Introduction
‘The Children of the Night’ is a 1931 short story by Robert E. Howard, belonging to the Cthulhu Mythos. It was accepted by Weird Tales circa October 1930 and was published in the April/May 1931 issue. Howard earned $60 for this publication.
Lovecraft and his letters were an inspiration for some of Howard’s stories, like his comments on the witch cults and legends of “little people” work their way into “The Children of the Night” and “Worms of the Earth.”
The story starts with six people sitting in John Conrad’s study: Conrad himself, Clemants, Professor Kirowan, Taverel, Ketrick and the narrator John O’Donnel. O’Donnel describes them all as Anglo-Saxon with the exception of Ketrick. Ketrick, although he possesses a documented pure Anglo-Saxon lineage, appears to have slightly Mongolian-looking eyes and an odd lisp that O’Donnel finds distasteful.
In a letter to HPL (#143) Howard writes:
By the way, I recently sold Weird Tales a short story, “The Children of the Night” in which I deal with Mongoloid-aborigine legendry, touch cryptically on the Bran-cult, and hint darkly and vaguely of nameless things connected with Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Tsathoggua and the Necronomicon; as well as quoting lines from Flecker’s9 “Gates of Damascus” and lending them a cryptic meaning which I’m sure would have astounded the poet remarkably!
Lovecraft liked the story and told Howard in a letter. Circa June 1931, we learn from another letter (#169) to Lovecraft:
I’m glad you liked “Children of the Night”. Some remarks of yours in your letters regarding the Mongoloid aborigines gave me many of the ideas. As regards my mention of the three foremost weird masterpieces — Poe’s, Machen’s and your own — it’s my honest opinion that these three are the outstanding tales. Though I consider your “Dunwitch Horror”, “Horror at Red Hook” and “Rats in the Walls” quite worthy of ranking alongside Poe and Machen, also.
And later (letter #220), circa mid-October 1932 we learn:
By the way, you mentioned that my “Children of the Night” got a mention in the O. Henry Memorial prize annual. What is this annual, and is it possible for me to get a copy of it? The reason I ask, is I gather it’s something of a boost to get mentioned in it, and it’s just possible that I might be able to boost myself with an editor sometime. Any information you can give me about this business will be greatly appreciated.
O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1931, edited by Blanche Colton Williams, included “The Children of the Night” among “Stories ranking second.”
Published in:
- WEIRD TALES VOLUME 17 NUMBER 3, Popular Fiction Publishing Company, April-May 1931
- THE DARK MAN AND OTHERS, Arkham House, 1963
- THE SPAWN OF CTHULHU, Ballantine, October 1971
- ミステリマガジン1971年11月( MISUTERIMAGAJIN 1971 NEN 11 GATSU) (MYSTERY MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 1971), Hayakawa Publishing Corporation , November 1971 (Japanese)
- THE DARK MAN AND OTHERS, Lancer, 1972 (n.d., 95 cents)
- L’HOMME NOIR, Libraries des Champ-Elysees, 1st Quarter 1976 (French)
- PIGEONS FROM HELL, Zebra, June 1976
- THE DARK MAN OMNIBUS, Volume 2, Panther, 1979
- PIGEONS FROM HELL, Ace, 1979
- L’HOMME NOIR, NeO, April 1982 (French)
- L’HOMME NOIR, NeO, February 1984 (French, 2nd printing)
- ホラー&ファンタジー傑作選3 (HORĀ ANDO FANTAJĪ KESSAKUSEN #3) (HORROR & FANTASY #3), Seishinsha, March 1986 (Japanese)
- EL VALLE DEL GUSANO, Ediciones Martinez Roca, 1986 (Spanish)
- LA MASCHERA DI CTHULHU, Fanucci Editore, July 1987 (Italian)
- L’HOMME NOIR, NeO, February 1988 (French, 3rd printing)
- ウィアード3 (WIĀDO #3) (THE WEIRD #3), Seishinsha Bunko, October 1990 (Japanese)
- L’HOMME NOIR, Fleuve Noir, December 1991 (French)
- OMBRE DAL TEMPO, Fanucci Editore, August 1994 (Italian)
- CONAN. OGNISTY WICHER, Wydawnictwo Andor, 1994 (Polish)
- NIE KOPCIE MI GROBU, Wydawnictwo Andor, 1994 (Polish)
