The People of the Black Circle, Robert E. Howard

Image from Howardworks.com

As mentioned in my previous blog post, Robert E. Howard is one of my favorite fantasy writers. Perhaps had he lived another 30 years, he might have written something as grand as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. This is a novella which can be read in a single sitting. It is one of the better ones available at Gutenberg.org. If you are wanting to start somewhere, this is pretty much as good as it gets. One of the great things about Howard's fiction is that, despite the stories having the same heroic character, Conan, they are all perfectly independent and can be read in any order. In fact, he wrote them in no specific order. Also, this one can be read in a single sitting as it is a novella.

This is not the first time I've read this story. I have read it many times over a period of 30 years. I have read it in the well illustrated Conan Saga series, in paper with the very cover I reposted here, once on my cell phone and once on my Kindle. I don't know if there's any other writer I've reread so many times (aside from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" and a few other poems).

A group of wizards, the most powerful of their kind, referred to as the people of the black circle, get involved in the political workings of their neighbor. They destroy and slowly kill a king, and his sister wants revenge. Meanwhile, Conan's got some of his tribesmen in the prisons and are being used as hostages. As Conan goes to negotiate for their freedom, he runs into the Devi, who is this kingdom's heir to the throne.

There are many puppets and puppet masters in this story who work above and below board in this tale. It is complex and dynamic, which is quite amazing for a novella. But Howard is not one to waste words. We don't get to find out what he ate for breakfast or spend a lot of time checking on his feelings. He's a brute of a man who is loyal to his code of honor. As such, he becomes a good companion to Devi and takes her all the way to the black circle where he is able to dispense of all of the worst Stygia has to offer.

This is one of the stories that will make you really appreciate fantasy fiction and give you a good taste of Howard's magical style. Fritz Leiber wrote, "It has stirring language, strong motives, awesome sorcerers, brilliant magical devices, sympathetic hero-villains, and a Conan subdued enough to make the outcome interesting."