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Lists with This Book. May 16, Jack rated it really liked it. He wrote these stories in the late s and early s, and, the concept of racial traits and supposed advantages and superiorities of certain races were more acceptable in that era than now. This concept feeds into another interesting concept that REH uses several times in the stories in this collection: These themes are present in many of his works and the works of many of his contemporaries. However, they are more at the forefront in the Bran Mak Morn and Pict stories.
We find these themes in other works of fantasy, yet they seem less startling and more acceptable in the concept of races that do not exist, such as elves, gnomes, dwarves, etc. Feb 25, Benjamin Thomas rated it really liked it Shelves: In fact, Bran was the second main character ever developed by Robert E. Howard, second only to Francis X.
His historical research and in-depth understanding of history, its peoples and cultures, all led to stories that have a genuine ring of actual historical texture to them, even for those stories that are part of his imaginary history. Often, they are the enemy race and easily maligned so for Howard to create a character such as Bran Mak Morn that will lead such a people, was perhaps risky but also admirable. A couple of the stories in this volume have very small roles for Bran himself and tend to concentrate on co-characters or take a wide-angle lens approach to the history of the era.
As such, while I heartily recommend this book to Howard readers indeed, necessary reading , for others who are simply looking for another Conan-style character, I would still encourage diving into these stories simply on their own merits…just expect a different experience. Though these stories were first seen in pulp fiction magazines in the late 's and early 's, to dismiss them as "easy reading" is a mistake. Howard and his contemporaries wrote impressive works of literature that drew heavily on history, and referenced recurring fictional themes such as dark fantasy, eldritch magics, the horrors of the night and the undiscovered country, lost empires and cities such as Atlantis, and of course massive battles between iron-clad warriors with sword and shiel Though these stories were first seen in pulp fiction magazines in the late 's and early 's, to dismiss them as "easy reading" is a mistake.
Howard and his contemporaries wrote impressive works of literature that drew heavily on history, and referenced recurring fictional themes such as dark fantasy, eldritch magics, the horrors of the night and the undiscovered country, lost empires and cities such as Atlantis, and of course massive battles between iron-clad warriors with sword and shield. Highly recommended for fans of fantasy, historical fiction, and Robert E. Sep 06, Riju Ganguly rated it liked it. Unlike Howard's other works which concentrate on action, horror, and adventure, these tales were more introspective. Perhaps those who look forward towards Howard's penmanship rather than his adrenaline-pumping narratives, would enjoy them.
I found most of them rather tame in comparison to adventures of Conan or Solomon Kane. Besides, Thulsa Doom was s.. But, as usual, there are absolute jewels here which would blow you away. Walk with Bran Mak Morn. Jun 05, Jake rated it really liked it Shelves: While the rest of the world was obsessively reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this weekend, I was taking the time to finish off my latest venture into my growing REH collection. Nothing against Harry, mind you, but I had already started on Bran Mak Morn, and wanted to finish it off before I moved on to other things.
Besides, the idea of over-caffeinating myself just to obsessively force myself through the end of the book sounds dreadfully unpleasant to my ears, and reading is supposed While the rest of the world was obsessively reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this weekend, I was taking the time to finish off my latest venture into my growing REH collection.
Besides, the idea of over-caffeinating myself just to obsessively force myself through the end of the book sounds dreadfully unpleasant to my ears, and reading is supposed to be a pleasurable activity, last I checked. Bran Mak Morn is a descendent of their royal line, making one last attempt to unite them and raise them out of darkness. Standing against him are the vast forces of civilization, most notably the Romans, who are slowly conquering Gaul and Britain. Only a few of the stories in this volume feature Bran directly: Instead, they are stories of Celtic warriors discovering Bran, or his descendents, and interacting with them in strange ways.
