The Best Horror Stories of

by Robert E. Howard

  "rising" 96.19.2: Dont; 96.24.3: aint; 96.24.7: period rather than comma; 96.25.8: no comma after

  "camp" 96.26.5: Dont; 96.33.7: aint; 96.36.9: see; 96.38.2: aint; 96.38.3: nowhere's; 96.40.1: Aint; 97.1.15: foun; 97.3.10: comma after "night" 97.5.5: didnt; 97.7.11: drawn out; 97.8.1: what-ever; 97.8.11: locallity; 97.8.14: south; 97.15.1: Dont; 97.15.7: comma rather than period; 97.28.4: animal like; 97.40.1: comma after "then" 98.6.10: sure footed; 98.13.8-10: hand to hand; 98.18.10: moons; 98.19.6: some where; 98.31.4: comma after "mansion" 98.40.14: comma after "suddenly," "and" not in original; 99.20.11: comma after "decades" 99.21.3: bat's; 99.23.1: stair ways; 99.25.10: has; 99.36.1: winced; 99.40.2: pow; 100.16.5: no comma after "halted" 100.26.7: comma after "was" 100.29.1: no comma after "nothing" 100.29.5: soul freezing; 101.7.10: "some" repeated; 101.23.7: proceded; 101.24.3-8: "on an" ends first line of page; beginning of next line is overtyped; it appears, based on clarity of letters and spacing in relation to the continuation of the line, that "a discharged shell and I hurled" was typed over "empty chamber and I hurled" 101.26.2: back flung; 102.8.2: no comma after

  "corridor" 102.11.5: concious; 102.16.6: conciousness; 102.17.12: no comma after "closed" 102.22.4: no comma after "insane" 102.23.10: no comma after "tears" 102.27.15: no comma after "time"

  102.28.13: horrizon; 102.30.10: couldnt; 102.32.3: no comma after "posse" 102.32.14: wasnt; 102.34.6: forelorn; 102.36.8: What; 102.37.8: unconcious; 102.40.3: comma rather than period; 103.3.4: dont; 103.3.13: comma after "war" 103.8.1: "him" not in original; 103.11.7: comma rather than period; 103.14.5: comma rather than period; 103.15.1: Dont; 103.15.3: period rather than comma; 103.15.10: Dont; 103.16.5: didnt; 103.18.2: earth bound; 103.21.10: no comma after "then" 103.23.11: no comma after "mounted" 103.27.2: But; 103.30.1: no comma after "looked'

  The Dead Slaver's Tale

  Text taken from Weirdbook Eight, 1973. 104.1.7: no comma after "sea'

  Dermod's Bane

  Text taken from Howard's original typescript, a copy of which was provided by the Robert E. Howard Foundation. 105.5.7: no comma after "Tribes" 105.18.4: ancestor; 106.9.9: an ellipsis(...) follows the closing quotation mark, with no paragraph break before "I went to Galway." 106.11.11: familes; 106.13.1: familes; 106.13.6: familes; 106.24.14: devided; 106.27.1: MacMurraughs; 106.29.4: no comma after "Pembroke" 107.1.14: no comma after "last" 107.2.1: comma after "band" 107.4.10: farmer's; 107.5.1: shepherd's; 107.5.12: "a" not in original; 107.14.2: country side; 107.19.10: The; 107.24.2: no comma after "so" 107.26.9: you; 107.29.7: Demod's; 107.31.4: no comma after "know"

  108.2.7: "soul" not in original; 108.3.17: eye lids; 108.19.1: silkly; 108.19.6: moonmist; 108.21.9: mist like; 108.26.5: my; 108.26.12: comma rather than semi-colon; 108.28.2: wither; 108.31.1: no comma after "vision" 108.31.9: tusk like; 108.33.1: pent house; 108.35.7: comma rather than period; 108.36.1: no closing quotation mark (the dash is at the extreme right edge of the paper); 108.39.2: irresistably; 108.40.6: keen edged; 109.6.13: soul easing; 109.9.9: no comma after "Did" 109.9.16: long dead; 109.10.3: "me" not in original

  The Hills of the Dead

  Text taken from Weird Tales, August 1930. 121.25.2: he; 124.12.8: easy; 130.10.5: blood brother Dig Me No Grave

  Text taken from Weird Tales, February 1937. 136.24.5: oriental; 139.7.6: oriental; 139.36.9: Phenician; 139.39.9: oriental; 140.15.7: oriental; 140.27.6: oriental; 141.20.8: oriental The Song of a Mad Minstrel

  Text taken from Weird Tales, February--March 1931. No changes have been made for this edition.

