Conan in Atlantis, a Review of Attluma
A discussion of Tales of Attluma and the Oron Series by David C. Smith
David C. Smith was the 2019 Guest of Honor at Howard Days 2019 for good reason, having written the acclaimed Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography in 2018 to complement his decades of writing Sword & Sorcery (he has 24 novels written or co-written including the Red Sonja series with Richard L. Tierney, the Oron and The Fall of the First World series, and more). He crafts his own flavor of adventure-horror with his Tales of Attluma, heavily influenced by Robert E. Howard (REH) and Clark Ashton Smith (CAS). Attluma is an island continent akin to the mysterious Atlantis, and these 16 tales cover its dark history and doomed end. These stories are fantastically dark and exciting, a true blend of REH’s action and CAS’s dreaded atmosphere. On Attluma, ancient gods live in mountain temples and underground; humans struggle to survive, and seem to be intruding on land made for, and by, demons.
“These tales and a dozen more by fantasy and adventure author David C. Smith appears in this unique collection. Out of print for more than 40 years, these stories were first published in the days of limited-circulation fanzines-the only avenue for new work created by the generation of writers who grew up in the shadow of the pulp magazines. The paperback reprints of those pulp stories in the late 1960s and early 1970s encouraged an entire generation of young writers to enlarge on that tradition of popular American storytelling. Now they are in print once more for a new generation of fantasy fiction enthusiasts.” — Official book blurb
Interestingly, there are no Oron tales, Oron being the warrior protagonist that the original Zebra series was named after (i.e., the “Conan” of Attluma). Yet he is not needed here. Attluma is saturated with lore and conflict, armies of ghosts, lost loves seeking retribution, and hungry demons just looking for some attention. The last several stories ramp up the demonic uprising (or retaking) of the island/continent. “The End of Days” finale is epic in scope, a sprawling battle with loads of mayhem and militant sorcery. The collection fits the Sword & Sorcery label, with an emphasis toward Sorcery (specifically necromancy and demon summoning). Excerpts are the best way to share the poetic, dark conflict readers should expect:
“Dressed in scarlet wounds and running with blood, here was my mother, her face beseeching mercy, gashes across her face and body. There came my father, hobbling on split foot and one arm gone, strings of meat and tendon trembling from the open shoulder. Here was my brother, once a strong and handsome man, now in death a broken thing with no legs, pulling himself forward with his arms, his wife beside him, on her belly and kicking her feet as her head rolled beside her.” — from “The Last Words of Imatus Istum”
And there was Yadis, The All Mother, the hag with one eye and triple teats whose spittle had made the stars and whose defecation made the earth. Her mad singing had awakened humans to life; we crawled from the muck and ever since wondered about the dark heart of life.” — from “Dark Goddess”
“Silene observed the sorcerers as they met and fought in the field. She saw the air turn colors between these people and watched as they moved their arms in gesticulations, or with daggers drew designs in the air. One or the other of these mysterious people would die, pulled into the sky to be torn invisibly into pieces, raining blood, or drawn into the earth to suffocate, or simply fall, breathless and unmoving, wrapped beneath sheets of glowing color.” — from “The End of Days”
Several of the attacking sorcerer made signs toward Edric’s fighters and dropped them. These men and women fell onto their backs and caught fire from their chests. They screamed as they died, but the unnatural fire consumed them swiftly, turning the men and women as black as charred wood. From the burnt corpses rose pieces of them, bits of black, which moved high into the air and, at the command of the attacking sorcerers, dropped like hurled missiles into lines of Edric’s men, the bits of black pushing through faces and armor. …”Souls,” Hame told her. “They remove the charred souls from the burned bodies to use as weapons.” — from “The End of Days”
GUIDE: Tales of Attluma is splendid by itself, but it serves as a foundation for the other works in the same world. Read this and you’ll want to jump into the novels and other short stories. A guide is needed since the publication history is complicated by title changes and, like most fantasy, the publication order does not match the chronological order of the fictional world. Thanks to a group-read in the Goodreads Sword & Sorcery group we were able to communicate with the author and clarify the chronological & publication history of the Attluma Cycle (coined that with the tacit approval of the author). As of 2020, there are 25 stories and novelettes; 3 Oron novels; 1 Akram novel.
For newcomers, I recommend starting with Tales of Attluma since it fleshes out the world and prepares readers to jump into various arcs, such as the primary barbarian Oron set (many start with the 1978 book that introduced the character to the world named simply Oron), or the cursed sorcerer Akram novel The Sorcerer’s Shadow). To learn more about David C. Smith, check out recent interviews by DMR and BlackGate.
ATTLUMA CYCLE
Chronological Story-Order / Key Characters / Publication date
- Tales of Attluma: Collection containing sixteen stories with 2 Akram tales, 1 Dathien, and zero Oron, 2020 by Pulp Hero Press. Listed mostly in chronological order, mostly pre-Oron, with the last several being the end of Attluma
- “Shadow-born Shadow-taken” in Azieran Adventures Presents Artifacts and Relics: Extreme Sorcery: A pre-Oron novelette featuring Dathien from Tales of Attluma’s “Dark of Heart”, 2013
- “Twin Scars” in Warlords, Warlocks & Witches: A pre-Oron, standalone tale, 2019
- Oron: Mosutha’s Magic: Oron Novel 1/3, Zebra #3 1982 (original title: Reign, Sorcery!)
- Oron: The Valley of Ogrum: Oron Novel 2/3, Zebra’s #4 1982 (original title: Deathwolf)
- Oron: The Ghost Army: Five short stories with Oron, Zebra #5, 1983 (original title: Death in Asakad)
- “The Shadow of Dia-Sust” Oron short story appears in The Mighty Warriors, 2018 (also available online on Blackgate.com)
- Oron: the original Oron Novel 3/3, Zebra #1, 1978
- The Sorcerer’s Shadow: Akram Novel, Zebra #2, 1982 (original title: The Shadow of Sorcery)
- Engor’s Sword Arm: A novella, Forgotten Ages ~1991
- “The End of Days” (last tale in Tales of Attluma)
Originally published at http://www.selindberg.com.
