The story begins with John O’Brien, the narrator, entering a dark, eerie forest, with the intent to kill his rival, Richard Brent, over the love of Eleanor Bland. O’Brien falls and hits his head in Dagon’s Cave, leading to a vivid recollection of a past life as Conan, a Gaelic reaver.
“The Dark Man” is a gripping tale set in the ancient, rugged landscapes of Connacht. It begins with Turlogh Dubh, an exiled warrior of the Clan na O’Brien, encountering a fisherman on a snowy shore. Turlogh, described as a formidable and darkly handsome man, is on a mission to rescue Moira, the daughter of a Dalcassian chief, abducted by Viking raiders led by Thorfel the Fair.
Originally a story featuring Mike Dorgan and Bill McGlory. The story was published in ACTION STORIES as “Dark Shanghai.” and Mike Dorgan was changed to Steve Costigan.
REH wrote three stories featuring Mike Dorgan and Bill McGlory. “One Shanghai Night” was the second of the three stories. It was submitted to Fiction House and accepted.
Featuring Dennis Dorgan but was originally a Costigan story. Since Howard also had ‘The Shadow of the Vulture’ in the same issue, they used the pseudonym, Patrick Ervin. Alternate title ‘Alleys of Singapore’. First published in Magic Carpet Magazine, January 1934. Howard wrote the story in May, 1933.
THE VOICE OF EL-LIL is an adventure tale. An Englishman and an American venture into Somaliland where they discover a tribe of people who have not advanced/progressed with the rest of the world and have remained as they were about 3,000 years earlier.
First published in Oriental Stories Volume 1 Number 1, October/November 1930.
The Thing on the Roof first appeared in the February 1932 issue of Weird Tales. Howard sold it to Weird Tales for $40.00, but later said he would have let it go for free, just to see it in print. He was quite fond of it. The story is set in the early 1930’s, and focuses on the legend surrounding the Temple of the Toad God. Howard’s occult tome, Nameless Cults plays a big part in the story.
“Pigeons from Hell” is a horror short story written in late 1934 and published posthumously by Weird Tales in 1938.
“Old Garfield’s Heart” was first published in Weird Tales in December of 1933 and is generally labeled as a “Horror Story”. It takes place shortly after the end of the Wild West, but it falls squarely into the “Weird Western” genre. The story is about a frontiersman, Old Garfield, who has lived as long as anyone can remember. The story is told through the eyes of an unnamed narrator who believes the tales told by Old Garfield are nothing more than whims of fancy or tall tales.
The story centers on a feud between two cowboys, Cal Reynolds and Esau Brill, who have hated each other most of their lives. They encounter one another while out riding and a gunfight ensues. They stalk one another from hiding places among the boulders, firing occasional shots over a long period.
First published in Weird Tales, August 1925, In the Forest of Villefère tells of de Montour’s passage through a supposedly haunted forest. There he comes upon a most unusual traveling companion.
