BLACK TEARS

"Black Tears," written by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, is a direct sequel to "A Witch Shall Be Born." It first appeared in Conan the Wanderer in 1968. Much of the time, the chronological cues we get about where a story takes place in Conan's life are limited to the little prologues that de Camp and Carter write. Those precede the story and set it in time (with the exception of "The Frost-Giant's Daughter," which I disagreed with them on their placement). They can be helpful. Sometimes within a story, we get a vague listing of the things Conan has done in his life up to that point.

​However, the actual body text of "Black Tears" sets it about a year after "Witch."

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"For years now, this outlaw band had harried and looted towns and trading posts and caravan stations along the borders of Turan--first under that black-hearted Zaporoskan rogue, Olgerd Vladislav; then, a little more than a year ago, by his successor, Conan."

If Conan is commanding something within a story, I happen to like the stories in which he's commanding outlaw bands or pirates as opposed to large, well-funded armies. It seems to suit his character a little better seeing as he has a distaste for "civilized" society. Honestly, that distaste has a tendency to come and go as Conan really seems to enjoy wine and women in a palace, at least for a while before he tires of it. Either way, it's more fun to root for the rogueish underdog than someone commanding a military force.

In the prologue of this story, it says that Conan is about 31 years old and is at the height of his physical powers. He's spent his time recently raiding the Turanian countryside (which I think is rather interesting, going from two years as a celebrated asset of the Turanian army to a total thorn in their side).

Overall, "Black Tears" is alright. I rated it pretty high when I initially read it, but looking back, I think that's partially just because "Witch" was somewhat of a bummer. 

It is, though, paced much, much better than "A Witch Shall Be Born," which made it fly by with a lot breezier of a pace than its direct predecessor. It's interesting that the previous story had so many Biblical ties (which I didn't write about since I didn't really have anything to add- there are other writers and bloggers out there who've said quite a bit about "Witch's" Biblical stuff if you're interested) and this story has Conan wandering the desert like another mythical figure who happened to get crucified, just in the opposite order). When he stumbles into Akhlat in the Red Waste and Enosh there tells him that they feed people to the gorgon to suck their life-force out, I was pretty horrified. 

According to Gary Romeo over at Sprague de Camp Fan, the prose of this one should mostly be credited to Lin Carter rather than de Camp, as a letter between the collaborating authors would show.

The gorgon was fun. I only recently learned what a gorgon was when I watched the Hammer horror film The Gorgon a couple of months ago. I'm a big Hammer guy. Anyway, the descriptions of the human forest of stone in the gorgon's chamber were pretty excellent.

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Conan might dispatch the gorgon just a little too easy at the end of the story, but not enough to ruin the experience. I originally rated this story four out of five stars, but after a few weeks went by, I found myself looking at my chronology and asking, "Wait, which one was 'Black Tears' again?" So I suppose it's not the most memorable. I knocked it down a star to three out of five, which I feel is more accurate.

​I am really, geniunely not looking forward to reading "Shadows in Zamboula" next, as I hear it's one of the more racist REH stories, but we'll see. Conan finishes this story headed not too far across the desert toward the city of Zamboula. 

★★★☆☆