The Horror from the Mound, featuring Steve Brill, is an early example of Howard’s weird Western fiction. Howard submitted the story to the Clayton magazine group on July 9, 1931, where it was rejected. Farnsworth Wright also rejected it before later accepting it for Weird Tales, which published the story in May 1932. Howard received $65.

In correspondence with H. P. Lovecraft, Howard described his effort to give his native region a supernatural atmosphere against a realistic setting and mentioned The Horror from the Mound alongside The Valley of the Lost as part of that approach.