Robert E. Howard’s writings
WritingPermanent catalogue Work

The House of Arabu

6textual states0Characters
Genre
Horror

Introduction

Howard’s The House of Arabu was rejected by Weird Tales on January 19, 1933. It remained unpublished until 1952, when it appeared in Avon Fantasy Reader #18 as Witch from Hell’s Kitchen.

In June 1933 Howard included The House of Arabu in a representative collection of weird stories proposed to the British publisher Denis Archer. In a June 15 letter to Hugh G. Schonfield, he listed it alongside Wings in the Night, The Tower of the Elephant, Kings of the Night, The Valley of the Lost, The Scarlet Citadel, The Horror from the Mound and The Children of the Night, explicitly noting that The House of Arabu had never been published.

In the letter (#248) to Hugh G. Schonfield, dated June 15 1933 we learn:

Dear Sir:

As I promised, in answer to your letter of May 19th, I am sending, under separate cover, a representative collection of my weird stories. These include:

1. Wings in the Night
2. The Tower of the Elephant
3. Kings of the Night
4. The House of Arabu
5. The Valley of the Lost
6. The Scarlet Citadel
7. The Horror from the Mound
8. The Children of the Night

As I have no typed copies of “The Tower of the Elephant” or “Wings in the Night,” I am sending the printed pages of these stories in order to save time. If you wish, I will prepare manuscript copies of them.

“Wings in the Night,” “The Tower of the Elephant,” “Kings of the Night,” “The Scarlet Citadel,” “The Horror from the Mound,” and “The Children of the Night” were published in Weird Tales magazine. I own the British Empire rights. “The Valley of the Lost” was accepted by the Clayton Publishing Company, for their magazine Strange Tales, but that magazine was discontinued before the story was published, and it was returned to me. “The House of Arabu” has never been published.

Textual states

Shown in a practical developmental order where possible: synopsis/outline, numbered drafts, submission states, then published or posthumous states. This display order does not itself assert exact chronology or textual authority.

Publication appearances

Avon Fantasy Reader #18Avon Novels Inc.1952WolfsheadLancer1968 1972 (2nd printing)The Avon Fantasy ReaderAvon BooksJanuary 1969WolfsheadLancerMarch 1972Conan the Barbarian #38Marvel Comics GroupMay 1974Robert E. Howard OmnibusOrbit1977Terra Fantasy 50: Geister der Nacht (The House of Arabu)Erich Pabel Verlag KGAugust 1978 March 1981 (2nd printing)WolfsheadBantamSeptember 1979Cormac Mac ArtNeOJanuary 1983 April 1985 (2nd printing)剣と魔法の物語 (Ken to mahō no monogatari)Sonorama BunkoDecember 1986Cormac Mac ArtFleuve NoirJune 1992Przekleństwo złotej czaszki (The Curse of the Golden Skull)Wydawnictwo PiK1993Conan Saga Volume 1 Number 77Marvel ComicsAugust 1993Ombre dal tempoFanucci EditoreAugust 1994Eons of the NightBaen BooksMarch 1996Конан. Колесо страданий (Konan. Koleso stradanii) (Conan. Wheel of Misery) Cover and publication information courtesy of the Russian website Laboratory of Fantasy .Азбука-Терра (Azbuka-Terra) (ABC-Terra)1997Черный камень ( Chernyj kamen) (The Black Stone) P ublication information courtesy of the Russian website Laboratory of Fantasy .Северо-Запад (Severo-Zapad) (North-West)1997The Ultimate Triumph: The Heroic Fantasy of Robert E. HowardWandering Star1999Weird Tales de Lhork 21Círculo de Lhork (Spain)2000The Chronicles of Conan Volume 6: The Curse of the Golden Skull and Other StoriesDark Horse BooksNovember 2004La casa de Arabu y otros relatosEdiciones Jaguar (Spain)2005The Horror Stories of Robert E. HowardBallantine Books - Del ReyOctober 2008Black Hounds of Death: The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard Volume FiveCosmos BooksNovember 2008The Horror Stories of Robert E. HowardSubterranean Press2010Zambebwein kuuTampereen Science Fiction Seura2010Les Dieux de Bal-Sagoth (The Gods of Bal-Sagoth)BragelonneMarch 2010The Horror Stories of Robert E. HowardTantor Media Inc.March 2010The Robert E. Howard Omnibus: 99 Collected StoriesHalcyon Press, Ltd.May 2010A Thunder of Trumpets: The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard, Volume 10Wildside PressJuly 2010Zpátky do temnoty (Back into Darkness)Albatros Media - Plus2011Oriental Stories, Volume 2Nuelow GamesMay 2012Bran Mak Morn és a piktek (Bran Mak Morn and the Picts)Delta Vision Kft.August 2012 (Trade paperback) November 2012 (eBook)Kull of Atlantis and Other StoriesJame-BooksAugust 2012Robert E. Howard's Collected WorksJame-BooksFebruary 2013Les Dieux de Bal-Sagoth. Les Guerriers du ValhallaBragelonneMay 2013The Robert E. Howard Foundation Newsletter v7 #3Robert E. Howard FoundationFall 2013 (mailed November 2013)Robert E. Howard Short Stories & NovellasBusiness and Leadership PublishingJuly 2014The Fearsome Touch of DeathUlwencreutz MediaJuly 2014Die unter den Gräbern hausenFesta VerlagAugust 2014I Figli della Notte. Racconti dell'Orrore Volume 2Arnoldo Mondadori EditoreDecember 2015Odins letzte SchlachtUksak E-BooksApril 2016Almuric and Other FantasiesOzymandias PressJuly 2016Almuric and Other FantasiesJovian PressOctober 2016Almuric and Other FantasiesZero-Sum PressFebruary 2017Боги Бал-Сагота (Bogi Bal-Sagota) (The Gods of Bal-Sagoth) Cover and p ublication information courtesy of the Russian website Laboratory of Fantasy .ACT (AST)November 2017Renegade SwordsDMR BooksMarch 2020Rattle of Bones & Other Terrifying StoriesClover PressJuly 2020Les Guerriers du ValhallaLe Livre de PocheNovember 2020La espadachina y otras fantasías históricas (The Sword Woman and Other Historical Fantasies)La Hermandad del Enmascarado (Spain)July 2024