“The Fire of Asshurbanipal” was originally written early in the 1930’s like a straight adventure story. There is no record of where this version of the story was submitted. REH later revised the story to have a supernatural ending. The version with the supernatural ending was submitted to WEIRD TALES after Howard’s death by his father. Glenn Lord discovered the original (straight adventure story) version of the story in a trunk and it was first published in THE HOWARD COLLECTOR #16, Spring 1972.
“The Fire of Asshurbanipal” was first published in Weird Tales in December 1936, almost six months after Howard’s death. It is one of three completed stories that the author’s father, Isaac Howard, submitted to Weird Tales after his son’s death (this is according to a letter he sent to Howard’s literary agent, Otis Adelbert Kline). The other two stories are “Dig Me No Grave,” and “The Black Hound of Death.” All saw print in the Weird Tales in late 1936 and early 1937. However, “The Fire of Asshurbanipal” may have been written earlier, possibly around the time of “The Black Stone” in late 1930 (both reference the name ‘Xuthltan’) when Howard was experimenting with H. P. Lovecraft’s themes and concepts. A second, non-fantasy version of the story exists, which suggests to me that Howard was considering selling it to Adventure or a similar magazine.
Considered part of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Published in:
- WEIRD TALES VOLUME 28 NUMBER 5, Popular Fiction Publishing Company, December 1936
- SKULL-FACE AND OTHERS, Arkham House, 1946
- WOLFSHEAD, Lancer, 1968
- DE ZWARTE STEEN (THE BLACK STONE), Zwarte Beertjes, 1969 (Dutch)
- WOLFSHEAD, Lancer, 1972 (n.d.)
- THE HOWARD COLLECTOR #16, Spring 1972 (straight adventure version)
- SKULL-FACE OMNIBUS, Neville Spearman, 1974
- SKULL-FACE OMNIBUS, Neville Spearman, 1975
- SKULL-FACE OMNIBUS, Volume 2, Panther, 1976
- スカル・フェイス (SUKARU FEISU) (SKULL-FACE), Kokusho Kankohkai, May 1977 (Japanese)
- SKULL-FACE, Editrice Nord, October 1978 (Italian)
- WOLFSHEAD, Bantam, 1979
- LE PACTE NOIR, NeO, 1st Quarter 1979 (French)
- FUREUR NOIRE, Marabout, January 1981 (French)
- VAN LICHTELIJK LUGUBER TOT MEEDOGENLOOS MACABER, Loeb Uitgevers, 1982 (Dutch)
- 剣と魔法の物語 (KEN TO MAHŌ NO MONOGATARI), Sonorama Bunko, December 1986 (Japanese)
- PŁOMIEŃ ASSURBANIPALA, Wydawnictwo Iskry, 1986 (Polish)
- ROSTRO DE CALAVERA, ST, 1987 (Spanish)
- CTHULHU THE MYTHOS AND KINDRED HORRORS, Baen, May 1987
- LE PACTE NOIR, NeO, November 1987 (French, 2nd printing)
- DE BESTE GRIEZELVERHALEN, Uitgeverij Amsterdam, 1988 (Dutch)
- クトゥルー7 (KUTŪRŪ 7) (THE CTHULHU MYTHOS 7), Seishinsha Bunko, October 1989 (Japanese)
- EIGENAARDIGE EXECUTIES, Loeb Udima, 1989 (Dutch)
- CTHULHU THE MYTHOS AND KINDRED HORRORS, Baen, 2nd, 1989
- LE PACTE NOIR 2, Fleuve Noir, November 1991 (French)
- 黒の碑(いしぶみ) (KURO NO ISHIBUMI), Sōgen Suiri Bunko, December 1991 (1st edition)(Japanese)
- CTHULHU THE MYTHOS AND KINDRED HORRORS, Baen, 3rd, 1992
- TALES OF THE LOVECRAFT MYTHOS, Fedogan & Bremer, 1992 (straight adventure version)
- CULTI INNOMINABILI, Nexus Editore, March 1993 (Italian)
- SKULL FACE, Editrice Nord, March 1993 (Italian)
- TYGŘI MOŘE, Laser Books, 1993 (Czech)
- ZMIERZCH NAD STONEHENGE, Wydawnictwo GEA, 1994 (Polish)
- TUTTI I CICLI FANTASTICI: I CICLI DI KULL DI VALUSIA, DI JAMES ALLISON, DI CTHULHU E DI ALMURIC, Newton Compton Editori, April 1995 (Italian)
- AD ASTRA NÚMERO 4, Ad Astra, March 1996 (Spanish)
- BEYOND THE BORDERS, Baen, October 1996 (restored text)
- TYGŘI MOŘE, Laser Books, 1996 (Czech, 2nd printing)
- PÄRNU POSTIMEES NR. 121 THRU NR. 132, AS Postimees Grupp, July 1, 1997 – July 16, 1997 (Estonian)
- PÕHJARANNIK NR. 145 THRU NR. 154, PR Põhjarannik, August 2, 1997 – August 15, 1997 (Estonian)
- AZ ÉJSZAKA GYERMEKEI, Cherubion Könyvkiadó, 1997 (Hungarian)
