The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard

Dedication

Previous publication information for the stories contained in this work
Illustrations

Foreword

Introduction

In the Forest of Villefère

A Song of the Werewolf Folk

Wolfshead

Up, John Kane!

Remembrance

The Dream Snake

Sea Curse

The Moor Ghost

Moon Mockery

The Little People

Dead Man’s Hate

The Tavern

Rattle of Bones

The Fear That Follows

The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux

Casonetto’s Last Song

The Touch of Death

Out of the Deep

A Legend of Faring Town

RestlessWaters

The Shadow of the Beast

The Dead Slaver’s Tale

Dermod’s Bane

The Hills of the Dead

Dig Me No Grave

The Song of a Mad Minstrel

The Children of the Night

Musings

The Black Stone

The Thing on the Roof

The Dweller in Dark Valley

The Horror from the Mound

A Dull Sound as of Knocking

People of the Dark

Delenda Est

The Cairn on the Headland

Worms of the Earth

The Symbol

The Valley of the Lost

The Hoofed Thing

The Noseless Horror

The Dwellers Under the Tomb

An Open Window

The House of Arabu

The Man on the Ground

Old Garfield’s Heart

Kelly the Conjure-Man

Black Canaan

To a Woman

One Who Comes at Eventide

The Haunter of the Ring

Pigeons from Hell

The Dead Remember

The Fire of Asshurbanipal

Fragment

Which Will Scarcely Be Understood

Miscellanea

Golnor the Ape

Spectres in the Dark

The House

Untitled Fragment

Appendix

Notes on the Original Howard Texts

Acknowledgments

The Fully Illustrated Robert E. Howard Library from Del Rey Books
Copyright

For Karen

Greg Staples

In the Forest of Villefère

first published in
Weird Tales,
August 1925

A Song of the Werewolf Folk

first published in
Etchings and Odysseys,
1987

Wolfshead

first published in
Weird Tales,
April 1926

Up, John Kane!

first published in
Up, John Kane!,
1977

Remembrance

first published in
Weird Tales,
April 1928

The Dream Snake

first published in
Weird Tales,
February 1928

Sea Curse

first published in
Weird Tales,
May 1928

The Moor Ghost

first published in
Weird Tales,
September 1929

Moon Mockery

first published in
Weird Tales,
April 1929

The Little People

first published in
Coven 13,
January 1970

Dead Man’s Hate

first published in
Weird Tales,
January 1930

The Tavern

first published in
Singers in the Shadows,
1970

Rattle of Bones

first published in
Weird Tales,
June 1929

The Fear That Follows

first published in
Singers in the Shadows,
1970

The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux

first published in
Ghost Stories,
April 1929 (as
The Apparition in the Prize Ring
)
Casonetto’s Last Song

first published in
Etchings and Odysseys,
1973

The Touch of Death

first published in
Weird Tales,
February 1930 (as
The Fearsome Touch of Death
)
Out of the Deep

first published in
Magazine of Horror
, November 1967

A Legend of Faring Town

first published in
Verses in Ebony,
1975

Restless Waters

first published in
Witchcraft & Sorcery,
1974

The Shadow of the Beast

first published in
The Shadow of the Beast
, 1977

The Dead Slaver’s Tale

first published in
Weirdbook,
1973

Dermod’s Bane

first published in
Magazine of Horror,
Fall 1967

The Hills of the Dead

first published in
Weird Tales,
August 1930

Dig Me No Grave

first published in
Weird Tales,
February 1937

The Song of a Mad Minstrel

first published in
Weird Tales
, February–March 1931

The Children of the Night

first published in
Weird Tales,
April–May 1931

Musings

first published in
Witchcraft & Sorcery
, January–February 1971

The Black Stone

first published in
Weird Tales
, November 1931

The Thing on the Roof

first published in
Weird Tales,
February 1932

The Dweller in Dark Valley

first published in
Magazine of Horror
, November 1965

The Horror from the Mound

first published in
Weird Tales,
May 1932

A Dull Sound as of Knocking

first published in
A Rhyme of Salem Town and Other Poems,
2007

People of the Dark

first published in
Strange Tales,
June 1932

Delenda Est

first published in
Worlds of Fantasy,
1968

The Cairn on the Headland

first published in S
trange Tales,
January 1933

Worms of the Earth

first published in
Weird Tales
, November 1932

The Symbol

first appeared in
Ariel,
Autumn 1976

The Valley of the Lost

first published in
Startling Mystery Stories
, Spring 1967 (as
The Secret of Lost Valley
)
The Hoofed Thing

