Introduction
First published in Weird Tales, June 1929. It was submitted in 1928. Howard got $20 for the story.
In Germany, Kane meets a traveler named Gaston L’Armon, who seems familiar to Kane, and together they take rooms in the Cleft Skull Tavern. At this time in his career, Howard was an inexperienced professional writer. Several times when he sent his drafts story to Weird Tales, he was careful to prepare carbons.
When the first draft of Rattle of Bones was written, Howard decided that it needed another ending. The draft consisted of seven pages of which he rewrote the last two and changed the ending. This was what he sent to Weird Tales and what was published. The REH Foundation printed the first version of the 1928 story in their very first issue of ‘The Robert E. Howard Foundation Newsletter’ in the spring of 2007.
In a letter (#101) to Tevis Clyde Smith circa February 1929 he had the following notes:
“Rattle of Bones”* no thought s.s. Weird Tales $20
Solomon Kane, bandits, maniacs, ghostly vengeance as usual
And later, in another letter (#107) we learn:
Also a letter from Weird Tales with the advance sheets of a story appearing in the next issue. Farnsworth said he intended publishing a sonnet in the next issue after that and then “The Shadow Kingdom” which is a $100 story, and after that a shorter story.
The reference of the story appearing in the next issue is ‘Rattle of Bones’.
Published in:
- WEIRD TALES VOLUME 13 NUMBER 6, Popular Fiction Publishing Company, June 1929
- SKULL-FACE AND OTHERS, Arkham House, 1946
- MAGAZINE OF HORROR #11, Health Knowledge Inc., November 1965
- RED SHADOWS, Grant, 1968 (red binding)
- RED SHADOWS, Grant, 1971 (gray binding)
- SOLOMON KANE, Centaur, February 1971 (60c)
- SOLOMON KANE, Haddock, 1972 (n.d., not authorized)
- SOLOMON KANE, Centaur, 2nd, 1974 (nd) ($1.25)
- SKULL-FACE OMNIBUS, Neville Spearman, 1974
- TERRA FANTASY 11: DEGEN DER GERECHTIGKEIT, Erich Pabel Verlag KG, August 1975 (German)
- SKULL-FACE OMNIBUS, Neville Spearman, 1975
- SKULL-FACE OMNIBUS, Volume 2, Panther, 1976
- SOLOMON KANE, Centaur, 3rd, 1976 (nd) (“The Illustrated Edition”)
- THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN VOLUME 1 NUMBER 18, Marvel Comics, April 1977 (graphic adaptation)
- RED SHADOWS, Grant, 1978
- TERRA FANTASY 11: DEGEN DER GERECHTIGKEIT, Erich Pabel Verlag KG, April 1978 2nd printing (German)
- SOLOMON KANE: SKULLS IN THE STARS, Bantam, December 1978
- SOLOMON KANE, Fanucci Editore, September 1979 (Italian)
- SOLOMON KANE, NeO, March 1981 (French)
- SOLOMON KANE, NeO, July 1983 (French, 2nd printing)
- SOLOMON KANE, NeO, July 1985 (French, 3rd printing)
- ROSTRO DE CALAVERA, ST, 1987 (Spanish)
- SOLOMON KANE, NeO, May 1988 (French, 4th printing)
- SOLOMON KANE, Fleuve Noir, September 1991 (French)
- CZERWONE CIENIE, Wydawnictwo PiK, 1992 (Polish)
- DELIRIUM TREMENS Nº 3, Club Alpino Guadarrama, 1992 (Spanish)
