BRAN MAK MORN - The Last King: Men of the Shadows; Kings of the Night; A Song of the Race; Worms of the Earth; The Dark Man; The Lost Race; The Little People; The Children of the Night [Hardcover]

Robert E. Howard, to me is the best writer of all time! I wish he could have lived longer than 30 years. He lived from 1906-1936 and spent the last few years of his life in Cross Plains, TX.

Excerpt from back of book reads as follows: 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 cahracters, none embodied his creator's brooding termperament more than Bran Mak Morn, the last king of a doomed race.

In ages past, the Picts ruled all of Europe. But the descendants of those proud conquerors have sunk into barbarism..all save one, Bran Mak Morn, whose bloodline remains unbroken. Threatened by the Celts and the Romans, the Pictish tribes rally lunder his banner to fight for their very survival, while Bran fights to restore the glory of his race.

Lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Gary Gianni, this collection gathers together all of Howard's published stories and poems featuring Bran Mak Morn--including the eerie masterpiece "Worms of the Earth" and "Kings of the Night," in which sorcery summons Kull the conqueror from out of the depths of time to stand with Bran against the Roman invaders. Also included are previously unpublished stories and fragments, reproductions of manuscripts bearing Howard's handwritten revisions, and much, much more.

SPECIAL BONUS - A newly discovered adventure by Howard, presented here for the very first time.

"Howard was a true storyteller--one of the first, and certainly among the best, you'll find in heroic fantasy. If you've never read him before, you're in for a real treat."
--Charles De Lint, award-winning author of Forests of the Heart.

Other books to read are: The Whole Wide World by Novalyne Price girlfriend of REH during the last few years of his life - 1906-1936 which was made into a movie and on DVD starring Renee Zellweger and Vincent D'Onofrio as REH, Blood & Thunder, The Life & Art of REH by Mark Finn, The Last of the Trunk by Paul Herman, and The Black Stranger & Other American Tales which has the scariest story ever - Pigeons from Hell - It's scarier and creepier than Poe and Hitchcock; Don't read it with all of the lights on and if you hear a whistle run like heck. Enjoy!

Anyone familiar with the works of Robert E. Howard would know Conan, the barbarian... sometimes they know Solomon Kane. But few know the last king of the Picts. He is called
Bran Mak Morn and his stories are vivid and rich with lively storytelling. You cant got wrong with Kings of the Night,Guest Starring King Kull. Its a classic meeting that
only true sword and sorcery fans will enjoy. They are all good tales, but the one that will grip you and haunt you forever is Worms of the Earth. Macabre, eerie and heroic
all at the same time. A chilling feeling will enter as you close your hand on that chapter. All in all a great read for fans of this genre... So, enjoy.

It's unfortunate that manufacturing should so detract from what is otherwise an outstanding book. I heartily endorse the paperback and, indeed, already so did. Thinking that I would memorialize the better members (that is, the ones illustrated by Gary Gianni) of this eight-volume Del Rey series, I hastened to order Solomon, Bran, and Conan #2 in hardcover. Imagine my dismay to find that, while Solomon was acceptably produced and bound, Bran had thin, see-through, evidently hastily recycled paper--though its softbound avatar was printed on first-class stock. I guess Del Rey re-budgeted its hardcover manufacturing cycle somewhere between 1998 (when Solomon was printed) and 2005 (when Bran was printed). Caveunt emptores!