The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
Page 56
NOTES ON THE ORIGINAL HOWARD TEXTS
The texts for this edition of Volume 1 of the Complete Conan of Cimmeria were prepared by Patrice Louinet, Rusty Burke and Dave Gentzel, with assistance from Glenn Lord. The stories have been checked either against Howard’s original typescripts, copies of which were furnished by Glenn Lord, or the first published appearance if a typescript was unavailable. Drafts of Howard’s stories, when extant, have also been checked to ensure the greatest accuracy. Every effort has been made to present the work of Robert E. Howard as faithfully as possible.
Deviations from the original sources are detailed in these textual notes. In the following pages, page, line and word number are given as follows: 67.5.6, indicating page 67, fifth line, sixth word. Story titles, chapter numbers and titles, and breaks before and after chapter headings, titles and illustrations are not counted; in the poem, only text lines are counted. The page/line number will be followed by the reading in the original source, or a statement indicating the type of change made. Punctuation changes are indicated by giving the immediately preceding word followed by the original punctuation.
Cimmeria
No original Howard typescript survives. Text taken from a typescript provided by Glenn Lord, probably prepared by Emil Petaja to whom Howard sent the poem in December 1934. 3.25.5: everylasting.
The Phoenix on the Sword
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, December 1932. Weird Tales’ “Thoth-Amon” has been replaced throughout with Howard’s spelling: “Thoth-amon.” 17.19.6: star.
The Frost-Giant’s Daughter
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. Howard’s typewriter not allowing ligatures, “AEsir” has been rendered as “AEsir” throughout. 31.18.15: no quotation mark after “Heimdul.”; 32.9.1: suporting; 32.20.1: what; 32.20.3: her; 32.28.5: dazzingly; 34.11.1: barrarian’s; 34.20.1: crystaline; 34.33.14: the; 36.19.3: too; 36.20.9: no quotation mark after “again.”; 36.21.2: wont; 36.35.13: no comma after “mountains.”
The God in the Bowl
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. 41.5.12: nitches; 42.1.2: didnt; 42.17.2: didnt; 42.29.5: dont; 43.7.8: amswered; 43.10.7: murderered; 43.34.8: independant; 44.1.11: net-works; 44.8.2: its; 44.22.3: its; 44.23.6: Lets; 44.34.13: Dont; 45.25.12: didnt; 45.30.3: stubborn; 46.13.15: dont; 46.23.8: no comma after “men”; 46.27.4: dont; 46.28.8: corden; 46.28.15: no quotation mark after “it.”; 47.13.5: isnt; 47.14.2: havent; 48.18.2: didnt; 48.23.5: period instead of question mark after “stay”; 48.26.2: dont; 48.30.2: dont; 48.30.5: dont; 48.33.6: no comma after “who”; 48.37.9: wouldnt; 49.9.1: Dont; 49.32.12: period instead of question mark after “secrecy”; 49.38.1: procede; 50.6.9: heiroglyphics; 51.11.4: Its; 51.16.2: heiroglyphs; 51.25.9: Its; 51.28.5: groves; 51.28.8: heiroglyphics; 52.19.2: didnt; 52.24.3: whither; 52.28.13: nitche; 54.3.9: couldnt; 54.11.10: Its; 54.13.3: couldnt; 54.17.1: Its; 54.20.4: Its; 54.20.13: couldnt; 54.27.12: every; 54.28.6: didnt; 54.30.6: cant; 54.37.2: heiroglyphic; 55.31.10: Dont; 55.32.5: “ne phew”; 56.2.10: villianous; 56.7.12: didnt; 56.14.1: wouldnt; 56.15.6: We; 56.31.13: perfect's; 57.37.7: cushes.
The Tower of the Elephant
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, March 1933. No changes have been made for this edition.
