The Hills of the Dead
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, August 1930. 240.18.5: “he” not capitalized; 244.32.2: “easy”; 252.2.10: “remove”; 252.17.5: “blood brother” not hyphenated here, though it is elsewhere in the story
Hawk of Basti
Text taken from typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. Originally untitled, titled by Lord. 257.3.8: no hyphen in “moss carpeted”; 257.5.2: “witch-craft”; 257.9.6: no hyphen in “sharp pointed”; 257.10.8: “flint lock” as two words; 257.13.4: “loin cloth” as two words; 257.14.6: “Arm-lets”; 258.1.3: “ear-rings”; 258.2.9: “sea-men”; 258.10.3: comma after “Englishman”; 258.10.4: “Keel haul” as two words; 258.13.9: comma after “Kane”; 258.16.6: comma after “he”; 258.17.7: “suddenly” followed by em-dash rather than period; 258.17.8: “well” not capitalized; 258.18.3: “cut-throat”; 258.29.6: comma after “oath”; 259.2.1: no apostrophe in “Its”; 259.3.2: comma after “Kane”; 259.3.6: “in”; 259.7.3: comma after “harshly”; 259.13.1: no apostrophe in “Its”; 259.13.6: comma after “answered”; 260.20.4: “barricoon”; 260.25.6: comma after “I”; 260.30.3: comma after “fiercely”; 261.31.1: no hyphen in “brown skinned”; 262.31.10: “fire-arm”; 263.5.7: “Though” capitalized; 263.9.1: comma after “Hawk”; 263.8.5: “broad-brim”; 263.11.1: comma after “sombrely”; 263.18.3: “whale-bone”; 264.15.9: “And” capitalized; 264.17.3: no apostrophe in “wont”; 264.21.1: comma after “reluctantly”; 265.1.4: comma after “sombrely”; 265.9.7: no hyphen in “keen eared”; 265.11.8: comma after “fiercely”; 265.31.4: no hyphen in “well formed”; 266.9.5: “re-enforced”; 266.19.5: “You” capitalized; 266.20.9: no question mark after “ruler”; 266.22.2: no hyphen in “well built”; 266.25.2: no comma after “dialects”; 266.28.1: no hyphen in “Red handed”; 266.29.4: comma after “anger”; 267.1.1: no hyphen in “heavy bored”; 267.10.1: “litterally”; 267.17.5: comma after “hand”; 267.33.1: comma after “kick”; 268.6.1: comma after “he”
The Return of Sir Richard Grenville
Text taken from typescript provided by Glenn Lord. Originally untitled, titled by Lord.
Wings in the Night
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, July 1932. 287.30.2: both instances of “breast-bone” occur at line breaks (see also 292.33.4); 291.15.9: “bird-man” hyphenated at line break 292.33.4: both instances of “breast-bone” occur at line breaks (see also 287.32.2); 301.20.3: “bow-shots” hyphenated at line break; elsewhere (see 297.21.4) “bowshot” is not hyphenated; 306.24.3: comma after “fetishes”; 306.25.1: no comma after “which”; 307.27.11: “mêlée”; 313.14.1: no hyphens in “four hundred odd”; 320.11.13: “plays”
The Footfalls Within
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, September 1931. 332.2.8: comma after “he”; 332.3.7: “shas”; 344.29.5: “alredy”
The Children of Asshur
Text taken from original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. Originally untitled, titled by Lord. 350.1.4: no hyphen in “deep toned”; 350.11.7: “set”; 350.14.8: comma after “clear”; 350.15.9: comma after “truth”; 350.20.1: “wantoness”; 350.28.6: no hyphen in “sharp pointed”; 250.30.1: no comma after “witch-man”; 351.9.7: comma after “that”; 351.14.9: comma after “sanity”; 351.15.3: “no”; 351.18.8: “strikingly”; 351.30.5: “make-shift”; 352.7.4: comma after “column”; 352.14.1: comma after “twilight”; 352.14.8: “grassgrown” as one word; 352.22.11-12: comma after “tree” rather than “and”; 352.31.9: comma after “hand”; 352.32.8: “grass-land”; 353.6.3: comma after “tails”; 353.21.6: comma after “plain”; 354.1.7: “excellence”; 354.3.9: “consumate”; 354.10.6: no hyphen in “boulder strewn”; 354.15.3: “halluciation”; 354.28.3: comma after “expanses”; 355.12.2: comma after “eyes”; 355.15.1: “hard-wood”; 355.25.9: comma after shield; 355.26.1: no comma after “and”; 356.7.1: no comma after “Maddened”; 356.11.2: no comma after “close-locked”; 357.3.12: comma after “sky”; 357.6.8: “similiar”; 358.12.8: “back-ground”; 358.24.6: “high-priest”; 359.3.10: “illusive”; 359.13.7: “accolytes”; 