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“The Phoenix on the Sword (First Submitted Draft)”

Now we are in the Miscellanea, where Howard’s unpublished but historically interesting Conan materials are gathered. This first draft is largely the same as the finished version but the added / cut material is insightful as to Howard’s creative process and what he was trying to establish with the characters.

“The Devil in Iron”

The scenario of Xupar is superficially similar to Xuthal and the text itself refers to the story or at least the black lotus drug. It’s a lost antiquity, a vaguely Mesoamerican metropolis that has reawakened near not-Russia. There are some political machinations to put Conan on the island. I have a feeling that this is Howard hitting his money-making stride.

“The Vale of Lost Women”

Umm

This one is a weird Africa story. Livia is a kidnapped white woman from not Italy and just saw her brother mutilated (implied to be emasculated) and murdered. She just happens to see white war chief Conan and makes an impassioned plea - she’ll be his sex slave if he kills the King and rescues her, a white woman, from these black men.

“Rogues in the House”

Okay! This is Suicide Squad. Conan, likely to be executed, is hired by a doomed man to slay the Red Priest. Through some shenanigans, both Conan AND the dude end up in the Priest’s basement, and with the recently defrocked Priest, as well. It’s a fine story but it could have been more fun had the trio done more dungeon delving or been forced to work together more outside of Thak.

“The Pool of the Black One”

More seafaring with Conan ingratiating himself with a crew of pirates but not before the captain’s desire for eldritch treasures nearly dooms the entire crew, including his not-Spanish sex slave, Sancha. This is one of those bizarre lost antiquity stories, this time consisting of a race of super-tall men who are turning people into shrunken, bone curios.

“Xuthal of the Dusk”

Conan and his slave-woman, sole survivors of an ill-fated mercenary campaign, happen across a city where the people spend most of their time dreaming under the influence of the black lotus while some eldritch being from below occasionally nabs a citizen for vittles.

“Iron Shadows in the Moon”

Another treatise on how horrible civilized people are with regards to Olivia’s situation, a princess sold by her own father to a degrading despot. The rest of this is another lost antiquity story with pirates, a “gray man ape”, and villains cursed into iron statues for torturing and killing a demigod. I don’t think that the three hazards of this story are woven together well.

“Black Colossus”

A three thousand year old sorcerer arises from suspended animation and promptly pursues the beautiful Princess Yasmela, ruler of Khoraja. She asks for aid from Mitra, who says to leave it all to the first man she sees outside of the palace. Wouldn’t you know but it’s Conan? Great battle scene, harrowing chase sequence. Not exactly an adventure in the typical sense.

“Queen of the Black Coast”

Conan falls in with a sexy lady pirate queen who takes him for her mate. This goes great until an ill-advised foray into a rumored jungle city. This is a “lost continent”-type story where the explanatory exposition is rendered by a dream induced by the black lotus. Bêlit’s questioning about the afterlife and her promise to Conan foreshadows her fate with bright, neon lights.

“The Scarlet Citadel”

This one has it all. King Conan is imprisoned by a rival nation as part of a betrayal plot. There is a bunch of dungeon delving where he sees a host of gross, horrifying things that speak to the sort of Hellish experimentation that Clark Ashton Smith cheerfully described, and then the exploration bears fruit as Conan finds a solution for the kingly intrigue that started the piece.

“The Tower of the Elephant”

Conan, like other folk not used to civilization, can’t take getting laughed at. This is a heist story where he meets a sympathetic character who is out to steal the same thing he’s after. On their way they confront lions, a giant spider, and the reason why the Tower and the Heart are of the Elephant.

“The God in the Bowl”

Hey, a murder mystery! And Conan’s fixing to take the rap for it since, well, wrong place, wrong time. The side plot of why Conan happened to be at the temple is wrapped up a bit too nearly but I guess they had to have a reason why the more or less honorable Demetrio wouldn’t face down the horror. This is also makes Thoth-amon a recurring bad guy, though not a direct rival of Conan.

“The Frost-Giant’s Daughter”

Oof. Conan is a mercenary in Viking conflicts and, as the sole survivor of a battle, is lured by a goddess-like temptress, laughing and naked, into the wastelands. It’s all fun and games for her until he slays her frost giant brothers. The tale thankfully stops short of rape. Someone explains what happened and Conan has doubters but he also has her transparent, gossamer gown.

“The Phoenix on the Sword”

The first Conan story is at something like the twilight of his years. He is the king of a country but political machinations are poised to overthrow him in an assassination attempt. The sorcery comes from the proto-Egyptian, Thoth-Amon, who through Set has the ability to summon cosmic horrors into our world to do his bidding, and which can slay men through mind-breaking insanity.

