Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Cromtober, Part III: Robert E. Howard's "The Cairn on the Headland"



Oh, hello there! Good evening. It's such a pleasant night here on the headland, isn't it? I do so much enjoy being here in the evenings. My doctor tells me the ocean air is good for my convalescence, so I try to make it out here before the sun sets. It's so peaceful, an almost timeless quality to the landscape, don't you agree? It's almost unbelievable to think of the barbarous battle that spilt so much blood here nearly a millennium ago...
Hugh Frazer's Battle of Clontarf (1826)
And so our Cromtober 2014 shenanigans draw to a conclusion! In our third episode we tackle Robert E. Howard's The Cairn on the Headland! It was first published in Strange Tales in 1933. If you don't have a copy of the story to read, check it out here for free! While you're at it, make sure you read up a little bit on the Battle of Clontarf! Or listen to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History episode on this era of history. That guy knows his stuff!!!

And we had a plethora of spooky 'One Things' as we head into the homestretch for Halloween....

Jon: the zany Bruce Campbell vehicle, Bubba Ho-Tep!

Josh: the Paul W.S. Anderson cult favorite, Event Horizon!

Luke: Another seasonal text, The Book of Hallowe'en!

Don't forget that you can support The Cromcast by signing up for your free trial of Audible at audibletrial.com/thecromcast. We recommend trying out one of their THOUSANDS of titles!

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The spooky organ intro comes from (we think) the public domain (via the YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2RP1GivOqo). Our epic closer is the tail-end of Agalloch's Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires. Agalloch are AMAZING, and their song absolutely fits into our pagan Norse discussions, don't you think? We hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work! All music was obtained legally. And seriously, go pick up some of Agalloch's discography. Check out Marrow of the Spirit or, their newest, The Serpent and the Sphere!

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