title: The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane
author:  Robert E. Howard 
description: Howards writing seems so highly charged with energy that it nearly gives off sparks.<b>Stephen King</b><br /><br /> I adore these books. Howard had a gritty, vibrant stylebroadsword writing that cut its way to the heart, with heroes who are truly larger than life. I heartily recommend them to anyone who loves fantasy.<b>David Gemmell, author of <i>Legend</i> and </b><i><b>White Wolf<br /></b> <br /> </i>The voice of Robert E. Howard still resonates after decades with readers equal parts ringing steel, thunderous horse hooves, and spattered blood. Far from being a stereotype, his creation of Conan is <i>the</i> high heroic adventurer. His raw muscle and sinews, boiling temper, and lusty laughs are the gauge by which all modern heroes must be measured.<b>Eric Nylund,author of<br /> <i>Halo: The Fall of Reach</i> and </b><i><b>Signal to Noise</b><br /><br /> </i>That teller of marvelous tales, Robert Howard, did indeed create a giant [Conan] in whose shadow other hero tales must stand.<b>John Jakes,<i>New York Times </i>bestselling author </b><br /><b> of the North and South<i> </i>trilogy</b><br /><br /> For stark, living fear . . . what other writer is even in the running with Robert E. Howard?<b>H. P. Lovecraft<br /></b><br /> Howard wrote pulp adventure stories of every kind, for every market he could find, but his real love was for supernatural adventure and he brought a brash, tough element to the epic fantasy which did as much to change the course of the American school away from precious writing and static imagery as Hammett, Chandler, and the Black Mask pulp writers were to change the course of American detective fiction.<b>Michael Moorcock, award winning author of the Elric saga</b><br /><br /> In this, I think, the art of Robert E. Howard was hard to surpass: vigor, speed, vividness. And always there is that furious, galloping narrative pace.<b>Poul Anderson</b><br /><br /> Howard honestly believed the basic truth of the stories he was telling. Its as if hed said, This is how life really was lived in those former savage times!<b>David Drake, author of <i>Grimmer Than Hell</i> and </b><i><b>Dogs of War<br /></b> <br /> </i>For headlong, nonstop adventure and for vivid, even florid, scenery, no one even comes close to Howard.<b>Harry Turtledove</b><br /><br /> The stories have a livingness about them [thats] impossible to fake. . . . Not one of them is boringthere is always some special touchand most, of course, are rousers.<b>Gahan Wilson, reviewer and author of </b><i><b>I Paint What I See<br /></b> <br /> </i>The best pulp (fantasy) writer was Robert E. Howard.<b>Fritz Leiber, author of <i>Green Millennium</i>and </b><i><b>Farewell to Lankhmar</b><br /><br /> </i>Weird, fantastic, but peopled with real men who think and act as we conceive the thoughts and acts of men. . . . None of the dummies that pirouette through some stories, using stilted, supposedly archaic language, and moving in response to the authors obvious string-pulling. All of which leads you to believe that I like it. Correct. I do.<b>E. Hoffman Price, author of </b><i><b>The Jade Enchantress</b><br /> </i> <br /> [Behind Howards stories] lurks a dark poetry, and the timeless truth of dreams. That is why these tales have survived. They remain a fitting heritage of the poet and dreamer who was Robert E. Howard.<b>Robert Bloch, author of </b><i><b>Psycho</b><br /><br /> </i>HOWARD WAS A TRUE STORYTELLERone of the first, and certainly among the best, youll find in heroic fantasy. If youve never read him before, youre in for a real treat.<b>Charles de Lint,Award-winning author of <i>Forests of the Heart</i> and </b><i><b>The Onion Girl<br /> </b></i>
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  * * *
  
  THE CHILDREN OF ASSHUR
  
  
  [Chapter I.](THE%20CHILDREN%20OF%20ASSHUR_split_001.html#filepos1637)
  
  [Chapter II.](THE%20CHILDREN%20OF%20ASSHUR_split_001.html#filepos16588)
  
  [Chapter III.](THE%20CHILDREN%20OF%20ASSHUR_split_001.html#filepos37877)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This page formatted 2004 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
  # THE CHILDREN OF ASSHUR
  
  
  ### Robert E. Howard
  
  
  This page formatted 2004 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
  * Chapter I.
  
  
  * Chapter II.
  
  
  * Chapter III.
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
      
  
  Scanned by gojukai
  
  
  corrected by gojukai
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Chapter I.
  
  
  Solomon Kane started up in the darkness, snatching at the weapons
  
  
  which lay on the pile of skins that served him as a crude pallet. It
  
  
  was not the mad drum of the tropic rain on the leaves of the hut roof
  
  
  which had wakened him, nor the bellowing of the thunder. It was the
  
  
  screams of human agony, the clash of steel that cut through the din of
  
  
  the tropical storm. Some sort of a conflict was tak