The Lost Valley of Iskander by Robert E. Howard

 

(pb; 1934—1936, 1974. Three-novella/prequel fantasy anthology to Son of the White Wolf. “Introduction” by Darrell C. Richardson.)

 

From the back cover

“It lay hidden from the world, beyond the far ranges of the Himalayas. Yolgan! Forbidden city of unspeakable vengeance and unimaginable treasure, where the goddess Yasmeena waits for the only force on earth that can free her—the curved and thirsty blade of the blue-eyed desert warrior El Borak!”

 

Overall review

Caveat: Iskander sports an amplified sense of colonialism, racism and sexism that was bold-face inherent in the 1920s and 1930s, but it’s not quite as repellent/intense as one might see in Sax Rohmer’s fourteen-book Dr. Fu-Manchu series and H.P. Lovecraft’s stories. It’s downplayed in these Francis X. Gordon stories but it’s still there. In short: If the concept of appropriate context (judge a work by the standards during which it was created, not by modern standards), you might want to skip Howard’s work as well as those mentioned earlier in this “Caveat.”

Iskander is one of the better Howard collections, more tightly edited than some of his other works (notably certain Conan stories and books), with Howard’s ever-present focus on machismo, bloody and savage action, constant twists, the overall superiority of Caucasian culture, and all-caps PULPY prose. There’s less focus on Howard’s usual display of sensual and/or treacherous women in these Gordon stories than one might see in one of Howard’s Conan works.

Iskander is worth buying if you’re a fan of older pulp, can look past/stomach its biases, and appreciate its hyperbolic, action-packed stories and Howard’s clear love of bordering-on-poetic-prose language.

The remainder of Howard’s Francis X. Gordon stories are collected in Son of the White Wolf.

 

Review, story by story

“The Daughter of Erlik Khan”: Legendary, American adventurer Francis X. Gordon (aka El Borak) and his small army of savage Turkoman face treachery, supernatural elements, physical deprivation and constant violence on the way to (and inside) Mount Erlik Khan after Gordon’s tricked into guiding two Englishman (Ormond and Pembroke) through wild lands to satisfy their secret, murderous greed. Within the walled, gold-rich and mountainous city of Mount Erlik Khan, he must also confront the priests of the god Yolgan, who threaten his former lover (thought by some to be a goddess), Yasmeena!

This twisty, cinematic-rich, action fantasy tale is a constant-endorphin-hit work that succeeds in its epic-tone ambition, a great read if you can get past its inherent, imperialist racism.

 

“The Lost Valley of Iskander”: Gordon, pursued and shot at by Gutsav Hunyadi, the wily and “satanic Hungarian,” and his Central Asian hoards, carries Hunyadi’s proof-of-future-invasion letter to Hunyadi’s Central Asian allies—Gordon means to warn Hunyadi’s initial prey (those commanding Fort Ali Masjid) of the incoming threat. But first Gordon must elude and, if possible, stop his devilish foe and his men!

While fleeing said invaders, Gordon encounters newly met Bardylis, a blue-eyed blond young ally and one of many “Sons of Iskander”—the descendants of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian soldiers who, left in this isolated location thousands of years prior, built the Grecian-influenced, walled town of Attalus. . . which is now Hunyadi’s new target.

As is often the case with Howard’s better-edited works, “Iskander” bristles with vivid images, machismo-fueled intensity and immediate threat/action, woven through with a fantastic sense-melding of real-world and imagined-realm history. Great, short-for-Howard story.

 

“Hawk of the Hills”: The Himalyas. After some of Gordon’s Afridi friends are betrayed and slaughtered by Khorouk Orakzai and his Pathan henchmen in a “holocaust of murder,” Gordon must escape their bloodthirsty numbers and regroup his surprising allies who’ve been scattered. Can he do so in time to defeat the treacherous Orakzai and Afdal Khan, who controls the region?

As in “The Lost Valley of Iskander,” the tale begins in the middle of the action, this time with the legendary “High Scotch and black Irish” adventurer hanging off the side of a cliffside while his enemies stand below him. In the middle of all this crazy scramble plotting and intense fighting is an Englishman, Sir George Willoughby, who’s been sent by his government to quell the expanding dispute between Khan and Gordon’s forces.

“Hawk,” like Iskander’s other stories, is a fun, fast-paced, and plot- and character-twisty read.