Jefferson N. (Jefferson) reviewed on 2/18/2012 + 170 more book reviews

Trails in Darkness is another great collection of short stories from the late, great Robert E. Howard. This volume collects a lot of his stories set in the Old West and Texas. We have pure action stories, ghost stories, Cthulhu Mythos stories, and even a strange, time-travelling love story. I love this collection because it contains stories of Howard's you don't run into every day. While most people will be familiar with his sword-and-sorcery characters such as Conan and Kull, Howard wrote a lot of western and action stories, as well. And some of the best are right here. No one writes action like Howard. There is a pulp feel to them, but also a brooding, classical feel. Howard tends to rise above the genre...He doesn't glorify violence so much as just considers it a fact of life. And he had a special reverence for the more primal aspects of man. While some would call his works racist, you can see a strong respect for people that do what they feel, not what society tells them to. And the story "For the Love of Barbara Allen" is just a magnificent love story. It actually brought a tear to my eye. For all those that say Howard is a one-trick pony, they should read this one.

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