‘Breed of Battle’ is a Sailor Steve Costigan short story by Robert E. Howard. It was originally published in the November 1931 issue of Action Stories. It is now in the public domain. Alternative titles are: ‘The Fightin’est Pair‘ and ‘Samson had a soft spot’.
Published in:
- ACTION STORIES Volume 11 Number 3, Fiction House, Inc., November 1931
- FIGHT STORIES VOLUME 6 NUMBER 11, Fight Stories, Inc., Spring 1942 (as “Sampson Had A Soft Spot,” by-line Mark Adam)
- STEVE COSTIGAN ET LE SIGNE DE SERPENT, NeO, December 1986 (French)
- REH FIGHT MAGAZINE #2, Necromonicon Press, September 1990 (as “The Fightin’est Pair”)
- IRON FIST, North-West, 1998 (Russian)
- THE COMPLETE ACTION STORIES, Hermanthis, November 2001
- THE COMPLETE ACTION STORIES, Wildside Press, November 2003
- THE COMPLETE ACTION STORIES, Wildside Press, January 2005
- THE ADVENTURES OF SAILOR STEVE COSTIGAN: BREED OF BATTLE, Violet Crown Radio Players, February 2005 (audio)
- BOXING STORIES, Bison Books, April 2005 (as “The Fightin’est Pair”)
- CRIMSON SHADOWS: THE BEST OF ROBERT E. HOWARD VOLUME 1, Del Rey, August 2007 (as “The Fightin’est Pair”)
- THE CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT, AND BREED OF BATTLE, Dodo Press, February 2008
- CRIMSON SHADOWS: THE BEST OF ROBERT E. HOWARD VOLUME 1, Subterranean Press, November 2009 (as “The Fightin’est Pair”)
- THE COLLECTED BOXING STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Halcyon Press, Ltd., December 2009
- THE ROBERT E. HOWARD OMNIBUS: 99 COLLECTED STORIES, Halcyon Press, Ltd., May 2010
- SHANGHAIED MITTS: MORE TALES OF SEA-FARING BOXING CHAMP STEVE COSTIGAN, Nuelow Games, November 2011
- THE SAILOR STEVE COSTIGAN STORIES, Jame-Books, August 2012
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S COLLECTED WORKS, Jame-Books, February 2013
- THE COLLECTED BOXING FICTION OF ROBERT E. HOWARD: FISTS OF IRON ROUND 2, REH Foundation Press, February 2014 (as “The Fightin’est Pair”)
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S SAILOR STEVE COSTIGAN, Pulp-Lit Press, July 2019
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S SAILOR STEVE COSTIGAN, Audible Audio, July 2019 (audio)
