Avon Fantasy Reader, No. 2, 1947. This issue contains the Kull story THE MIRRORS OF TUZUN THUNE. Set in the fictional Prehistoric Thurian Age, it deals with a disillusioned King Kull questioning the meaning of existence, leading him to seek the assistance of a two-faced wizard.
Contains THE LITTLE PEOPLE. Illustrated by William Stout. This is the first publication of this story. A page was missing from the original manuscript of “The Little People.” Someone at COVEN 13, likely Gerald W. Page or Arthur H. Landis, made up some stuff to fill the gap and never said anything. This became the published version of “The Little People” ever since. The Wandering Star book, BRAN MAK MORN, THE LAST KING, took the edits back out and also includes a copy of the original typescript.
Contains USURP THE NIGHT. Considered part of the Cthulhu Mythos. Cats, dogs, babies, children, and tramps successively and mysteriously disappear from the neighborhood. Also published as THE HOOFED THING.
Startling Mystery Stories #11 (volume 2 number 5).
Contains THE HAUNTER OF THE RING. This is a 1934 short story Howard, belonging to the Cthulhu Mythos. It was first published in Weird Tales in the June 1934 issue. Howard earned $60 for this publication. This story is set in the modern age but includes a relic from the Hyborian Age of the Conan stories, the ring of Thoth-Amon.
Magazine of Horror #31, February 1970 (volume 6 number 1).
Cover by Virgil Finlay. Contains the short story THE NOSELESS HORROR. Submitted to Magazine of Horror by Glenn Lord. First publication ever. Here’s the introduction to the story:
ROBERT ERVIN HOWARD (1906-1936) has come in to his own in recent years, after many years’ obscurity following the death of WEIRD TALES, as L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Howard, and others
have championed him through editing collections of his tales and completing unfinished stories in the Conan, Solomon Kane, and King Kull cycles.— xsometimes adapting complete mss, REH left behind him, sometimes working out fragments, etc. The present story does not belong in any series, and is not a sword-and-sorcery tale, although necromancy certainly does play a part in it.
Magazine of Horror #18, november 1967 (volume 3 number 6).
Cover by Virgil Finlay. Contains the short story OUT OF THE DEEP (Faring Town). Submitted to Magazine of Horror by Glenn Lord. First publication ever. Here’s the introduction to the story:
In sending us this story, and another, entitled The Noseless Horror, Glenn Lord writes: “Both were apparently written prior to 1930, but, aside from that, I can tell you little about them. “Out of the Deep is a sequel of sorts to Sea Curse (WEIRD TALES, May 1928), for it is in that last named tale that Lie-lip Canool gets his comeuppance . . . As both original mss. were carbon copies, badly smudged where erasing had been done on the originals, I may have mis-translated a word or two. A warning, should you come across something that doesn’t seem correct. It might have been my fault.” … We didn’t notice anything which disturbed us, and are pleased to present this first publication of another Howard story, independent of any of his extended series.
Magazine of Horror #17 (volume 3 number 5).
Contains the short story DERMOD’S BANE. Originally written and submitted to Ghost Stories magazine by Howard in 1929. The story was rejected by Ghost Stories, and then disappeared until Glenn Lord found it in a trunk full of manuscripts in 1964. First published in Magazine of Horror #17 in 1967.
Magazine of Horror #11 (volume 2 number 5).
Contains RATTLE OF BONES, a Solomon Kane story, and the poem “The Dweller in Dark Valley”.
Fantasy Magazine #1 from March 1953. Contains the very first release of THE BLACK STRANGER. L Sprague de Camp rewrote the original Conan story into a different Conan story (“The Treasure of Tranicos”). For publication in Fantasy Magazine #1, the story was abridged, edited by L Sprague de Camp, and re-written further by Lester del Rey.