- TUTTI I CICLI FANTASTICI: I CICLI DI KULL DI VALUSIA, DI JAMES ALLISON, DI CTHULHU E DI ALMURIC, Newton Compton Editori, April 1995 (Italian)
- BEYOND THE BORDERS, Baen, October 1996 (restored text)
- BRAN MAK MORN: THE LAST KING, Wandering Star, 2001
- NAMELESS CULTS, Chaosium, December 2001
- BRAN MAK MORN: THE LAST KING, Del Rey, June 2005
- BRAN MAK MORN: THE LAST KING, Science Fiction Book Club, June 2005
- PEOPLE OF THE DARK, Wildside Press, July 2005
- THE WEIRD WRITINGS OF ROBERT E. HOWARD Volume 1, Girasol Collectables, January 2006
- PEOPLE OF THE DARK, Wildside Press, June 2006
- THE HAUNTER OF THE RING & OTHER TALES, Wordsworth Editions, September 2007
- THE CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT, AND BREED OF BATTLE, Dodo Press, February 2008
- RELATOS DE TERROR SOBRENATURAL, Urco Editora, April 2008 (Galician)
- THE HAUNTER OF THE RING & OTHER TALES, Wordsworth Editions, 2008
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Del Rey, October 2008
- BRAN MAK MORN, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, October 2009 (Italian)
- BRAN MAK MORN, L’INTÉGRALE, Bragelonne, November 2009 (French)
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Tantor Media, Inc., March 2010 (audio)
- BRAN MAK MORN: THE LAST KING, Tantor Media, Inc., June 2010 (audio)
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Subterranean Press, March 2011
- THE HORROR MEGAPACK: 25 CLASSIC AND MODERN HORROR STORIES, Wildside Press, March 2011
- THE HORROR MEGAPACK: 25 CLASSIC AND MODERN HORROR STORIES, Wildside Press, August 2012
- WOLFSHEAD AND OTHER STORIES, Jame-Books, August 2012
- BRAN MAK MORN ÉS A PIKTEK, Delta Vision Kft., August 2012 (Hungarian)
- BRAN MAK MORN ÉS A PIKTEK, Delta Vision Kft., November 2012 (Hungarian)
- KRÓLESTWO CIENI I INNE OPOWIADANIA Z MITOLOGII CTHULHU, Agharta, January 2013 (Polish)
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S COLLECTED WORKS, Jame-Books, February 2013
- ROSTO DE CAVEIRA, OS FILHOS DA NOITE E OUTROS CONTOS, Martin Claret, July 2013 (Portuguese)
- LOVECRAFTIN LÄHTEILLÄ, Jalava, 2013 (Finnish)
- CULTOS INOMINÁVEIS, Saída de Emergência, February 2014 (Portuguese)
- CULTOS INOMINÁVEIS, Saída de Emergência, March 2014 (Portuguese)
- БРАН МАК МОРН, ПОСЛЕДНИЙ КОРОЛЬ. КУЛЛ, ВЫХОДЕЦ ИЗ АТЛАНТИДЫ (BRAN MAK MORN: THE LAST KING. KULL: NATIVE OF ATLANTIS), Eksmo, May 2014 (Russian)
- ROBERT E. HOWARD SHORT STORIES & NOVELLAS, Business and Leadership Publishing, July 2014
- RELATOS DE TERROR SOBRENATURAL, Urco Editora, 2014 (Galician, 2nd edition)
- I FIGLI DELLA NOTTE. RACCONTI DELL’ORRORE VOLUME 1, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, March 2015 (Italian)
- THE SHADOW KINGDOM AND OTHER WEIRD TALES, Ulwencreutz Media, October 2015
- DIE KINDER DER NACHT, Festa Verlag, November 2015 (German)
- TALES OF CTHULHU, Perennial Press, November 2015
- O MUNDO SOMBRIO: HISTÓRIAS DOS MITOS DE CTHULHU, Editora Clock Tower, March 2016 (Portuguese)
- TALES OF BRAN MAK MORN, Ozymandias Press, June 2016
- ČERNÝ KÁMEN, Laser Books, July 2016 (Czech)
- БЕЗЫМЯННЫЕ КУЛЬТЫ: МИФЫ КТУЛХУ И ДРУГИЕ ИСТОРИИ УЖАСА (NAMELESS CULTS: CTHULHU MYTHOS AND OTHER HORROR STORIES), AST, August 2016 (Russian)
- TALES OF CTHULHU, Jovian Press, December 2016
- TALES OF BRAN MAK MORN, Jovian Press, January 2017
- I FIGLI DELLA NOTTE E ALTRI ORRORI, Golem Libri, June 2019 (Italian)
- DECA NOĆI I DRUGE PRIČE, Filip Višnjić, December 2019 (Serbian)
- GLI INFINITI RITORNI. STORIE E SCRITTI SULLA REINCARNAZIONE, Elara, July 2020 (Italian)
- THE CTHULHU STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, WordFire Press, September 2020
- LES ROIS DE LA NUIT, Le Livre de Poche, November 2020 (French)
- BRAN MAK MORN. O ÚLTIMO REI DOS PICTOS, Pipoca e Nanquim, March 2021 (Portuguese)
- STRANGE STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD & CO., Robert Derie, June 2021
- I RACCONTI RITROVATI, Independently Published, December 2021 (Italian)