We will pass over in silence a few sketch pieces and poems that follow “Hot Rompers,” which we previously discussed, in this pulp anthology, and move on to “The Purple Heart of Erlik,” a tale by none other than Robert E. Howard, writing under the pen name of Sam Walser. It originally appeared in Spicy Adventure in 1936.
As the editor, Tony Goodstone, remarks, “Purple Heart” is “a sharp contrast to his more familiar work,” that work being primarily the stories of Conan the Cimmerian. Although the Conan stories are often racy (Conan is a lusty savage, and his heroines easily lose their filmy clothes), Howard nonetheless has a sense of restraint that in “Purple Heart” is not in evidence, probably because he was obliged to “spice things up” for Spicy Adventure. Partly for that reason, this is not his best work, but his considerable skill as an adventure writer is still evident, making this one of the better stories in the collection.
Set in the sordid back alleys of Shanghai, the story opens by introducing Arline, an adventuress who has recently been cornered by a treasure hunter who can frame her for murder. In exchange for his silence, he forces her to attempt to steal the titular Purple Heart, an enormous ruby in the possession of a ruthless Chinese gangster. Her attempt on the ruby fails, and the Chinese gangster elects to punish her with rape—and, shockingly, the rape actually happens. Were this a Conan story, Conan would have leapt into the room and slain Arline’s attacker before he had his trousers off. But alas, Conan is not here.
Arline does have a hero, however, by the name of Wild Bill Clanton, a sailor and smuggler who, out of infatuation, has been following her like a helpless puppy. Although Arline has rebuffed his decidedly rough advances, desperation finally sends her into his arms. With a combination of muscle and double-crossing, the two of them manage to avenge themselves and make it out alive.
This story displays something I noted repeatedly while reading through this collection: The “spicy” stories are competently written, but their risqué elements generally make them worse, not better. A reader can easily imagine how this might have been a better tale, and a less distasteful one, if Howard had not been obliged to try to titillate with a rape scene. There is still some good adventure here, but in the end, it’s all rather gross. The adventure pulps without “spicy” in their names showed more restraint when portraying Shanghai alleyways, and were better for it.
