Grim Lands

by Robert E. Howard

  We have standardized chapter and numbering and titling: Howard’s own practices varied, as did those of the publications in which these stories appeared. We have not noted those changes here.

  By This Axe I Rule!

  Text taken from Howard’s draft, provided by Glenn Lord. The draft runs twenty pages, with several penciled-in annotations and corrections in Howard’s hand. (Notes in the files of Howard’s agent indicated the final version of the story, now presumed lost, ran twenty-three pages.) Howard did not always cross out or erase the words or phrases to be replaced; these are mentioned only in case of doubt. 1.2.7: no comma after “dark”; 1.11.9: “the” capitalized; 1.15.1: comma instead of period after “man”; 1.18.1: comma instead of period after “imperturbably”; 2.2.4: exclamation instead of question mark after “swear”; 2.3.11: comma instead of period after “eyes”; 2.6.9: comma instead of period after “Ascalante”; 2.9.4: comma instead of period after “dagger”; 2.18.1: covenented; 2.19.11: no period after “minstrel”; 2.21.6: “the” capitalized; 2.28.5: unbroken; 2.33.3: Kananu; 2.34.8: body guard; 2.35.6: comma instead of period after “satisfaction”; 2.41.7: comma after “through”; 3.3.12: no period after “of”; 3.10.12: “what” capitalized; 3.16.7: he; 3.16.10: comma instead of period after “Kaanuub”; 3.21.1: inchoerencies; 3.23.11: shoulder; 3.27.2: every; 3.27.4: “the” capitalized; 3.29.8: comma after “skulking”; 3.34.7: no comma after “I”; 3.35.2: down fall; 3.39.11: comma instead of period after “outlaw”; 4.5.12: hare brained; 4.8.15: no comma after “men”; 4.9.3: no period after “me”; 4.12.2: it is unclear whether the phrase “the old dynasty” was to be deleted or not; it seems partly erased on the typescript; 4.13.8: king’s; 4.16.2: regeme; 4.18.14: “to” not in original; 4.25.2: “The Lament for the King” between double, not single, quotes; 4.25.4: For; 4.25.13: villian; 4.26.2: villifies; 4.26.5: “that black hearted savage” between double, not single, quotes; 4.32.8: no comma after “knight”; 5.15.1: Moreoever; 5.17.5: “this” capitalized; 5.17.8: states-craft; 5.19.8: comma instead of period after “Brule”; 5.21.13: comma instead of period after “enviously”; 6.6.2: dash after “barbarian”; 6.6.3: parenthesis before “when”; “when” not capitalized; 6.7.13: parenthesis after “me.”; 6.8.13: inscense; 6.13.4: comma instead of period after “notch”; 6.20.1: no comma after “forgotten”; 6.32.4: repbrobate; 6.34.5: “to” not in original; 6.37.10: comma instead of period after “sincerity”; 6.38.5: mean; 7.5.5: “there’s” capitalized; 7.5.14: no comma after “name”; 7.13.7: altar; 7.23.1: comma instead of period after “him”; 7.26.1: “not” not in original; 7.37.9: “Neither” not in original; 7.37.10: “you” capitalized; 7.38.1: altar; 7.39.6: weakning; 8.1.1: enmies; 8.2.9: admanant; 8.5.10: comma instead of period after “hand”; 8.14.10: betwen; 8.26.1: escpecially; 8.33.2: comma instead of period after “sir”; 8.33.3: she; 8.33.8: comma instead of period after “surprize”; 9.1.4: summonsed; 9.5.10: comma after “her”; 9.8.7: “the” capitalized; 9.20.7: comma instead of period after “heavily”; 9.23.4: comma instead of period after “wrath”; 9.27.1: Dont; 9.28.4: comma instead of period after “shoulder”; 9.31.4: semi-colon instead of period after “smiled”; 9.33.7: no comma after “asked”; 9.36.10: “and” capitalized; 9.38.3: comma instead of period after “laughed”; 9.40.4: inch’s; 10.5.6: comma after “born”; 10.13.8: comma instead of period after “man”; 10.14.7: holliday; 11.1.1: Dont; 11.1.3: comma instead of period after “afraid”; 11.2.8: comma instead of period after “foot”; 11.3.8: comma instead of period after “weakly”; 11.12.5: wrestly; 11.16.2: “Twenty” written by hand above typed “fourteen,” but later numbers not changed; 11.18.3: nitches; 11.29.11: uncertainly; 11.35.3: comma instead of period after “Ascalante”; 11.36.1: no comma after “Haste”; 12.1.4: no period after “Ridondo”; 12.4.3: comma instead of period after “Ascalante”; 12.9.3: comma instead of period after “Ridondo”; 12.14.1: comma after “Kull”; 12.21.14: hurlted; 12.23.5: tableaux; 12.25.2: terrible eyed (no hyphen); 12.27.3: semicolon instead of colon after “shouted”; 12.29.7: thime; 12.39.4: piece; 13.7.3: no comma after “speed”; 13.14.3: “back hand” (no hyphen); 13.20.1: “with” not in ts; 13.21.4: one; 13.21.7: no period after “them”; 13.22.7: semicolon instead of comma after “savagely”; 13.25.8: “back his vizor” is typed here, with “off his slouch hat” hand-written above; 13.26.3: comma instead of period after “glaring”; 13.26.13: exclamation instead of question mark after “live”; 13.28.5: no semicolon after “viciously”; 13.29.8: no comma after “and”; 14.7.7: comma instead of period after “breathlessly”; 14.12.5: comma instead of period after “sharply”; 14.26.3: exclamation instead of question mark after “first”; 14.29.6: “him” not in typescript; 14.31.12: for; 14.34.4: villian; 15.6.6: the typescript reads “particularly including honor”; it is unclear which word was to be deleted; 15.6.9: comma instead of period after “murmured”; 15.7.8: what ever; 15.19.8: a sentence was to be added at this point, but the pencil is now too faded on the typescript to decipher; 15.21.4: unifrom; 15.24.6: comma instead of period after “huskily”; 15.25.4: t’will; 15.25.8: ’Tis; 16.9.9: the phrase “in the evening only did Ala find a chance” appears above the text, in pencil; apparently Howard intended to rewrite this passage and several others on the last pages of the draft; 16.18.4: no comma after “his”; text has been pencilled in above two lines of the typescript, too faint to read except for the words “he was himself”; 16.27.7: others; 16.33.12: wand like; 16.34.13: comma instead of period after “him”; 16.36.3: comma instead of period after “blood”; 16.40.3: comma instead of period after “blazing”; 16.40.9: knigship; 17.2.4: an unreadable sentence beginning with “While he …” is written on the typescript at this point but is too faint to be deciphered; 17.6.4: hve; 17.8.7: fightened

