Archive for the ‘Robert E. Howard’s Fiction’ Category
Red Sonja, Conan, and Robert E. Howard
Did Robert E. Howard create Red Sonja?
Technically, Roy Thomas is the creator of Red Sonja. Thomas relates the creation of Red Sonja in his afterword for The Chronicles of Conan Volume 4: The Song of Red Sonja and Other Stories: she was inspired by Robert E. Howard’s character Red Sonya — note the spelling — in the historical adventure “The Shadow of the Vulture,” as well as certain elements of Howard’s other redheaded sword-woman, Dark Agnes.
How does Red Sonja relate to Conan?
Ostensibly, Red Sonja and Conan are contemporaries, both sharing the Hyborian Age setting. However, the Red Sonja trademark is owned by a different company than the one who owns the Conan trademark.
So does this mean Rose McGowan can be Marique in Conan the Barbarian (2011) as well as Red Sonja?
Pretty much, yeah.
The Hour of the Dragon: Novel or Novella?
Does The Hour of the Dragon count as a novel or a novella?
The problem with defining a novella is that there are wildly different schools of thought as to whether a work is long or short enough for consideration. In fact, most of the time, it’s up to the individual publisher: for some anything above 40,000 will be considered, while others it’s 70,000. I’ll compare The Hour of the Dragon to several different criteria, to see if it qualifies: the categories for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the RITA Awards, the British Fantasy Society, Lee Masterson, .
The Hour of the Dragon has 72,899 words.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Definition: 17,500 – 39,999 words
Romance Writers of America Definition: 20,000 – 40,000 words
British Fantasy Society Definition: 10,000 – 40,000 words
Lee Masterson Definition: 20,000 – 50,000 words
So from the above definitions, we can see that The Hour of the Dragon is well beyond the boundaries of novella, and into novel status. But is word count all there is? According to Mantex, it’s a more involved process.
A novel can have plots and sub-plots, a teeming cast of characters, and take place in a number of locations. But a novella is more likely to be concentrated on one issue, with just one or two central characters, and located in one place. Artistically, the novella is often unified by the use of powerful symbols which hold together the events of the story
This certainly does not apply to The Hour of the Dragon: there is a wide cast of principal characters aside from Conan himself, there are many sub-plots and parallel actions, and it takes place in a great variety of locations. Even some of the longer Conan stories are pushing that distinction, with many having more than one or two highly important characters, and taking place in many locations. There are other features of the novella featured in the article that could apply to The Hour of the Dragon, in that there is a sense of unity and seriousness – but then, the sheer length of the story would seem to preclude it.
Overall, I would say it’s fair to consider The Hour of the Dragon to be a novel.
Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Cimmerian
Did Howard ever refer to Conan as “Conan the Barbarian”?
He did not. Despite being the most commonly used epithet over the years, the creator of the character widely known as Conan the Barbarian never referred to him as such, neither in the stories, nor in his drafts, synopses or letters.
So what did Howard call him?
In the stories, Conan is most often referred to, or refers to himself, as “Conan the Cimmerian,” or “Conan of Cimmeria.” He is also once referred to as “Conan of the black hair,” “Conan the northron,” “Conan the Throat-slitter,” “Conan the buccaneer,” “Conan of the Barachan pirates,” and twice as “Conan of Aquilonia” and “Conan of Ghor,” referring to his status as , respectively, king and hetman of those places. In his letters, Howard always referred to Conan, when he used an epithet at all, as “Conan the Cimmerian.”
If not Howard, then who came up with “Conan the Barbarian” then?
There are two possibilities: Farnsworth Wright, editor of Weird Tales, used the phrase in promotional material for the magazine. The second is Howard’s friend Tevis Clyde Smith, as recalled by Novalyne Price:
Bob thought a minute. “Every way, but mostly with a character, I suppose. I’ve got a character going now-” “Conan, the Barbarian,” Clyde interrupted. “A ruthless barbarian who loves, fights, and battles the supernatural.”
— One Who Walked Alone, page 20
It’s unclear who came up with it first, but in terms of print, Wright would appear to be the first to use “Conan the Barbarian” in publishing.
