Planet Stories just published Battle in the Dawn: The Complete Hok the Mighty, a collection of Manly Wade Wellman’s stories about a hero at the beginnings of civilization. Fans of Clan of the Cave Bear will find enjoyment in reading about Hok and the early humans as they struggle against the savage bands of Neanderthals. Wellman wrote these low-tech tales for AMAZING STORIES in the 1930s, but these adventures are timeless. In David Drake’s “Introduction,” Drake explains that the background of these stories is based on Wellman’s experience growing up in Angola, Africa. Vivid exploits and intense action blend together in these wonderful, mythic tales.
At last – a book I have no interest in reading. Thanks!
Just kidding, but usually your recommendations cost me money. One of the books I’m currently reading is one of your past recommendations, the wonderful CONVERSATIONS WITH SCORSESE. Great stuff.
Trust me, Jeff, you would enjoy BATTLE IN THE DAWN. Yes, CONVERSATIONS WITH SCORSESE is an incredible book, especially if you admire his films (as I do).
How could anybody resist stories about a character called Hok the Mighty?
I hadn’t read these stories before, Bill. Wellman knows how to tell a story!
Sounds like some phlegm caught in the throat.
I though Hok was the barbarian version of Hulk, Jeff.
The cover looks very Franzetta. “Shapely scantily clad redhead is mine! Back off!”
I usually can’t get into these cave man stories. Even Before Adam by Jack London failed to interest me. Must be the memory of movie watching experiences like Quest of Fire (which was too oddball for even me) that have biased me.
John Thunstone is more my speed if I’m reading Wellman.
Love the John Thunstone stories, JF. The more I read Wellman’s work, the more I admire him. I’m working my way through the Night Shade Books set of Wellman’s complete short stories.
Yes, but that other guy sounds like someone using the withdrawal method (and not masturbating, as usually assumed).
Interesting theory, Todd.
Okay, now I have to read the Scorsese book.
You’ll love the Scorsese book, Patti!
Todd must be having a hard day today…….
I have this one too, but it’s been put on the shelf until I can get to it.
Once you start BATTLE IN THE DAWN, Rick, you’ll fly right through it.
I don’t think Wellman was a first-class writer, but he was a competent, occasionally inspired one.
Not that familiar with the Hok the Mighty character, but if nothing else, the name does charm, and I’ll give it a try.
George, it is always appreciated when you review a Planet Stories book.
I try to support small presses, Drongo the Moderately Mighty. Planet Stories, Stark House, Ramble House, Haffner Press, etc. are all doing great work and need to be supported if they’re to continue to publish the books we love.
Drongo, if that IS your name…
Manly Wade Wellman was a brilliant writer. He just didn’t write brilliantly all the time.
Show me anyone who does…even Davidson nodded. Some Borges is pretty slight. Etc.
Drongo the Moderately Mighty is the pseudonym of an eccentric, well-read millionaire, Todd.
No theory about it, George. Onan was spilling his seed upon the ground in good company. He left the masturbatory business to, well, let’s be slightly less controversial and note Lin Carter.
Lin Carter and Onan…a combination I would not have come up with in a million years, Todd.
Jack-off Boy, and that IS your new name…
Manly Wade Wellman was a decent writer who occasionally punched above his weight.
If a writer does not write brilliantly enough of the time–like Wellman–then he or she isn’t a brilliant writer. Yes, some of the work Borges did was slight, but more than enough was at a much higher level. That’s why he’s considered a brilliant writer.
I think writers are rated by their best work, Drongo. Clearly, Borges’ best beats Wellman’s best. But I do like Wellman’s consistency. I’ve never read a bad Wellman story…and I’ve read a lot of them.
I have read a few very minor Wellman stories (and haven’t gone through all the volumes of the collected short stories), but I have to wonder what Wellman you’ve read, Drongo the Rude Boy (hey, I just pulled an old vaudeville routine involving your, shall we say, rather blantant nom de blog-comment). It’s not really possible to literarily “punch above your weight”…
Well, no…Lin Carter’s (C)onan the Barbarian stories were pure masturbation, George…and dare I suggest, so were entirely too many of some other folks’, even very early on…while Onan was never “guilty” of what his name-word has come, um, to mean…at least not in story as recorded in certain mythic script. Though I do love the folks who name their budgies Onan, for spilling their seed upon the ground, too.
For what little it’s worth, guys, here’re some of the relevant passages:
New International Version (©1984)
But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother.
King James Bible
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled [it] on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
American Standard Version
And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother.
…so, clearly, “onanism” Should mean using the withdrawal method while messing around with your sister-in-law, but instead it has been repurposed for something Really Evil.
You are quite the Biblical scholar, Todd! I agree: Lin Carter’s Conan is a lot different from Robert E. Howard’s.
George, Wellman was good, as I’ve already said, but I don’t think the person who wrote Twice in Time and Sherlock Holmes’s the War of the Worlds can be considered a brilliant writer. Well, maybe by Todd’s standards.
Todd the Condescending Pseudo-Intellectual, of course you can punch above your literary weight. By that I meant a writer can sometimes outdo him or herself and produce a piece superior to their usual run of work.
As for onanism…one is amused by your deep passion for the subject, Todd. Of course, you need not share it with the rest of us.
You’re right, Drongo, sometimes writers (and other artists) catch lightning in a bottle and produce a masterwork that eclipses all their other work. The example that comes to mind is Joseph Heller’s CATCH-22.
George, let my apologize for my part in lowering the tone of your fine blog. I was having a rough time yesterday for reasons not at all related to the subject Mr. Wellman’s literary merits, and I let my anger spill over into my responses. Although I still believe my position was the correct one, I probably should have taken a deep breath and just let things ride.
I hope I didn’t cause you any discomfort, or at least not too much of it.
Although I prefer civil discourse on this blog, Drongo, I’m of the school of “let the kids settle it themselves.” I’ll allow some sniping from time to time (like what you and Todd exchanged). Sometimes rants and some “letting off some steam” reduces everybody’s blood pressure. However, if I deem comments to be cruel and unusual punishment, I’ll be forced to put the offender (or offenders) in the PENALTY BOX. That means that for a week, the offenders’ comments will not be allowed on this blog. After a week, they are welcome back with open arms.
Two works don’t actually qualify to ruin a whole body of work, and of course, no one can “punch above their weight” literarily…they simply don’t rise to the same level again, in some instances.
And I appreciate, George, the notion that my mild joke about the blatant artificiality of “Drongo”‘s handle, and my suggesting that he was rude, was somehow at the same level as his repeated insults. But we shall nonetheless persevere.
Two Wrongs don’t make a Right, Todd.
Was I actually in the wrong? If so, apologies all around. I thought I was joking rather than insulting, till actively insulted, and then restrained in noting the insult.