Search Results for: Complete Conan of Cimmeria Volume three

A Witch Shall Be Born

A WITCH SHALL BE BORN is one of the original sword and sorcery novellas by Robert E. Howard about Conan the Cimmerian. It was written in only a few days in the spring of 1934 and first published in Weird Tales in December 1934. 

Queen Taramis of Khauran awakens one day to find her identical twin sister, Salome, staring her in the face. As an infant, Salome was deemed a witch due to a crescent-shaped birthmark on her chest. This birthmark was believed to be a sign of evil, so she was left in the desert to die. However, a magician from Khitai (China) found Salome, brought her up, and instructed her in the art of sorcery.

The Shadow Kingdom

“The Shadow Kingdom”, the first of his Kull stories, set in his fictional Thurian Age. It was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in August 1929.

Red Nails

“Red Nails” is the last of the stories featuring Conan the Cimmerian written by American author Robert E. Howard. A novella, it was originally serialized in Weird Tales magazine from July to October 1936, the months after Howard’s suicide. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan entering a lost city whose degenerate inhabitants are entangled in a murderous blood feud. Due to its dark themes of decay and death, the story is considered a classic of Conan lore while also cited by Howard scholars as one of his best tales.

Queen of the Black Coast

“Queen of the Black Coast” is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian. First published in Weird Tales magazine in May 1934. Conan becomes a notorious pirate and plunders the coastal villages of Kush alongside Bêlit, a head-strong femme fatale.

The Phoenix on the Sword

“The Phoenix on the Sword” is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian was written by Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine in December 1932. The tale, in which Howard created the character of Conan, was a rewrite of the unpublished Kull story “By This Axe I Rule!”, with long passages being identical.

The People of the Black Circle

“The People of the Black Circle” is one of the original novellas about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine in three parts over the September, October and November 1934 issues. Howard earned $250 for the publication of this story.

It’s set in the Hyborian Age and concerns Conan kidnapping an exotic princess from Vendhya (prehistoric India) while foiling a nefarious plot of world conquest by the Black Seers of Yimsha. Due to its epic scope and atypical Hindustan flavor, the story is considered an undisputed classic of Conan lore and is often cited by Howard scholars as one of his best tales. It is also one of the few Howard stories where the reader is treated a deeper insight into magic and magicians beyond the stereotypical Hyborian depiction as demon conjurer-illusionist-priests.

The Hyborian Age

“The Hyborian Age” is an essay by Robert E. Howard pertaining to the Hyborian Age, the fictional setting of his stories about Conan the Cimmerian. It was written in the 1930s but only partly published during Howard’s lifetime. Its purpose was to maintain consistency within his fictional setting.

The essay sets out in detail the major events of Howard’s pseudohistorical prehistory, both period before and after the time of the Conan stories. In describing the cataclysmic end of the Thurian Age, the period described in his Kull stories, Howard links both sequences of stories into one shared universe. The names he gives his various nations and peoples of the age borrow liberally from actual history and myth. The essay also sets out the racial and geographical heritage of these fictional entities, making them progenitors of modern nations. For example, Howard makes the Gaels descendants of his own Cimmerians.

The Hour of the Dragon

The Hour of the Dragon, also known as Conan the Conqueror, is a fantasy novel by American writer Robert E. Howard features his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian. It was one of the last Conan stories published before Howard’s suicide, although not the last to be written.

The Hall of the Dead

“The Hall of the Dead” is a fantasy short story by American Robert E. Howard, one of his tales featuring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian. A fragment began in the 1930s but was not finished or published in Howard’s lifetime. L. Sprague de Camp wrote an entire story based on this untitled synopsis.