Issue 1 of The Cimmerian. Edited by Leo Grin | Illustrated by Jason Castagna – 40 pages.

This issue was printed in two editions. The deluxe edition, numbered 1–75, uses a black linen cover with foil-stamped blood-red text. The limited edition, numbered 76–225, uses a blood-red cover with solid black text.

Contents

• It’s Morning Again in Howardia by Leo Grin (Editorial)
• The Robert E. Howard Library of Classics Symposium
• “Conan the Expensive” by Don Herron
• “The One and Authentic Cimmerian” by Darrell Schweitzer
• “Napoleon’s Triumph?” by Gary Romeo
• “Hell Needs a New Devil” by Leo Grin
• “Announcements” by Leo Grin
• “The Stain of Victory” by Richard L. Tierney (poem)
• “A Few Hours from Death” by Bob Baker
• Contributors

Notes

DELUXE COPIES DESTROYED: 0

LIMITED COPIES DESTROYED: 19

Features a twenty-thousand word symposium focused on the Wandering Star Robert E. Howard Library of Classics, plus poetry from Richard L. Tierney, Announcements, Howard History, and more.

Excerpts

I wonder what strange parasitic compulsion pushes such lesser talents as de Camp, and now Louinet, to add their own pointless baggage to Howard’s work?

— from “Conan the Expensive” by Don Herron

This is what most fans have wanted all along. Let’s admit it. When older-timers like myself were first reading Conan in the Lancer editions in the 1960s, we either skipped over or just endured the de Camp/Carter filler stories, which were pretty weak stuff compared to genuine Howard.

— from “The One and Authentic Cimmerian” by Darrell Schweitzer

That the editor of the current Conan books sees nothing wrong with silently appropriating his more-famous counterpart’s most-famous critical idea, even while simultaneously ostracizing him from the debate, says it all about how careless and unprofessional the current Howard orthodoxy has become.

— from “Napoleon’s Triumph?” by Gary Romeo

These men have given Howard a textual permanence of a kind few authors ever achieve. In doing so, they have assured a sort of immortality for themselves, one that will have future generations speaking highly of them, long after the current edition’s window dressing — art and fonts and criticism — are forgotten.

— from “Hell Needs a New Devil” by Leo Grin