first published in
Weirdbook Three,
1970 (as
Usurp the Night
)
The Noseless Horror

first published in
Magazine of Horror
, February 1970

The Dwellers Under the Tomb

first published in
Lost Fantasies,
1976

An Open Window

first published in
Weird Tales, September
1932

The House of Arabu

first published in
Avon Fantasy Reader,
1952 (as
The Witch from Hell’s Kitchen
)
The Man on the Ground

first published in
Weird Tales,
July 1933

Old Garfield’s Heart

first published in
Weird Tales,
December 1933

Kelly the Conjure-Man

first published in
The Howard Collector
, Summer 1964

Black Canaan

first published in
Weird Tales,
June 1936

To a Woman

first published in
Modern American Poetry,
1933

One Who Comes at Eventide

first published in
Modern American Poetry,
1933

The Haunter of the Ring

first published in
Weird Tales,
June 1934

Pigeons from Hell

first published in
Weird Tales,
May 1938

The Dead Remember

first published in
Argosy,
August 15, 1936

The Fire of Asshurbanipal

first published in
Weird Tales
, December 1936

Fragment

first published in
Weird Tales
, December 1937

Which Will Scarcely Be Understood

first published in
Weird Tales,
October 1937

Golnor the Ape

first published in
Crypt of Cthulhu
, Roodmas 1985

Spectres in the Dark

first published in
Cromlech,
Spring 1985

The House

first published in
The New Howard Reader
, 2003

Untitled Fragment

first published in
The Howard Collector
, Spring 1967

Illustrations

Like a shadow it moved upon de Montour

“Sea fiend,” I said in an unsteady voice

He halted, frozen

And about clustered the–Things

The sky was overcast with misty gray

He parried the bird-thing’s stroke

Yar Ali fired point-blank from the hip with deadly effect

Foreword

I have been a professional illustrator for nearly twenty years and was inspired, like many artists, by the work of Frank Frazetta. I first saw his Conan paintings when I was eight years old, and I can still remember where I stood and what the furniture in my neighbor’s house looked like at the time–and twenty years later, Howard’s writing still has the same effect. Howard is a master of atmosphere and detail, and when I read his stories, I am in them; I can see the buttons on the costumes, smell the dank air, and feel the foreboding. So, although illustrating his work has been a dream project, it has not been an easy one! For doing such a master justice is no small task–but, nevertheless, it’s incredibly rewarding.

To follow in the footsteps of the mighty Frazetta is one thing, but to follow in Howard’s is quite another.

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed illustrating it.

Greg Staples

2008

Introduction

He was almost alone in his ability to create real emotions of fear and of dread suspense…. For stark, living fear…the actual smell and feel and darkness and brooding horror and impending doom that inhere in that nighted, moss-hung jungle…what other writer is even in the running with REH?

—H. P. LOVECRAFT

In 1923 a new magazine appeared on the newsstands of America, proclaiming itself “The Unique Magazine”:
Weird Tales
. It was intended by its publishers to be a market for the sort of “off-trail” stories that other magazines would not publish, but while it did become the first professional magazine to publish H. P. Lovecraft, its first editor showed perhaps too great a fondness for traditional ghost stories.

Following a shaky first year, though, a new editor, Farnsworth Wright, took the reins, adding to the masthead “A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual.” He would quickly make good on that claim, and among his first accomplishments was acceptance, in the fall of 1924, of a story of prehistoric adventure by an eighteen-year-old Texan named Robert E. Howard.

Howard and
Weird Tales
would remain closely associated for the next dozen years, until the author took his own life at the age of thirty. During that period, forty-eight stories and twenty-one poems by Robert E. Howard appeared in the magazine, and he became one of its most popular writers, along with Lovecraft and Seabury Quinn. His fame rests largely on the fantasy adventures of Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and Turlogh O’Brien, stories in which he created a new subgenre that has come to be known as sword and sorcery, blending together elements of heroic adventure and horror. As the stories in this volume will demonstrate, he was also a master of horror, who brought to it a strong dash of adventure.