The Dark of the Soul (Tower Books, 1970)

Here’s another anthology I picked up because it had a Robert E. Howard story in it.

The Dark of the Soul, edited by Don Ward, A Tower book, 1970. Cover artist unknown. It contains a short story by Robert E. Howard called “The Horror from the Mound.” It’s a good story, although not one of Howard’s best.

This collection is more horror and gothic, magic and witchcraft, and not Sword & Sorcery (S&S). The stories are atmospheric but maybe slow for modern audiences. Here are my thoughts.

1. Introduction by Don Ward. Gives some context to the stories but probably wasn’t needed.

2. “The Horror from the Mound” by Robert E. Howard has the highest level of action in the collection, and is genuinely creepy.

3. “The Muted Horn” by Dorothy Salisbury Davis doesn’t have any action and is not my cup of tea.

4. “Mrs Amworth” by E. F. Benson was also slow, with a long setup that could mostly have been cut.

5. “Song of the Slaves” by Manly Wade Wellman is a long way from this author’s best work.

6. “The Ash Tree” by M. R. James is a creepy piece. James didn’t beat around the bush getting to the heart of the tale and this is one of the better pieces in the book.

7. “Cool Air” by H. P. Lovecraft. I’m a big Lovecraft fan but this isn’t among his best stories.

8. “Taboo” by Geoffrey Household was a solid tale but maybe with too much unnecessary material.

9. “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a memorable tale from an author you don’t generally see in such collections.

10. “Smee” by A. M. Burrage is a good ghost story, though fairly slow.

11. “The Dressmaker’s Doll” by Agatha Christie was a surprise. I knew her from her mysteries but this was creepy and with a strong ending.

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Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was a review of two Sword & Sorcery anthologies from L. Sprague de Camp. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.