Pastiche / fiction by other authors

REH World addition

Fantastic Science Fiction & Fantasy Stories August 1972

Ultimate Publishing

1972

Publication type

Magazine Periodical

Publication date: August 1972

Introduction

Fantastic Science Fiction & Fantasy Stories volume 21, No. 6.

"The Witch of the Mists" is a fantasy short story by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, featuring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian created by Robert E. Howard. It was first published in the August 1972 issue of the magazine Fantastic, and in book form by Ace Books in the paperback collection Conan of Aquilonia in May 1977. The first British edition was published by Sphere Books in October 1978.

A decade and a half after the events of Conan the Conqueror, King Conan of Aquilonia is hunting with Prince Conn, his teenaged son and heir. The boy is captured by a band of Hyperborean warlocks, servants of the witch queen Louhi, as bait to lure Conan into a trap.

Conan travels north to Hyperborea for the first time since escaping captivity there during his own youth in "The Thing in the Crypt". To reach the citadel of Pohiola, where his son is being held, Conan fights his way through desolate country, battling flesh-eating swamp people and braving near-starvation. He crosses the Hyperborean border, marked with a gigantic rune-inscribed skull, and ultimately enters the citadel.

Confronting Louhi, he is able to free his son, discovering in the process that his arch-enemy, the Stygian sorcerer Thoth-Amon, is behind the plot.

Notes

Vol 21, No 6. "The Witch of the Mists" is listed as "The Witches of the Mists" in the table of contents.
"All-Star 20th Anniversary Issue!" noted on the cover.

Edition and production details

Edition format: Periodical (Digest)
Publication date: August 1972
Pages: 132
Publisher / imprint: Ultimate Publishing
Cover art: Jeff Jones
Illustrations: Michael Kaluta, Roland, Joe Staton, Billy Graham, Dave Cockrum

20 contents entries

Editorial (Fantastic, August 1972) • [Editorial (Fantastic)] • essay by Ted White 4 · editorial
The Forges of Nainland Are Cold (Part 1 of 2) • serial by Avram Davidson (book publication as Ursus of Ultima Thule 1973) 6
The Forges of Nainland Are Cold (Part 1 of 2) • interior artwork by Michael Kaluta [as by Mike Kaluta] 7 · artwork
The Witch of the Mists • [Conan] • novelette by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp 34 · novelette
The Witch of the Mists • interior artwork by Roland 34 · artwork
The Witch of the Mists [2] • interior artwork by Roland 42 · artwork
The Witch of the Mists [3] • interior artwork by Roland 51 · artwork
Forever to a Hudson Bay Blanket • short story by James Tiptree, Jr. 58 · story
Forever to a Hudson Bay Blanket • interior artwork by Joe Staton 59 · artwork
Allowances • short story by Barry N. Malzberg 72 · story
Allowances • interior artwork by Billy Graham 73 · artwork
The Brink • short story by Bob Shaw 79 · story
Agony and Remorse of Rhesus IX • short story by Richard A. Lupoff (variant of Agony and Remorse on Rhesus IX) [as by Ova Hamlet] 82 · story
Agony and Remorse of Rhesus IX • interior artwork by Dave Cockrum 83 · artwork
SF in Dimension: Mastery of Space and Time (1926-1935) • [Science Fiction in Dimension] • essay by Alexei Panshin and Cory Panshin 89 · essay
Fantasy Books (Fantastic, August 1972) • [Fantasy Books (Fantastic)] • essay by Fritz Leiber 102 · essay
Review: I Will Fear No Evil by Robert A. Heinlein • review by Fritz Leiber 102 · review
Review: New Worlds for Old by Lin Carter • review by Fritz Leiber 105 · review
Review: Songs and Sonnets Atlantean by Donald S. Fryer • review by Fritz Leiber 108 · review
... According to You (Fantastic, August 1972) • [According to You (Fantastic)] • essay by Ted White 115 · essay

Contributors

Jeff Jones: Cover artist
Michael Kaluta: Illustrator
Rol: Illustrator
Joe Staton: Illustrator
Billy Graham: Illustrator
Dave Cockrum: Illustrator
Ted White: Editor, Essayist
Alexei Panshin: Essayist
Cory Panshin: Essayist
Fritz Leiber: Essayist

Characters / Featuring

Conan

Additional related terms

Preserved from the former REH World tagging system; these terms have not yet been assigned as contributors, characters or subjects.