Black Kingdoms ideas: Sir Henry Rider Haggard

René

Banded Mongoose
This British 19th century author wrote some excellent books which gives tons of ideas for Kushite scenarios, among them "She", "Allan Quatermain", King's Solomon's Mines".

Besides these all time classics it's impossible (for me) to find cheap English editions. Can someone help me? Wildside Press, which also edits REH, is fairly expensive...

Thanks again for your help!
 
I had meant to mention H. Rider Haggard myself. Not only is he the essential author to read for playing in the Black Kingdoms due to the fact he adventured often in Africa and learned much of it's occult lore, he helped invent the 'Lost City' scenario that Howard would later use himself. His classic "She" also helped create the powerful and amoral immortal sorceress 'femme fatale' archetype as well. He also used the story telling method of using past life regression of a modern -well for his time modern- hero into a more primitive age as Howard would do as well. I think it can be safely said that it's likely Howard had read Haggard's work. Maybe Lovecraft was a Haggard fan too- Haggard would occasionally have hidden and dangerous lore learned fromold tomes and documents. It's pretty likely Lovecraft's grandfather's library would have copies of Haggard's work.

Though Haggard was quite prolific in his work in his life time- several dozen pieces of work in fact only "She", "King Solomon's Mines" and "Alan Quatermain" remain relatively easy to find- and it's not that easy to do so. Want my advice? Use your local library's interlibrary loan to get anything by him. If you have access to a college library even better. Haggard's work is considered a scholarly accomplishment and you can find the rarer stuff in Haggard's collection easier through them. Word of caution though. As a child of the late 19th century, Haggard's prose is pretty dry in comparison to more modern works. Oh- and never see a movie based on any of Haggard's works. They all seem to suck. There are a few low-key Haggard fan clubs around. You can probably find one on the net with a little effort.

It is also noteworthy that one Conan pastich author freely plagiarized "King Solomon's Mines" for their novel- and got away with it. Though two-thirds of the plot was completely identical with Conan substituting for Allan Quatermain the editor in charge of that production must not have been a Hagard fan because he never caught it. Can't remember the title though- anyone else here remember the author and title?

P.S. From Wikipedia here's a list of all of Haggard's Alan Quatermain stories:

King Solomon's Mines (1885)
Allan Quatermain (1887)
Allan's Wife (1887)
Maiwa's Revenge: or, The War of the Little Hand (1888)
Marie (1912)
Child of Storm (1913)
The Holy Flower (1915)
Finished (1917)
The Ivory Child (1916)
The Ancient Allan (1920)
She and Allan (1920)
Heu-heu: or The Monster (1924)
The Treasure of the Lake (1926)
Allan and the Ice-gods (1927)

And that's not counting all of his non-Quatermain stories such as "She".
 
With a litte more research, here's a list of all of his major works:

Dawn (1884)
The Witch's Head (1884)
King Solomon's Mines (1885)
She (1887)
Jess (1887)
Allan Quatermain (1887)
A Tale of Three Lions (1887)
Mr. Meeson's Will (1888)
Maiwa's Revenge (1888)
My Fellow Laborer and the Wreck of the Copeland (1888)
Colonel Quaritch, V.C. (1888)
Cleopatra (1889)
Allan's Wife (1889)
Beatrice (1890)
The World's Desire (1890) (co-written with Andrew Lang)
Eric Brighteyes (1891)
Nada the Lily (1892)
Montezuma's Daughter (1893)
The People of the Mist (1894)
Joan Haste (1895)
Heart of the World (1895)
Church and State (1895)
The Wizard (1896)
Dr. Therne (1898)
Swallow (1898)
A Farmer's Year (1899)
The Last Boer War (1899)
The Spring of Lion (1899)
Montezuma's Daughter (1899)
Black Heart, White Heart (1900)
The New South Africa (1900)
A Winter Pilgrimage (1901)
Lysbeth (1901)
Rural England (1902)
Pearl Maiden (1903)
Stella Fregelius (1904)
The Brethren (1904)
The Poor and the Land (1905)
Ayesha (1905)
A Gardener's Year (1905)
Report of Salvation Army Colonies (1905)
The Way of the Spirit (1906)
Benita (1906)
Fair Margaret (1907)
The Ghost Kings (1908)
The Yellow God (1908)
The Lady of Blossholme (1909)
Queen Sheba's Ring (1910)
Regeneration: An account of the social work of the Salvation Army (1910)
Morning Star (1910)
Red Eve (1911)
The Mahatma and the Hare (1911)
Rural Denmark (1911)
Marie (1912)
Child of Storm (1913)
The Wanderer's Necklace (1914)
A call to Arms (1914)
The Holy Flower (1915)
After the War Settlement and Employment of Ex-Service Men (1916)
The Ivory Child (1916)
Finished (1917)
Love Eternal (1918)
Moon of Israel (1918)
When the World Shook (1919)
The Ancient Allan (1920)
Smith and the Pharaohs (1920)
She and Allan (1921)
The Virgin of the Sun (1922)
Wisdom's Daughter (1923)
Heu-Heu (1924)
Queen of the Dawn (1925)
The Days of my Life: An autobiography of Sir H. Rider Haggard (1926)
Treasure of the Lake (1926)
Allan and the Ice Gods (1927)
Mary of Marion Isle (1929)
Belshazzar (1930)

The man could write.....
 
Well, university library is a way, but the backdraw is that I have to give thebooks back after a few weeks... :cry:
 
Raven Blackwell said:
It is also noteworthy that one Conan pastich author freely plagiarized "King Solomon's Mines" for their novel- and got away with it. Though two-thirds of the plot was completely identical with Conan substituting for Allan Quatermain the editor in charge of that production must not have been a Hagard fan because he never caught it. Can't remember the title though- anyone else here remember the author and title?