Conan’s Height & Weight, and the Cormac Fitzgeoffrey Fallacy
Wikipedia says that Conan was 6’2″ and 210lbs, just like Cormac Fitzgeoffrey. Is that true?
This is a very pervasive myth, usually citing Conan and Cormac as “physical doubles at 6’2″ and 210 lb.” However, despite being mentioned on wikipedia, not only are there no references to such a comparison among Howard’s letters that I am aware of, but the very numbers are inaccurate. In “Hawks of Outremer,” Cormac FitzGeoffrey’s dimensioned were defined quite specifically: “a fraction of an inch above six feet” and was “two hundred pounds of iron muscle.” The other tales are more abstract in description: in “The Blood of Belshazzar” his height is given as “above six feet” and in “The Slave Princess,” “over six feet in height.” I have no clue to the source of this misconception, though I’d be very interested in tracking down the origin of this “factoid.”
In addition, Wikipedia states that this mirrors Howard’s own measurements. Once again, this is incorrect, as Howard gives his height and weight in a letter when he was around 22 years old:
I used to think if I ever got so I weighed 160 pounds I’d have enough self confidence to start a battle ship with. Now I stand six feet and weight 182, mostly solid muscle, and I have no more confidence in myself than I did then.
— Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, ca. March, 1928
So what were Conan’s measurements, then?
The only height and weight measurements Howard ever wrote for Conan were his statistics at the age of fifteen:
At Vanarium he was already a formidable antagonist, though only fifteen. He stood six feet and weighed 180 pounds, though he lacked much of having his full growth.
— letter to P. Schuyler Miller, March 10, 1936
That “lacked much of having his full growth” indicates that whatever Conan’s measurements were when he was fully grown, they were substantially more than when he was fifteen. While there’s only so much a man can grow in height in his later teens, he could certainly have put on muscle mass over the years. Of special note is the fact that according to Howard, the average height of the Cimmerians was 6′. This is tall even by modern standards: only the people of the Dinaric Alps and the Netherlands are taller on average. For comparison, the average height of US males today is 5’9″. For Conan to be the average height of a full-grown Cimmerian male at the age of 15 suggests he may be even taller as an adult.
A comparison to Howard’s other Gaelic and Celtic heroes may give a sense of perspective:
- Cormac Mac Art: 6′
- Cormac Fitzgeoffrey: 6′
- Turlogh Dubh: 6’1″
- “Sailor” Steve Costigan: 6′
- Kull: over 6′
It should be noted that Howard’s Norse characters were generally taller than his Gaelic heroes:
- Athelstan: “half a head taller” than Turlogh Dubh
- Halfgar (“Swords of the Northern Sea”): taller than Wulfhere (Cormac Mac Art’s companion in arms, who’s the same height as Cormac, albeit much more heavily built)
- The Germanic Legionary (protagonist of “Men of the Shadows”): 6’5″
Though there are exceptions, such as in “The Lost Race”: the Cornish king Buruc is “vastly over six feet in height,” while the Belgic-Briton Cororuc is six feet.
So even if the Cormac Fitzgeoffrey measurements are inaccurate, 6’2″ and 210lbs isn’t too far off, right?
It’s a perfectly reasonable speculative conclusion: however, it should be stressed that it is as much a supposition as any height you yourself derive. In the end, Howard never gave an exact height and weight for Conan as an adult, but one can be speculated upon by looking at the hints he left, comparison to other heroes, even comparison to Howard himself. The implication from the stories is that he was greater than 6′, and there is justification for heights ranging from 6’2″ to 6’6″ within the text.
Conan and the Issue of the Origin Story
Well, wait, if Howard never wrote an origin story for Conan, then what’s the problem with the one in Conan the Barbarian?
There are a few reasons Howard fans are not pleased with the film’s storyline. For one thing, Howard’s stories are some of the most influential, brilliantly written, and downright enjoyable Sword-and-Sorcery stories ever written, and many of the tales could form the basis of a rip-roaring, action-packed adventure film. Many stories and novels have been written by other writers, but none have eclipsed the original author: indeed, almost all of the Conan stories written by other authors have been out of print for years, while the Howard tales are experiencing a renaissance. The original stories have been adapted into the medium of comics, some many times, with very little difficulty in translation from literary to visual media. Thus, it seems baffling that a studio would choose to create a new story when the originals are so good in the first place.
