For the pulp fans who thought Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars was too much of a good guy, Robert E. Howard gives you ALMURIC, his take of an Earthling on a different planet, and not one in our solar system, either.
Esau Cairn is everything John Carter is not: “Misanthrope” sums it up best. After killing a cop, Esau is on the run and — wouldn’t you know the luck? — comes across a mad scientist with a teleport machine he needs tested. Esau is transported to another world, where at the onset, he fights off some strange beasts. He keeps to himself after battling the local livestock, until he finally decides to meet others on the planet, known as Almuric.
That is when he comes across a group of beings known as Guras. They seem to be based on Neanderthals. Again, this brings to mind Burroughs, but this time in his Tarzan books, where we find the king of the jungle coming across this type of humanoid in his various adventures.
The plot continues as Esau ingratiates himself into the society of the Guras. But unlike Carter, he does not take up with the queen to lead these people. No, he actually falls for a slave girl and tries to free her and have her stand up for herself. Things seem to go a bit slow up to this point, when Howard comes shining through with his bread-and-butter of action sequences. There are plenty of those to keep even the most jaded pulp reader going.
ALMURIC comes off as though Howard wanted to see if he could create a character that would sustain like John Carter. The problem with that is this novel did not actually see publication until a few years after Howard’s suicide, so who knows if he actually wanted this to see print or not? Still, it’s another entry into the vast collection of Howard characters. This Planet Stories publication starts off with a great introduction by Joe R. Lansdale, who relates how he was hooked on Howard as a youth. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE BEST OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, VOLUME 2: GRIM LANDS by Robert E. Howard
• BLOOD & THUNDER: THE LIFE & ART OF ROBERT E. HOWARD by Mark Finn
• BOXING STORIES by Robert E. Howard
• THE COMPLETE ACTION STORIES by Robert E. Howard
• LORD OF SAMARCAND AND OTHER ADVENTURE TALES OF THE OLD ORIENT by Robert E. Howard
Related posts:
- BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Life on Mars
- Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard
- BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Howard Be Thy Name
- BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Tardis Fiction
- Lorelei of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances
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It’s probably been 44 years since I read Almuric, but I found it at the same time I discovered Burroughs, and was reading his John Carter of Mars adventures. I remember Howard’s novel fondly!