The Scarlet Citadel
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. 86.25.1: lived; 86.37.7: king; 88.33.1: swordsmen; 89.10.4: “of” repeated; 90.25.2: it; 91.34.13: “his” absent from original; 92.25.1: Skukeli. 94.40.12: ristling. 95.7.3: comma after “darkness”; 95.40.12: im; 97.16.3: pouding; 97.23.6: laugher; 97.26.12: no comma after “gloating”; 97.29.12: no comma after “killer”; 98.3.8: period instead of comma after “carefully”; next word “Lest” changed accordingly to “lest”; 98.26.14: no semi-colon after “him”; 99.31.2: vibsible; 100.1.5: slaving; 100.25.8: brances; 100.26.2: comma after “body”; 101.1.11: “a” repeated; 103.8.11: “corner of” repeated; 106.3.1: Poitainians; 106.12.5: five’s; 106.25.2: no comma after “marble”; 106.37.4: father; 107.19.10: roayl; 108.15.4: “at” not in original; 108.21.4: “conditions” followed by a period instead of a comma; 108.30.6: procalmation; 109.3.6: wirthing; 109.4.7: wenches of; 110.6.12: greasure; 110.28.1: beleagured; 111.19.3: throgh; 111.20.6: brrowed; 111.20.8: miles; 112.25.5: grat; 112.27.1: ecstacy; 113.12.3: Tsotah; 113.26.16: any; 113.29.4: very; 113.37.11: “army” repeated; 117.29.9: aprt; 118.21.1: sky-ward.
Queen of the Black Coast
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, May 1934. 122.15.11: bowman; 127.27.7: anaswered; 132.33.4: warrior’s; 136.17.4: back; 140.13.8: Howl; 140.24.13: re.
Black Colossus
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, June 1933. 177.30.3: particuluar.
Iron Shadows in the Moon
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, April 1934 under the title “Shadows in the Moonlight.” 204.20.3: dropped.
Xuthal of the Dusk
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, September 1933 under the title “The Slithering Shadow.” 229.11.7: question mark instead of period after “me”; 229.26.3: non-committally.
The Pool of the Black One
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, October 1933. No changes have been made for this edition.
Rogues in the House
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, January 1934. 284.32.4: labyrinthin; 287.10.1: single quote instead of double quote before “In”; 290.7.7: “warn ing”.
The Vale of Lost Women
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. The typescript has a number of editing marks on it, not in Howard’s hand, which makes some readings of the punctuation conjectural. 303.13.2: crystalized; 304.7.10: eye-balls; 304.7.13: fire-light; 304.19.8: “a an”; 304.40.11: automoton; 305.15.1: semi-colon instead of comma after “stool”; 305.39.12: period instead of comma after “stool”; 306.5.13: exceded; 306.7.12: “High strapped”; 306.27.7: “snor ing”; 307.1.5: period instead of comma after “hand”; 307.31.11: futiley; 308.26.8: existant; 308.27.13: comma after “indeed”; 308.31.10: extra space between the double quote and “and”; 309.23.6: set; 310.19.5: colon after “exultant”; 311.5.13: whole-sale; 311.28.14: period instead of comma after “boma”; 312.1.1: Liva; 312.10.2: with; 313.5.12: Balakas; 313.22.2: reitterated; 314.7.12: supply; 314.10.6: stroke; 316.18.15: torch-light; 316.38.11: “where ever”; 317.8.5: period instead of comma after “embarrassed.”
The Devil in Iron
Originally appeared in Weird Tales, August 1934. No changes have been made for this edition.
