The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane Read online

  In some of his letters to Lovecraft he expressed another variation on this theme: the feeling that he was somehow born out of his proper time. He frequently bemoaned the fate that had him born too late to have participated in the taming of the frontier. “I only wish I had been born earlier – thirty years earlier, anyway. As it was I only caught the tag end of a robust era, when I was too young to realize its meaning. When I look down the vista of the years, with all the ‘improvements', ‘inventions' and ‘progress' that they hold, I am infinitely thankful that I am no younger. I could wish to be older, much older. Every man wants to live out his life's span. But I hardly think life in this age is worth the effort of living. I'd like to round out my youth; and perhaps the natural vitality and animal exuberance of youth will carry me to middle age. But good God, to think of living the full three score years and ten!”

  Howard also seems to have had an abhorrence of the idea of growing old and infirm. A month before his death he'd written to August Derleth: “Death to the old is inevitable, and yet somehow I often feel that it is a greater tragedy than death to the young. When a man dies young he misses much suffering, but the old have only life as a possession and somehow to me the tearing of a pitiful remnant from weak fingers is more tragic than the looting of a life in its full rich prime. I don't want to live to be old. I want to die when my time comes, quickly and suddenly, in the full tide of my strength and health.”

  For a young man, Howard seems to have had an exaggerated sense of growing old. When he was only 24 he wrote to Harold Preece, “I am haunted by the realization that my best days, mental and physical, lie behind me.” Novalyne Price recalls that during the time they were dating, in 1934–35, Bob often said that he was in his “sere and yellow leaf,” echoing a phrase from Macbeth: “I have lived long enough, my way of life | Is fal'n into the sere, the yellow leaf . . .”

  Also in his May 1936 letter to Derleth, Howard mentioned that “I haven't written a weird story for nearly a year, though I've been contemplating one dealing with Coronado's expedition on the Staked Plains in 1541.” This suggests that “Nekht Semerkeht” may well have been the last story Howard started, and if so, it is of interest here, in that it dwells upon the idea of suicide. “The game is not worth the candle,” thinks the hero, de Guzman:

  “‘Oh, of course we are guided solely by reason, even when reason tells us it is better to die than to live! It is not the intellect we boast that bids us live–and kill to live–but the blind unreasoning beast-instinct.'

  “Hernando de Guzman did not try to deceive himself into believing there was some intellectual reason, then, why he should not give up the agonizing struggle and place the muzzle of his pistol to his head; quit an existence whose savor had long ago become less than its pain.”

  And in the end, it may be that stress played an important role in his decision to take his own life. His mother's worsening illness had necessitated frequent absences from home, to take her to medical facilities in other parts of the state, and even when the Howards were home, Bob had little uninterrupted time, or peace, in which to write. He worried constantly about his mother. It may be that a complex array of forces coalesced to convince him of the futility of existence, and to impel him to take a long-contemplated course of action.

  Howard planned for his death very carefully. He made arrangements with his agent, Otis Kline, for the handling of his stories in the event of his death. He carefully put together the manuscripts he had not yet submitted to Weird Tales or the Kline agency, with instructions on where they were to be sent. He borrowed a gun, a .380 Colt automatic, from a friend who was unaware of his plans. Dr. Howard may have hidden Bob's own guns, aware of what he might be contemplating. He said that he had seen his son make preparations on earlier occasions when it appeared Mrs. Howard might die. He said that he was trying to keep an eye on his son, but that he did not expect him to act before his mother died.

  Hester Howard sank into her final coma about the 8th of June, 1936. On the 10th, Bob went to Brownwood and purchased a cemetery lot for three burials, with perpetual care. He asked Dr. J.W. Dill, who had come to be with Dr. Howard during his wife's final illness, whether anyone had been known to live after being shot through the brain. Unaware of Bob's plan, the doctor told him that such an injury meant certain death.

  Dr. Howard related that Robert had disarmed him of his intentions the night before, assuming “an almost cheerful attitude”: “He came to me in the night, put his arm around me and said, buck up, you are equal to it, you will go through it all right.” He did not know, he said, that on the morning of the 11th, Robert asked the nurse attending Mrs. Howard if she thought his mother would ever regain consciousness, and that the nurse had told him she would not.

  He then left the room, and was next seen leaving the house and getting into his car. The cook he and his father had hired said later that, looking through the kitchen window, she saw him raise his hands in prayer, though what looked to her like prayer may have been holding up the gun to get it ready. She heard a shot, and saw Robert slump over the steering wheel. She screamed. Dr. Howard and Dr. Dill ran out to the car and carried Bob back into the house. Both were country doctors, and they knew that no one could live with the kind of injury Bob had sustained. He had shot himself above the right ear, the bullet emerging on the left side.

