Sunday, 7 September 2025

Cimmerian September 2025: A Scotalogue


In researching Conan of Caledonia, I scoured through my collections of Robert E. Howard's work for anything even vaguely related to Scotland & the Scots. Obviously the Bran Mak Morn tales, several historical adventures, the Pictish Conan adventures, & certain individual stories sprang to mind immediately. But the more I pored over the collections, the more of Scotland I found. Some of them are oblique references, perhaps even a single word or name - but once I get started on something, well, "Wha wul ti Cupar maun ti Cupar." For completeness' sake, I am indeed including the Picts of every time period, for the simple reason that Brule, Kelka, Zogar-Sag, & all the other Picts can ultimately claim their literary ancestry back to the Picts of Scotland. Howard himself does in "Kings of the Night," after all.

I've arranged the following catalogue in general written order, with Rusty Burke's essential Fiction & Verse Timeline & Paul Herman's indespensible Howard Works to sort them as best as I can.



UNDATED

"Black Harps in the Hills" (Poem)
Edward Bruce, Gaelic, Pibrock, skirl, sporran

"The Blue Flame of Vengeance" (Story; Solomon Kane)
(Macbeth quoted)

"Buccaneer Treasure" (Poem)
Captain Kidd

"The Devil's Woodchopper" (Story; Horror; completed by Tevis Clyde Smith)
Blond Young Man, Galloway, Narrator, Wood-Chopper

"A Dying Pirate Speaks of Treasure" (Poem)
(Captain) Kidd

"Eric of Norway" (Poem)
Forth, Kirkness

"The Folly of Conceit" (Fragment)
Scottish immigrants

"Gates of Empire" (Story; Historical)
Scottish borders

"Heritage" (Poem)
Lorne, Nevis

"An Incident of the Muscovy-Turkish War" (Poem)
John Paul Jones

"The King's Service" (Story; Historical)
Picts

"Meet Cap'n Kidd" (Story; Breckinridge Elkins)
Cap'n Kidd

"Mistress of Death" (Story Fragment; Dark Agnes)
John Stuart, Saint Andrew, Scotland

"A Room in London" (Outline)
Professor Cameron, University of Edinburgh

"The Rover" (Poem, partially in Scots)
Ane, awa', bide, bonny, coom(sic), gang, 'gin, Highlandsman, Scotchman, Scotland, wha'

"The Shadow of the Hun" (Story; Historical)
Hebrides, One-Eyed Scotsman, Orkney

"A Song of the Legions" (Poem)
Ancient Caledonians

"Swords of the Northern Sea" (Story; Cormac Mac Art)
Hebrides, Ladhbhan/Golmara/Valgaard, Orkney

"Tigers of the Sea" (Story; Cormac Mac Art)
Alba, Ara, Brogar, Caledon, Caledonia, Dalriadia, Eochaidh Mac Ailbe, Garth, Gol, Golka,  Grothga, Grulk, Hebrides/Sudeyar(sic), Isle of Altars, Kaldjorn, Orkney, Pictish kingdom, Picts, Scots, Shetland/Hjaltland, Strath-Clyde, Thorleif Hordi's son

Untitled Fragment ("A grey sky arched...")
Bran Mak Morn, Partha Mac Othna, Pictdom

Untitled Fragment ("He knew de Bracy...")
Angus Gordon, Highlander, Scots

Untitled Fragment, AKA "Wizard & Warrior" ("Three men sat at a table...") 
Brule, Pictland, Pictland Wizard

Untitled Fragment, AKA "Riders Beyond the Sunrise" ("Thus," said Tu...") 
Brule, Picts

Untitled Poem, AKA "The Bell of Morni" ("There's a bell that hangs...")
Heathered hills, Pictish bills

Untitled Poem, AKA "The Drums of Pictdom" ("How can I wear the harness...")
Pictdom

Untitled Story ("So There I Was...")
Captain Angus MacKenzie, Belle of Glasgow, Glasgow

Untitled Synopsis ("The story of a forgotten age...")
Bran Mak Morn, Cruithni, Picts

"Viking's Trail" (Poem)
Hebrides

"The Wandering Years" (Essay)
Scotch-Irish

1920

Untitled Essay on the Picts (Essay, circa 1920-23)
Picts

1922

"Some People Who Have Had An Influence Over Me" (Essay)
Captain Kidd

"Bran Mak Morn" AKA "Bran Mak Morn: A Play" (Play; Bran Mak Morn; circa 1922-23)
Bran Mak Morn, Dubthak, Mount Arsa, Scots

"The Iron Terror" (Story; Science Fiction; submitted to Cosmopolitan)
Claymore, Scotland

