With the latest attempt at a Red Sonja movie having been released, here’s another Balladeer’s Blog look at Robert E. Howard’s actual Red Sonya PLUS his other fiery, sword-wielding woman warrior Dark Agnes.
ROBERT E. HOWARD’S REAL RED SONYA
THE SHADOW OF THE VULTURE – This story by Robert E. Howard, the ONLY Howard story to actually feature Red Sonya, was first published in the January 1934 issue of Magic Carpet Magazine. As I’ve mentioned in many other reviews of old pulp characters, Howard’s REAL Red Sonya was indeed a warrior woman, but not one from his fictional Hyborian Age.
It was Marvel Comics who distorted Red Sonya into “Red Sonja” and placed her as a guest star in assorted Conan stories as well as her own series. That Red Sonja has more in common with female author C.L. Moore’s warrior woman Jirel of Joiry than she does with Robert E. Howard’s Red Sonya.
The Shadow of the Vulture is one of Howard’s historical adventures and it’s set during the 1520s, largely at the Siege of Vienna from September 27th to October 15th in 1529. Red Sonya of Rogatino is a Polish-Ukrainian woman who is more skilled than most men with swords and guns.
The storied red-haired woman has a personal grudge against Muslim Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who was besieging Vienna with over 100,000 soldiers against Vienna’s 21,000. Red Sonya was glad to serve against Suleiman’s armies whenever she could. Continue reading
SWORD WOMAN – This was the first story about Robert E. Howard’s fiery woman warrior Agnes the Dark aka Agnes de Chastillon, a sword fighting, butt kicking woman in 1500s France. Previously, Balladeer’s Blog reviewed 
THE SHADOW OF THE VULTURE – This story by Robert E. Howard, the ONLY Howard story to actually feature Red Sonya, was first published in the January 1934 issue of Magic Carpet Magazine. As I’ve mentioned in many other reviews of old pulp characters, Howard’s REAL Red Sonya was indeed a warrior woman, but not one from his fictional Hyborian Age. 
The Shadow of the Vulture is one of Howard’s historical adventures and it’s set during the 1520s, largely at the Siege of Vienna from September 27th to October 15th in 1529. Red Sonya of Rogatino is a Polish-Ukrainian woman who is more skilled than most men with swords and guns. 
Recently Balladeer’s Blog covered Robert E. Howard’s stories about his overlooked characters James Allison and Turlogh Dubh. This time around I’m taking a look at another neglected creation of Howard, best known for his Conan, Kull and Solomon Kane stories. 
EL BORAK – This character’s real name was Francis Xavier Gordon, an old west gunfighter from El Paso, Texas, who wound up traveling much of the world outside of the United States. Gordon settled in Afghanistan where his prowess with swords and pistols made him a tolerated outsider and earned him the nickname El Borak. 
THE DAUGHTER OF ERLIK KHAN – First published in the pulp magazine Top-Notch in December, 1934. El Borak was hired by a pair of scurvy Britishers to guide them to a nonexistent captive friend of theirs. They secretly plan to loot the treasure of Mount Erlik Khan in the city of Yolgan. 
THE GREY GOD PASSES – This was technically the first appearance of Turlogh Dubh but the story was not published until long after Robert E. Howard’s suicide in 1936. That publication came in 1962’s Dark Mind, Dark Heart. The other two Turlogh stories were published in 1931. 
MARCHERS OF VALHALLA – Ironically, this tale which introduces James Allison was never published during Robert E. Howard’s lifetime, even though the two follow-up stories were. We meet James Allison, a man living in early 1930s Texas. 
Well, after last week’s 
CONAN THE BARBARIAN Vol 1 #58 (January 1976) 
This blog post will review the first meeting of Conan and Belit, then Marvel’s depiction of their first shared adventure (featuring an imaginative “fan theory” regarding why Conan was also called Amra) and finally, the sorrowful finale of the longest romance of our Cimmerian’s life. 
The Marvel Comics run of stories based on Robert E. Howard’s Conan character from 1970-1993 helped maintain the character’s place in the public consciousness after the end of the Pulp Magazine era. 
CONAN THE BARBARIAN Vol 1 #46 (January 1975) 
Before long he passes through the village of Sfanol, where he sees the inhabitants about to burn at the stake a beautiful young woman named Stefanya. 
Our hero saves Stefanya from this fate and learns she was being burned for her service to the late sorcerer Zoqquanor now that he is no longer alive to protect her. The panicked woman tells Conan that they must retrieve Zoqquanor’s body from the ruins of his castle, which was leveled by the same superstitious villagers who tried to burn her alive. 
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