Introduction
In this story, first published in the February 1928 edition of Weird Tales Magazine, a terrified individual recounts the details of a strange, recurring nightmare. The Dream Snake is a terrifying tale of a man who has had a recurring dream about being pursued by a sinister, unseen giant snake that gets nearer and nearer to him every night….
This story might be based on a real dream Howard had. Howard got $20 for the story.
The first we learn of the story from the letters is when he wrote Tevis Clyde Smith (letter #053), circa Mid-September 1927:
P. S. I have sold five poems and a short story since seeing you last.
The story was “The Dream Snake” and the poems were “Sea Curse,” “Crete,” “The Moor Ghost,” “The Riders of Babylon,” and “Easter Island.”
In the next letter to Tevis written circa mid- to late-September 1927 (letter #054):
P. S. Since writing you that other letter I’ve sold another mss. I got a hundred dollars for it; that is, I am to get it on publication. I don’t know when it will be published or whether you’ll like it or not. I enjoyed writing it more than any piece of prose I ever wrote. The subject of psychology is the one I am mainly interested in these days. The story I sold before this3 was purely a study in psychology of dreams and this ms. deals largely in primitive psychology. I don’t know whether they’ll publish it as a serial or as a “complete novel.”
The first story mentioned is “The Shadow Kingdom”, and the second is “The Dream Snake”.

Published in:
- WEIRD TALES VOLUME 11 NUMBER 2, Popular Fiction Publishing Company, February 1928
- THE DARK MAN AND OTHERS, Arkham House, 1963
- NOUVELLES HISTOIRES D’OUTRE-MONDE, Casterman, 1967 (French)
- THE DARK MAN AND OTHERS, Lancer, 1972 (n.d.)
- PIGEONS FROM HELL, Zebra, June 1976
- HISTORIES DE CAUCHEMARS, Presses Pocket, 1977 (French)
- THE DARK MAN OMNIBUS, Volume 2, Panther, 1979
- PIGEONS FROM HELL, Ace, 1979
- ホラー&ファンタジー傑作選1(HORĀ ANDO FANTAJĪ KESSAKUSEN #1) (HORROR & FANTASY #1), Seishinsha, August 1984 (Japanese)
- LE TERTRE MAUDIT, NeO, November 1985 (French)
- HISTORIES DE CAUCHEMARS, Presses Pocket, March 1988 (French, 2nd edition)
- ウィアード1 (WIĀDO #1) (THE WEIRD #1), Seishinsha Bunko, June 1990 (Japanese)
- LE TERTRE MAUDIT, Fleuve Noir, October 1991 (French)
- OMBRE DAL TEMPO, Fanucci Editore, August 1994 (Italian)
- CIEN BESTII, Wydawnictwo PiK, 1994 (Polish)
- NIE KOPCIE MI GROBU, Wydawnictwo Andor, 1994 (Polish)
- LA GRANDE ANTHOLOGIE DU FANTASTIQUE, Presses de la Cité, February 1996 (French)
- BEYOND THE BORDERS, Baen, October 1996 (restored text)
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S MYTH MAKER, Cross Plains Comics, June 1999 (graphic adaptation)
- BLACK HOUND OF DEATH (GONCHIE SMERTI), North-West, 1999 (Russian)
- SHADOW KINGDOMS, Wildside Press, December 2004
- 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)
- SHADOW KINGDOMS: THE WEIRD WORKS OF ROBERT E. HOWARD Volume 1, Audio Realms, April 2007, (audio)
- SHADOW KINGDOMS, Cosmos Books, July 2007
- THE HAUNTER OF THE RING & OTHER TALES, Wordsworth Editions, September 2007
- THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST HORROR COMICS, Robinson, January 2008 (Graphic adaptation)
- THE CAIRN ON THE HEADLAND, THE DREAM SNAKE, THE FEARSOME TOUCH OF DEATH, AND THE HYENA, Dodo Press, February 2008
- THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST HORROR COMICS, Running Press, March 2008 (Graphic adaptation)
- THE HAUNTER OF THE RING & OTHER TALES, Wordsworth Editions, 2008
- PULP REPLICA: WEIRD TALES V11N2, Girasol Collectables, September 2008
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Del Rey, October 2008
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Tantor Media, Inc., March 2010 (audio)
- VOLK DER FINSTERNIS, Festa Verlag, March 2010 (German)
- KROK ZE TMY, Albatros Media, 2010 (Czech)
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Subterranean Press, March 2011
- KULL OF ATLANTIS AND OTHER STORIES, Jame-Books, August 2012
- LES OMBRES DE CANAAN, Bragelonne, February 2013 (French)
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S COLLECTED WORKS, Jame-Books, February 2013
- ROSTO DE CAVEIRA, OS FILHOS DA NOITE E OUTROS CONTOS, Martin Claret, July 2013 (Portuguese)
- LES OMBRES DE CANAAN. LA PIERRE NOIRE, Bragelonne, February 2014 (French)
- THE FEARSOME TOUCH OF DEATH, Ulwencreutz Media, July 2014
- I FIGLI DELLA NOTTE. RACCONTI DELL’ORRORE VOLUME 1, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, March 2015 (Italian)
- FOUR TALES OF TERROR, Ozymandias Press, July 2016
- БЕЗЫМЯННЫЕ КУЛЬТЫ: МИФЫ КТУЛХУ И ДРУГИЕ ИСТОРИИ УЖАСА (NAMELESS CULTS: CTHULHU MYTHOS AND OTHER HORROR STORIES), AST, August 2016 (Russian)
- FOUR TALES OF TERROR, Jovian Press, October 2016
- ROBERT E. HOWARD AND WEIRD TALES, Dennis McHaney, November 2021 (excerpt only)
https://youtu.be/JUpg_axX-Mc