"The West Tower" (Story fragment; Steve Allison; circa 1922-23)
Allison line, Border chieftains, Fergus the Black, Galloway, Highland clans, R.L. (Robert Louis) Stevenson, Scotch Kings, Scotland, Steve Allison

1923

"The Dook of Stork," Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (7th July)
A. Conan Doyle, Highland Fling, Scotch Highlander, Scotch Mountain, Scotland

Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (24th August)
Scotland

Unfinished Book, AKA "The Wheel Turns" (Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, 5th October) 
Alba, Bran Mak Morn, Mea-lah, Merak, Neroc, Orkneyar, Orkney islands, Picts

1924

"The Lost Race" (Story; Horror; submitted to Weird Tales, returned for revisions December)
Alba, Alban Picts, Berula, Caledonia, Picts

1925

Letter to Robert W. Gordon (4th February)
Old Ballads of Scotland

"The Isle of the Eons" (Story fragment; Fantasy; circa July)
Picts

1926

"Men of the Shadows" (Story; Bran Mak Morn; submitted to Weird Tales)
Alba, Bran Mak Morn, Bran's sister, Caledon, Caledonia, Caledonians, Galloway, Hadrian's Wall, Pictish Wizard, Picts

Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (Partially in Scots; 14th January)
ain, a-yint(sic), birny, bonny, brade, burns, dinna, gang, gleg, hae, Highland Scotch, ken, lad, landie, Lowland Scotch, maun, Picts, Scots, Scotland, siller, tak, usquabay(sic), wee bit, wull

Letter to Robert W. Gordon (9th April)
Barbara Allen, Belle of Edinburgh, Black Douglas, (Robert) Bruce, Scotch Ballad, (Thomas) Randolph, St. Levins (Marie's) Loch

1927

"The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune" (Story; Kull; submitted to Weird Tales)
Brule, Picts

"The Shadow Kingdom" (Story; Kull; September)
Brule, Ka-nu, Picts

"Where Strange Gods Squall," Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (circa late August/early September)
Highlander, "Hoots, mon," kilts

"The Ballad of King Geraint" (Poem; Fall)
Aella, Angus, Donal, Dulborn, Edric the Red, Orkney, Picts, Scots, Scotsman, Strathclyde, Tweed

1928

"The Cat and the Skull" (Story; Kull; submitted to Weird Tales)
Brule, Ka-nu, Picts

"The Little People" (Story; Horror)
Galloway, Picts, Scotch

"The Screaming Skull of Silence" (Story; Kull; submitted to Weird Tales)
Brule, Ka-nu, Pictdom, Picts

"Skull-Face" (Story; Weird Menace; submitted to Weird Tales)
Scotch company

"The Striking of the Gong" (Story; Kull; submitted to Argosy)
Brule

"The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux" (Story; Horror; submitted to Fight Stories, Argosy, Ghost Stories)
Tom Molyneaux toured in Scotland

Letter to Harold Preece (20th October)
"The Shadow Kingdom"

"The Deed Beyond the Deed" (Poem, Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, circa December)
Poem in Scots (abune, alang, amain, ayint, bluid, dirl, dune(sic), gars, gi(sic), klish, misca', muckle, nae, nieves, o', sairly, scuddin', unco', wha'

"An American" (Poem, Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, circa December)
Poem partially in Scots (aiche, ain, braw, Dundee, hoot mon, mon, Montrose, nae, och, yon)

1929

"By This Axe I Rule!" (Story; Kull; rejected by Argosy & Adventure)
Brule, Ka-nu, Picts

"Swords of the Purple Kingdom" (Story; Kull)
Brule

1930

List of Stories and Characters (ca 1930s)
Bran Mak Morn, Caledonia, Hebrides, Picts, Scotland

"Wolves Beyond the Border" (Story; Conan; ca 1930s)
Picts, Teyanoga

Letter to Harold Preece (postmarked 4th January)
Highland Scottish, Lowland, Picts, Scotland

Letter to Harold Preece (circa February)
"Carthon" (Poems of Ossian, James MacPherson, Dalriadian kingdom, Fingal, Gallowglasses, James Macpherson, Malcolm Canmore, Morven, Scotchman, Scotland, Strath-Clyde

"The Dark Man" (Story; Black Turlogh; accepted for Weird Tales circa March)
Bran Mak Morn, Brogar, Caledon, Cruithni, Dalriadia, Galloway, Gonar, Grok, Hebrides, Helni/Slyne, Isle of the Altar, Isle of Swords, Morni, Mull, Osric, Pictdom, Picts, Scotch Fisherman, Thorfel