- CYBER FANTASY 2, Alberto Santos, June 1993 (Spanish)
- A KOPONYAK HOLDJA, Cherubion Könyvkiadó, 1993 (Hungarian)
- PURITÁN, Leonardo, 1993 (Czech)
- LAS AVENTURAS DE SOLOMON KANE, Anaya, November 1994 (Spanish)
- TUTTI I CICLI FANTASTICI – I CICLI DI SOLOMON KANE E DI KIRBY BUCHNER, Newton Compton Editori, April 1995 (Italian)
- LE ALI NOTTURNE, Newton Compton Editori, June 1995 (Italian)
- SOLOMON KANE, Baen, November 1995 (restored text)
- СOЛOMOH КEЙH (SOLOMON KEJN / SOLOMON KANE), Азбука-Терра (Azbuka-Terra / ABC-Terra), 1997 (Russian)
- LE AVVENTURE DI SOLOMON KANE, Editrice Nord, November 1998 (Italian)
- THE SAVAGE TALES OF SOLOMON KANE, Wandering Star, 1998
- THE BLADE OF FATE, North-West, 1998 (Russian)
- SOLOMON KANE, Laser Books, 2001 (Czech)
- SOLOMON KANE IL GIUSTIZIERE, Editrice Nord, May 2002 (Italian)
- THE SAVAGE TALES OF SOLOMON KANE, Del Rey, July 2004
- SHADOW KINGDOMS, Wildside Press, December 2004
- THE SAVAGE TALES OF SOLOMON KANE, Science Fiction Book Club, February 2005
- SHADOW KINGDOMS, Wildside Press, November 2005
- THE WEIRD WRITINGS OF ROBERT E. HOWARD Volume 1, Girasol Collectables, January 2006
- SHADOW KINGDOMS, Wildside Press, November 2006 (2nd printing)
- AS FABULOSAS AVENTURAS DE SALOMÃO KANE, Saída de Emergência, 2006 (Portuguese)
- THE ‘SOLOMAN CRANE’ STORIES, Echo Library, March 2007
- SHADOW KINGDOMS: THE WEIRD WORKS OF ROBERT E. HOWARD Volume 1, Audio Realms, April 2007, (audio)
- THE RIGHT HAND OF DOOM AND OTHER TALES OF SOLOMON KANE, Wordsworth Editions, April 2007
- SHADOW KINGDOMS, Cosmos Books, July 2007
- THE ROBERT E. HOWARD READER VOLUME 1, Wildshade Books, 2007
- SOLOMON KANE, L’INTÉGRALE, Bragelonne, August 2008 (French)
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Del Rey, October 2008
- SOLOMON KANE DEHŞETENGIZ SERÜVENLER, Minima Yayınları, October 2008 (Turkish)
- THE COLLECTED STORIES OF SOLOMON KANE, Ignacio Hills Press, December 2008
- SOLOMON KANE’I LOOD, Fantaasia, 2008 (Estonian)
- SOLOMON KANE TÖRTÉNETEI, Tuan Kiadó, 2008 (Hungarian)
- THE SAGA OF SOLOMON KANE, Dark Horse Books, July 2009 (graphic adaptation)
- СОЛОМОН КЕЙН. КЛИНОК СУДЬБЫ (SOLOMON KANE. BLADE OF DOOM), Eksmo, Domino, December 2009 (Russian)
- THE SAVAGE TALES OF SOLOMON KANE, Tantor Media Inc., January 2010 (audio)
- THE SOLOMON KANE SERIES: RATTLE OF BONES, Paradox Entertainment, Inc., January 2010
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Tantor Media, Inc., March 2010 (audio)
- THE ROBERT E. HOWARD OMNIBUS: 99 COLLECTED STORIES, Halcyon Press, Ltd., May 2010
- SOLOMON KANE, Astiberri Ediciones, May 2010 (Spanish)
- THE SOLOMON KANE OMNIBUS, Benediction Classics, May 2010
- SOLOMON KANE. CICLO COMPLETO, Coniglio Editore, June 2010 (Italian)
- SOLOMON KANE, Newton Compton Editori, July 2010 (Italian)
- SOLOMON KANE, Newton Compton Editori, August 2010 (Italian)
- SOLOMON KANE, Urco Editora, November 2010 (Galician)