Both are good pieces, but I was disappointed to not get more Bran himself. I wish Howard had written more about him. Both books are a bit more complete, and offer greater exploration of the characters. Sep 27, Mike the Paladin rated it liked it Shelves: Also a pretty good read, anoter "for-runner" of Conan. Bran Mak Morn is the "last" King of the Picts. Howrd romanticized the Picts and used his fictionalized version of them in both the King Kull stories and some of his Conan adventures.
This is his foray into using "them" as the main character focus. Again, Howard's gift for adventure comes to the fore and the only concern may be not getting blood splashed on your clothes from the page. Jul 15, Tom Barnett rated it it was amazing. Howard was a great writer of heroic fiction of the pulp era. This is an a very enjoyable collection of stories. Aug 02, Gregory rated it it was amazing Shelves: Everybody who knows Robert E Howard knows Conan. Some go on to read his Kull stories which were written earlier.
One person found this helpful. The forgot their trades including metal working. The dark and spat Longtime fans of Howard may find something to enjoy in his every work, but as a newcomer "Bran Mak Morn" seemed lacking. I wish Howard had written more about him. That's all you need to know going in. May 06, Jordi rated it really liked it. Bran is fighting a losing war against an invincible e Don't let the fact that Pictish King Bran is one of Howard's minor heroes fool you.
But those characters are nearly the same, the difference in the works more due to Howard's maturing as a writer and giving Conan a bit more depth of character. I like them all, but the Bran Mak Morn stories have a different feel. This character wasn't set up to be invincible like Conan and Kull. He was conceived from the beginning as a king who fought for his people's place in the worl Everybody who knows Robert E Howard knows Conan.
He was conceived from the beginning as a king who fought for his people's place in the world but Howard tells us from early on Bran ultimately loses this fight. That sense of loss underlying every heroic act, in my opinion, tells us a lot about what the author was feeling. This is no super human who will succeed no matter what he does, he's much more human than that. I only wish Howard had written more of the stories of Bran Mak Morn before he died. The Conan stories are probably better for pure high adventure, but despite being an early character for Howard, I think the Bran stories might be my favorites.
Jan 09, Krzysztof rated it liked it. A must read for Howard fans, but not so sure if other people need to pick this up. The stories are reasonably good, but none of them I felt had the vitality of the Conan, Solomon Kane or even the Kull stories. These ones have a tendency of going off on a tangent and re-telling pretty much the same story of the Picts as a race in the middle of something else happening. The action is only sometimes on par with Conan, but the "historical" setting is a nice change from Kull and the Cimmerian.
At any r A must read for Howard fans, but not so sure if other people need to pick this up. At any rate, I enjoyed it, but I felt this was more interesting because of being a phase, a chapter in Howard's life where he was fascinated by a topic and from that fascination built a certain kind of story, than interesting because of the stories themselves - and that is probably this collection's biggest fault.
Aug 01, William King rated it it was amazing Shelves: Don't let the fact that Pictish King Bran is one of Howard's minor heroes fool you. This book contains some of his best sword and sorcery. Howard's predilection for themes of illusion and reality is evident in the Kull crossover story Kings of the Night, and the Worms of the Earth is simply one of his strongest stories ever. Here, more than almost anywhere else, the power of Howard's prose and the depressive grandeur of his vision is evident.
Bran is fighting a losing war against an invincible e Don't let the fact that Pictish King Bran is one of Howard's minor heroes fool you. Bran is fighting a losing war against an invincible enemy Imperial Rome and the price he pays is evident in every story. Classic sword and sorcery from the creator of the genre. Mar 28, Dan Schwent rated it liked it Shelves: Bran Mak Morn is the last king of the Picts and will do whatever it takes to help his people.
That's all you need to know going in. I liked this omnibus about as much as the Kull one I read at the beginning of the year but not as much as Solomon Kane and definitely not as much as Conan. My favorite story in it is Worms of the Earth, where Bran makes a deal with some Lovecraftian beasties. Nov 18, jack added it Shelves: Mar 12, Colin rated it really liked it Shelves: Howard was a true master of his craft - his Bran Mak Morn is the last of the ancient royal line of the Picts, facing the oppression of the Celts and the Romans as well as other, darker powers.