Secondly, the idea of giving Conan an origin story in the first place does not sit well with many Howard fans. Conan, to many, is like Indiana Jones, James Bond, or The Man With No Name: he appears fully-formed and characterized, with no introduction that tells the audience how he came to be. This adds a certain mystique to the character, one that would be diluted if young Conan was actually depicted on screen. Raiders of the Lost Ark didn’t start with eight-year-old Indy scuffling with grave robbers; Dr. No didn’t begin with twelve-year-old Bond dispatching school bullies while spouting pithy one-liners; A Fistful of Dollars didn’t have a prologue with The Boy With No Name picking out his first poncho. Why should a Conan film start off with Conan’s childhood?
Finally, the story contradicts every clue Howard left. Howard gives a detailed description of Conan’s early life in a letter to a fan, P.S. Miller, in 1936:
He was born on a battle field, during a fight between his tribe and a horde of raiding Vanir. The country claimed by and roved over by his clan lay in the northwest of Cimmerian, but Conan was of mixed blood, although a pure-bred Cimmerian. His grandfather was a member of a southern tribe who had fled from his own people because of a blood-feud and after long wanderings, eventually taken refuge with the people of the north. He had taken part in many raids into the Hyborian nations in his youth, before his flight, and perhaps it was the tales he told of those softer countries which roused in Conan, as a child, a desire to see them. There are many things concerning Conan’s life of which I am not certain myself. I do not know, for instance, when he got his first sight of civilized people. It might have been at Vanarium, or he might have made a peaceable visit to some frontier town before that. At Vanarium he was already a formidable antagonist, though only fifteen. He stood six feet and weighed 180 pounds, though he lacked much of having his full growth.
There was the space of about a year between Vanarium and his entrance into the thief-city of Zamora. During this time he returned to the northern territories of his tribe, and made his first journey beyond the boundaries of Cimmeria. This, strange to say, was north instead of south. Why or how, I am not certain, but he spent some months among a tribe of the Aesir, fighting with the Vanir and the Hyperboreans, and developing a hate for the latter which lasted all his life and later affected his policies as king of Aquilonia. Captured by them, he escaped southward and came into Zamora in time to make his debut in print.
There are Howard fans who would accept an origin story if it would result in a true adaptation down the line, but only if that origin story gives due respect to Howard’s creation. Rusty Burke, one of the foremost Robert E. Howard scholars, wrote a “Purist Manifesto“: it is important to note that Burke does not denounce pastiches in and of themselves. However, if a film is advertising itself as being faithful and respectful to the original Howard stories, then coming up with a story that is completely contradictory to them, is simply false advertising.
Oh yeah? Well, I’d like to see you try a Conan origin story!
My pleasure. Based purely on what Howard wrote in the Miller letter and through the stories, one can form a fairly action-packed, compelling, exciting concept:
For completeness’ sake, I included annotations, showing sources where applicable.
—
Conan is born on a battlefield, during a skirmish between his clan and a band of raiding Vanir warriors. His clan is situated in Northwest Cimmeria(1). Cimmerians are a harsh and dark race(1a), who inhabit a dark land(1b). He grows up hunting mountain-beasts(2), felling hawks with stones(3), and participating in wars among other Cimmerian tribes, as well as along the Nordheim border(4). He becomes an excellent climber among the crags and cliffs of his homeland(4a), and develops strong woodcraft skills, where he can blend into the wilderness so easily that even wildlife ignore his presence(4b). He grows up to become a black-haired, blue-eyed man. His father is a blacksmith(5). His family teaches him of Crom and his dark race (5a) and Cimmerian theology(5b).
His grandfather is a warrior from a southern tribe who was chased out during a bloodfeud, and after long wanderings–perhaps among the Hyborian kingdoms–settled among the northwesterners. Grandfather inspires young Conan with stories of the Hyborian kingdoms far to the south, which he raided frequently when he was still among the southern Cimmerians, possibly instilling in the boy a desire to see those wonders(6). At the same time, the mythology of the Cimmerians gives him a healthy fear of the supernatural: ghouls, goblins, necromancers, night fiends, ghosts, hobgoblins, dwarfs, wizards and sorcerers abound in his people’s dark folklore(7).
