Published by the REH Foundation Press to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf. Facsimile copies. The letter to Harry Bates was written sometime in 1931, and sent as a cover for Howard’s submission of SPEARS OF CLONTARFT to Soldier of Fortune magazine. This is the earliest known draft.
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Spears of the East.
28
Jul
Jul
Howard’s first version (as Spears of Clontarf) finally saw print in a chapbook in 1978, and his Grey God Passes version was also published posthumously in the anthology collection titled Dark Mind, Dark Heart in 1962.
29
Mar
Mar
A short story with elements of fantasy and horror. As often in Howard’s stories, there is a link to the Cthulhu Mythos, in this case, mixed also with elements of both Norse Mythology and Catholic Christianity.
It has a rather convoluted history, being in effect an adaptation of Howard’s earlier story Spears of Clontarf, a historical adventure story by Howard focusing on the Battle of Clontarf (1014) and featuring Turlogh Dubh O’Brien or Black Turlogh, a fictional 11th Century Irishman created by Howard. Howard later rewrote “Spears” as “The Grey God Passes”, which was very similar to Spears of Clontarf, but with added fantasy elements. Howard failed to sell the story in either version during his lifetime.
29
Mar
Mar
This is a great compendium of Howard’s fiction and poetry. These adventures, set in medieval-era Europe and the Near East, are among the most gripping Howard ever wrote, full of pageantry, romance, and battle scenes worthy of Tolstoy himself. Most of all, they feature some of Howard’s most unusual and memorable characters, including Cormac Fitzgeoffrey, a half-Irish, half-Norman man of war who follows Richard the Lion-hearted to twelfth-century Palestine—or, as it was known to the Crusaders, Outremer; Diego de Guzman, a Spaniard who visits Cairo in the guise of a Muslim on a mission of revenge; and the legendary sword woman Dark Agnès, who, faced with an arranged marriage to a brutal husband in sixteenth-century France, cuts the ceremony short with a dagger thrust and flees to forge a new identity on the battlefield.
13
Feb
Feb
Howard first wrote a version of this story called “Spears of Clontarf”, but it was rejected by “Soldiers of Fortune” magazine. He then added fantasy elements to the story so as to be able to submit it to the Weird Tales magazine under the title The Grey God Passes, where it was also rejected by editor Farnsworth Wright in December, 1931. He then rewrote it a third time, as a horror story called The Cairn on the Headland, and that version was published in the January, 1933 issue of Strange Tales.
15
Sep
Sep
Contains a letter that Howard wrote to Adventure. It was printed in the December 30th, 1923 issue.
26
Aug
Aug
The Early Adventures of El Borak: Ultimate Edition brings together Robert E. Howard’s formative tales of Francis Xavier Gordon, known as El Borak, alongside a rich tapestry of other memorable characters. El Borak, Howard’s first creation, embodies the fierce independence and swift action that have made him a timeless hero. From the deserts of Arabia to the mountains of Afghanistan, his adventures are filled with danger, intrigue, and the relentless pursuit of justice.