The Phoenix on the Sword (first submitted draft)
Howard completed three drafts of The Phoenix on the Sword before he was satisfied with it. This third version ran 28 pages and was submitted to Weird Tales in early March 1932. A few days later, the editor, Farnsworth Wright, asked for some rewriting before accepting the tale: “I hope you will see your way clear to touch it up and resubmit it. It is the first two chapters that do not click. The story opens rather uninterestingly, it seems to me, and the reader has difficulty in orienting himself. The first chapter ends well, and the second chapter begins superbly; but after King Conan’s personality is well established, the chapter sags from too much writing. I think the very last page of the whole story might be re-written with advantage; because it seems a little weak after the stupendous events that precede it.” Howard followed Wright’s suggestions to the word, rewriting only the first two chapters and the beginning of the third, totaling 13 pages, and the last two pages of his story. Since Wright had no objection to pages 14 to 26, Howard simply resent them with the new ones. The 15 rejected pages – most of which have Wright’s editorial markings on them – were relegated to Howard’s archives. The text presented in this edition is thus comprised of Howard’s first thirteen rejected pages (ending with the word “only,” page 362, line 37), followed by the Weird Tales text up to page 372, line 31. Line 32 onward are taken from Howard’s draft. Weird Tales’ “Thoth-A
mon” has been replaced with Howard’s “Thoth-amon” and Howard’s “AEsir” with “AEsir.” 353.4.15: no comma after “fat”; 353.5.7: petulent; 353.10.5: unconciously; 353.14.16: petulently; 353.37.1: no comma after “I”; 353.37.13: covenented; 354.4.1: no period after “giant” (typed to right edge of paper); 354.8.2: fade; 354.14.5: Seneschal; 354.36.5: “pala ce”; 354.40.13: string (typed to right edge of paper); 355.17.13: every; 356.7.1: stubborness; 356.16.7: villian; 356.18.5: no punctuation after “him” (typed to right edge of paper); 356.32.4: your’s; 357.1.6: “an swered”; 357.19.17: procede; 357.20.14: Dont; 359.12.14: its; 360.12.2: Its; 360.30.7: vainess; 361.3.5: meaninglesness; 361.13.5: concious; 361.14.7: sylus; 372.35.8: it; 373.24.15: knee (typed to right edge of paper); 373.29.10: “sword” followed by a period instead of a question mark.
Notes on Various Peoples of the Hyborian Age.
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. No changes have been made for this edition.
The Hyborian Age
Originally appeared in The Hyborian Age, Lany Corp, 1938. The booklet’s “AEsir” has been rendered as “AEsir” throughout. 382.25.1: ThePicts; 384.26.8: impetous; 384.39.7: impetuous; 385.4.4: this; 385.26.3: Thr; 386.13.4: nothern; 386.36.3: “inter-married” hyphenated at line-break; 388.18.3: subjuction; 389.32.7: an; 390.19.6: “war-path” hyphenated at line break; 391.1.5: agression; 392.14.9: seem; 392.16.6: auxilaries; 393.8.4: mutined; 393.14.1: inexhaustable; 394.34.2. in; 397.13.5: “or” not in original; 397.26.2: primitives; 398.04.1: “pure blooded.”
Untitled synopsis (A squad of Zamorian soldiers…)
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. No changes have been made for this edition.
Untitled synopsis (The Scarlet Citadel)
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. No changes have been made for this edition.
Untitled synopsis (Black Colossus)
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. No changes have been made for this edition.
Untitled fragment (The battlefield stretched silent…)
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. No changes have been made for this edition.
Untitled synopsis (The setting: The city of Shumballa…)
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. No changes have been made for this edition.
Untitled fragment (Amboola awakened slowly…)
Text taken from Howard’s original typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. No changes have been made for this edition.
List of Hyborian Names and Countries
Document provided by Glenn Lord. No changes have been made for this edition.
For encouragement and material support, my thanks to Jim Keegan, David Burton, Valentyna Shemchuk, Jack and Barbara Baum, Steve Kammer, Al Williamson, Judith Hope Hansen, and my father, Joseph H. Schultz. Thanks to Gary Gianni for setting the bar high.Thanks as always to Denise for keeping the home fires burning; I love you. Special thanks to Marcelo Anciano and Michael and Paul Berrow for the opportunity, and for their patience.
Mark Schultz
I would like to thank Rusty Burke for offering me the opportunity to realize a dream and Marcelo Anciano for making it come true; Glenn Lord, for fifteen years of understanding and cooperation, and for being the gentleman he is; Stuart Williams for his technical wizardry and efficiency above and beyond the call of duty; David Gentzel for his help and dedication; François Truchaud, who started it all for me; and especially Valérie, for understanding what this project meant to me and for her very un-Cimmerian patience during all those months.