  The King and the Oak

  Text taken from Howard’s typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. No changes have been made for this edition.

  The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune

  Text taken from Weird Tales, September 1929. No changes have been made for this edition.

  The Tower of the Elephant

  Text taken from Weird Tales, March 1933. No changes have been made for this edition.

  Which Will Scarcely Be Understood

  Text taken from Weird Tales, October 1937. No changes have been made for this edition.

  Wings in the Night

  Text taken from Weird Tales, July 1932. 61.15.11: both instances of “breastbone” occur at line breaks (see also 62.31.2); 62.4.6: “bird-man” hyphenated at line break; 62.31.2: both instances of “breast-bone” occur at line breaks (see also 61.15.11); 68.3.11: “bow-shots” hyphenated at line break; elsewhere (see 65.26.1) “bowshot” is not hyphenated; 71.14.11: comma after “fetishes”; 71.14.12: no comma after “which”; 74.35.3: no hyphens in “four hundred odd”; 78.11.1: “plays”

  Solomon Kane’s Homecoming

  Text taken from Fanciful Tales, Fall 1936. 79.7.9: period after “life”; 80.2.6: no period after “tears”; 80.31.3: “bave”; 81.4.4: comma after “place”; 81.10.2: “huonds”

  Lord of Samarcand

  Text taken from Oriental Stories, Spring 1932. 109.2.7: “to” not in original Timur-Lang Text taken from The Howard Collector, Summer 1964. No changes have been made for this edition.

  A Song of the Naked Lands

  Text taken from Howard’s typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. 120.13.7: freize; 121.14: Discard the bow and the bow and the dart

  The Shadow of the Vulture

  Text taken from The Magic Carpet Magazine, January 1934. 125.17.5: “the” not capitalized; 126.8.13: comma after “departed”; 130.16.10: comma after “it”; 133.35.8: comma after “supplies”; 134.30.6: digged; 137.26.7: “a” not capitalized; 141.37.1–2: comma after “counter-mines” rather than “accordingly”; 151.29.7: “she” not capitalized

  Echoes from an Anvil

  Text taken from Verses in Ebony. No changes have been made for this edition. The Bull Dog Breed Text taken from Fight Stories, February 1930. 1
64.17.7: doing’; 167.36.9: period after “said”; 170.22.6: one; 170.37.1: no opening quotation marks; 170.40.5: moping; 173.37.8: comma after “to”

  Black Harps in the Hills

  Text taken from Night Images. 178.1.2: Benburg The Man on the Ground Text taken from Weird Tales, July 1933. No changes have been made for this edition.

  Old Garfield’s Heart

  Text taken from Weird Tales, December 1933. No changes have been made for this edition.