359.18.2-3: comma after “him” rather than “and”; 359.21.3: comma after “galleries”; 359.23.9: “similiarly”; 359.25.5: “could” omitted; 360.3.2: “than” repeated; 360.13.3: no hyphen in “flat roofed”; 360.20.7: “repellant”; 360.24.4: “toweres”; 360.29.2: “far”; 361.3.2: no hyphen in “well tinted”; 361.5.9: “powerfully”; 361.17.2: “lion”; 361.28.3: “devisions”; 362.17.4: “Kane's”; 362.21.4: no apostrophe in “slayers”; 362.22.2: “loosly”; 362.27.9: “impacable”; 363.19.6: “accolytes”; 363.25.8: “nitches”; 363.32.7: comma after “chariots”; 364.7.2: “and”; 364.13.9: comma after “him”; 364.17.9: comma after “apparel”; 364.29.1: “beard”; 365.4.5: comma after “space”; 365.11.3: “fire-light”; 365.15.4: no comma after “another”; 365.18.3: “langurously”; 365.21.5: comma after “garments”; 366.2.4: “gang”; 366.13.9: “fire-light”; 366.17.5: no hyphen in “half veiling”; 366.21.1: “concious”; 367.2.11: comma after “galleries”; 367.12.6: no hyphen in “market place” (two words); 367.14.2: “fore-shortened”; 367.33.6: “fire-light”; 368.1.9: “eye-balls”; 368.2.6: “spear-men”; 368.4.3-4: comma after “captive,” “many” lower-case; 368.7.7: “dumfounded”; 368.12.7-8: comma after “understood,” “you” lower-case; 368.13.2: “mouth-piece”; 368.22.1-2: comma after “Sula,” “it” lower-case; 368.26.1: “sentance”; 368.28.4: “mouth-piece”; 369.6.9: period rather than question mark after “themselves”; 369.18-19: in the typescript, which is double-spaced, the phrase “in such a raid Sula was captured” is inserted between lines which begin “raids on the Ninnites” and “often did they venture” – it is flush with the left margin, and no indication is given as to where in the text it was to be inserted; 369.28.1: “by-word”; 370.23.4: no comma after “Kaldii”; 371.11.6: “high-priest”; 371.31.4-5: comma after “exclaimed,” “they” lower-case; 372.16.2: “devided”; 372.16.5: “devisions”; 372.32.9: “numbered” omitted; 373.1.5: “statue”; 373.2.7: “war-fare”; 373.8.6: No accent in “Crecy”; 373.28.1-2: comma after “barrage” rather than “and”; 373.30.6: comma after “wings”; 374.15.1: no hyphen in “blood lust”; 375.5.5: “it” omitted; 375.30.3: “face” omitted; 375.31.4: “temple-guards”; 376.14.8: comma after “slaves”; 376.20.5: “house-tops”; 376.24.9: comma after “him”; 376.26.4: comma after “inhabitants”; 378.1.2: “him”; 378.2.11: comma after “hands”; 378.10.1: no comma after “guards”; 378.19.9: “curtesty”
Solomon Kane's Homecoming
Originally appeared in Fanciful Tales, volume 1, number 1, Fall 1936. 381.7.9: period after “life”; 382.10.6: no period after “tears”; 383.7.3: “bave”; 383.12.4: comma after “place”; 383.18.2: “huonds”
Solomon Kane's Homecoming (Variant)
Text taken from typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. The typescript is in four-line stanzas; we have divided the lines. 387.22.1: “Sat” capitalized; 387.24.1: “By” capitalized; 388.4.5: closing quotation mark after “away.”; 388.5.3: comma rather than question mark after “Bess”; 388.11.4: “church-yard”; 388.13.7: “window-pane”; 389.13.1: no hyphen in “Adown”; 389.18.7: no comma after “bright”; 389.23.6: no comma after “again”
The fully illustrated Robert E. Howard Library for Del Rey Books
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane
The Bloody Crown of Conan*
Bran Mak Morn: The Last King*
The Conquering Sword of Conan*
*forthcoming
PRAISE FOR ROBERT E. HOWARD
“At his best, Howard was the Thomas Wolfe of fantasy.”
– STEPHEN KING
“Howard was a true storyteller – one of first, and certainly among the best, you'll find in heroic fantasy. If you've never read him before, you're in for a real treat.”
– CHARLES DE LINT
Award-winning author of
Forests of the Heart andThe Onion Girl
“I adore these books. Howard had a gritty, vibrant style – broadsword writing that cut its way to the heart, with heroes who are truly larger than life. It must be thirty years since I last read Howard, but there are moments from his stories that are as fresh in my mind as if I'd read them yesterday. I heartily recommend them to anyone who loves fantasy.”