  The Children of the Night

  Text taken from Weird Tales, April--May 1931. 148.1: a line of asterisks marks the section break; 148.8.2: "deer-skin" hyphenated at line break; 153.38: a line of asterisks marks the section break; 156.32.2: medićval

  Musings

  Text taken from Howard's original typescript, a copy of which was provided by the Robert E. Howard Foundation. 158.1.7: semicolon rather than colon; 158.7.3: no comma after "that" 158.9.7: colon rather than semicolon

  The Black Stone

  Text taken from Weird Tales, November 1931. 160.26.3-4: "Midsummer's Night" not capitalized here, though it is capitalized elsewhere in the story; 161.13.6: gleam ('glean" in Howard's earlier draft of the story); 162.4.16: no comma after "and" 162.15.8: black-eddy ('back-eddy" in Howard's earlier draft); 162.23.7: Goeffrey; 162.26.2: mine; 163.41.7: aboriginies; 170.1.5: rythmically; 170.37.3: ecstacy The Thing on the Roof

  Text taken from Weird Tales, February 1932. 179.7.14: the period is placed outside the quotation mark The Dweller in Dark Valley

  Text taken from Magazine of Horror, November 1965

  The Horror from the Mound

  Text taken from Howard's original typescript, a copy of which was provided by the Robert E. Howard Foundation. 185.8.9: "farm-land" hyphenated at line break; 186.7.9: comma after "creek" 186.21.10: thes; 186.34.5: hemself; 187.14.1: "Senor" not underlined to indicate italics; 187.16.9: every; 187.17.8-9: hear-tell; 188.9.8: "Senor" not underlined to indicate italics; 188.35.10: grunned; 188.38.7: no comma after "decided" 189.11.9: cam; 189.17.4: befool; 189.18.10: refained; 189.38.7-8: treasure-trove; 190.4.4: no comma after "halted" 190.5.4: undeiable; 190.13.8: no comma after "stone"

  190.30.11: "the" not in original; 191.2.9: tp; 191.8.10: forebidden; 191.34.12: Greaser; 191.35.6: trued; 192.1.9: cruse; 192.3.15: Spigs; 192.29.11: any one; 193.20.4: thre; 194.5.4: jjust; 195.1.7: Some one; 195.11.7: any one; 195.16.14: glassy eyed; 195.17.8: no comma after "creek" 196.41.14: long dead; 197.10.2: "Senor" not underlined to indicate italics; 197.22.4: light; 198.21.13: fear crazed A Dull Sound as of Knocking

  Text taken from Glenn Lord's transcription of Howard's original. No changes have been made for this edition.

  People of the Dark

  Text taken from Strange Tales, June 1932. 203.10.9: comma after "hills" 203.35.1: loin cloth; 203.41.4: no comma after "reavers" 206.6.4: no comma after "where" 206.14.5: serpent like; 206.34.12: in it; 212.24.6: a wash; 214.5.6--7: little people

  Delenda Est

  Text taken from Howard's original typescript, a copy of which was provided by the Robert E. Howard Foundation. The typescript is untitled; the title is Glenn Lord's. 217.13.7: aborbed; 217.19.9: semicolon rather than comma; 218.14.1: semicolon rather than comma; 218.17.2: semicolon rather than comma; 218.26.9: horrizons; 218.34.3: no comma after "rival" 218.35.7: semicolon rather than comma; 219.3.3: with; 219.4.10: "westward" is typed above "before" with no indication of the intended insertion point; 219.8.6: "of" is typed above the space between "much" and "physical" with no indication of the intended insertion point; 219.9.3: vigour; 220.24.6: "not" not in original; 220.33.1: semicolon rather than comma; 221.40.2: rhyhmic; 222.34.6: no comma after "hand'

