With The Chronicles of Tarod the Nine-Fingered, it’s pretty evident that I’m a huge fan of Robert E. Howard, particularly his Conan stories, though I love Bran Mak Morn and Solomon Kane and … well, all of it, really. Howard chose to tell his stories in long story or novella form, and there wasn’t much back story about how the characters moved from the last adventure to the current one. For the most part, I’m copying that, telling Tarod’s story in chronological novellas.

But there was an influence on my storytelling before I ever heard of Robert E. Howard or the mighty Conan of Cimmeria.

No, I’m not talking about J.R.R. Tolkien, although I did read him before Howard.

I’m talking about Tarzan of the Apes.

When I was a kid, it was a banner day if I came across an old black-and-white Tarzan movie on the television. It would be years before I would ever actually read an Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novel, but I loved those old movies and the color TV show that came on Saturday mornings in the 1970s, starring Ron Ely. I tied and swung from a lot of ropes because of Tarzan.

You can see Tarzan’s first influence in my work in Chronicle 3, contained in the first volume, The Puppet King. Tarod pursues some captured travelers to a lost city called Eun-Sarns, where he must face off against some half-men, half-beasts. Eun-Sarns was very much inspired by various lost cities Tarzan came across in the African jungles.

You’ll see more of that in the second volume, particularly in the story “Beyond Known Lands,” which is a mix of Tarzan and Conan’s “Beyond the Black River” story. I’m finishing edits on that book now and it’ll be up for pre-order soon, with a release date in March. I hope you’ll read it!