– DAVID GEMMELL
Author of Legend and White Wolf
“The voice of Robert E. Howard still resonates after decades with readers – equal parts ringing steel, thunderous horse hooves, and spattered blood. Far from being a stereotype, his creation of Conan is the high heroic adventurer. His raw muscle and sinews, boiling temper, and lusty laughs are the gauge by which all modern heroes must be measured.”
– ERIC NYLUND
Author of Halo: The Fall of Reach
“Howard honestly believed the basic truth of the stories he was telling. It's as if he'd said, ‘This is how life was really lived in those former savage times!'”
– DAVID DRAKE
Author of Grimmer Than Hell and Dogs of War
“That teller of marvellous tales, Robert Howard, did indeed create a giant [Conan] in whose shadow other ‘hero tales' must stand.”
– JOHN JAKES
New York Times bestselling author
of the North and South trilogy
“Most of the fantasy of the past thirty-five years has two main wellsprings: J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard. Tolkien himself, who had little use for most contemporary fantasists, rather liked the Conan tales. For headlong, nonstop adventure and for vivid, even florid, scenery, no one even comes close to Howard. If you want a rip-roaring good time, this is the place to start.”
– HARRY TURTLEDOVE
Author of Guns of the South
“[Behind Howard's stories] lurks a dark poetry, and the timeless truth of dreams. That is why these tales have survived. They remain a fitting heritage of the poet and dreamer who was Robert E. Howard.”
– ROBERT BLOCH
Author of Psycho
“The stories have a livingness about them [that's] impossible to fake. . . . Not one of them is boring – there is always some special touch – and most, of course, are rousers.”
– GAHAN WILSON
Reviewer and author of I Paint What I See
“For stark, living fear . . . what other writer is even in the running with Robert E. Howard?”
– H. P. LOVECRAFT
“Howard . . . brought a brash, tough element to the epic fantasy which did as much to change the course of the American school away from precious writing and static imagery as Hammett, Chandler, and the Black Mask pulp writers were to change the course of American detective fiction.”
– MICHAEL MOORCOCK
Award-winning author of the Elric saga
“In this, I think, the art of Robert E. Howard was hard to surpass: vigor, speed, vividness. And always there is that furious, galloping narrative pace.”
– POUL ANDERSON
Award-winning author of Genesis
and World Without Stars
“For vivid, violent, gripping, headlong action, the stories of Robert E. Howard . . . take the prize among heroic fantasies.”
– L. SPRAGUE DE CAMP
Author of Lest Darkness Fall
“The best pulp [fantasy] writer was Robert E. Howard. . . . He painted in about the broadest strokes imaginable. A mass of glimmering black for the menace, an ice-blue cascade for the hero, betweeen them a swath of crimson for battle, passion, blood – and that was the picture, or story, rather, except where a vivid detail might chance to spring to life, or a swift thought-arabesque be added.”
– FRITZ LEIBER
Author of Farewell to Lankhmar
A Del Rey® Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 1998 by Solomon Kane LLC
Solomon Kane is a registered trademark of Solomon Kane LLC
Illustrations copyright © 1998 by Gary Gianni
Editor: Rusty Burke
Series editor: Rusty Burke
Skulls in the Stars © 1928 by Popular Fiction Publishing Company for Weird Tales, January 1929
The Right Hand of Doom © 1968 by Glenn Lord for Red Shadows
Rattle of Bones © 1929 by Popular Fiction Publishing Company for Weird Tales, June 1929
The Castle of the Devil © 1968 by Glenn Lord for Red Shadows
Death's Black Riders © 1968 by Glenn Lord for The Howard Collector Vol 2, No. 4, Spring 1968
The Moon of Skulls © 1930 by Popular Fiction Publishing Company for Weird Tales, June, July 1930
The One Black Stain © 1962 by Glenn Lord for The Howard Collector, Spring 1962
Blades of the Brotherhood © 1968 by Glenn Lord for Red Shadows
The Hills of the Dead © 1930 by Popular Fiction Publishing Company for Weird Tales, August 1930
Hawk of Basti © 1968 by Glenn Lord for Red Shadows
The Return of Sir Richard Grenville © 1968 by Glenn Lord for Red Shadows
Wings in the Night © 1932 by Popular Fiction Publishing Company for Weird Tales, July 1932
The Footfalls Within © 1931 by Popular Fiction Publishing Company for Weird Tales, September 1931
The Children of Asshur © 1968 by Glenn Lord for Red Shadows
Solomon Kane's Homecoming © 1936 by Shepherd and Wollheim for Fanciful Tales, Fall 1936
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in Great Britain by Wandering Star Books Ltd., London, in 1998.
Del Rey is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Visit our web site at www.delreydigital.com
Published by arrangement with Wandering Star Books Ltd.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2003114908
eISBN 978-0-345-47851-1
v2.0