Robert E Howard

When science and terror collide-unravel the mysteries of Weird Menace Step into a world of danger, deception, and shocking mysteries with Tales of Weird Menace: The Ultimate Edition, a collection of Robert E. Howard's most pulse-pounding thrillers. Unlike supernatural horror, Weird Menace stories present eerie, seemingly unexplainable events that ultimately have rational-though often terrifying-explanations rooted in super-science, crime, or deception. This definitive volume, restored from original typescripts and rare publications, showcases Howard's mastery of the genre, blending eerie suspense with relentless action. Featuring classics like Skull-Face, The Noseless Horror, and Black Hound of Death, alongside rare fragments, unfinished tales, and newly discovered synopses, this book is a must-have for pulp fiction and adventure fans. With over 500 pages of relentless thrills and expertly crafted tension, Tales of Weird Menace is a treasure trove for anyone who loves classic pulp fiction, detective noir, and the eerie atmosphere of vintage horror-adventure storytelling.

When science and terror collide-unravel the mysteries of Weird Menace Step into a world of danger, deception, and shocking mysteries with Tales of Weird Menace: The Ultimate Edition, a collection of Robert E. Howard's most pulse-pounding thrillers. Unlike supernatural horror, Weird Menace stories present eerie, seemingly unexplainable events that ultimately have rational-though often terrifying-explanations rooted in super-science, crime, or deception. This definitive volume, restored from original typescripts and rare publications, showcases Howard's mastery of the genre, blending eerie suspense with relentless action. Featuring classics like Skull-Face, The Noseless Horror, and Black Hound of Death, alongside rare fragments, unfinished tales, and newly discovered synopses, this book is a must-have for pulp fiction and adventure fans. With over 500 pages of relentless thrills and expertly crafted tension, Tales of Weird Menace is a treasure trove for anyone who loves classic pulp fiction, detective noir, and the eerie atmosphere of vintage horror-adventure storytelling.

And then came another Turk to report that a soldier had been found murdered in the upper corridors. A Turkish surgeon was brought who informed Kemul Bey that the soldier had evidently been slain by a blow from a bare fist. Kemul Bey mused upon the statement." By Allah," said the Turk, "I know of no man who could slay such a man as that soldier with his bare hands-except Gordon, whom they call El Borak." A soldier rushed into the room." Your Excellency " he shouted. "El Borak has escaped "Kemul Bey leaped from his throne." What Ho Mirza Suleiman, take fifty soldiers and search the castle. Throw a cordon about the walls and let no one leave the castle until Gordon is recaptured or slain." Then to the soldier, "How did he escape?""Your Excellency," the soldier answered, "El Borak overpowered the sentry and, taking his rifle from him, with it forced officer Nureddin to unlock the cell door. Soldiers coming to relieve the sentry found both the officer and sentry bound and gagged on the floor of the cell." Kemul Bey rose and picked up his fez. The report of a pistol sent the echoes flying from walls to ceiling and the fez flew out of Kemul Bey's hand. With a curse the Turk leaped back, snatching out a pistol. The soldiers started at the shot and raised their rifles. But they paused, uncertainly. There was nothing to tell them from whence the shot came. They stood, looking fearfully about the great castle room. All of the Howard stories, poems, letters and portions thereof contained in The Early Adventures of El Borak come from Howard's original typescripts, manuscripts, and carbons. Virtually all of the original REH papers were scanned from the Glenn Lord collection, now at the University of Texas, Austin; the Robert E. Howard collection at Texas A&M University; and the typescript collection at Cross Plains Library. CHANGES FROM THE FIRST EDITION: In this Ultimate Edition, "Drag" has been added. Transcriptions of Howard's typescripts or previously edited versions of "The Further Adventures of Lal Singh," "Red Curls and Bobbed Hair," Untitled ("Madge Meraldson"), Untitled ("The Hades Saloon"), and "The West Tower" have been restored to typescript. In the first edition, a handwritten first draft was used for "The Tale of the Rajah's Ring"; this edition uses an incomplete typed second draft, finished with the text from the handwritten first draft. Accordingly, all texts are now from REH typescripts except "Under the Great Tiger," which is from first publication." Gordon is in the castle somewhere," said Kemul Bey, somewhat recovering his poise. "Search the castle. Capture El Borak or slay him."

And then came another Turk to report that a soldier had been found murdered in the upper corridors. A Turkish surgeon was brought who informed Kemul Bey that the soldier had evidently been slain by a blow from a bare fist. Kemul Bey mused upon the statement." By Allah," said the Turk, "I know of no man who could slay such a man as that soldier with his bare hands-except Gordon, whom they call El Borak." A soldier rushed into the room." Your Excellency " he shouted. "El Borak has escaped "Kemul Bey leaped from his throne." What Ho Mirza Suleiman, take fifty soldiers and search the castle. Throw a cordon about the walls and let no one leave the castle until Gordon is recaptured or slain." Then to the soldier, "How did he escape?""Your Excellency," the soldier answered, "El Borak overpowered the sentry and, taking his rifle from him, with it forced officer Nureddin to unlock the cell door. Soldiers coming to relieve the sentry found both the officer and sentry bound and gagged on the floor of the cell." Kemul Bey rose and picked up his fez. The report of a pistol sent the echoes flying from walls to ceiling and the fez flew out of Kemul Bey's hand. With a curse the Turk leaped back, snatching out a pistol. The soldiers started at the shot and raised their rifles. But they paused, uncertainly. There was nothing to tell them from whence the shot came. They stood, looking fearfully about the great castle room." Gordon is in the castle somewhere," said Kemul Bey, somewhat recovering his poise. "Search the castle. Capture El Borak or slay him."

