Introduction
There exist two typescripts for this story. The first corresponds to the final version submitted to FIGHT STORIES and ARGOSY. It is written in the third person and the ghostly elements are less marked. Ghost Stories bought this story for $95 and published it under the title ‘The Apparition in the Prize Ring’ and the name John Taverel.
The second typescript is written in the first person and the supernatural element is more pronounced.
Alternate title:
From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith:
From a letter written to his friend, Tevis Clyde Smith cirka November 1928 we learn that Howard told him that he sold the story to Ghost Story Magazine:
Heh heh!
At last I’ve sold a story to Ghost Story Magazine; they said I ought to get the check soon. I hope so. I need mazuma as usual. How are you coming with your literary work?
At the end of the letter Howard said:
Heh heh!
I got $95.00 for the manuscript I sold to Ghost Story Megazine.
You might answer soon.
Published in:
- GHOST STORIES Volume 6 Number 4, The Constructive Publishing Corporation, April 1929 (Version written in the third person)
- STORIES OF GHOSTS, Opar Press, 1973 (Version written in the third person)
- BOYS’ OWN FANTASY ANNUAL 1982, Graeme Flanagan, November 1982 [Distributed in REHUPA #60]
- LA FLAMME DE LA VENGEANCE, NeO, April 1988 (French)
- WATERFRONT FISTS AND OTHERS, Wildside Press, May 2003
- WATERFRONT FISTS AND OTHERS, Wildside Press, December 2004
- BOXING STORIES, Bison Books, April 2005 (as “The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux”, version written in the third person)
- ALIA. L’ARCIPELAGO DEL FANTASTICO 3, CS Coop. Studi Libreria Editrice, November 2005 (Italian)
- APPARITION IN THE PRIZE RING, IN THE FOREST OF VILLEFERE, AND HAWKS OF OUTREMER, Dodo Press, February 2008
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Del Rey, October 2008 (as ‘The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux”, version written in the first person)
- THE COLLECTED BOXING STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Halcyon Press, Ltd., December 2009
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Tantor Media, Inc., March 2010 (audio, as “The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux”, version written in the first person)
- THE ROBERT E. HOWARD OMNIBUS: 99 COLLECTED STORIES, Halcyon Press, Ltd., May 2010
- KROK ZE TMY, Albatros Media, 2010 (Czech, as “The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux”)
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Subterranean Press, March 2011 (Version written in the first person, as “The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux”)
- WOLFSHEAD AND OTHER 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, REH Foundation Press, June 2013 (as ‘The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux”, both versions)
- DIE UNTER DEN GRÄBERN HAUSEN, Festa Verlag, August 2014 (German, as “The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux”)