- SOLOMON KANE, L’INTÉGRALE, Bragelonne, 2010 (French, 2nd printing)
- SOLOMON KANE, Zagrebačka naklada, 2010 (Croatian)
- KROK ZE TMY, Albatros Media, 2010 (Czech)
- CONAN’S BRETHREN, Gollancz, January 2011
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Subterranean Press, March 2011
- THE SOLOMON KANE SERIES: RATTLE OF BONES, Paradox Entertainment, Inc., September 2011
- SOLOMON KANE’I LOOD, Fantaasia, 2011 (Estonian)
- SOLOMON KANE AND OTHER STORIES, Jame-Books, August 2012
- TOTE ERINNERN SICH, Festa Verlag, September 2012 (German)
- LE ALI NOTTURNE, Newton Compton Editori, October 2012 (Italian)
- WEIRD TALES: 101 WEIRD, STRANGE, AND SUPERNATURAL STORIES VOLUME 6, Civitas Media, January 2013
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S COLLECTED WORKS, Jame-Books, February 2013
- WEIRD TALES: 101 WEIRD, STRANGE, AND SUPERNATURAL STORIES VOLUME 6, Civitas Media, May 2013
- RATTLE OF BONES, eStar Books, July 2013
- SOLOMON KANE. LES COLLINES DES MORTS, Bragelonne, July 2013 (French)
- CUENTOS DE LOS PRIMEROS ZOMBIS, Ediciones Tres Fronteras, July 2014 (Spanish)
- ROBERT E. HOWARD SHORT STORIES & NOVELLAS, Business and Leadership Publishing, July 2014
- SOLOMON KANE: OKRUTNE PRZYGODY, Rebis, September 2014 (Polish)
- THE RIGHT HAND OF DOOM, Wordsworth Editions, October 2014
- I FIGLI DELLA NOTTE. RACCONTI DELL’ORRORE VOLUME 1, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, March 2015 (Italian)
- THE GHOST SHORT STORIES, Oldiees Publishing, June 2015
- THE SHADOW KINGDOM AND OTHER WEIRD TALES, Ulwencreutz Media, October 2015
- SOLOMON KANE: A SAGA COMPLETA, Generale, 2015 (Portuguese)
- THE SOLOMON KANE MYTHOS, Ozymandias Press, July 2016
- БЕЗЫМЯННЫЕ КУЛЬТЫ: МИФЫ КТУЛХУ И ДРУГИЕ ИСТОРИИ УЖАСА (NAMELESS CULTS: CTHULHU MYTHOS AND OTHER HORROR STORIES), AST, August 2016 (Russian)
- SOLOMON KANE, Jovian Press, November 2016
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S CONAN THE CIMMERIAN BARBARIAN: THE COMPLETE WEIRD TALES OMNIBUS, Pulp-Lit Press, June 2017
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S CONAN THE CIMMERIAN BARBARIAN: THE COMPLETE WEIRD TALES OMNIBUS, Audible Audio, June 2017
- SOLOMON KANE, L’INTÉGRALE, Bragelonne, June 2017 (French)
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S CONAN THE CIMMERIAN BARBARIAN: THE COMPLETE WEIRD TALES OMNIBUS, Easton Press, 2017
- LE ALI NOTTURNE, Newton Compton Editori, May 2018 (Italian)
- SOLOMON KANE , Le Livre de Poche, October 2019 (French)
- RATTLE OF BONES & OTHER TERRIFYING TALES, Clover Press, July 2020
- SOLOMON KANE, L’INTÉGRALE (COLLECTOR), Bragelonne, September 2020 (French)
- THE NECRONOMICON: TALES OF ELDRITCH HORROR FROM THE MASTERS OF THE GENRE, Arcturus Publishing, August 2021
- THE HAUNTER OF THE RING (NECRONOMICON BOXED SET), Arcturus Publishing, November 2021
- ROBERT E. HOWARD AND WEIRD TALES, Dennis McHaney, November 2021 (excerpt only)