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Sword & Sorcery
Flashing Swords
Pitch Black Books
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Bison Press, University of Nebraska 2006
Reviewed by Mike Clagett
So speaks Khlit the Cossack in just one of the ten tales found in WOLF OF THE STEPPES, as edited and presented by Howard A. Jones, editor-in-chief of this web site and of the official Harold Lamb web site."My name is Khlit," said the newcomer, gazing at the circle of watchers, "and I am the Standard-Bearer of Genghis Khan. I have come from the tomb of the Master of the Earth with the banner of the sun and moon, because there will be a great battle, aye, such a battle as has not been for many years--since the Grand Khans were dead!" (From The Mighty Manslayer, WOLF OF THE STEPPES)
Now I dislike spoilers of any kind. Don't look for story synopsis here. Read these tales from a master storyteller for yourself. You will find no wizards and magic here, as this fiction isn't sword and sorcery as you've come to understand those definitions. The magic in these tales is in reading. The wizard is in Mr. Lamb's telling of them. Harold Lamb had a huge influence upon Robert E. Howard, and in Mr. Lamb's fiction one can find all of the same themes Mr. Howard explored, from lost cities to daring rescues to doom-laden heroes. Since Mr. Lamb was writing of real, although "exotic" places, he almost always explained away items which at first glance appeared supernatural. That did not keep him from playing around the edges of the unknown and mysterious, however. In terms of "feel" they are extremely close to Mr. Howard's own historical fiction. Each volume opens with a knowledgeable Foreword from Howard Jones and is followed with an insightful Introduction, in volume 1 from S.M. Stirling, and in volume 2 from David Drake.
Each writer learns the lessons of writing in the doing. Harold Lamb was no different. Each writer "pays their dues", and Mr. Lamb learned his trade in these wonderful tales. Most were printed in the old pulp magazine, ADVENTURE, one of the top of the line magazines in its day. These tales of Khlit the Cossack, and other heroes cut from the same cloth, are exciting, intelligent, well plotted and pull the reader into another age and place with the ease of a natural storyteller.
If not for the work of Mr. Jones, these same tales would still lie, mouldering in the old pulps, their covers fading, much of their commercial contents dated, and their stories all but forgotten. But Mr. Lamb's wonderful tales have lost none of their edge with time. For those who may recall the films made from Nicolai Gogol's TARAS BULBA, you are in for a treat as Khlit would find Taras a welcome friend and companion. Both are much alike but old Taras had but the one novel. Khlit's adventures take him from the steppes of old mother Russia over the Roof of the World. He rides and battles from northern India to the Tomb of Genghis Khan. These stories take Khlit all over western Asia.
These stories are as readable today as they were in the nineteen twenties and told in an elegant, straightforward writing style using everyday English. I must confess to the occasional stumbling over a few of the more Asiatic and Near Eastern names, but these are all a part of the spell these stories can weave over the reader once begun.
Mr. Jones has assembled the works in first tale to last tale order. But don't let that bother you. These tales can be read in any progression you choose. They were among the most admired of stories read by Robert E. Howard, who chose to emulate them. These are stories which made Harold Lamb a real writer to be reckoned with. They were the ground work of writing for entertainment which comes through so well in his later biographies and sweeping narratives.
Some of you may be familiar with these tales from the old ADVENTURE magazine and the two Doubleday anthologies, THE CURVED SABRE and THE MIGHTY MANSLAYER. But these collections offered only a taste of the Cossack tales. As welcome as they were, these new collections fill all the missing portions. All the tales are collected here, even the tales which do not feature Khlit. I never thought to see these ever collected and my hat is off to Mr. Jones and the folks at Bison Press. Thank you!
Recent years have seen other of Mr. Lamb's Middle Eastern and Asian tales re-published: THE THREE PALLADINS and two of the DURANDAL novels from Grant Press; THE GRAND CHAM from Wildside Press; and MARCHING SANDS from Hyperion Press. As wonderful as these novels are, the COSSACK TALES are, collectively, a large, wide series of windows on a huge and unfamiliar landscape where these other novels are more limited, open port holes on that same landscape.
Harold Lamb may come through as dated for some today who prefer the quick, easy tales of magic and wizardry where a swinging sword and fast spell cut through a lot of plot developement. Mr. Lamb always keeps us entertained with well constructed plots, unforgettable characters and enough adventure to fill novels. These stories of Khlit the Cossack and his fellow associates, travelers, friends, enemies; the plots, the treachery, the sometimes grim humor, have no -isms, no political axes to grind. They are pure storytelling of a master teller who learned his trade with them. Give them a try. I believe you shall find each one of these tales a different and enjoyable read.
Two more Lamb volumes will finish out this collection and are to be released in Spring of 2007. Rumor has it that other Lamb volumes may follow from Bison.
THE WOLF OF THE STEPPES, The Complete Cossack Adventures, Volume One, by Harold Lamb. Bison Press, University of Nebraska, 2006. Book: 603 pages, with Introduction by S. M. Sterling.
WARRIORS OF THE STEPPES, The Complete Cossack Adventures, Volume Two, by Harold Lamb. Bison Press, University of Nebraska, 2006. Book: 631 pages, with Introduction by David Drake.
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