Introduction
“Drums of Tombalku” is an American fantasy short story, one of the original ones written in the 1930s by Robert E. Howard featuring Conan the Cimmerian. Howard left it as an untitled synopsis that was not published in his lifetime. The tale was finalized by L. Sprague de Camp and in this form first published in the collection Conan the Adventurer (1966). It has first been published in its original form in the collection The Pool of the Black One (Donald M. Grant, 1986) and later in The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle (Gollancz, 2000) and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume Two (1934) (Del Rey, 2005).
Fragment and a synopsis. The fragment in The Pool of the Black One was bowdlerized when it appeared.
Published in:
- THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN VOLUME 1 NUMBER 21, Marvel Comics, August 1977 (graphic adaptation)
- THE POOL OF THE BLACK ONE, Grant, 1986 (fragment only)
- CROMLECH #3, Cryptic Publications, 1988 (first appearance of the original synopsis)
- THE CONAN CHRONICLES Volume 1, Millennium, August 2000, (Grant version of fragment)
- ÖSSZES CONAN TÖRTÉNETE I, Szukits Könyvkiadó, 2004 (Hungarian)
- THE COMPLETE CHRONICLES OF CONAN, Gollancz, January 2006
- 新訂版コナン全集3: 黒い予言者 (SHINTEIBAN KONAN ZENSHŪ 3: KUROI YOGENSHA)(THE AUTHORIZED CONAN CHRONICLES 3: THE PEOPLE OF THE BLACK CIRCLE), Tōkyō Sōgensha, March 2007 (Japanese, synopsis and draft)
- THE CONAN CHRONICLES Volume 1, Gollancz, April 2008
- CONAN THE BERSERKER, Gollancz, November 2011
- CONAN ZDOBYWCA. TOM 2, BookRage, August 2015 (Polish)
- CONAN JA MERIROSVOT, Oppian, January 2019 (Finnish)
- CONAN JA MERIROSVOT, Oppian, March 2020 (Finnish)
L. Sprague de Camp completed an entire story based on these which appears in the following places:
- CONAN THE ADVENTURER, Lancer, 1966
- THE FANTASTIC SWORDSMEN, Pyramid, May 1967 (“R-1621”) (REH/LSDC)
- THE FANTASTIC SWORDSMEN, Pyramid, 1967 (2nd, “X-1621”) (REH/LSDC)
- CONAN DER ABENTEURER, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1971 (German)
- CONAN – LA FIN DE L’ATLANTIDE, Edition Spéciale, June 1972 (French)
- コナンと黒い予言者 (KONAN TO KUROI YOGENSHA), Sōgen Suiri Bunko, January 1973 (Japanese)
- SCIENCE FICTION STORIES NO. 20, Ullstein Verlag GmbH, January 1973 (German)
- CONAN THE ADVENTURER, Sphere, 1973
- CONAN L’AVVENTURIERO, Editrice Nord, May 1974 (Italian)
- CONAN THE ADVENTURER, Prestige, 1977
- CONAN DE AVONTURIER, Zwarte Beertjes, 1978 (Dutch)
- CONAN L’AVENTURIER, Jean-Claude Lattès, January 1980 (French)
- CONAN DER ABENTEURER, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, July 1983 (German)
- CONAN EL AVENTURERO, Ediciones Forum, 1983 (Spanish)
- CONAN THE ADVENTURER, Ace, 1984
- CONAN DER ABENTEURER, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1985 (German, 2nd edition)
- KONAN: CRNI LAVIRINT, Niro Dečje Novine, 1985 (Part 1, Serbo-Croatian)
- KONAN: TAJANSTVENI GAZAL, Niro Dečje Novine, 1985 (Part 2, Serbo-Croatian)
- CONAN L’AVENTURIER, J’ai Lu, June 1986 (French)
- DRACHENMOND, Ullstein Verlag GmbH, August 1987 (German)
- LA LEGGENDA DI CONAN IL CIMMERO, Editrice Nord, October 1989 (Italian)
- THE CONAN CHRONICLES Volume 2, Orbit, September 1990
- CONAN ÄVENTYRAREN, Target Games, 1990 (Swedish)
- CONAN RYZYKANT, Wydawnictwo PiK, 1992 (Polish)
- CONAN L’AVENTURIER, J’ai Lu, March 1993 (French, 2nd printing)
- CONAN L’AVVENTURIERO, Editrice Nord, November 1993 (Italian)
- LA SAGA DI CONAN IL CIMMERO, Editrice Nord, 1994 (Italian)
- CONAN EVENTYREREN, Semic / Nordisk Forlag A/S, 1995 (Norwegian)
- КОНАН АВАНТУРИСТА (KONAN AVANTURISTA), Bard, 1997 (Bulgarian)
- CONAN DER ABENTEURER, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1998 (German)
- CONAN L’AVENTURIER, J’ai Lu, November 2000 (French, 3rd printing)
- CONAN: PLAMENÝ NŮŹ, Klub Julese Vernea, 2008 (Czech)