Bran Mak Morn is a hero of five pulp fiction short stories by Robert E. Howard. In the stories, most of which were first published in Weird Tales, Bran is the last king of Howard's. Bran Mak Morn: The Last King Paperback – May 31, From Robert E. Howard’s fertile imagination sprang some of fiction’s greatest heroes, including Conan the Cimmerian, King Kull, and Solomon Kane. But of all Howard’s characters, none embodied his creator’s brooding.
Apr 08, Steven rated it really liked it Recommends it for: I enjoyed this one, though it wasn't what I expected. Bran wasn't in enough of the stories. May 06, Jordi rated it really liked it. Para fans de Howard. Jan 30, Viel Nast rated it it was ok Shelves: Bran mak morn is a book about picts, or whatever was considered as picts by Howard. The hero bran mak morn has a couple of stories is referred in another few but basically, the book is about antique creatures that occupied ancient and medieval Britain.
He wants to speak of a race of pre-cataclysmic era merging Atlantis Valusia Lemuria and historic Britain but ends up in stories of savages primitive even compared to Cimmerians! And that is the good first half of the book. Very disappointing to say the least. Dec 24, Mathieu rated it liked it. There are three very good stories in this book. One of these is already in the Del Rey Kull book. It seems to me it wasn't enough material for a whole book.
Still, I enjoyed reading those three. The rest are small minor stories and not among Howard's best. Dec 31, Paulo "paper books always" Carvalho rated it it was amazing Shelves: It's quite amazing that some of these stories he had only 13 years old. And they are beautiful. I must say that the painter Gary Gianni was the right one to do the job.
I've search some books with pictures of Bran Mak Morn and even Conan ones and this one was the better one. The history on this book as some not fidegi hese book needs no introduction. The history on this book as some not fidegin since they were romanticized by Howard but that doesn't drove people away. He made the picts a noble savage people alike the indians. To be precise he put the picts from a group of islands near Valusia and when Atlantis, Lemuria and Valusia sank the picts society began to decline.
The forgot their trades including metal working. The migrated to Caledon noawadays scotland. After the invasion of the Celts they fled northward and interbred with a red-haired barbarians and so they were shorter than other tribes and following the invasion of the romans and later breton and saxon the picts sought refuge underground just like the natives they had displaced before. There are two types of Picts. The first is from the Bran timeline where he tries to restore the picts honourable place in the world and the later ones who were litte more than savages produced by many years of hatred.
The picts, some of them at least, could also turn into werewolves or wolves. What is great on this book and at the same time sad its the image that Howard gives to Bran Mak Morn that is depicted as a leader of a dying and degenerate people and deeply aware of their inevitable path to extinction and coincidenly with all other characters he chooses to fight rather than succumb.
Their natural enemies are the Romans. We even get to see him summon Kull to fight the romans.
The world of Kull is destroyed by a Great Cataclysm, which drives its peoples northward and reduces them to "brute hood". Over a millennium, the humans rise again to a barbaric culture and start to spread out once more over the world. According to the long historical exposition which Howard attributes to a Pict wizard in "Men of the Shadows", the Picts have originated in the westernmost reaches of North America and gradually migrated eastwards until reaching the Mediterranean area. At one time, they spread to large areas of the world, but gradually vanished except for several splinter groups.
Although some of these groups lived in remote jungles and southern continents, the most prominent body of Picts settled in the British isles, where they displaced a supposedly mongoloid race that had been the initial residents of the isles though their origins were elsewhere. An interesting point is that, in the Hyborian age, when they populate the western edge of Europe and share a border with Aquilonia , which tries to push them further west to colonize new provinces, the Picts show clear Native American influence, in their appearance, dress, armament, manner of conducting wars, and even in the regional names of the new Aquilonian provinces.
