Sowers of Th Thunder

Anyone who had not read Robert Howard, stop now and go read one of his books. While most known for his Conan and Kull fantasies, Howard amazingly wrote about everything from hillbillies to ancient history. Sowers of Thunder touch on the Crusades, with little to no fantasy, but lots of violence, compelling characters, and a surprising amount of pretty accurate historical events. I picked this up after watching Kingdom of Hearven for the upteenth time, it is a great read, the writing feels very contemporary and clean. I spent more than is my want on the Grant limited edition that has great Roy Krenkel illustrations throughout (although I believe some of the paperback releases have a lot of them as well, albeit smaller and not as clear). And you will probably remember your Crusader history better as well.

Robert E. Howard is well known among readers of action/adventure as the creator of Conan of Cimmeria, the Puritan killer Solomon Kane, and Kull of Atlantis. He is less known for his forays into historical fiction, but these bleak, savage (and action-packed) stories of the Crusades and the Mongols are remarkable, and should be read by anyone who appreciates Howards immense descriptive skill. "The Lion Of Tiberias" The year 1124: One of the few survivors of a battle against the Caliph of Baghdad, Crusader John Norwald was enslaved in the galleys by "Zenghi esh Shami, Imad ed din, governor of Wasit and warden of Basorah, whom men called the Lion of Tiberias", after seeing Zenghi mercilessly murder a young boy... "the only person who had ever shown Norwald kindness"...If it took a lifetime, John Norwald would have his revenge. "Shadow of The Vulture" The story of Suleiman the Great and his attack on the City of Vienna in 1529, (and the lengthy siege that followed). Howard, as is his wont, works in some excellent fictional characters: Red Sonya, in her first appearance in print, and the drunken (yet ferocious and formidable) Gottfried von Kalmbach (whose head Suleiman wants on a platter). The title story, a brutally told, excellent tale (historically detailed and exciting) of the real life conqueror Baibars, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, the fictional Red Cahal who opposes him, and the actual slaughter by Tartars of Moslem and Christian alike in the sack of Jerusalem in 1243. This book is well worth buying for any fan of Robert E. Howard, or those who appreciate historical fiction in the tradition of Harold Lamb (but a little more graphically violent, as we expect from R.E.H.). I also recommend the desert tales of another Howard slayer, Francis Xavier Gordon, known as El Borak (The Swift) an American adventurer who wears the bloody White Hat in: The 'El Borak' Stories - Blood of The Gods; The Daughter of Erlik Khan; Hawk of the Hills; Son Of The White Wolf; The Country of The Knife If you like Conan and Kane, you'll enjoy these stories as well.

One rainy night, in Paris, opposite to the Gothic church of Notre Dame, I happened to found myself in an archaic looking, yet beautifull in its own way, bookstore of Shakespeare & Co. Browsing through the old books, my eyes caught the glimpse of this shining star. Sowers of thunder, barbaric stories from middle ages, central asian steps, from empires long forgotten. A Turkoman myself, I was mesmerized by the tune of stories, stories of tatar, seldjuki, and ottoman warriors from the creator of the fantasy fiction. Here you can find the origin of red sonja, when she is defending the city of Vien, against the mighty army of ottomans when they have sieged the city. A must book for everybody who's looking for the darkest blood frenzy stories from an era long became an history.