Brak the Barbarian Versus the Mark of the Demons by John Jakes
Brak the Barbarian Versus the Mark of the Demons (1969) by John Jakes While John Jakes would find enormous success in the late 70s with the wildly popular historical novels in his Kent Family Chronicles , even finding their way onto television screens in the form of more than one highly popular miniseries, he got his start as a journeyman pulp author tackling multiple genres including science fiction, westerns, mystery, and horror stories. In the 60s, Jakes jumped onto the burgeoning explosion of interest in sword and sorcery that occurred following the reprints of Robert E. Howard’s Conan collections in paperback. Jakes, a huge fan of Howard, leapt at the opportunity to wade into this resurgent genre with his own broadsword-wielding hero, Brak the barbarian. As was the case with most of the post-Howard protagonists, Brak is a mighty wandering swordsman prone to attracting intrigue and violence. Physically, Jakes sets his hero apart from the more famous Cimmerian by making Brak a