The Sowers of the Thunder is a short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard

Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....

 (published in Oriental Stories

Oriental Stories

Oriental Stories, later retitled The Magic Carpet Magazine, was a pulp magazine of 1930-34, an offshoot of the famous Weird Tales....

, Winter 1932) that takes place in Outremer

Outremer

Outremer, French for "overseas", was a general name given to the Crusader states established after the First Crusade: the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli and especially the Kingdom of Jerusalem...

, (the Crusader states

Crusader states

The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and the Holy Land , and during the Northern Crusades in the eastern Baltic area...

) in the time of General

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 Baibars

Baibars

Baibars or Baybars , nicknamed Abu l-Futuh , was a Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. He was one of the commanders of the forces which inflicted a devastating defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France and he led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked...

 and deals with the General's friendly/adversarial relationship with Cahal Ruadh O'Donnell, an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 Crusader with a troubled past cut in the Howardian mold.

As is common for Howard's historical fiction, this tale is tragic as much as it is heroic, pitting the protagonist's superhuman strength and resolution against a world that is yet stronger, and too harsh to resist. Another trait of the story common to Howard's historical tales is the mix of historical figures and events (here Baibars, Walter of Brienne

Walter IV of Brienne

Walter IV the Great of Brienne was Count of Brienne 1205–1244. He was the son of Walter III of Brienne and Elvira of Lecce. Around the time of his birth, his father lost his bid for the Sicilian throne and died in prison...

, Al-Mansur and others, and the prelude to Baibars' Mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

 empire) with totally imaginary ones (such as deposed "King of Ireland" Cahal). While less known than Howard's fantasy work, this is nonetheless considered a classic among his writings.

External links

• • The Sowers of Thunder: Full text of the story at Wikisource
• Works of Robert E. Howard: Publication history for The Sowers of Thunder