In a smoky Texas dive, a sharp-eyed stranger drains his whiskey and vanishes into the night.
Years later, a blood-caked horseman thunders through a mountain pass in Afghanistan, pursued by howling tribesmen.
He is the same man, transformed by a lifetime of adventure.
His name? Francis Xavier Gordon. But to those who speak it in whispers, he’s known as El Borak – a force of nature wrapped in human skin, equally at home with six-guns or scimitars.
From the decks of Pacific steamers to the heart of Africa, from the bustling bazaars of the Middle East to the windswept Afghan mountains, El Borak’s legend has grown.
And he might just be the most dangerous man alive.
Who is El Borak?
Step into the sun-scorched borderlands of Texas, where the untamed spirit of the American frontier burns. Here, in the crucible of author Robert E. Howard’s imagination, we find the origins of a hero unlike any other – Francis Xavier Gordon, better known to friend and foe alike as El Borak, “The Swift.”
Born from the mind of a mere boy, El Borak stands as a testament to Howard’s prodigious talent. Picture a young Robert E. Howard, barely ten years old. While other children played at cowboys and Indians, Howard was forging a legend – a Texas gunslinger transplanted to the treacherous peaks and shadowy bazaars of Central Asia.
But what truly sets El Borak apart in Howard’s pantheon of heroes? Unlike the musclebound barbarians and grim-faced puritans that would later spring from his pen, Gordon is a man of our world – yet no less larger than life. In him, we see the crystallization of Howard’s fascination with the pulp magazines of his youth, particularly the exotic tales that graced the pages of Adventure.
El Borak is more than just an amalgamation of Howard’s boyhood fantasies, however. He is the embodiment of the author’s restless spirit, forever yearning to break free from the confines of small-town Texas. In Gordon’s journey from Lone Star gunslinger to Afghan legend, we glimpse Howard’s own desire to transcend the boundaries of his world through the power of his art.
The transformation of Francis Xavier Gordon into the near-mythical El Borak is a journey worthy of legend itself. Imagine a man honed to a lethal edge by the unforgiving Texas frontier, then tempered further in the jungles of Africa, the deserts of the Middle East, and finally, the fires of Afghanistan’s remote conflicts. His skills read like a pulp author’s wildest dream – a lightning-fast draw, a mastery of languages that allows him to navigate the treacherous currents of tribal politics, and a cunning that outfoxes both British imperialists and Russian spies.
Yet for all his near superhuman abilities, El Borak remains grounded in a gritty reality that Howard expertly weaves. This is no sanitized hero of dime store novels. Gordon’s adventures, even in their earliest, most fantastical incarnations, pulse with the raw energy of a man forever dancing on the knife’s edge.
Interestingly, it only takes a mild perusal through the yellowed pages of Howard’s teenage notebooks to find an incarnation of El Borak that stretched far beyond the Hindu Kush. Here was a Gordon who battled dinosaurs in the uncharted jungles of Africa, who faced down mad scientists and their mechanical monstrosities. While these early tales may never have seen publication, they offer a tantalizing glimpse into the pure, unrestrained imagination that would fuel Howard’s later masterpieces. But it is in the crucible of Afghanistan – a graveyard of empires – where El Borak truly comes into his own.
El Borak’s World
In the shadow of the Hindu Kush, where ancient empires have risen and crumbled, El Borak’s Afghanistan comes alive. Drawing inspiration from Talbot Mundy’s ‘King of the Khyber Rifles’ and Jimgrim tales, as well as Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Kim’ and ‘The Man Who Would Be King,’ Howard crafts an Afghanistan that feels startlingly authentic. Yet he goes beyond mere imitation, infusing the land with a palpable sense of mystery and danger that is uniquely his own.
Picture a chessboard sprawling across Central Asia, where the pawns are wily tribesmen, the knights are Cossack raiders, and the kings are the distant powers of Britain and Russia. This is the Great Game – a decades-long struggle for supremacy that forms the beating heart of El Borak’s world. While Howard’s research shines through in every detail, it’s his imagination that truly brings this world to life. Each battered fort and smoky teahouse becomes a potential stage for high adventure, where loyalties shift like desert dunes and death lurks in every shadow.
