhalla…79
[The following selections depart from the medieval battle theme and dwell upon curse and racial memory. “For the Love of Barbra Allen” was reviewed in Volume One.]
Sea Curse…127
Out of the Deep…137
The Thunder Rider…147
“For the Love of Barbara Allen”…177
The Valley of the Lost…187
The teaser and the insightful introduction by Fritz Leiber will be treated separately in this volume.
The fact that Howard’s unsold material has filled three books of respectable girth does not mean that it would not have been sold during his life if he had lived longer. When publishing through small, fringe outlets, a prolific writer soon finds that he has choked his outlets with more content than can be accommodated by their limited means. This is especially true of periodicals, which have a commitment to regularly feature certain authors and subjects. From 1998-2000, Black Belt magazine accepted seven of my articles for publication. The publication [and consequently, payment] were spaced out until 2007 to accommodate what is known as “the readership’s appetite.” If Howard had lived, his unsold material may have been published during slack times. There is also the question of WWII, and the tremendous appeal the first three novelettes in this collection would have had to American youths during a struggle that fit in broad outline what was recorded on the back cover blurb above, and which—if not for the unforeseen deployment of nuclear weapons—might have raged for up to a decade.
Taboo You: Deluxe Man Cave Edition
The artist if Ken Kelly, as shewn here...
howardworks.com/valhaly.htm
He did a LOT of these Berkeley covers, and many were done as fold-out posters.
I still remember getting this paperback back in 1985, and the effect that back cover text had on me.
Tex
(Howard Works is your friend)
Thank you, Tex.
As part of this project, before it is over, I would like to credit all of the artists that illustrated Robert E. Howard's works. After all, it was they that first convinced me to read one of his stories.
I will place this link in the Cairns.