By Howard Jones
I stumbled onto Harold Lamb's work after reading his biography of Hannibal while researching a high school history paper. I enjoyed the book so much I decided to see what else Lamb had written -- hopefully something else about the famous Carthaginian. I found a small assortment of books resting on an out-of-the-way library shelf, among them a tome titled The Curved Saber. A cursory glance showed me that it was a collection of nine stories about a Cossack named Khlit. Clearly Hannibal wasn't involved, but I decided to give it a chance anyway.
I was in good hands from the first page. The more I read, the more I realized that the quality of the stories was a consistent feature of Lamb's writing. I've detailed these strengths in other essays, but they're certainly worth touching upon here. Harold Lamb crafted tales rife with action and intrigue, with unpredictable story lines. He was a dedicated, award-winning historian who used his knowledge of lesser-known periods, places, and cultures to fashion fabulous backdrops. Finally, Lamb breathed life into all of his characters so that their actions were well motivated and natural. These strengths, combined with Lamb's tireless imagination and work ethic, produced a long series of historical adventures easily equal to the best fiction penned by Sir Walter Scott, Alexander Dumas, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
When I first read Lamb's stories I didn't know enough to analyze his skills or compare him to famed adventure writers, but I did know that they were very, very good. I wanted more. Interlibrary loan turned up three more Khlit books, which I devoured hungrily. And I discovered a tantalizing reference to even more Khlit stories in an introduction to a reprint of Lamb's lost race novel, Marching Sands, where L. Sprague de Camp had written, "About forty loosely linked novelettes in Adventure narrated the adventures of several Cossack heroes in the early seventeenth century…" Elsewhere in the same introduction de Camp clearly stated that most of these remained uncollected.
L. Sprague de Camp's information wasn't exact, but then he didn't have access to a complete run of Adventure magazine for verification. I didn't either, and it took many years for me to track down all of Lamb's unreprinted Adventure work and learn the truth. In all, there are eighteen Khlit the Cossack stories. He appears briefly in a nineteenth, which is centered around Kirdy, his adopted grandson. Other characters from the saga-allies of Khlit are featured in eleven more tales. Lamb's work for Adventure didn't end with Khlit, though -- his output for the magazine included thirty-five more historicals, many of them novel length and almost all of them top-notch adventure fiction.
Outside of Adventure most of Lamb's fiction isn't especially noteworthy. While there are occasional gems, most of the rest of his work is formulaic or unremarkable. Perhaps that is because he devoted most of his time to penning screenplays for Cecile B. DeMille and writing histories. Many of his non-fiction books are excellent resources even today. His histories of the Mongols and many of his biographies (and certainly his award-winning two-volume history of the crusades) make for excellent reading.
Lamb died in 1962, and for the most part his work has been neglected. The new copyright holder for his work is trying to remedy this now, however. If we're lucky, we might see all of Lamb's best work back in print in the coming years.
- Submitted by Howard Jones
Links:
The Curved Saber
Howard Jones has developed a marvelous site devoted to Harold Lamb. Called The Curved Saber, every fan of Lamb and of Adventure magazine should check it out. It's full of great info about Lamb, including a biography, a bibliographical listing of his fiction and non-fiction in books and magazines, and more.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/howardaj/
The Grand Cham
The Grand Cham is available from Amazon in a new edition published by Wildside Press. To learn more, click here. (You can read a review of The Grand Cham elsewhere on The Pulp Rack site. To do so, click here.
Durandal
A very nice package from Donald M. Grant, a publisher who obviously cares about the books he releases -- reprinting a novel about a Crusader, which originally appeared in Adventure magazine. Nicely illustrated by George Barr and Alicia Austin. (The graphic at the top of this page comes from this edition of Durandal.) Click here for more info from Amazon.com.
Three Palladins
Another of the nicely bound novels by Lamb published by Donald M. Grant. Illustrated by Cathy Hill. Click here to find out more at Amazon.com.
The Sea of the Ravens
The third of Donald M. Grant's lovely Lamb reprints. Illustrated by George Barr and Alicia Austin. Click here to learn more from Amazon.com.
Donald M. Grant Books
The site for this speciality publisher.
http://www.grantbooks.com/
Genghis Khan: Emperor of All Men
A very informative popular history of the Grand Khan. Available via Amazon.com by clicking here.
Posted by ds at January 15, 2003 05:13 PM
well written, i was turned on to adventure mag pulp writers like mundy, o'friel , pendexter, howden-smith by reading conan paperbacks---now i discover LAMB!------INTERESTING as of recent development out of the former soviet union , the cossack methods of wrestling and shaqsa -play are now being exposed in the martial arts world---gives you an idea of how perhaps khlit used his sword or fought ----still trying to find rusudan
! will pay 30 bucks for a xerox copy of it , as i need the last part of durandal [ left out by donald grant ]--------also for fans opf the lost race genre , let recommend 2---the marching sands and a garden to the eastward , both by harold lamb------ralph grasso
Posted by: ralph grasso at December 9, 2003 11:30 AM
Fantastic Collector #260, July, 1996 [now known as Pulpdom] was our Harold Lamb issue. It contains an illustrated bio/biblio by Al Lybeck, Lamb's own comments on cossacks and crusaders, and the first reprint of "An Edge to a Sword" from 1923 Adventure, which is concluded in the next issue. The information about the collected and un-collected Khlit, Ayub, etc. stories, the crusade stories, and other info was published here eight years ago. Howard Jones contributed additional information that was published in Pulpdom #15, Dec. 1998. Copies FC/Pulpdom are $4/$5 ea. + $1 postage.
Posted by: Caz at February 24, 2004 04:58 PM
Howard Jones's site "The Curved Sabre" has been down for quite some time now. Does anyone know what's up? Does anyone know how to get in touch with Mr. Jones?
Posted by: Joe Sullivan at July 21, 2004 08:23 PM