At some point before he becomes a man, Conan breaks the neck of a wild Cimmerian bull with his bare hands(8). As a youth, Conan is so formidable a warrior that his name is repeated around the council fires of Cimmeria, even becoming a slayer of chiefs(8a). Conan himself takes part in the assault of Venarium, an Aquilonian fort-town, part of an Aquilonian attempt to conquest and colonize southern Cimmeria. The Cimmerians puts aside their blood-feuds and conflicts to gather en-mass, where they annihilate the Gundermen colonists and raze Venarium to cinders(9). It is here that Conan may have had his first encounter with civilization(10).
After Venarium, Conan’s first journey outside of his homeland is northward, where he fights alongside a group of Aesir for some time, raiding and battling Vanir and Hyperboreans. (“The Frost-Giant’s Daughter” may take place during this period.) On one ill-fated raid, he is captured by Hyperboreans, and his incarceration instills a lifelong hatred for them in the young warrior which affects his policies as king of Aquilonia. He escapes, and flees southwards into the Hyborian Kingdoms(11) of Brythunia, Nemedia, Koth and Aquilonia(12). A year after Venarium, he finds himself at the Thief-City of Zamora, where he practises his thievery for another year before the events of “The Tower of the Elephant” (with “The God in the Bowl” preceding it.)(13)
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1. He was born on a battle field, during a fight between his tribe and a horde of raiding Vanir. The country claimed by and roved over by his clan lay in the northwest of Cimmerian, but Conan was of mixed blood, although a pure-bred Cimmerian. – Letter to P.S. Miller
“I was born in the midst of a battle,” he answered, tearing a chunk of meat from a huge joint with his strong teeth. “The first sound my ears heard was the clang of swords and the yells of the slaying.”
– “Black Colossus”
“I saw again the battlefield whereon I was born,” said Conan, resting his chin moodily on a massive fist.
– The Hour of the Dragon
1a. “Life seems bitter and hard and futile. The men of those dark hills brood overmuch on unknown things. They dream monstrous dreams. Their gods are Crom and his dark race, and they believe the world of the dead is a cold, sunless place of everlasting mist, where wandering ghosts go wailing forevermore. They have no hope here or hereafter, and they brood too much on the emptiness of life. I have seen the strange madness of futility fall upon them when a little thing like a spinning dust-cloud, or the hollow crying of a bird, or the moan of the wind through bare branches brought to their gloomy minds the emptiness of life and the vainness of existence. Only in war are the Cimmerians happy.” – “The Phoenix on the Sword” (draft)
1b. “A gloomier land never existed on earth. It is all of hills, heavily wooded, and the trees are strangely dusky, so that even by day all the land looks dark and menacing. As far as a man may see his eye rests on the endless vistas of hills beyond hills, growing darker and darker in the distance. Clouds hang always among those hills; the skies are nearly always gray. Winds blow sharp and cold, driving rain or sleet or snow before them, and moan drearily among the passes and down the valleys. There is little mirth in that land.”