We all started at his wild shriek and he reeled from the corner screaming, a thing like a black cable writhing about his arm. As we looked aghast, he crashed down in the midst of the tiled floor and there tore to fragments with his bare hands the hideous reptile which had struck him." Oh Heavens " he screeched, writhing about and staring up at his mates with wild, crazed eyes. "Oh, Grand Dieu, I burn, I die Oh, saints, grant me ease "Even Bellefonte's steel nerves seemed shaken at this terrible sight, but John Gower remained unmoved. He drew a pistol and flung it to the dying man." You are doomed," said he brutally. "The venom is coursing through your veins like the fire of Hell, but you may live for hours yet. Best end your torment." La Costa clutched at the weapon as a drowning man seizes a twig. A moment he hesitated, torn between two terrible fears, then as the burning of the venom shook him with fiercer stabbings, he set the muzzle against his temple, gibbering and yammering, and jerked the trigger. The stare of his tortured eyes will haunt me till Doomsday, and may his crimes on earth be forgiven him for if ever a man passed through Purgatory in his dying, it was he." By God " said Bellefonte, wiping his brow. "This looks like the hand of Satan "

Those who are familiar with the previously published versions of the stories presented here in Spicy Adventures are in for a surprise in this volume. For if Howard's agent, Otis Kline - and us - thought that Howard's stories were perhaps too tame for publisher Armer, it turned out, upon examination of the surviving carbons and drafts, that it was in fact exactly the opposite: all of the stories had been heavily censored when first published in Spicy Adventures (and thus in the 1983 edition.) In typical fashion, Howard had gone further than the guidelines imposed, stretching the boundaries as much as possible, probably because he understood what his readers wanted. This was nothing new. All of the Howard stories and portions thereof contained in Spicy Adventures come from Howard's original typescripts, manuscripts, and carbons. Virtually all of them were scanned from the Glenn Lord collection, now at the University of Texas, Austin; the Robert E. Howard collection at Texas A&M University; or the typescript collection at Cross Plains Library. CHANGES FROM THE 1ST EDITION: In this Ultimate Edition, previously edited versions of "The Girl on the Hell Ship," "Ship in Mutiny," and "Daughters of Feud" have been restored to typescript. Five "new" earliest-known drafts have been added: "Desert Blood," "Dragon of Kao Tsu," "Murderer's Grog," "Guns of Khartoum," and "Daughters of Feud." We have also replaced the previous "early" drafts of "The Girl on the Hell Ship" and "Ship in Mutiny" with their earliest known drafts.

Those who are familiar with the previously published versions of the stories presented here in Spicy Adventures are in for a surprise in this volume. For if Howard's agent, Otis Kline - and us - thought that Howard's stories were perhaps too tame for publisher Armer, it turned out, upon examination of the surviving carbons and drafts, that it was in fact exactly the opposite: all of the stories had been heavily censored when first published in Spicy Adventures (and thus in the 1983 edition.) In typical fashion, Howard had gone further than the guidelines imposed, stretching the boundaries as much as possible, probably because he understood what his readers wanted. This was nothing new. All of the Howard stories and portions thereof contained in Spicy Adventures come from Howard's original typescripts, manuscripts, and carbons. Virtually all of them were scanned from the Glenn Lord collection, now at the University of Texas, Austin; the Robert E. Howard collection at Texas A&M University; or the typescript collection at Cross Plains Library. CHANGES FROM THE 1ST EDITION: In this Ultimate Edition, previously edited versions of "The Girl on the Hell Ship," "Ship in Mutiny," and "Daughters of Feud" have been restored to typescript. Five "new" earliest-known drafts have been added: "Desert Blood," "Dragon of Kao Tsu," "Murderer's Grog," "Guns of Khartoum," and "Daughters of Feud." We have also replaced the previous "early" drafts of "The Girl on the Hell Ship" and "Ship in Mutiny" with their earliest known drafts.

Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. He is well known for having created the character Conan the Cimmerian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond. Voracious reading, along with a natural talent for prose writing and the encouragement of teachers, conspired to create in Howard an interest in becoming a professional writer. One by one he discovered the authors that would influence his later work: Jack London and Rudyard Kipling. It's clear from Howard's earliest writings and the recollections of his friends that he suffered from severe depression from an early age. Friends recall him defending the act of suicide as a valid alternative as early as eighteen years old, describing such an end not as a tragedy but as a release from hell on earth.

Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. He is well known for having created the character Conan the Cimmerian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond. Voracious reading, along with a natural talent for prose writing and the encouragement of teachers, conspired to create in Howard an interest in becoming a professional writer. One by one he discovered the authors that would influence his later work: Jack London and Rudyard Kipling. It's clear from Howard's earliest writings and the recollections of his friends that he suffered from severe depression from an early age. Friends recall him defending the act of suicide as a valid alternative as early as eighteen years old, describing such an end not as a tragedy but as a release from hell on earth.

Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. He is well known for having created the character Conan the Cimmerian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond. Voracious reading, along with a natural talent for prose writing and the encouragement of teachers, conspired to create in Howard an interest in becoming a professional writer. One by one he discovered the authors that would influence his later work: Jack London and Rudyard Kipling. It's clear from Howard's earliest writings and the recollections of his friends that he suffered from severe depression from an early age. Friends recall him defending the act of suicide as a valid alternative as early as eighteen years old, describing such an end not as a tragedy but as a release from hell on earth.