- THE BLACK STONE, North-West, 1997 (Russian)
- MARDUS, Kuma, April 1998 (Estonian, Part 1 of 2)
- MARDUS, Kuma, May 1998 (Estonian, Part 2 of 2)
- THE NEW HOWARD READER #7, Marek, Spring 2000 (straight adventure version)
- 黒の碑(いしぶみ) (KURO NO ISHIBUMI), Sōgen Suiri Bunko, August 2000 (2nd printing)(Japanese)
- NAMELESS CULTS, Chaosium, December 2001
- БУРЙ НАД ОРИЕНТА (BURY NAD ORIENTA), ELF, 2001 (Bulgarian)
- TALES OF THE LOVECRAFT MYTHOS, Del Rey, October 2002 (straight adventure version)
- THE HOWARD REVIEW #13, Dennis McHaney, December 2004
- THE WEIRD WRITINGS OF ROBERT E. HOWARD Volume 2, Girasol Collectables, March 2006
- THE HAUNTER OF THE RING & OTHER TALES, Wordsworth Editions, September 2007
- RELATOS DE TERROR SOBRENATURAL, Urco Editora, April 2008 (Galician)
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Del Rey, October 2008
- BLACK HOUNDS OF DEATH, Cosmos Books, November 2008
- THE HAUNTER OF THE RING & OTHER TALES, Wordsworth Editions, 2008
- BLACK HOUNDS OF DEATH, Wildside Press, December 2009
- PEOPLE OF THE DARK AND OTHER HORROR STORIES, Halcyon Press, Ltd., January 2010
- I MITI DI LOVECRAFT, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, March 2010 (Italian)
- LES DIEUX DE BAL-SAGOTH, Bragelonne, March 2010 (French)
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Tantor Media, Inc., March 2010 (audio)
- VOLK DER FINSTERNIS, Festa Verlag, March 2010 (German)
- THE ROBERT E. HOWARD OMNIBUS: 99 COLLECTED STORIES, Halcyon Press, Ltd., May 2010
- THE HORROR STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, Subterranean Press, March 2011
- MYTHOS: THE MYTHS AND TALES OF H. P. LOVECRAFT AND ROBERT E. HOWARD, Numen Books, October 2011
- ZPÁTKY DO TEMNOTY, Albatros Media, 2011 (Czech)
- THE CTHULHU MYTHOS MEGAPACK: 40 MODERN AND CLASSIC LOVECRAFTIAN TALES, Wildside Press, April 2012
- ORIENTAL STORIES, VOLUME 2, Nuelow Games, May 2012
- WOLFSHEAD AND OTHER STORIES, Jame-Books, August 2012
- KRÓLESTWO CIENI I INNE OPOWIADANIA Z MITOLOGII CTHULHU, Agharta, January 2013 (Polish)
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S COLLECTED WORKS, Jame-Books, February 2013
- GRUSELKABINETT – FOLGE 77: DAS FEUER VON ASSHURBANIPAL, Lübbe Audio, May 2013 (audio, German)
- LES DIEUX DE BAL-SAGOTH. LES GUERRIERS DU VALHALLA, Bragelonne, May 2013 (French)
- IL CICLO DI CTHULHU VOLUME 1, Dunwich Edizioni, July 2014 (Italian)
- THE FIRE OF ASSHURBANIPAL, eStar Books, October 2014
- RELATOS DE TERROR SOBRENATURAL, Urco Editora, 2014 (Galician, 2nd edition)
- THE SHADOW KINGDOM AND OTHER WEIRD TALES, Ulwencreutz Media, October 2015
- TALES OF CTHULHU, Perennial Press, November 2015
- I FIGLI DELLA NOTTE. RACCONTI DELL’ORRORE VOLUME 2, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, December 2015 (Italian)
- TALES FROM THE PULPS VOLUME 1 NUMBER 5, Pulp Tales Press, March 2016
- O MUNDO SOMBRIO: HISTÓRIAS DOS MITOS DE CTHULHU, Editora Clock Tower, March 2016 (Portuguese)
- ČERNÝ KÁMEN, Laser Books, July 2016 (Czech)
- БЕЗЫМЯННЫЕ КУЛЬТЫ: МИФЫ КТУЛХУ И ДРУГИЕ ИСТОРИИ УЖАСА (NAMELESS CULTS: CTHULHU MYTHOS AND OTHER HORROR STORIES), AST, August 2016 (Russian)
- TALES OF CTHULHU, Jovian Press, December 2016
- DECA NOĆI I DRUGE PRIČE, Filip Višnjić, December 2019 (Serbian)
- THE CTHULHU STORIES OF ROBERT E. HOWARD, WordFire Press, September 2020
- PEDON VARJO, Nysalor-kustannus, October 2020 (Finnish)
- ROBERT E. HOWARD FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER V15N3, Robert E. Howard Foundation, Fall 2021 (fantastic ending only)
- THE HAUNTER OF THE RING (NECRONOMICON BOXED SET), Arcturus Publishing, November 2021
- ROBERT E. HOWARD AND WEIRD TALES, Dennis McHaney, November 2021 (excerpt only)
Sources and links:
The First time I met Robert E. Howard by Ryan Harvey published on Black Gate. Howard Works.