  Vultures of Wahpeton

  Text taken from Smashing Novels, December 1936. In the title and throughout the story, the magazine gave “Wahpeton” as “Whapeton.” The log entry of Howard’s agent, Otis A. Kline, lists the story as “The Vultures of Wahpeton,” while a letter from Kline’s New York representative, Otto Binder, to Howard referred to “your story VULTURES OF WAHPETON.” In the log entry, “The” appears to have been added as an afterthought. We have chosen not to make “The” part of the title, and to use the spelling “Wahpeton” throughout the story. 195.15.8: car; 199.19.6: Glanton’s; 200.8.4: six-bits; 205.2.1: tranquillities; 206.17.4: semicolon after “Middleton”; 220.3.9: semicolon after “back”; 222.12.1: wilderness-travel; 222.14.5: semicolon after “gunmen”; 224.8.7: ’S’; 244.2.4: owner; 245.24.4: comma after “roared,” “this” not capitalized; 248.24.3: colon after “this”; 253.38.3: practised; 258.23.12: “as” not in original; 259.29.8: practised; 259.31.13: no comma after “could.” The original publication included a 790-word alternate ending, not included here.

  Gents on the Lynch

  Text taken from Argosy, October 17, 1936. 263. 3–5: no space between address and salutation; 269.21.10: her; 273.27.7: we

  The Grim Land

  Text taken from letter from Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, circa June 1931. 279.2.3: soto

  Pigeons from Hell

  Text taken from Weird Tales, May 1938. 283.33.13: “sleep-walker” hyphenated at line break; 284.11.6: “corpse-like” hyphenated at line break; 285.32.2: “hat-brim” hyphenated at line break; 285.36.11: county-seat; 287.29.5: “sunbathed” hyphenated at line break; 291.11.12: “down” repeated; 292.41.7: county-seat; 293.24.11: county-seat (hyphenated at line break); 296.32.1: “men-folks” hyphenated at line break; 302.16.9: builded Never Beyond the Beast Text taken from The Ghost Ocean, 1982. No changes have been made for this edition.

  Wild Water

  Text taken from carbon copy of Howard’s typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. In some cases, erasures obscured readings from the carbon; in most of these instances, text is taken from an earlier draft of the story. 312.11.13: “post-oak” hyphenated at line break, not hyphenated elsewhere in story; 312.31.10: 9; 313.29.9: carbon paper torn, “s” missing; 314.14.12: carbon paper torn, second “s” missing; 314.15.12: carbon paper torn, final “e” missing; 314.16.11: carbon paper torn, “ted” missing; 315.11.12: “low-roofed” hyphenated at line break; 315.32.3: in; 315.37.9: obscured, not in earlier drafts, reading conjectural; 315.38.12: first letter obscured, appears that both “i” and “o” were typed one over the other but unclear which was final; 315.40.5: no apostrophe; 316.7.9-13: obscured, text from earlier draft; 317.12.3: obscured, text from earlier draft; 317.13.15-317.14.1: obscured, text from earlier draft; 317.26.1-3: obscured, text from earlier draft; 319.25.1: “ed” obscured, checked against earlier draft; 319.38.8-9: obscured, not in earlier draft, reading conjectural; 319.39.7-9: obscured, not in earlier draft, reading conjectural; 320.17.11: “re” obscured, checked against earlier draft; 320.25.10: obscured, appears to be “shaft,” earlier draft has “light”; 321.16.13: ten pins; 322.22.13: “fire-lit” hyphenated at line break; 323.1.3-4: obscured, not in earlier draft, reading conjectural; 323.6.8: “and” not in carbon; 323.7.1: obscured, text from earlier draft; 323.18.3: no apostrophe; 324.15.11: obscured, text from earlier draft; 324.32.13: obscured, not in earlier draft, reading conjectural; 325.17.5-6: obscured, text from earlier draft; 325.22.2: obscured, text from earlier draft; 325.24.10: obscured, not in earlier draft, reading conjectural; 326.7.7: in carbon, it appears a period was typed over a semicolon after “horror,” and the “m” of “My” is lower case; in earlier draft, “horror” is followed by a comma and “m” is lower case; 326.9.9: obscured, appears to be “cracking,” earlier draft has “breaking”; 326.20.10: obscured, not in earlier draft, reading conjectural; 327.4.4-5: obscured, not in earlier draft, reading conjectural; 327.13.1: Anway; 327.15.3: “aine” obscured, checked against earlier draft

  Musings

  Text taken from Witchcraft & Sorcery, January-February 1971. No changes have been made for this edition.