“Cimmeria”

A poem where Howard gets the name of the land from where Conan hails — “Cimmeria, land of Darkness and deep Night.” It’s a romantic image based on a rainy, mist-cloaked Texan wilderness. The whole “past lives” conceit of the 20s and 30s is the reason why our narrator, in the present day, is able to tell us of their memory of Cimmeria.

It’s time for… SWORD AND SORCERY!!!!

i don’t think that it’s a stretch to say that Tolkien’s universe, which piggybacked off his attempt to create a new mythological origin for the United Kingdom, has been more influential on fantasy as a whole. I’ve always wanted to explore Sword and Sorcery, though, and Conan as a pop culture icon rivals the entire cast of LOTR except for maybe Sméagol lol

“The Fire and the Cloud”

On the one hand, a series of humorous exchanges between Moses and a lizard, including Moses summoning just enough flies every day for the lizard to be satisfied. On the other, Moses is building, has built, the monument where he buries… the person who was Moses, if that makes any sense, before walking into the wilderness.

“She Rock”

The second evolution of the Caroline character, this time told in the Biblical style. I like the dry humor that Hurston shows here but YMMV. I prefer her characterization of “The Country In the Woman” but in this story we get an account of what happens when Caroline busts in on her husband and his mistress, basically clarifying that she doesn’t murder anyone.

“The Gilded Six-Bits”

This is a beautiful, bittersweet story about a purely happy couple who goes through a dark time after the wife is seduced by a glamorous charlatan. I love the portrayal of Missie May and Joe’s marriage, even the reeling from the infidelity. I can’t say that I’m surprised at his subtle way of showing his bitterness but I love that he can bring himself to love again.

“The Country In the Woman”

This story blends some of the circumstances in “The Eatonville Anthology” to place the axe-wielding Caroline Potts in Harlem. It develops her character a bit more and clarifies her unusual even temper and sense of humor. She is quite the woman to get her revenge by publicly embarrassing her husband and his paramours.

“Monkey Junk”

Another story with a Biblical delivery, but this one starts with the man already in Harlem. He thinks that he knows what’s going on but marries a woman who is only there for his money and when he stops spending so freely you get a blow-by-blow of the speedy deterioration of their marriage.

“The Back Room”

A story about a femme fatale who is approaching her 40s and is finally considering marrying now that her old sweetheart who she spurned is paying her a visit. By the end of the story, her fortunes have changed completely, and she is let down — hard — twice in quick succession. Lilya seems resigned in such a way that the tale is cautionary without being preachy.

“The Book of Harlem”

The opening of this story hits the exact same beats as “Book of Harlem” and cuts even the same jokes, so much that it feels like an abbreviated rewrite of “Book”. Jazzbo’s fate is a little different as he gets married, with some sardonic subtext on Hurston’s front, whereas Mandolin — “Panic” — became a Harlem intellectual.

“The Book of Harlem”

A story of one point of view of the great migration, told in the Biblical style. Mandolin is lured to Harlem by Toothsome, acting the prodigal son, and enmeshes himself in the style of well-to-do young men in Harlem. The irony of what Hurston is talking about being rendered in the Biblical language gives it a lot of its humor.

“The Eatonville Anthology”

A collection of fourteen short vignettes set within Hurston’s Eatonville that are sometimes character sketches and at others domestic situations like wives administering justice against their husbands or mistresses… in one case, it’s implied to be murder with an axe. The last story is more of another folklore tale, a just-so story between a raccoon, a rabbit, and a dog.

“‘Possum or Pig?”

This falls more firmly into one of Hurston’s folklore tales and is a very short story about a slave who has been stealing pigs and who is called on it by his master.

“Well,” he said resignedly before dipping in. “Ah put dis heah critter in heah a possum,—if it comes out a pig, ‘tain’t mah fault.”

“Under the Bridge”

Voodoo has a minor role in this story where a 58- old-man marries a beautiful, 19-year-old orphan woman and love takes its course with his 22-year-old son. Hurston explores the impossibility of the situation with all of the love Luke has for the young folk, tempering his jealousy. There is nothing furtive about their love for each other until the fateful moment under the bridge.

“Sweat”

Okay, I’m pretty sure I read this one in high school, but it could have been college. Delia is delivered from her horrifically abusive husband through his own hand, an outcome that is blindingly obvious the moment he introduces the rattlesnake.

“Muttsy”

This story is very similar to “The Conversion of Sam”, with a migrant from the south being pursued and married by a locale favorite man. This story is far more uncomfortable with the attention that Muttsy gives Pinkie, though, especially because we feel her discomfort and unhappiness. It’s also vague as to their future as Muttsy relapses into gambling, even if he’s way better than Sam at it.