It's hard to tell whether this is a case of inconsistency on the part of Howard, or a throwback to their earliest origins and savagery, as Hyborian Picts are definitely more primitive and savage than those Kull knew.
Eventually, as Howard describes in " The Hyborian Age ", the Picts gain metal-working and armored cavalry, unite under a charismatic and ruthless leader, conquer and destroy the Hyborian kingdoms. However, they are not able to maintain the culture they conquered and are eventually engulfed in the cataclysm which ends the Hyborian Age - though some of them survive into later times.
This previous race sought refuge underground, and over long millennia they evolved into stunted and hideous creatures, who were the initial subjects of tales concerning elves and dwarves. The Picts were in turn displaced by the invading Celts , and they fled northward and interbred with a tribe of 'red haired barbarians,' resulting in a genetic shift toward diminished height. Following subsequent Roman , Breton , and Saxon invasions, the Picts too sought refuge underground, just like the natives they had displaced before.
Howard's descriptions of the later Picts portray them as very small in height, squat and muscular, adept at silent movement, and most of all brutish and uncivilised. They painted themselves with woad , much like the historical Picts, and lived in very large caverns, some natural and some artificially expanded.
They had a custom of burning enemy prisoners alive, a ceremony usually presided over by their 'wizards' or priests , whom Howard portrayed as having a twisted philosophy and mindset produced by many years of hatred, in direct opposition to the Pictish warrior-king Bran Mak Morn, who attempted to restore the Picts to their honourable place in the world and drive out the Roman invaders.
Bran Mak Morn's mindset was very unusual for his time and location, because he favored an alliance of the "native" British populations, including the Picts, Bretons, and Celts, against the Romans, in a setting when each of these tribes fostered an intense hatred and mistrust for all the others.
Howard also mentions that some warriors among the Picts could assume the forms of wolves , in the manner of werewolves , on their own free will. These Picts were a "race" with whom Howard felt the most affinity, and for this reason they were one of his favorite subjects, despite being almost wholly fictitious and deviating from historical fact. The exact time of Bran's life is unclear, but would seem to be the end of the 3rd Century of the Christian Era, while Rome was ruled by the co-emperors Diocletian and Maximian.
Bran lead his Picts in attacks against Hadrian's Wall, and cause the later Roman Empire some trouble. He travels as far south as the city of Eboracum York. He is said to have died in battle. The name is derived from the name of Brennus , the Gaul who sacked Rome, and comes from a Britonnic word meaning "raven". He added a k to give the name a non-Gaelic appearance. The Bran Mak Morn stories are connected to the Cthulhu Mythos and take place in the same fictional universe. Twice in Worms of the Earth , mention is made of the black gods of R'lyeh , resting place of Cthulhu , from the works of H.
Lovecraft , a friend and correspondent of Howard. In the earliest extant copy of Worms of the Earth , mention of Cthulhu himself is made by name although this was later changed to Nameless Gods in the final edition. Also mentioned in the same story is Dagon , a water monster mentioned in some stories by Lovecraft and named after a real-world Philistine god.
His name is a play on words, referring to the pastry bran muffin and the McDonald's breakfast sandwich the McMuffin. A few stories didn't appear in print until after Howard's death. The order of publication doesn't correspond with the order in which the stories were written. Howard's stories, poems, and fragments featuring Bran Mak Morn have been published several times as a collection in book form. Not every publication has been a complete collection.
Dark Horse Comics published Robert E. Some are brand new adaptations exclusive to the title, while others are reprints from previous publications. Chris Romano is writing the script. The movie was slated for release but till now no new information has been available about the film. Paradox also holds copyrights on the stories written by other authors under license from Robert E.
Howard published his Bran Mak Morn stories at a time when the date of publication was the marker, the owners had to use the copyright symbol , and they had to renew after a certain time to maintain copyright, the exact status of all of Howard's Bran Mak Morn works are in question. Howard stories, including several Bran Mak Morn stories. Subsequent stories written by other authors are subject to the copyright laws of the relevant time. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article needs to be updated.