It's "Conan and the Treasure of Python", by John Maddox Roberts. See a review that explains the similarities here:

http://www.swordandsorcery.org/conan-python.htm

- thulsa
 
Great idea René.
There is also an RPG Boxed set on this time period called Dark Continent. It usually deals with the organization and carrying out of expedition into dark Africa in the Victorian Age.
This is an English game with much humour (you can play several industrialized nations and all have their advantages and weakness).
The game is great is that you can create a "real" or a "weird" campaign with some African mythology and black magic.
http://www.darkcontinentrpg.com/
The system is quite unique too (no d20 or d100).
There is also an important litterature.
 
The King said:
Great idea René.
There is also an RPG Boxed set on this time period called Dark Continent. It usually deals with the organization and carrying out of expedition into dark Africa in the Victorian Age.
This is an English game with much humour (you can play several industrialized nations and all have their advantages and weakness).
The game is great is that you can create a "real" or a "weird" campaign with some African mythology and black magic.
http://www.darkcontinentrpg.com/
The system is quite unique too (no d20 or d100).
There is also an important litterature.

Thanks for the info, King! It seems you're a real fan of this RPG, since you have already recommended it to me a few months ago! :wink:
It seems that now I've no excuse anymore not looking where to get it...
 
Oups I couldn't remember. :roll: In fact it's mentioned on the chaosium site and is considered as an excellent complement and information set for the 1890's setting and I will even go further as to state the link: http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?cPath=41&products_id=336

It really conveys the flavour of a expedition in unknown territories but there is also much historical info on the region (starting point is Zanzibar).
 
thulsa said:
It's "Conan and the Treasure of Python", by John Maddox Roberts. See a review that explains the similarities here:

http://www.swordandsorcery.org/conan-python.htm

- thulsa

Interesting review; don't think i'll bother reading any of Robert's stuff, I don't particularly like plagiarists. I remember thinking that Sword of Shannara was pretty kewl till I finally read Lord of the Rings...
 
Raven Blackwell said:
With a litte more research, here's a list of all of his major works:

Dawn (1884)
The Witch's Head (1884)
King Solomon's Mines (1885)
She (1887)
Jess (1887)
Allan Quatermain (1887)
A Tale of Three Lions (1887)
Mr. Meeson's Will (1888)
Maiwa's Revenge (1888)
My Fellow Laborer and the Wreck of the Copeland (1888)
Colonel Quaritch, V.C. (1888)
Cleopatra (1889)
Allan's Wife (1889)
Beatrice (1890)
The World's Desire (1890) (co-written with Andrew Lang)
Eric Brighteyes (1891)
Nada the Lily (1892)
Montezuma's Daughter (1893)
The People of the Mist (1894)
Joan Haste (1895)
Heart of the World (1895)
Church and State (1895)
The Wizard (1896)
Dr. Therne (1898)
Swallow (1898)
A Farmer's Year (1899)
The Last Boer War (1899)
The Spring of Lion (1899)
Montezuma's Daughter (1899)
Black Heart, White Heart (1900)
The New South Africa (1900)
A Winter Pilgrimage (1901)
Lysbeth (1901)
Rural England (1902)
Pearl Maiden (1903)
Stella Fregelius (1904)
The Brethren (1904)
The Poor and the Land (1905)
Ayesha (1905)
A Gardener's Year (1905)
Report of Salvation Army Colonies (1905)
The Way of the Spirit (1906)
Benita (1906)
Fair Margaret (1907)
The Ghost Kings (1908)
The Yellow God (1908)
The Lady of Blossholme (1909)
Queen Sheba's Ring (1910)
Regeneration: An account of the social work of the Salvation Army (1910)
Morning Star (1910)
Red Eve (1911)
The Mahatma and the Hare (1911)
Rural Denmark (1911)
Marie (1912)
Child of Storm (1913)
The Wanderer's Necklace (1914)
A call to Arms (1914)
The Holy Flower (1915)
After the War Settlement and Employment of Ex-Service Men (1916)
The Ivory Child (1916)
Finished (1917)
Love Eternal (1918)
Moon of Israel (1918)
When the World Shook (1919)
The Ancient Allan (1920)
Smith and the Pharaohs (1920)
She and Allan (1921)
The Virgin of the Sun (1922)
Wisdom's Daughter (1923)
Heu-Heu (1924)
Queen of the Dawn (1925)
The Days of my Life: An autobiography of Sir H. Rider Haggard (1926)
Treasure of the Lake (1926)
Allan and the Ice Gods (1927)
Mary of Marion Isle (1929)
Belshazzar (1930)

The man could write.....

Holy S****T! :shock: :shock:
I had no idea he wrote so much.
I had read King Solomon's Mines as a kid and loved it a lot.
Thanks for the research. 8)
 
And as you can see, most of his work was done after the three he is usually recognized for: King Solomon's Mines, She and Allan Quatermain. I've never bee a super fan of Haggard myself- I stopped after a few books- but I'd imagine anyone liking his style need not worry about running out of reading material any time soon.

I might finish the "She" novels at some point though.....
 
An interesting source of inspiration can be found from the writings of the eccentric Byron de Prorok. He wrote "Digging for Lost Gods," "Mysterious sahara," "Dead Men Do Tell Tales," and "In Quest of Lost Worlds." He claimed to have done everything he wrote about, though the veracity of such a claim is debatable. But a neat source for any Black Kingdoms/Darkest Africa thematic inspiration.
 
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