  Robert Howard's robust health allowed him to survive this terrible wound for almost eight hours. He died at about 4:00 in the afternoon, Thursday, June 11, 1936, without ever regaining consciousness. His mother died the following day, also without regaining consciousness. A double funeral was held on June 14, and the mother and son were transported to Brownwood for burial.

  In Robert's room, a four line couplet was reportedly found on his typewriter:

  All fled, all done

  So lift me on the pyre.

  The feast is over

  And the lamps expire.

  Gary Gianni

  Gary Gianni graduated from The Chicago Academy of Fine Art in 1976. From there, he worked for the Chicago Tribune as an illustrator and Network Television News as a courtroom sketch artist. His artwork has appeared in numerous magazines, children's books and paperbacks.

  1990 marked his debut in the illustrated graphic novel field with adaptations of The Tales of O. Henry and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for the Classics Illustrated series.

  At Dark Horse Comics, he wrote and drew Indiana Jones and the Shrine of the Sea Devil, collaborated with such major writers as Harlan Ellison and Andrew Vachss and teamed up with Michael Kaluta to work on the enduring pulp hero, The Shadow. He is the creator of Corpus Monstrum Mysteries running as a back-up feature in Mike Mignola's Hellboy.

  Gianni says: “I have always wanted to produce a book that may stand the test of time. I hope somebody could pick this thing up and say, oh, this is a very classically, traditionally illustrated book. It doesn't look like it's rooted in the 1990s when it was done. I tried to stay away from things that might pinpoint when it was actually produced. That way, maybe it'll always have some merit, like the old Harryhausen films, the old Thief of Baghdad. They have certain qualities to them because the people really cared about what they were doing. I care about Howard and I have grown to care for Kane, hopefully this will have that same feel as those masters of genres.”

  Al Williamson said of Gianni, “He is a wonderful artist, he brings to his work the feeling and love of the great pulp illustrators.” Scott Gustafson compares his work with the old Brandywine painting tradition of N.C.Wyeth with his “sheer love of drawing.”

  Gary's work harks back to the golden age of illustrating, to people like Vierge, Clement Coll, Booth and Krenkel.

  In 1997, his illustrations won him The Eisner Award for Best Short Story, Heroes, in Batman: Black and White, for DC Comics.

  Notes on the Original Howard Text

  The texts for this edition of The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane were prepared by Rusty Burke and David Gentzel, with the assistance of Glenn Lord, Rob
Jones, Bill Cavalier, and Steve Trout. The stories which appeared in Weird Tales have been carefully checked against the magazine appearances; the whereabouts of the typescripts for these stories is unknown, and they are presumed lost. Other stories have been checked against Howard's original typescripts, provided by Lord, or against the first known publication, when typescripts were unavailable. Every effort has been made to present the text as written by Robert E. Howard, as faithfully as practicable.

  Deviations from original sources are detailed in these textual notes. In the following notes, page, line, and word numbers are given as follows: 21.3.2, indicating page 21, third line, second word. Story titles, chapter titles, and breaks before and after chapter headings or titles are not counted; in poems, 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.

  Two types of changes are not detailed here. We have standardized chapter numbering and titling; Howard's and Weird Tales' practices varied. Standard Weird Tales practice was to italicize non-English words, such as m'sieu or senhor, except when they were followed by a proper name. We have not italicized these words, following Howard's own practice.

  Skulls in the Stars

  Originally appeared in Weird Tales, January 1929. No changes were made for this appearance.

  The Right Hand of Doom

  Text taken from typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. 21.3.2: no hyphen in “high pitched”; 21.8.1: comma after “voice”; 21.13.11: “end of noose”; 22.3.8: comma after “boasted”; 22.9.10: “That” capitalized; 22.19.7: comma after “resentfully”; 22.24.2: no hyphen in “long stemmed”; 23.1.4: no comma after “tomorrow”; 23.10: four asterisks mark section break; 24.1.10: comma after “in”; 24.3.4: no hyphen in “evil visaged”; 24.9.6: comma after “hairy”; 24.12.7: “spell bound” as two words; 24.13.10: “up” repeated; 24.14.2: “bed stead” as two words; 24.16.8: “the” for “a”; 24.28.1-2: “human hand” in capitals; 25.22.1: comma after “gasped”; 25.25: four asterisks mark section break; 26.15.7: “a” omitted (“as man that”); 27.13.2: comma after “Kane”

