Introduction
“The Lost Valley of Iskander” is an El Borak short story by Robert E. Howard. It was not published within Howard’s lifetime, the first publication was in the FAX Collector’s Editions hardback The Lost Valley of Iskander in 1974. Its original title was “Swords of the Hills”. The story might be based on the story The Sword of Iskander by Talbot Mundy.
In this story, El Borak discovers a legendary valley in which live Greek descendants of Alexander the Great invading army. Meanwhile, the vital package he carries must be carried to British India before the Hungarian, Hunyadi, can stop him or thousands will die.
Alternate title:
Cross Plains Library has an original draft of this story.
Published in:
- THE LOST VALLEY OF ISKANDER, FAX, 1974
- THE LOST VALLEY OF ISKANDER, Zebra, 1st, January 1976
- THE LOST VALLEY OF ISKANDER, Zebra, 2nd, du
- THE LOST VALLEY OF ISKANDER, Orbit, 1976
- THE LOST VALLEY OF ISKANDER, Berkley, September 1979
- THE LOST VALLEY OF ISKANDER, Berkley, 2nd, 1979
- EL BORAK L’INVINCIBLE, NeO, August 1983 (French)
- THE LOST VALLEY OF ISKANDER, Ace, November 1986
- EL BORAK L’INVINCIBLE, Fleuve Noir, 1991 (French)
- ZAGINIONA DOLINA ISKANDERA, Wydawnictwo PiK, 1993 (Polish)
- THREE-BLADED DOOM, North-West, 1998 (Russian)
- WEIRD TALES DE LHORK #25, Círculo de Lhork, October 2001 (Spanish)
- EL BORAK AND OTHER DESERT ADVENTURES, Del Rey, February 2010 (as “Swords of the Hills”)
- THE EL BORAK SERIES: SON OF THE WHITE WOLF, Paradox Entertainment Inc., June 2010 (as “Swords of the Hills”)
- THE EL BORAK SERIES: SON OF THE WHITE WOLF, Paradox Entertainment Inc., September 2011 (as “Swords of the Hills”)
- EL BORAK – L’INTÉGRALE, Bragelonne, September 2011 (French, as “Swords of the Hills”)
- ORIENTAL STORIES, VOLUME 3, Nuelow Games, July 2012
- SOLOMON KANE AND OTHER STORIES, Jame-Books, August 2012
- ROBERT E. HOWARD’S COLLECTED WORKS, Jame-Books, February 2013
- WEIRD TALES: 101 WEIRD, STRANGE, AND SUPERNATURAL STORIES VOLUME 10, Civitas Media, June 2013
- ROBERT E. HOWARD SHORT STORIES & NOVELLAS, Business and Leadership Publishing, July 2014
- TALES OF EL BORAK, Ozymandias Press, July 2016
- TALES OF EL BORAK, Jovian Press, November 2016
