Review: Red Waves of Slaughter by Steven L. Shrewsbury

by Gary Romeo

Bran Mak Morn is on the menu. “Red Waves of Slaughter” by Steven L. Shrewsbury is the latest monthly offering for Robert E. Howard fans to chew on. This Bran was speedily digested.

“Red Waves of Slaughter” is a fast read. It starts in the middle of frenetic action and immediately grabs you. Shrewsbury’s prose is easy to follow and breezes along, making this short story seem all that much shorter. In this tale, we witness the day of Bran’s death and his transformation into “The Dark Man” statue featured in the Turlough Dubh adventure with that title.

This story shifts from Bran’s time to the present day (or possibly REH’s day). The name dropping of “Miskatonic Institute of Technology” and the Bran Cult gives the story a 1930s Weird Tales feel. A main character, Elijah Blackthorne, practices “psychometric archeology.” Basically, he can touch an object and get glimpses back in time. The writing is usually easy to follow but I did get confused with the wording in the last paragraph shown below:

There is a twist at the end of this tale that surprised me. Overall, I enjoyed the story but was a trifle disturbed. The idea of a Bran Cult bringing Bran back to life feels evil. That makes for good horror, and Bran, of all REH’s S&S characters had the best horror elements. But even though Bran made a terrible bargain in “Worms of the Earth” I felt his intentions were noble. Bran mourned the decline of his race and hated his Roman foes. But Rome is long gone. The idea of a Bran Cult resurrecting him to seek vengeance (on who?) or to reestablish the Pictish race (the stunted gnarled people?) is, frankly, not an idea to my liking. And the Bran Cult apparently thinks Bran will approve? This story is really more of a Cthulhu Mythos type tale rather than a typical Bran Mak Morn adventure. But in any event, I’ll grant that Shrewsbury wrote a Howardian “Weird Tale.”