Pulp Crazy - Marchers of Valhalla by Robert E. Howard

In this weeks episode Pulp Crazy is continuing the celebration of Robert E. Howard's birth month with a short story not published in Howard's lifetime. The story is titled, "Marchers of Valhalla" and is a part of his James Allison series, which are reincarnation tales.

This story was first published in 1972 by Donald M. Grant. I had the pleasure of reading it in the newest publication from the Robert E. Howard Foundation, titled "Swords of the North", which collects Howard's Viking and Celtic stories, drafts and fragments.

Marchers of Valhalla was able to be completed thanks to combining multiple drafts by Howard together, into one coherent story. I have to say, I've read a decent amount of Robert E. Howard, including all of his Solomon Kane tales, Kull stories, his Dark Agnes tales, all but the final two Conan stories, and a fair amount of his stand alone Weird Fiction. I would rank Marchers of Valhalla as one of my favorites.

Links:

Swords of the North at the Robert E. Howard Foundation: http://www.rehfoundation.org/2014/11/05/swords-of-the-north/

Marchers of Valhalla Discussion at the Robert E. Howard Forums: http://www.conan.com/invboard/index.php?showtopic=5423

Hyborian Age America Discussion at the Robert E. Howard Forums: http://www.conan.com/invboard/index.php?showtopic=8902&page=1

Swords of the North Discussion Thread: http://www.conan.com/invboard/index.php?showtopic=10938

Hyborian Age Map: http://www.oocities.org/gmredux/hyboria/images/hyboria_bw.gif

Marchers of Valhalla at ISFDB: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?63590