In this crucible of cultures, El Borak’s approach to the peoples he encounters stands in stark contrast to the colonial attitudes of his time. Where other Western heroes might blunder through with misplaced superiority, Gordon navigates the complex web of honor codes and tribal allegiances with the grace of a native son. For El Borak is not an agent of Western civilization, imposing its will upon the “savages.” Rather, he is a child of borderlands himself, as much barbarian as the fierce tribesmen he rides alongside. For Gordon’s loyalty is not to empire or ideology, but to himself and to the bonds of friendship forged in blood and fire.
In crafting this unique setting, Howard has given us more than just a backdrop for thrilling tales. He’s created a mirror that reflects the complexities of our own world – a place where cultural understanding can be a more powerful weapon than any gun, and where the echoes of long-ago conflicts still shape the destinies of peoples and nations.
El Borak’s Influence on Literature and Cinema
The legacy of El Borak, that indomitable Texan adventurer, casts a growing shadow across the landscape of modern fiction. While Francis Xavier Gordon’s original exploits sprang from the fertile imagination of Robert E. Howard, contemporary authors have taken up the mantle, breathing new life into this complex hero for a new generation of readers.
Among these modern torchbearers stands James Lovegrove, whose recent addition to the El Borak canon, “El Borak: Siege of Lamakan”, promises to reignite interest in Howard’s gunslinger-turned-Afghan legend. Though we must leave the specifics shrouded in mystery (for now), the very title evokes images of desperate last stands and daring escapades that have long been the hallmark of El Borak’s adventures. One can almost hear the clash of steel and the report of gunfire echoing through the mountain passes.
But what makes El Borak stories a must-read for Howard fans, both old and new? The answer lies in the unique challenges and opportunities the character presents to modern writers. Contemporary authors face the delicate task of maintaining the thrilling, pulp-style action that defines El Borak’s adventures while navigating the potential pitfalls of outdated colonial attitudes. It’s a tightrope walk, but one that offers immense creative possibilities.
Moreover, El Borak’s adventures in Afghanistan and Central Asia during the Great Game take on new relevance for a modern American audience. After nearly two decades of U.S. military involvement in the region, readers bring a heightened awareness and curiosity to stories set in this complex part of the world.
Most interestingly for writers and readers alike, at the heart of El Borak is his status as the quintessential outsider hero. Francis Xavier Gordon is a man caught between worlds – too Western for the East, too Eastern for the West. This liminal existence resonates powerfully with modern readers who often grapple with questions of identity and belonging in an increasingly globalized world. In an age where the legitimacy of power structures is constantly questioned, Gordon’s adventures offer a thrilling exploration of what it means to forge one’s own path in a world of shifting allegiances and moral ambiguities.
El Borak’s influence extends far beyond the printed page. In a fascinating twist of fate, this Texan gunslinger played a pivotal role in shaping one of cinema’s most beloved adventurers. In the 1970s, legendary comic artist Jim Steranko created a series of El Borak illustrations for a Robert E. Howard fanzine. These caught the eye of a young filmmaker named George Lucas, who later hired Steranko to do concept art for a little project called “Raiders of the Lost Ark. Thus, the DNA of Howard’s Afghan adventurer flows directly into the veins of Indiana Jones, proving that El Borak’s legacy is as unpredictable as the man himself.
As we stand on the cusp of this new chapter in El Borak’s literary journey, one thing becomes clear: the spirit of Howard’s creation is far from spent. With each new interpretation, Francis Xavier Gordon rides again, inviting readers to lose themselves in a world where danger lurks around every corner, and where one man’s courage can still change the course of history.
The sands of Afghanistan are shifting once more, and El Borak’s legendary blade gleams in the desert sun.
James Lovegrove has resurrected Howard’s gunslinger extraordinaire in “El Borak: Siege of Lamakan,” and trust us, this is one siege you won’t want to miss.
So steady yourself, load your revolver, and prepare to plunge into “El Borak: Siege of Lamakan” – for the Great Game is afoot once more!