REH 108 Years: A Perfectly CROMulent Birthday

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite writers - Robert E. Howard

He would be 108.
I had forgotten it was his birthday til a moment ago but was actually listening to my audiobook of "People of the Black Circle" whilst taking the kids to school.

Weird Tales Magazine, the original publication of many of his best stories, posted a great tribute with loads of sword swinging art and several of REH's poems this morning  here. 

and a final thought...

I cannot express enough how much moving to LA just barely makes me feel this way ~

“Barbarianism is the natural state of mankind. Civilization is unnatural. It is the whim of circumstance. And barbarianism must ultimately triumph”

-REH

A Glass Raised: Robert E. Howard

The Phoenix on the Sword

What do I know of cultured ways,

the gilt, the craft and the lie?

I, who was born in a naked land

and bred in the open sky.

The subtle tongue, the sophist guile,

they fail when the broadsword sing;

Rush in and die dogs-

I was a man before I was a king.

Robert E. Howard

January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936

Templars are Vampires~The Coming of the King: Book Review

I was enchanted with the prologue showing Cromwell (whom I've been fascinated with since watching Richard Harris play him in the titular film) had Charles Stuart executed...because he is a vampire, or Other, as they are called in the novel.
The Coming of the King, by William Meikle is the first in a trilogy of absolutely gripping historical horrors.
This is great scary stuff. Take the concept that the Templar's are actually vampires having conspired with the head of John the Baptist/Baphomet and ultimately becoming the Stuart royal line of England.

Most of the background material for TCOK is familiar stuff for me, I read Holy Blood, Holy Grail when I was in High School, and then that 'snicker' literary classic DaVinci Code brought the controversial bloodline concept even more so into the public consciousness.

While TCOK turns the sacred bloodline concept upside down (perhaps sacrilegiously), I found it an incredibly entertaining read.
Besides the historical references (which I treasure) it is packed with fantastic prose, well-timed surprises, bloody-good sword fighting action, a cantankerous old Scot and the best Pict since Bran Mak Morn-I hope to see more of Lennan in the next installments.

I'd been meaning to read Meikle for awhile now and I was not disappointed-I'll have to keep going on this trilogy for certain.

From the synopsis ~
WATCHERS
BOOK 1: THE COMING OF THE KING

It is 1745, and the long awaited night has come. The Blood King calls his army to battle and will bring them South to claim his birthright; the throne of Britain.

Only the Watchers on the old wall stand in his way.