  Red Shadows

  Originally appeared in Weird Tales, August 1928. 37.28.1: “mephistophelean”; 40.8.7: comma after “idly”; 47.4.7: “hog-like” hyphenated at line break; similar constructions elsewhere in the story (e.g., “catlike”) not hyphenated; 52.3.12: “rôle”; 52.4.8: omits closing quotation marks; 52.8.7: closing quotation marks omitted; 56.19.10: “is” is not capitalized; 58.6.1: “swaying”; 69.19.4: “man-like” hyphenated at line break; similar constructions elsewhere in the story (e.g., “catlike”) not hyphenated

  Rattle of Bones

  Originally appeared in Weird Tales, June 1929. 79.24.5: “the” omitted

  The Castle of the Devil

  Text taken from typescript, provided by Glenn Lord. 87.15.5: period after “garb”; 87.16.4: comma after “horse”; 87.19.7: there is a blank space in the typescript, indicating that a place name was to be filled in later (“Genoa” added by Lord); 87.21.2: comma after “voice”; 87.27.1: “Where-ever”; 88.1.4: “over-tax”; 88.15.6: “You” capitalized; 88.18.4: following “soldiery” is the word “in,” followed by a blank space indicating a place-name to be filled in later; 88.18.9: following “going to” there is a blank space, indicating a place name to be filled in later (“Genoa” added by Lord); 88.18.10: “to” not in typescript; 88.26.2: “t'is”; 88.29.7: “t'is”; 89.5.3: comma after “mildly”; 89.11.3: “You” capitalized; 89.15.6: a hyphen rather than a period follows “impatience”; 89.18.1: no opening quotation marks; 89.19.9: comma after “grimly”; 89.26.6: comma after “Kane”; 89.30.9: “way farers” as two words; 90.2.1: “so-journs”; 90.8.9: comma after “somberly”; 90.14.8: comma after “suddenly”; 90.15.2: “T'is”; 90.18.9: “But” capitalized

  Death's Black Riders

  Originally appeared in The Howard Collector, volume 2, number 4 (whole number 10), Spring 1968. No changes have been made for this publication.

  The Moon of Skulls

  Originally appeared in Weird Tales, June and July 1930 (two-part serial). 107.19.6: “swordsman”; 111.18.11: “pæan”; 122.26.5: “Taferel”; 123.8.7: omits “for”; 128.2.1: comma after “muttered”; 133.21.11: closing quotation marks omitted; 133.31.9: comma after “said”; 166.11.1: “hour”

  The One Black Stain

  Originally appeared in The Howard Collector, volume 1, number 2 (whole number 2), Spring 1962. 173.14.5: “sombre”; 174.12.3: “sombrely”; 175.16.3: “sombre.” The typescript from which The Howard Collector version was taken was not located in time for this publication. Three other drafts of the poem exist, and all three conform to the American spelling, “somber.” We have accordingly used this spelling. Otherwise the text is identical with that in The Howard Collector.

