Contains part 2 of “Beyond the Black River” is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine, v. 25, nos. 5-6, May-June 1935. The story was republished in the collections King Conan (Gnome Press, 1953) and Conan the Warrior (Lancer Books, 1967). It has more recently been published in the anthology The Mighty Swordsmen (Lancer Books, 1970), and the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon (Gollancz, 2001) and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume Three (1935-1936) (Del Rey, 2005). It’s set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan’s battle against a savage tribe of Picts in the unsettled lands beyond the infamous Black River.

The story takes place in Conajohara, a newly established Aquilonian province recently annexed by King Numedides from the Picts. Balthus, a young settler on his way to Fort Tuscelan at the Black River, the province’s border to the Pict Lands, encounters Conan in the forest slaying a Pict. Accompanying the young man back to the fort, Conan finds the corpse of a merchant left by a Pictish wizard named Zogar Sag and slain by a swamp demon. The fort’s commander, Valannus, desperately asks Conan to slay Zogar Sag before he raises the Picts against the whole borderlands, especially since Tuscelan is vastly undermanned after Numedides foolishly decided to withdraw most of its garrison. Taking a hand-picked team of scouts and Balthus, Conan sets off stealthily in his canoe.

Contents

• fep • Coming Next Month (Weird Tales, June 1935) • essay by uncredited
• 658 • The Horror in the Studio • novelette by Dorothy Quick
• 659 •  The Horror in the Studio • interior artwork by Joseph Doolin
• 672 • Satan in Exile (Part 1 of 4) • serial by Arthur William Bernal
• 673 •  Satan in Exile (Part 1 of 4) • interior artwork by Jack Binder
• 675 •  Prince Satan • interior artwork by Jack Binder
• 683 •  Feloth • interior artwork by Jack Binder
• 689 •  Waugh • interior artwork by Jack Binder
• 693 • Flapping Wings of Death • novelette by Amelia Reynolds Long
• 693 •  Flapping Wings of Death • interior artwork by Joseph Doolin
• 710 •  Weird Tales, June 1935 • [Weird Tales Decorations] • interior artwork by Andrew Brosnatch (variant of Weird Tales, December 1924 1924)
• 711 • The Destroying Horde • short story by Donald Wandrei
• 711 •  The Destroying Horde • interior artwork by Joseph Doolin
• 724 • Dominion • poem by Clark Ashton Smith
• 725 • The Spider’s Web • short story by John Scott Douglas
• 725 •  The Spider’s Web • interior artwork by Joseph Doolin
• 734 • Beyond the Black River (Part 2 of 2) • [Conan] • serial by Robert E. Howard
• 735 •  Beyond the Black River (Part 2 of 2) • interior artwork by Hugh Rankin
• 754 •  Weird Tales, June 1935 • [Weird Tales Decorations] • interior artwork by Dwight Boyce
• 755 • The Suicide in the Study • short story by Robert Bloch
• 758 • The Woman in Gray • short story by Walker G. Everett
• 762 • Together • short story by Ida M. Kier
• 764 •  Weird Tales, June 1935 [2] • [Weird Tales Decorations] • interior artwork by Dwight Boyce
• 765 •  Weird Story Reprint • (1928) • interior artwork by Hugh Rankin
• 765 • The Cup of Blood • (1923) • short story by Otis Adelbert Kline
• 777 • Autumn Leaves • poem by A. Leslie
• 778 •  The Eyrie • (1924) • interior artwork by Andrew Brosnatch
• 778 • The Eyrie (Weird Tales, June 1935) • [The Eyrie] • essay by The Editor
• 778 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Our Worst Cover • essay by Edward W. Dew
• 778 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Comic Valentine Cover • essay by J. Wellington
• 778 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Like a Lovecraft Masterpiece • (1935) • essay by John Malone
• 779 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Caligula’s Death • essay by Robert B. Baldwin
• 779 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Mrs. Brundage’s Nudes • essay by Alden Moras
• 780 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Keep the Cover Weird • essay by Carroll F. Wales
• 780 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): A New Reader • essay by Dr. David L. Dorfman
• 780 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Reprint Lovecraft’s Stories • (1935) • essay by Donald A. Wollheim
• 780 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Out of the Eons • (1935) • essay by Lewis F. Torrance
• 780 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Shadows of Blood • essay by Luther A. Cloud
• 781 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Bring Back the Nudes • essay by Earl Johnson
• 782 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Orchids for Frailey • essay by Julius Hopkins
• 782 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Robert Nelson’s Poetry • essay by Rudolph Dahlin
• 782 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Science-Fiction in WT • essay by LeRoy Christian Bashore
• 782 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): In Praise of Mrs. Heald • (1935) • essay by B. M. Reynolds
• 782 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): A Seabury Quinn Admirer • essay by Edward C. Davis
• 782 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Then and Now • essay by Donald Allgeier
• 783 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): More Conan Stories • essay by Annabelle Lantz
• 783 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Hard to Decide • essay by Thomas S. Gardner
• 783 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Pithy Comments • essay by M. G. Crider
• 783 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Pithy Comments • essay by William Laffler
• 783 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Pithy Comments • essay by Richard Martin (correspondent)
• 783 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Pithy Comments • essay by Winifred L. Houston
• 783 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Pithy Comments • essay by Dwight Boyce [as by Dwight A. Boyce]
• 784 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Pithy Comments • essay by Don Sawtelle
• 784 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Pithy Comments • essay by L. Finn Norman
• 784 •  Letter (Weird Tales, June 1935): Based on Fact? • (1935) • essay by Charles H. Bert

Notes

Volume 25, Number 6.
Page numbers run from 657 to 784 excluding covers.

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