"Kings of the Night" (Story; Bran Mak Morn/Kull; accepted for Weird Tales circa March)
Alba, Bocah, Bran Mak Morn, Brule, Caledon, Caledonia, Caledonians, Cruithni, Dalriadia, Galloway,  Gonar, Gron, Kenneth MacAlpine, Morni, Picts, Shetland, Wolf clan

"The Song of a Mad Minstrel" (Poem; accepted for Weird Tales circa March)
(compare to Rudyard Kipling's "A Pict Song")

Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (circa March)
Caledonia, Dalriadian kingdom, "Kings of the Night," Picts, Scotchman, Scotland, Strath-Clyde

Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (circa May)
"The Night of the Wolf," Brulla, Hjaltland

Letter to Farnsworth Wright (circa June)
Scotland

"The Night of the Wolf" (Story; Cormac Mac Art; rejected by Argosy, 3rd June)
Brulla, Picts

"The Voice of El-Lil" (Story; Horror; accepted for Oriental Stories, circa July 1930)
Galway/Galloway

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa 1st July)
Pictish Chronicle, Picts, Scotland, Scots

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (20th July)
Picts

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa August)
Little People, Picts

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa September)
Bran, Bran-cult, "Kings of the Night," Scotch, Scotland

Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (circa early September)
"Kings of the Night"

Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, partially in Scots (circa September)
bauld, braw, hieland

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa October)
Eiarbhins/Ervins (Howard's family), Galloway, Highland clan, Picts, Robert Bruce, Scotch, Scotland

"The Children of the Night" (Story; Horror; accepted for Weird Tales circa October)
Bran cult, Galloway, Picts, Scotch

"Hawks of Outremer" (Story; Cormac Fitzgeoffrey; accepted for Oritental Stories circa October)
Scotland

Letter to Harold Preece (circa October)
"The Voice of El-Lil, Galloway, "Hawks of Outremer," Scotland

Letter to Harold Preece (circa October or early November)
Caledonia, Caledonians, "The Dark Man," Galloway, Kenith(sic) McAlpine, "Kings of the Night," "The Lost Race," "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune," Pictish kingdom, Picts, Picts of Galloway, "The Shadow Kingdom," Tuatha Feda, "The Voice of El-Lil"

Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (December)
"The Black Stone," Scotland strikes, "The Voice of El-Lil"

"The Black Stone" (Story; Horror; accepted for Weird Tales circa December)
Galloway, Picts, Scotch

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa December)
"Barbara Allen," "Caroline, the bell of Edinburgh-town," Hielan' sword, "Kings of the Night," "Pretty Polly," "William Hall, a young Highlander," Scotch, Scotchman, "The Voice of El-Lil"


1931

"Six-Gun Interview" (Story; Breckinridge Elkins; likely written 1931)
Cap'n Kidd

Letter to Wilfred Blanch Talman (Circa February)
"Kings of the Night"

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa February)
Edward Bruce, Robert Bruce, William Wallace

Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (circa 14th March)
Clan Bruce, Clan Campbell, Clan Cummins, Clan Gordon, Clan Grant, Robert Bruce

Letter to Wilfred Blanch Talman (circa April)
"Kings of the Night"

"Spears of Clontarf" (Story; Historical; submitted to Strange Tales, 1st June 1931)
Donald of Mar (Domnall mac Eimín), Gallaglachs(sic), Great Stewards of Scotland, Hebrides, Highlanders, Lennox, Orkney Mountains, Orkney, Orkneyman, Rhu Stoir, Scotland, Shetland, Sigurd (Hlodvirsson, "The Stout"), Thorwald Raven (Egilsson), Torka, Wolfgar Snorri's Son (compare with Macbeth)

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa June)
Scotland

Letter to Farnsworth Wright (circa June-July)
"A Rolling Stone," Gaelic, Highland Scotch, (Robert W.) Service

"Kelly the Conjure-Man" (Story; Horror; sent to Texas Company, 4th June)
Scotch-Irish

"Lord of Samarcand" AKA "The Lame Man" (Story; Historical; circa August)
Alba, Black Douglas, Claymore, Dalriadian, Donald MacDeesa, Donald's Clan Chief, Highlands, Highlanders, Lord Douglas (James, 2nd Earl of Douglas), Lowlands, Robert Bruce, Robert II King of Scots, Scotland, Skye

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa August)
"Barbara Allen," "Kings of the Night," Sassenach, Scotchman, Scotch-Irish ballads

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa October)
Black Douglas, Saint (Marie's) Loch, Scotland, William Wallace

"The People of the Dark" (Story; Historical/Horror; returned by Strange Tales for rewrite, 29th October)
Picts

"The Grey God Passes" (Story; Historical/Fantasy; rejected by Weird Tales, 25th December)
See "Spears of Clontarf."


