Episode 09 - Howard's Horrors: The Haunter of the Ring and Pigeons From Hell (or Zuvembies Just Wanna Have Fun...)

Oh, greetings! I didn't notice you were there! I was just admiring this ring... Do you like it? I found it at auction last week. Isn't it curious? Shaped like a serpent eating its own tail, it is. Eyes with gems that glow, see? Like an unholy fire... You know, they say this ring belonged once to a wizard, long ago, the ill-fated Thoth-Amon himself! It is written in Unaussprechlichen Kulten of the dark and terrible magics Thoth-Amon wrought with this ring. They say that the ring "was found in a nighted tomb a league beneath the earth, forgotten before the first man crawled out of the slimy sea..." If you believe such things... But may as well believe in this passage dealing with voodoo and the creation of zuvembies! And you don't... do you?!

My ring... (Artist Unknown)

Our first Howardian Horror episode is stacked with two tales of terror! You should download it here! First, we tackle The Haunter of the Ring, first published in the June 1934 issue of Weird Tales (read it on WikiSource!) We follow up that discussion with one of our new favorite horror stories, Pigeons From Hell (read it on Project Gutenberg!). This latter story was published posthumously by Weird Tales in 1938. From our perspectives, we've always known Howard as a visionary in the pulps, and progenitor of the sword and sorcery genre. But, the man had a keen eye for horror as well! We hope you enjoyed these stories as much as we did! Check out Amazon if you're looking for a discount-priced copy of Those Across the River or Twilight... Both are great! 

He heard the call of the zuvembie... Art by Robert Sanker

Happy Halloween! Beginning theme: "Grave Blow" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Ending theme: "Conan the Barbarian Theme for Piano". Arrangement of  "Anvil of Crom" by Basil Poledouris, from the Conan the Barbarian: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Original Score: (c) 1982 Basil Poledouris; Original Album: (c) 2010 Prometheus Records. Used without permission.

Thanks for listening!

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