The Valley of the Man Vultures E-Book

Richard Blakemore

• Herausgeber: Cora Buhlert
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

On his way to Krysh, a city of fabled riches, the sellsword Thurvok must first pass through the Valley of the Accursed Blood. Traditionally, those travelling to Krysh make offerings at the temple at the entrance of the valley in exchange for protection on their journey. But Thurvok scoffs at such superstition and decides to continue his journey without any divine protection. His refusal to make an offering infuriates the temple priest Alberon who promptly curses Thurvok. Thurvok is not much bothered by this – he does not believe in curses. However, the valley holds dangers that don't particularly care whether Thurvok believes in them or not. This is a short story of 4400 words or 15 print pages in the Thurvok sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.

Leseprobe

The Valley of the Man Vultures

by Richard Blakemore

Bremen, Germany

Copyright © 2019 by Cora Buhlert

All rights reserved.

Cover image by © Phil Cold via Dreamstime

Cover design by Cora Buhlert

Pegasus Pulp Publications

Mittelstraße 12

28816 Stuhr

Germany

www.pegasus-pulp.com

Introduction

by Cora Buhlert

Nowadays, pulp fiction writer Richard Blakemore (1900 — 1994) is best remembered for creating the Silencer, a masked vigilante in the vein of the Shadow or the Spider, during the hero pulp boom of the 1930s.

What sets the Silencer apart from the many similar characters that graced American newsstands during the Great Depression is that his exploits reached out beyond the pages of the pulps into the real world. For between 1933 and 1942, there are dozens of confirmed reports from people who claim to have encountered the Silencer in real life, fighting crime, protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty just like his pulp counterpart.

Who was the person who dressed up as the Silencer to fight crime? The most likely theory is that it was Blakemore himself. After all, Richard Blakemore was a skilled sportsman and veteran of World War I, who spent the 1920s travelling the world, so he would certainly have had the knowledge and the ability. And the police at the time did suspect Blakemore of being the Silencer. There are various records of searches and arrests and even a trial in 1936, where Blakemore was convicted for a murder supposedly committed by the Silencer. He was later acquitted, when the actual killer confessed.

However, there are also confirmed reports of Silencer sightings during times when Richard Blakemore was definitely elsewhere. So was the Silencer really just a deranged pulp fan, as Blakemore himself claimed? Or — and this is probably the most likely theory — did more than one person wear the Silencer costume?

Blakemore himself, when asked if he was the Silencer, always gave the following answer, “No, I’m not and have never been the Silencer. I’m just the man he chose to chronicle his adventures.”

The Silencer vanished at the start of World War II, when whoever the person behind the mask really was, was likely drafted to fight overseas. The Silencer magazine held on until 1949, still written by Blakemore, though the Silencer himself did not reappear after World War II.

There was a brief wave of Silencer sightings in the late 1960s. These are likely the work of a fan, particular since the Silencer adventures were reprinted in paperback at the time. Though some also believe that the new Silencer was one of Richard Blakemore’s four children with his wife Constance Allen Blakemore. Like their father, the Blakemore children have always denied being the Silencer.

The mystery surrounding the Silencer has long overshadowed Richard Blakemore’s other works. For like most pulp writers, Blakemore was extremely prolific and wrote dozens of stories in a variety of genres for Jakob Levonsky’s pulp publishing empire. Richard Blakemore’s work spans the entire width of the pulps, from crime stories via westerns, war and adventure stories to romance and even to science fiction and fantasy. Indeed, the sheer amount of stories Richard Blakemore wrote during the 1930s refutes the theory that he was the Silencer, for when would he have found the time?

Of the many non-Silencer stories Richard Blakemore wrote, the most interesting is certainly a series of heroic fantasy adventures that Blakemore penned between 1936 and 1939, making him one of the pioneers of the genre now known as sword and sorcery.

Richard Blakemore was an acknowledged fan of Weird Tales and particularly admired the stories of Robert E. Howard and C.L. Moore. And so, when Levonsky Publishing started up its own Weird Tales competitor called Tales of the Bizarre, Blakemore of course jumped at the chance to write for the magazine and created Thurvok, a warrior hero in the mould of Conan, Kull and Bran Mak Morn.

Thurvok first appeared in the story “The Valley of the Man Vultures” in the first issue of Tales of the Bizarre in 1936. The story is short and punchy, giving Thurvok a single, if suitably bizarre, challenge to overcome.

The lead character himself is thinly sketched. We do not learn much about him beyond his physical description (tall, muscular, dark-haired, bronze-skinned), his profession (sellsword) and his criminal record (wanted in no less than seven cities of the realm). What is notable about Thurvok is that unlike other sword and sorcery protagonists, he seems to be an atheist who does not believe in gods and curses. Though his lack of belief in the supernatural does not protect Thurvok from decidedly supernatural trouble.

Unlike the characters who inspired him, Thurvok did not remain a loner for long and quickly gathered a group of companions around him who shared his adventures. In fact, Thurvok encounters the first of these companions — Meldom, thief, cutpurse and occasional assassin — towards the end of “The Valley of the Man Vultures”.

Another thing that sets Thurvok and his companions apart from most other sword and sorcery heroes is that they seem to share the Silencer’s zeal for justice and spend a lot of time fighting dragons and monsters, protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty. It’s not that Thurvok and his companions aren’t interested in gold and treasures. But when given the choice between looting a tomb or saving a life, they’ll usually opt for the latter.

Pegasus Pulp Publishing is proud to present to you the adventures of Thurvok, the sellsword, for the first time in print since 1930s. So buckle up and prepare to accompany Thurvok and descend into…

…the Valley of the Man Vultures.