2. I saw myself in a pantherskin loin-clout, throwing my spear at the mountain beasts. – The Hour of the Dragon
3. … in his youth he had felled hawks on the wing. – The Hour of the Dragon
4. Conan grinned savagely, involuntarily touching the scars on his dark face. “You had known otherwise, had you spent your youth on the northern frontiers of Cimmeria! Asgard lies to the north, and Vanaheim to the northwest of Cimmeria, and there is continual war along the borders.” – “The Phoenix on the Sword
4a. … his thews had been steeled in boyhood on the sheer cliffs of his native hills. – “The Man Eaters of Zamboula”
4b. “… there is something hidden, some undercurrent of which we are not aware. I sense it as in my youth I sensed the tiger hidden in the tall grass.” – “The Phoenix on the Sword”
But the instincts of the wild were there, that had caused him in his childhood to lie hidden and silent while wild beasts prowled about his covert. – The Hour of the Dragon
5. “I am a barbarian and the son of a blacksmith.” – The Hour of the Dragon
5a. “Their chief is Crom. He dwells on a great mountain. What use to call on him? Little he cares if men live or die. Better to be silent than to call his attention to you; he will send you dooms, not fortune! He is grim and loveless, but at birth he breathes power to strive and slay into a man’s soul. What else shall men ask of the gods?” – “Queen of the Black Coast”
“By Badb, Morrigan, Macha and Nemain!” – “The Phoenix on the Sword”
“Lir an mannanan mac lir!” – “Xuthal of the Dusk”
5b. “I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom’s realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer’s Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.” – “Queen of the Black Coast”
6. His grandfather was a member of a southern tribe who had fled from his own people because of a blood-feud and after long wanderings, eventually taken refuge with the people of the north. He had taken part in many raids into the Hyborian nations in his youth, before his flight, and perhaps it was the tales he told of those softer countries which roused in Conan, as a child, a desire to see them. There are many things concerning Conan’s life of which I am not certain myself. – Letter to P.S. Miller
7. Conan listened attentively. The natural skepticism of the sophisticated man was not his. His mythology contained ghouls, goblins, and necromancers. – “Iron Shadows in the Moon”
Conan did not press the matter, nor did he look incredulous. His beliefs included night fiends, ghosts, hobgoblins and dwarfs. – The Tombalku Fragment
Wizards and sorcerers abounded in his barbaric mythology, and any fool could tell that this was no common man. – The Hour of the Dragon
8. “Hell! Break the neck of a wild Cimmerian bull before you call yourself strong. I did that, before I was a full-grown man…” – “The Man-Eaters of Zamboula”
8a. “I will count him among the chiefs whose souls I’ve sent into the dark…” – “Rogues in the House”
9. “My uncle was at Venarium when the Cimmerians swarmed over the walls. He was one of the few who escaped that slaughter. I’ve heard him tell the tale, many a time. The barbarians swept out of the hills in a ravening horde, without warning, and stormed Venarium with such fury none could stand before them. Men, women and children were butchered. Venarium was reduced to a mass of charred ruins, as it is to this day. The Aquilonians were driven back across the marches, and have never since tried to colonize the Cimmerian country. But you speak of Venarium familiarly. Perhaps you were there?”
“I was,” grunted the other. “I was one of the horde that swarmed over the walls. I hadn’t yet seen fifteen snows, but already my name was repeated about the council fires.” – “Beyond the Black River”
10. I do not know, for instance, when he got his first sight of civilized people. It might have been at Vanarium, or he might have made a peaceable visit to some frontier town before that. At Vanarium he was already a formidable antagonist, though only fifteen. – Letter to P.S. Miller
11. There was the space of about a year between Vanarium and his entrance into the thief-city of Zamora. During this time he returned to the northern territories of his tribe, and made his first journey beyond the boundaries of Cimmeria. This, strange to say, was north instead of south. Why or how, I am not certain, but he spent some months among a tribe of the Aesir, fighting with the Vanir and the Hyperboreans, and developing a hate for the latter which lasted all his life and later affected his policies as king of Aquilonia. Captured by them, he escaped southward and came into Zamora in time to make his debut in print. – Letter to P.S. Miller
12. These people were strange and mysterious to him; they were not of his kind – not even of the same blood as the more westerly Brythunians, Nemedians, Kothians and Aquilonians, whose civilized mysteries had awed him in times past. – “The Tower of the Elephant”
13. If Conan was almost 15 at Venarium, and 17 in “The Tower of the Elephant,” but arrives at the Thief-City a year after Venarium, then that leaves at least a year for Conan between arrival at the Thief-City and the events of TTotE.
Other Conan Authors
Wait a minute, I’ve seen whole rows of Conan novels on bookshelves: who wrote them, if not Howard?
Other authors. After Howard’s death, there were no new Conan stories for nearly two decades. In the 1950s, L. Sprague de Camp came upon an edition of the Gnome Press collections, and embarked upon the expansion and commercialization of Conan, resulting in the famous and iconic Lancer series. The first Conan stories by a subsequent author – referred to as pastiches in Conan fandom – were Howard fragments adapted and expanded into full short stories by de Camp and prolific author Lin Carter. When the half-dozen Conan fragments ran out, de Camp moved on to Howard’s historical and horror stories, and converted them into Conan tales. Eventually, the Howard material ran out, and de Camp hired Björn Nyberg to write the first fully-fledged pastiche novel, Conan the Avenger.