  The Cairn on the Headland

  Text taken from Strange Tales, January 1933. In a letter to H. P. Lovecraft, ca. December 1932

  (probably very shortly after the magazine had appeared), Howard wrote: "The editor took liberties with

  'The Cairn on the Headland.' In the original version, O'Brien was born in America. The editor changed this and made O'Brien a native of Ireland, but neglected to change the line: 'We were countrymen in that we born in the same land.' That would seem to make 'Ortali' an Irishman, too, when I intended him for an American-born Italian." We have restored the characters' original nationalities by using text from an existing draft typescript of the story. That existing draft does not bear a title, indicating it was probably a first draft. The magazine version features an epigraph: "And the next instant this great red loon was shaking me like a dog shaking a rat. 'Where is Meve MacDonnal?' he was screaming. By the saints, it's a grisly thing to hear a madman in a lonely place at midnight screaming the name of a woman dead three hundred years.--The Longshoreman's Tale." This epigraph does not appear in the draft typescript, and as it telegraphs an important story element, which seems uncharacteristic of Howard, we have left it off.

  224.34.6: fired; 227.29.4: Strange Tales has, after "American," "though born
and raised here" text here is from the draft typescript; 227.29.6: typescript has "answered, "my" 228.20.2: Strange Tales has

  "ancestors" "birth" in draft typescript; 228.20.12-13: Strange Tales has "have passed the best part of my life" "was born" in draft typescript; 235.38.4: comma after "cairn" 237.39.1: comma after

  "superstition'

  Worms of the Earth

  Text taken from Weird Tales, November 1932. In a letter to H. P. Lovecraft, circa December 1932, Howard noted several errors in the magazine appearance of the story: "Concerning "Worms of the Earth"--I must have been unusually careless when I wrote that, considering the errors--such as "her" for

  "his", "him" for "himself", "loathsome" for "loathing", etc.. I'm at a loss to say why I spelled Eboracum as Ebbracum. I must investigate the matter. I know I saw it spelled that way, somewhere; it's not likely I would make such a mistake entirely of my own volition, though I do frequently make errors. Somehow, in my mind, I have a vague idea that it's connected in some way with the Gaelic "Ebroch"--York."

  240.8.3: Ebbracum; 243.13.5: him; 244.1.6: Ebbracum; 248.15.1: Ebbracum; 248.17.11: Ebbracum; 249.21.9: Ebbracum; 251.11.2: Ebbracum; 251.17.10: Ebbracum; 253.3.3: laugh; 253.11.6: her; 253.11.15: loathsome; 253.25.5: there is a dash rather than a hyphen in "night-things" 260.1.3: comma after "cast" 262.19.1: Ebbracum; 266.29.1: Ebbracum's; 266.32.5: Cćsar The Symbol

  Text taken from Ariel, Autumn 1976. No changes have been made for this edition.

  The Valley of the Lost

  Text taken from Howard's original typescript, a copy of which was provided by the Robert E. Howard Foundation. There are two draft typescripts extant: one titled, the other not. The titled draft has numerous editorial markings, probably by Strange Tales editor Harry Bates, who wrote to Howard on October 4, 1932: "Mr. Clayton the other day instructed me to discontinue Strange Tales, and as a result I have to return your story, "The Valley of the Lost," even marked up as it is with the editorial pencilings. I started to rub out the pencilings but that did not seem to improve the looks of the manuscript much, so I left off."

  Many of these editorial markings entirely obscure the original underlying text, making some readings problematic. 269.12.1: "South-west" hyphenated at line break; 269.18.1: right (typed to extreme right edge of paper); 269.18.6: Reynolds; 269.19.1: Donnelly (typed to extreme right edge of paper); 269.22.9: whole-sale; 270.1.10: comma after "pay" 270.3.2: punctuation following "range" obscured; 270.4.1: developement; 270.5.1: country-side; 270.8.8: Reynolds; 270.9.5: Reynolds; 270.11.11: comma after "down" 270.13.6: well now; 270.22.9: it appears a comma was marked out after "speedy"

