Introduction
Teeth of Doom. Received by Howard’s agent, Kline on August 31, 1933. Published as ‘The Tomb’s Secret‘ under the name: Patrick Ervin. Featuring Steve Harrison. Howard sold the story for $100 and after Kline got his share, he received $85.
The February 1934 issue of STRANGE DETECTIVE STORIES carried two stories by REH: “The Tomb’s Secret” and “Fangs of Gold”. It appears that the story titles were inadvertently switched. Howard’s agent, Otis Adelbert Kline, kept a list of titles and the magazines that purchased them.
Above “The Teeth of Doom” on Kline’s list, someone added “The Tomb’s Secret.”
Above “The People of the Serpent” on Kline’s list, someone added “Fangs of Gold.”
In a letter (#259) to H.P. Lovecraft, ca. September or October 1933 Howard tells him about his journey into detective stories:
Lately I’ve been trying to write detective yarns, something entirely new for me, and haven’t had much success — in fact none, so far, except for a short yarn, “Talons in the Dark”, written in San Antonio last spring, and which Kline, as my agent, sold to a magazine called Strange Detective Stories. Kline has been a big help in teaching me the technique of detective story writing; whether I am able to profit by his teaching remains to be seen. (Kline marketed another yarn for me since I wrote the above.)
The other story mentioned is probably this one, published as “The Tomb’s Secret.”
Alternate title:
Published in:
- STEVE HARRISON ET LE MAȊTRE DES MORTS, NeO, January 1985 (French)
- WRITER OF THE DARK, Dark Carneval Press, 1986
- STEVE HARRISON’S CASEBOOK, REH Foundation Press, January 2011
- TUTTE LE INDAGINI DI STEVE HARRISON, Elara, September 2020 (Italian)
- STEVE HARRISON’S CASEBOOK, REH Foundation Press, June 2022