1932

"The Hyborian Age" (Essay)
Gorm, Picts, Scotland

"The Cairn on the Headland" (Story; Horror; submitted to Weird Tales)
Orkney, Sigurd of Orkney

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft, circa January
Bran Mak Morn, Gaelic, Galloway, Picts, Rob Roy, Scotch, Scotch and English wars, Scottish histories, Scottish patriotism

"Worms of the Earth" (Story; Bran Mak Morn; accepted by Weird Tales, circa January-February)
Baal-dor, Bran Mak Morn, Caledon, Caledonia, Clansmen, Kilts, Grom, Partha Mac Othna, Pictdom, Pictland, Picts

Letter to Wilfred Blanch Talman (circa March)
The Scottish Gael (James Logan)

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft, circa 2nd March
Bran Mak Morn, "Kings of the Night," "The Lost Race," Picts, Highland Scotch, Scots, "Worms of the Earth"

"The Phoenix on the Sword" (Story; Conan; returned for revision by Weird Tales, 10th March)
Picts

"Marchers of Valhalla" (Story; James Allison; circa April)
Kelka, Picts

"The Tower of the Elephant" (Story; Conan; accepted for Weird Tales circa April)
Picts

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (13th July)
Dirk, Highlander, Rob Roy

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (9th August)
Bran Mak Morn, Scottish troops (battles at King's Mountain & New Orleans), William Wallace

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (22nd September)
Scottish songs

"The Scarlet Citadel" (Story; Conan; scheduled for 4th October)
Picts

Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (circa November)
"Worms of the Earth"

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (2nd November)
Sir Walter Scott

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa December)
Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Black Stone," Robert W. Service, Sir Walter Scott, "Worms of the Earth"


1933

Letter to Hugh G. Schonfield (15th June)
"The Children of the Night," "Kings of the Night," "The Scarlet Citadel," "The Tower of the Elephant"

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa July)
Arthur Conan Doyle, Bob (Robert W.) Service

"Black Canaan" (Story; Horror; sent to Otis Adelbert Kline, 17th September)
Scotch-Irish

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa September-October)
"The Black Stone," Scotland, (Robert W.) Service, "Worms of the Earth"

"Guns of the Mountains" (Story; Breckinridge Elkins; received by Otis Adelbert Kline, 8th November)
Cap'n Kidd

"A Gent from Bear Creek" (Story; Breckinridge Elkins; received by Otis Adelbert Kline, 8th November)
Cap'n Kidd

1934

"The Valley of the Worm" (Story; James Allison; February)
Grom, Picts

The Hour of the Dragon (Story; Conan; May)
(compare Gundermen to accounts of the schiltrons of Bannockburn in Chronicle of John of Trokelowe etc, Bannockburn 1914), Picts

"The Black City" (Story Fragment; Kull; dated 4th October)
Brule, Grogar, Picts

"Hawk of the Hills" (Story; El Borak; possibly sold to Top-Knotch circa October)
Highland Scotch

"Beyond the Black River" (Story; Conan; accepted by Weird Tales circa October)
Picts, Zogar-Sag

1935

Letter to Alvin Earl Perry (circa early 1935)
Bran Mak Morn, "Kings of the Night," "The Shadow Kingdom," Picts

"The Black Stranger" (Story; Conan; circa 1935)
Picts

"The Peaceful Pilgrim" AKA "Cupid from Bear Creek" (Story; Breckinridge Elkins; returned for revisions by Action Stories, 1st March)
Cap'n Kidd

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa July)
Scotland

"Graveyard Rats" (Story; Horror; sold to Thrilling Mystery, letter to August Derleth, 1st November 1935)
Scotch-Irish

"The Apache Mountain War" (Story; Breckinridge Elkins; published in Action Stories, December)
Cap'n Kidd

1936

"Pilgrims to the Pecos" (Story; Breckinridge Elkins; published in Action Stories, February)
Cap'n Kidd

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (11th February)
Ervins, Gaelic, Highlanders, Lowlanders, Scotch, Scotch-Irish

"Pistol Politics" (Story; Breckinridge Elkins; published in Action Stories, April)
Cap'n Kidd

"Black Vulmea's Vengeance" (Story; Historical; Listed in Otto Binder letter to Otis Adelbert Kline, 21st May)
McVeigh

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (9th August)
Bannockburn, Robert Bruce

"The Riot at Cougar Paw" (Story; Breckinridge Elkins; published in Action Stories, October)
Cap'n Kidd

1937

"Sharp's Gun Serenade" (Story; Breckinridge Elkins; published in Action Stories, January)
Cap'n Kidd


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