Black Vulmea's Vengeance [Paperback]

Robert Howard (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Robert E. Howard wrote pulp fiction that stirred the imagination with vivid images, larger-than-life characters, and cliff-hanger plot lines. Although mostly noted as the creator of the Conan stories, Howard also wrote thrilling pirate yarns as well. Black Vulmea's Vengeance is a collection of three novelettes about pirates. Interwoven with the pirate swash and buckle are glimpses of lost dead cities protected in bizarre ways, of devil-haunted caves, and weird revenge. "Swords of the Red Brotherhood" is the longest and best of Howard's non-Conan pirate stories, an exciting departure from the normal pirate yarn. "The Isle of Pirate's Doom" and "Black Vulmea's Vengeance" fill out this oversized volume which also features seven spectacular full-color interior illustrations by Robert J. Pailthorpe. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Berkley (November 1, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425042960
• ISBN-13: 978-0425042960
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,599,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Howard pirate stories!, January 20, 2000

By 

Steve Miller - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Vulmea's Vengeance (Hardcover)

I understand that Donald E. Grant produced this and other deluxe volumes of R. E. Howard's stories a couple of decades ago, focusing primarily on the ever-popular Conan tales.

Well, like the six volumes of the Bean R.E. Howard Library (which, among other things, collected all the Bran Mac Morn, Solomon Kane, and King Kull tales in single, affordable volumes), Black Vulmea's Vengance collects a handful of Howard efforts that showed that he could create heroes, action, and character interplays far more interesting than anything found in his most famous stories.

Two stories and the novella found in this volume can either be read as top-notch pirate stories, or they can be read as typical Howard action tales. What *isn't* quite typical Howard, though, is the presence of female characters that display a bit more depth than one usually finds in his work.

Considering the relative age of this book and the fact that I received a first edition when I ordered it, I imagine that there are only a limited number of these left. I urge all Howard fans, as well as those who appreciate well-written adventure fiction, to order a copy. The price is definately right for these fine, hard-to-find tales. The book would have received Five Stars if the colour plates present had been better executed. They were the only dissapointing aspect of this hardcover collection.

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Waste of money, April 15, 2000

By 

Allen Pittman (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Vulmea's Vengeance (Hardcover)

There are three stories included in this book. The first story is called "swords of the red brotherhood". If any of you have ever read the conan story The treasure of tranicos, then you have read this story, as it is nothing more than a change of setting and the names have been altered, the other two tales are not even worth mentioning. All in all a very poor read.