Susano Posted February 8, 2010 Report Share Posted February 8, 2010 El Borak and Other Desert Adventures -- the next Del Rey collection. The adventures of El Borak in circa 1920s Middle East. And yes, I will create his character sheet (and any one else that looks good). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kharis2000 Posted February 11, 2010 Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection I'm glad to see the El Borak stories back in print by a major publisher again. They were the second series of Howard's that I found when I was just getting into pulps (Conan was first and Solomon Kane was third), and I still find myself wishing that he'd had more success with them, so we'd have more of them that we do. I recommend them to anyone looking for a inspiration for adventures set in the Middle East during the early pulp era (and likely all the way up to WW2). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 11, 2010 Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection Yep, I'll buy that. I have a couple of those stories, but they have been hard to get for years. It's just kind of sad that the hero is named after a cheese pastry, but hey... cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection REH says it means "The Eagle." But... he might have gotten the translation wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 11, 2010 Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection Or just made it up - in 1930's America, how many pulp readers would have known/cared? The commonest Arabic for "the Eagle" would be al-Nasr, I think, but anyway, I was mostly making fun. Borak (borek, borecki, boregi etc) is the turkish-derived name for a yummy pastry filled with cheese (or potato and cheese) , mincemeat, etc common across the Balkans, Turkey and as far east as Iraq (and maybe further, I don't know). Al-Borak actually means "the lightning" or "the swift" and is a) a female name and the name of a magical flying horse with a womans' head in popular arabic mythology (which is where I'm guessing REH dug it up). It's pretty unlikely anyone would have hung it on a guy, especially a guy who could punch your teeth right down your throat! cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 11, 2010 Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection As an aside, Howard wrote some similar stories to the tales of "the pastry" featuring a hero called Kirby O'Donnell - I have them in a book called Swords of Shahrazar, and actually prefer them to the El-Borak tales (possibly because O'Donnell seems to me to be a bit less of a prig) - anyway I used Swords of Shahrazar as the basis for a whole series of adventures in my long ago Fantasy Hero game. Despite being indubitably pulp, they are trivially easy to convert to a fantasy setting. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted February 11, 2010 Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection It's Howard though, so I buys it. Used to buy plenty of the Borak as well when I was in Turkey. Those things WERE very tasty, heh. ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection Or just made it up - in 1930's America, how many pulp readers would have known/cared? The commonest Arabic for "the Eagle" would be al-Nasr, I think, but anyway, I was mostly making fun. Borak (borek, borecki, boregi etc) is the turkish-derived name for a yummy pastry filled with cheese (or potato and cheese) , mincemeat, etc common across the Balkans, Turkey and as far east as Iraq (and maybe further, I don't know). Al-Borak actually means "the lightning" or "the swift" and is a) a female name and the name of a magical flying horse with a womans' head in popular arabic mythology (which is where I'm guessing REH dug it up). It's pretty unlikely anyone would have hung it on a guy, especially a guy who could punch your teeth right down your throat! cheers, Mark Aha! I just checked... it does mean "The Swift," my mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted February 11, 2010 Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection He may be swift, but he's no Bran Mak Morn. ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection He may be swift, but he's no Bran Mak Morn. ~Rex Did his character sheet already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted February 11, 2010 Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection Do Sailor Steve Costigan Yet? ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection Waiting for the collection to come out. Hopefully later this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusterBoy Posted February 17, 2010 Report Share Posted February 17, 2010 Re: New Robert E Howard collection According to Wikipedia, El Borak is the name of the horse Mohammed ascended to heaven on. D'you think Howard knew that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.