Red Nails is a 1977 collection of three Conan short stories. This is the last of the three volumes comprising “The Authorized Edition”. Edited by Karl Edward Wagner. 

The collection was edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It was first published in hardcover by Berkley/Putnam in 1977, and in paperback by Berkley Books the same year. It was reprinted in hardcover for the Science Fiction Book Club, also in 1977, and combined with the Wagner-edited The Hour of the Dragon and The People of the Black Circle in the book club’s omnibus edition The Essential Conan in 1998. The stories originally appeared in the fantasy magazine Weird Tales in the 1930s.

The pieces in Red Nails, in common with those in the other Conan volumes produced by Karl Edward Wagner for Berkley, are based on the originally published form, of the texts in preference to the edited versions appearing in the earlier Gnome Press and Lancer editions of the Conan stories. In contrast to the earlier editions, which included Conan tales by authors other than Howard, Wagner took a purist approach, including only stories by Howard, and only those thought to be in the public domain. His editorial comments dismiss editorial revisions made in the earlier editions.

Contents

•  Red Nails • (1935) • interior artwork by Harold S. De Lay
•  Red Nails • (1935) • interior artwork by Hugh Rankin
• 1 • Foreword (Red Nails) • (1977) • essay by Karl Edward Wagner
• 10 •  Map of the Hyborian World • (1977) • interior artwork by John Mayer
• 15 • Beyond the Black River • [Conan] • (1935) • novella by Robert E. Howard
• 93 • Shadows in Zamboula • [Conan] • (1935) • novelette by Robert E. Howard
• 137 • Red Nails • [Conan] • (1936) • novella by Robert E. Howard
• 247 • The Hyborian Age • [Conan] • (1938) • short fiction by Robert E. Howard
• 281 • Afterword (Red Nails) • (1977) • essay by Karl Edward Wagner

Notes

Based on the original text from WEIRD TALES.
Edited by Karl Edward Wagner
One original pulp illustration by Vincent Napoli.
Two original pulp illustrations by Hugh Rankin.
One original pulp illustration by Harold S. DeLay.
“The Authorized Edition” on the title page.

Publication date from “7903” on front jacket flap.
Cover artist, Ken Kelly, credited on the rear jacket flap.