Lord of Samarcand and Other Adventure Tales of the Old Orient collects the Robert E. Howard stories that take place in and around mostly the Middle East. A large chunk of these deal with the Crusades and the times just prior to and after them. These are tales of pure adventure and dark times, featuring a plethora of Howard's characters that lived during those days. Purists will love Howard's way of describing the action with vivid prose and modern fans of the other Howardian media, such as film and comics, can thrill to the one time Red Sonja appears in a Howard story....Not in a Conan Hyborian story, but a tale of a Muslim invasion of Austria. If anything, these stories are more topical now when they are written, giving us a look into the nature of the struggles between Christians and Muslims from a well-read Texan's point of view. A must-read for Howard fans, since these stories don't get the reprint action that a lot of his other ones get. There is also no lack of "special features", as we get to see several unfinished stories and rough outlines.

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