  270.24.7: awhile; 270.27.4: Reynolds; 270.28.3: no comma after "slope" 270.32.6: it appears a comma was marked out after "Ord" 270.35.13: didnt; 270.36.17: no closing quotation mark (typed to extreme right edge of paper); 270.37.1: comma after "Well", no dash; 270.37.8: comma after "Fletcher", no dash; 270.38.5: dont; 270.39.8: its; 271.15.17: comma after "valley" 271.27.11: he; 271.31.10: aint; 271.33.5: cant; 271.37.11: cant; 271.38.14: cant; 272.1.3: wont; 272.3.15: at least one character has been obscured before "right", possibly "a" right" or "a-right" 272.12.8: cant; 272.15.12: something obscured before "walking", probably "a-" 272.23.2: Reynolds; 272.24.9: no comma after "and"

  272.41.4: shorted; 272.41.11: redmen; 273.6.7: re-opened; 273.11.9-10: comma after "Valley" rather than "and" 273.14.7: comma after "stones" 273.17.5: half destroyed; 273.20.2: and which; 273.30.11: country-side; 274.27.1: "a" not in titled typescript, is in untitled draft; 274.33.3: it appears a comma was marked out after "where" 274.33.8: it appears a comma was marked out after "sanity" 274.36.9: high heeled; 274.41.9: foot-step; 275.8.1: a word has been marked out before "dead" "stone-dead" in earlier draft; 275.18.5: suddeness; 276.4.3: no comma after "shaken" 276.20.1: letters are marked out after

  "burro" 276.22.12: it appears a comma was marked out after "aversion" 276.22.13: comma after "now"

  276.30.7: comma after "was" 277.19.9: punctuation after "ears" obscured, possibly a colon; 277.20.3: word obscured, probably "he" 277.25.9: under-tone; 277.34.9: squamy; 277.40.13: conciousness; 278.1.6: inner-most; 278.4.5-6: no commas after "dim" and "strange" 278.28.10: it appears a comma was marked out after "valley" 281.4.5: inhumaness; 281.8.8: an editorial marking for a comma is superimposed over Howard's typed punctuation, possibly a semicolon; 281.9.11: semicolon rather than comma; 281.11.8: a letter has been marked out, possibly this read "survivals" 281.31.8: the initial letter is faint in the copy; "Hell" in earlier draft; 281.37.12: an editorial marking for a comma is superimposed over Howard's typed punctuation, possibly a semicolon; 281.38.1: an editorial marking for a comma is superimposed over Howard's typed punctuation, possibly a semicolon; 282.2.1: carvent (earlier draft has "crystallinecarven"); 282.5.8: ever (typed to extreme right edge of paper); earlier draft has "every"

  282.9.11: network; 282.10.1: honey-combing; 282.26.10: redmen; 282.29.1: no comma after

  "Meanwhile" 282.35.12: "to" is written (not in REH's hand) over a typed word beginning with "o", probably "of" 282.37.7: it appears a comma was marked out after "gain" 283.13.12: something is marked out, no more than two letters, between "stood" and "among" 283.14.5: land-slide; 283.32.6: it appears a comma was marked out after "eyes" 283.33.6: A word has been marked out, with "Its"

  hand-written above (not in REH's hand); earlier draft has "The" 283.41.1: A word has been marked out; earlier draft has "And" 284.16.7: lower-case "l" hand-written over indecipherable typed letter; 284.16.9: upper-case "H" hand-written over indecipherable typed letter; 284.18.7: it appears a comma has been marked out after "sane" 284.19.6: upper-case "H" hand-written over indecipherable typed letter; 285.17.1: punctuation obscured by editorial marking; 285.24.1: A word has been marked out, probably

  "And" 285.26.10: side-ways; 285.28.8: comma after "serpent" rather than "and" 286.3.1: it appears a comma has been marked out after "walks" 286.10.9: no comma after "sunlight" 286.26.10: titer; 286.31.1: concious; 286.40.9: didnt; 287.2.5: wasnt; 287.2.7: a letter marked out before "it", probably