  The Blue Flame of Vengeance

  Text taken from typescript, provided by Bill Cavalier. This story was revised by another author for its first publication; when the Howard-only version was first published, it was retitled “Blades of the Brotherhood.” We have restored Howard's original title. 179, heading: no period after “corpses,” period after “Kane”; 179.7.4: no hyphen in “blue eyed”; 180.1.3: “the” not capitalized; 180.7.2: no hyphen in “black eyed”; 180.12.1: comma after “oath”; 180.12.9: “T'is”; 180.16.3: comma after “steel”; 180.19.4: comma after “Rupert”; 180.23.7: no apostrophe in “an”; 181.3.11: “drift wood” as two words; 181.13.5: no hyphen in “gilt work”; 181.15.8: “home spun” as two words; 182.5.6: no hyphen in “sweat plastered”; 182.9.7: no hyphen in “moss grown”; 182.13.7: “sea-ward”; 182.14.5: no hyphen in “deep-throated”; 182.20.5: “It's” capitalized; 182.20.8: “villian”; 182.26.1: comma after “fell”; 182.28.4: comma after “passionately”; 183.14.1: no apostrophe in “An”; 183.22.8: no em-dash after “teeth!”; 183.27.4: comma after “Randel”; 183.30.8: comma after “other”; 184.11.1: “T'would”; 184.12.3: “THAT” all caps; 184.12.5: “t'will”; 185.9.3: “surplous”; 185.26.8: no hyphen in “smooth shaven”; 185.28.6: no hyphen in “corpse like”; 185.30.4: “vitallity”; 186.14.4: “this waist”; 186.26.9: “On” capitalized; 187.27.10: no apostrophe in “ships”; 187.29.1: “T'is”; 187.30.1: comma after “Kane”; 188.28.1: “were” for “where”; 188.32.7: comma after “sombrely”; 189.12.6: no hyphen in “dream haunted”; 190.8.7: “villiany”; 190.12.4: comma after “clothes”; 190.20.6: comma after “he”; 190.28.8: no hyphen in “evil visaged”; 191.8.4: no hyphen in “boulder torn”; 191.26.1: comma after “whisper”; 192.1.2: “as” omitted; 192.17.8: no hyphen in “sticky looking”; 192.28.1: “devided”; 193.8.9: “evidene”; 193.9.4: no hyphen in “jewel hilted”; 193.9.8: no hyphen in “silver chased”; 193.15.7: no hyphen in “silver buckled”; 193.29.7: no hyphen in “broad shouldered”; 194.4.1: “resplendant”; 194.4.3: no hyphen in “gold work”; 194.5.1: no hyphen in “scroll worked”; 194.15.2: “lips”; 194.21.3: comma after “words”; 194.32.2: “t'is”; 194.32.3: “YOUR” all caps; 194.33.1: “JACK” all caps; 195.9.8: “dissaray”; 195.13.6: comma after “jack”; 195.16.2: no hyphen in “black hearted”; 195.17.5: comma after “effort”; 195.18.5: no hyphen in “white livered”; 195.19.10: no apostrophe in “an”; 195.23.7: comma after “admiringly”; 195.27.6: comma after “rat”; 196.4.4: “weared”; 196.5.1: “tow”; 196.6.2: “jovialty” followed by a comma; 196.14.2: no apostrophe in “its”; 196.19.7: “How” capitalized; 196.20.5: “missal”; 196.21.4: comma after “aloud”; 196.21.7: “writtin”; 196.25.8: “hairsute”; 196.26.2: comma after “glee”; 196.30.5: “t'is”; 197.10.1: “down hearted” as two words; 197.11.1: no apostrophe in “havent”; 197.20.1: no apostrophe in “Its”; 197.23.6: comma after “back”; 197.25.5: “THAT” all caps; 197.28.6: comma after “up”; 198.4.9: “You” capitalized; 198.8.3: comma after “direly”; 198.20.2: no hyphen in “low drawn”; 198.22.7: comma after “tonelessly”; 200.10.1: “cut throat” as two words; 202.14.4: comma after “Fishhaw
k”; 202.16.6: comma after “it”; 202.21.3: double quotation marks before and after “The Flying Heart”; 202.28.7: “her”; 203.1.1-6: “YES, I, YOU DAMNED BLACK SWINE!” all caps; 203.16.2: “For” capitalized; 203.18.9: “You'd” capitalized; 203.21.9: “And” capitalized; 203.27.8: “YOU” all caps; 204.3.2: comma after “armor”; 204.7.5: “But” capitalized; 204.10.1: comma after “somberly”; 204.11.6: comma after “triumphantly”; 204.11.7: no apostrophe in “An”; 204.23.4: “by-word”; 205.17.5: comma after “muttered”; 206.5.8: comma after “approach”; 206.7.2: “AM” all caps; 206.8.1: comma after “somberly”; 206.10.3: “But” capitalized; 206.11.4: “BLOOD” all caps; 206.14.5: no hyphen in “down turned”; 206.16.3: no hyphen in “steel spring”; 209.28.9: “blood stained” as two words; 210.14.2: no comma after “Hollinster”; 210.15.3: no hyphen in “trance like”; 210.28.2: “soullfully”; 211.7.1: “T'is”; 211.17.5: no comma after “Jack”; 211.27.6: comma after “requested”; 212.19.4: no hyphen in “red hot”; 213.4.3: no hyphen in “self reproaches”; 213.5.11: comma after “youth”; 213.14.4: comma after “brought”; 213.22.3: “be” omitted; 214.5.7: comma after “brow”; 214.13.9: no hyphen in “evil looking”; 214.15.4: comma after “house”; 214.15.6: “was”; 214.17.1: “recieved”; 215.11.11: no hyphen in “long boat”; 215.13.1: “boat load” as two words; 215.25.4: “NO” all caps; 215.25.8: comma after “rasp”; 215.29.9: “sun-rise”; 216.25.1: no hyphen in “blood blinded”; 216.29.11: no comma after “Jack”; 217.13.11: comma after “himself”; 218.6.5: no hyphen in “breath taking”; 218.14.1: “adversay”; 218.23.4: “t'was”; 218.23.9: “your's”; 218.31.9: no hyphen in “white faced”; 219.6.5: comma after “hearers”; 219.23.4: comma after “blood”; 220.4.5: comma after “sea”; 220.7.8: comma after “him”; 220.9.1: “distruction”; 220.14.2: “But” capitalized; 220.19.10: comma after “him”; 220.22.3: comma after “tenderly”; 220.22.4: “T'is”; 220.27.5: comma after “man”; 220.27.6: “a” lower case; 220.28.7: comma after “eyes”; 220.29.8: “where-ever”