Patrice Louinet
Thanks to Charlie Williams for introducing me to Conan, all those years ago; to Jim Myers for getting my collection off to a good start; to the members of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association who have encouraged, inspired and enlightened me; to Glenn Lord, for his many years of championing REH and specifically for his support of this project; to Patrice Louinet, for his labors on this book and for his friendship; to Marcelo, Paul, Michael, Stuart, David, Jim and the rest of the Wandering Star crew for making things happen; and as always, to Shelly, with love.
Rusty Burke
I would like to thank Marcelo, Patrice and Rusty for being a pleasure to work with and Mark for making Conan and his world look real and believable. Thanks also to Mandy for trying not to glaze over when I talk about REH, Fishburn Hedges for kindly allowing me to use their design studio after hours and at weekends and, finally, to my old mate and fellow Howard enthusiast, Mike Rollins: Hey, Mike! Look! Your name’s in a Conan book!
Stuart Williams
I would like to dedicate the creation of this book to Glenn Lord. Thank you.
Marcelo Anciano
PRAISE FOR ROBERT E. HOWARD
“I adore these books. Howard had a gritty, vibrant style—broadsword writing that cut its way to the heart, with heroes who are truly larger than life. I heartily recommend them to anyone who loves fantasy.”
—DAVID GEMMELL
Author of Legend and White Wolf
“The voice of Robert E. Howard still resonates after decades with readers—equal parts ringing steel, thunderous horse hooves, and spattered blood. Far from being a stereotype, his creation of Conan is the high heroic adventurer. His raw muscle and sinews, boiling temper, and lusty laughs are the gauge by which all modern heroes must be measured.”
—ERIC NYLUND
Author of Halo: The Fall of Reach
and Signal to Noise
“That teller of marvelous tales, Robert Howard, did indeed create a giant [Conan] in whose shadow other ‘hero tales’ must stand.”
—JOHN JAKES
New York Times bestselling author of the North and South trilogy
“For stark, living fear . . . What other writer is even in the running with Robert E. Howard?”
—H. P. LOVECRAFT
“Howard wrote pulp adventure stories of every kind, for every market he could find, but his real love was for supernatural adventure and he brought a brash, tough element to the epic fantasy which did as much to change the course of the American school away from precious writing and static imagery as Hammett, Chandler, and the Black Mask pulp writers were to change the course of American detective fiction.”
—MICHAEL MOORCOCK
Award-winning author of
the Elric saga
“In this, I think, the art of Robert E. Howard was hard to surpass: vigor, speed, vividness. And always there is that furious, galloping narrative pace.”
—POUL ANDERSON
“Howard honestly believed the basic truth of the stories he was telling. It’s as if he’d said, ‘This is how life really was lived in those former savage times!’ ”
—DAVID DRAKE
Author of Grimmer Than Hell and
Dogs of War
“For headlong, nonstop adventure and for vivid, even florid, scenery, no one even comes close to Howard.”
—HARRY TURTLEDOVE
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A Del Rey®Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 2003 by Conan Properties International, LLC.
Conan is a registered trademark of Conan Properties International, LLC.
Editor: Patrice Louinet
Series Editor: Rusty Burke
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States by The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Previously published in Great Britain by Wandering Star, Ltd., in 2002.
This edition published by arrangement with Wandering Star, Ltd.
Del Rey is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of
Random House, Inc.
www.delreydigital.com
Library of Congress Control Number: 2003095182
eISBN 0-345-46995-X
v1.0
Cimmeria
first published The Howard Collector, Winter 1965
The Phoenix on the Sword
first published Weird Tales, December 1932
The Frost-Giant’s Daughter
Original version first published Rogues in the House, Donald M. Grant, 1976
The God in the Bowl
Original version first published The Tower of the Elephant, Donald M. Grant, 1975
The Tower of the Elephant
first published Weird Tales, March 1933
The Scarlet Citadel
first published Weird Tales, January 1933
Queen of the Black Coast
first published Weird Tales, May 1934
Black Colossus
first published Weird Tales, June 1933
Iron Shadows in the Moon