  "h" 287.2.15: a letter marked out before "it", probably "h" 287.8.9: word has been marked out, appears to be "done" 287.9.5: word of about 3-4 letters marked out, possibly "done" 287.16.1-19.4: these four sentences are all written as one paragraph; 287.18.3: its; 287.19.4: something has been scratched out after "look", possibly dashes or an ellipsis; 287.24.8: punctuation (if any) obscured by editorial marking; earlier draft has comma after "fists" 287.28.3: no comma after "and" 287.28.7: it appears a comma has been marked out after "sticks" 287.31.14: it appears a comma has been marked out after "saddle"

  287.32.8: it appears a comma has been marked out after "fuse" 287.33.11: earth-quake; 287.37.3: a letter appears to have been marked out after "rock", possibly "s" 288.20.1: Reynolds The Hoofed Thing

  Text taken from Weirdbook Three, 1970 (as "Usurp the Night"). 289.8.1: of; 289.12.1: "run-down"

  hyphenated at line break; 289.18.4: delapidation; 290.18.3: no closing quotation mark; 293.3.8: profusedly; 294.14.12: comma after "emerge" 298.25.11: old fashioned; 298.36.3: comma rather than period after "panted" 301.9.18: no comma after 'I' 302.40.9: "a" not in original The Noseless Horror

  Text taken from Magazine of Horror, February 1970. 305.5.7: no period after "experience" 308.20.2: lauresl; 308.21.2: no closing quotation mark; 309.22.9: lights; 310.16.6: eyes; 310.34.7: no period after

  "barred" 311.6.6-7: "noseless one" set in double quotation marks rather than single; 312.27.4: comma after "indeed" 313.1.13: stair case; 314.20.7: no; 314.39.7: amazed; 317.5.15: brinks; 317.9.3: "Singh"

  not in original

  The Dwellers Under the Tomb

  Text taken from Lost Fantasies 4, 1976. Two earlier draft typescripts are extant, one 13 pages and one 18 pages. The typescript used for the Lost Fantasies (and Black Canaan, Berkley, 1978) publications was not available for this edition. 318.3.2: squeled; 318.21.7: deoman; 319.11.1: sould; 319.17.5: death rattle; 319.18.3: Jonas; 319.37.2: mightmare; 320.8.5-9.3: text between "str
ike" and "sensation" not in Lost Fantasies version; text taken from 18 page draft typescript; 320.27.8: He; 320.31.9: figeting; 320.32.11: A; 320.33.5: no closing quotation mark; 320.39.14: he's; 321.11.6: that; 321.13.11: through; 321.16.1: undulation; 321.20.10: a; 321.23.8: ancestrial; 321.25.4: stripe; 321.29.8: rock; 321.31.7: for; 321.41.2: "it" not in Lost Fantasies version; this passage not found in drafts; 322.11.14: shattering; 322.12.8: moon lit; 322.20.2: feat; 322.25.3: comma rather than period after "know"

  322.26.3-4: Itmight; 322.36.3: recognized; 323.16.8: creek; 323.41.8: lie; 324.1.10: "not" not in Lost Fantasies version; passage not found in drafts; 324.13.4: reverted; 324.27.4: appaled; 324.33.4: "in"

  not in Lost Fantasies version; passage not found in drafts; 324.37.5: closing quotation mark after "out."

  324.39.1: Open quotation mark before "Are" 325.22.12: earthly; no comma after "earthly" 326.14.4: desipte; 326.14.7: sceptics; 326.26.6: no open quotation mark; 329.3.6: no comma after "roughly"

  329.16.3: vertiable; 329.16.11: jug; 330.23.2: though; 330.25.3: back; 330.32.1: steal-thy; 331.1.2: droppin; 331.22.17: comma after "rare" 332.31.11: comma after "labyrinths" 333.29.14: errored; 334.16.1: in habited; 334.25.9: no comma after "sliding" 334.33.3-34.2: text between "be" and "trace"

  not in Lost Fantasies version; passage not found in earlier drafts; text taken from Black Canaan; 335.26.10: "writhing" not in Lost Fantasies version, text from 18 page draft typescript; 335.36.6: back; 335.39.6: shone; 336.1.13: guant; 336.13.12: no comma after "grey" 336.14.5: eyes; 336.22.8: sone An Open Window