  Son of the White Wolf

  Text taken from Thrilling Adventures, December 1936. One complete carbon copy of a Howard draft typescript survives, with markings and additions in the author’s hand, as well as three partial drafts. These drafts were consulted in the preparation of this text. 332.22.7: some one (complete draft has “someone”); 332.36.1: comma after “rain”; 333.27.6: lightninglike (drafts have “lightning-like”); 334.3.12: hawklike (drafts have “hawk-like”); 335.2.12: Sulaiman’s (in all drafts, Howard’s preferred spelling is “Sulayman”); 336.24.6: akbat; 336.26.10: comma after “death”; 336.40.7: Istambul (in all drafts, Howard’s preferred spelling is “Stamboul”); 337.13.2: semicolon after “gone”; 337.17.13: Sulaiman; 337.40.3: comma after “spies”; 338.30.1: you (drafts have “yours”); 340.14.7: Sulaiman; 340.16.4: Sulaiman; 340.39.7: Sulaiman; 341.32.13: Sulaiman; 342.19.9: comma after “then”; 344.33.1: no comma after “renegades” (comma in complete draft); 345.10.3: comma after “reward” (no comma in complete draft); 345.10.8: comma after “head” (no comma in complete draft); 348.6.10: no comma after “Musa” (comma in complete draft); 348.22.6: head.; 348.24.9: pounds’.”; 350.24.14: Sulaiman; 351.22.13: “that” not in original (does appear in complete draft); 354.4.1: no comma after “knees” (comma in draft); 354.10.2: sunburnt (complete draft has “sunburnt”); 354.39.10; period rather than colon after “Olga”; 355.11.8: ear-shot

  Black Vulmea’s Vengeance

  Text taken from Golden Fleece, November 1938. 361.41.13: comma after “rover”; 362.7.8: no comma after “pirate”; 363.15.12: no period after “shoreline”; 368.18.5: wine-matted; 368.23.13: comma after “rocks”; 368.24.4: “as” repeated before “they”; 369.30.7: chest; 371.27.1: “over-hanging” hyphenated at line break; 371.29.14: “night-bird” hyphenated at line break; 391.26.11: “side-stepped” hyphenated at line break; it is also hyphenated elsewhere (see 392.8.3)

  Flint’s Passing

  Text taken from Glenn Lord’s transcription. No changes have been made for this edition.

  Red Nails

  Text taken from Weird Tales, July, August – September, October 1936. The incomplete surviving carbon copy of Howard’s typescript has been consulted for the preparation of this edition; variations within the printed text are minimal, mostly corrections of typographical errors. 412.26.1: Sailor’s; 417.8.9: period rather than comma after “girl”; 418.6.1: “plow-share” hyphenated at line break; 420.30.4: “love-making” hyphenated at line break; 423.38.5: has; 424.20.9: Science (Howard’s carbon has “Silence”; cf. 429.11.13); 428.6.6: Xotalancs; 429.29.7: “sword-thrust” hyphenated at line break; 433.35.8: Xotalancs; 438.17.5: “battle-ground” hyphenated at line break; 440.30.5: restorted; 444.16.8: “near-by” hyphenated at line break; 449.3.5: “sword-play” hyphenated at line break; 449.18.9: “throne-room” hyphenated at line break; 451.7.3: “witch-light” hyphenated at line break; 457.7.2: “wrestling-match” hyphenated at line break; 462.29.10: Techultli

  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. 471.28.5: everylasting

  Our deepest thanks go out to pirate and blacksmith extraordinaire, Tony Swatton, and to our friends, Bill Sampson, Gary Gianni, Michael Venables, and Mark Schultz. We’d also like to thank Rusty Burke for his generous expert
ise and Stuart Williams for his incredible patience, skill, and general bacon-saving. And last but not least, we’d like to thank our son, Rourke Keegan, who takes very good care of us.

  Jim & Ruth Keegan

  I wish to express my heartfelt thanks, and dedicate my work on this book, to Marcelo Anciano, for the vision that created The Robert E. Howard Library of Classics, for sharing that vision with me and letting me be part of the team, for his encouragement and assistance and support and the occasional push, for all his hard work in turning our work into actual books, and for his friendship and many kindnesses. Many thanks, too, to the team: Stuart, Jim & Ruth, and Steve, as well as Patrice, Ed, Dave, Glenn, Jack & Barbara, Mark, Gary, Greg. And as always, much love to Shelly, with thanks for her patience and support.

  Rusty Burke

  My thanks go once again to Marcelo and Rusty for making our last book together another great experience, Jim and Ruth for their excellence, dedication, and staying power. Thanks also to Mandy and Emma for ignoring me when I’m swearing at my laptop. I’d also like to say a big thank you to Dave Kurzman (kurzman@earthlink.net), gentleman and pulp dealer, for helping me with my Weird Tales collection.

  Stuart Williams

  This is to be my last book. It’s been fun pulling together each project.