Since then, the Conan franchise has expanded to include dozens upon dozens of novels by many famous and prolific authors: Poul Anderson, Karl Edward Wagner, Robert Jordan, John Maddox Roberts, Andrew J. Offut, Roland Green, Steve Perry and even Harry Turtledove among them. With the sheer volume of books out there, it’s no wonder they run the gamut from good to abysmal, though few would say any of them matched or even approached Howard’s original stories.
Are any of the Conan books by other authors any good?
That depends. If you’re a fan of the writing in the stories, then seeking out more Robert E. Howard should be your first choice. If, however, you just love the character of Conan and the world he inhabits, then by all means try out the pastiches. Just remember the words of Karl Edward Wagner, the author of what is regarded as one of the better pastiches:
“As one of those who have written Howard pastiches, I feel that I have the right to say that pastiche-Conan is NOT the same as Robert E. Howard’s indomitable barbarian. Read such as it pleases you, but don’t delude yourself into thinking that this is anymore Robert E. Howard’s Conan than a Conan story that you decided to write yourself.”
— Karl Edward Wager, 1979
Robert E. Howard’s Conan Stories
Cool, what Conan novels should I start with?
Howard only wrote one Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon. In addition, he wrote twenty short stories and novellas, though there are four incomplete fragments and synopses.
Alright wise guy, what Conan collections should I start off with?
In my opinion, the best Conan collections by a substantial margin are those published by Del Rey: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, The Bloody Crown of Conan, and The Conquering Sword of Conan. These three books are affordable, easy to find, and filled to the gunwales with extra material – drafts, synopses, fragments, and the fantastic “Hyborian Genesis” essay by noted Howard scholar Patrice Louinet, which charts the creation of the stories. As a bonus, there are some exquisite interior illustrations by Mark Schultz, Gary Gianni and Greg Manchess respectively. They are, simply put, the essential Conan collection. The format, text and illustrations used in the Del Reys were utilized in a series of lavish and extremely limited edition tomes: Wandering Star’s Complete Conan of Cimmeria Volume 1, Complete Conan of Cimmeria Volume 2, and Book Palace Books’ Complete Conan of Cimmeria Volume 3. Those who wish to enjoy Howard’s work on audiotape need not fear, for Tantor Media have translated the Del Rey books to audiotape.
Alternatives to the Del Reys exist: in the UK, Gollancz’s The Complete Chronicles of Conan: Centenary Edition collects all the completed stories and five fragments, synopses and drafts in one attractive, leather hardback with gold foil emboss, along with an excellent essay by veteran anthologist Stephen Jones. Like the Del Rey collections, this volume places the stories and fragments in the order Howard wrote them. Unfortunately, the Centenary Edition lacks some of the apocrypha found in the Del Rey volumes, such as early drafts and synopses of finished stories. In addition, in the case of stories which appeared in Weird Tales, Jones uses the typescripts and titles as they were published, not from Howard’s original documents. In the case of the stories and fragments which did not appear in Weird Tales, versions edited by De Camp were used. All in all, I consider the Centenary Edition a good alternative to the Del Reys collections.
The stories, fragments and Stephen Jones essay were also collected in Gollancz’s Fantasy Masterworks dualogy The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle and The Conan Chronicles Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon. The first volume was later re-released as The Conan Chronicles Volume 1. These are not to be confused with the similarly-titled The Conan Chronicles, which collects three Robert Jordan stories, or The Chronicles of Conan, which are trade paperback collections of the Marvel comics. However, it should be noted that these editions arrange the stories in a speculative chronological order, not in the order in which they were written: this leads to certain problems, such as an unfortunate sense of repetition in stories that would originally have been read months apart. An additional problem resulting from the chronological ordering is that the first volume has almost all of the mediocre Conan stories, several of them in a row at the end of the book, which might damage expectations of the second volume.
The Newcomer's Guide to Robert E. Howard 