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

"The Blue Flame of Vengeance"
(Macbeth quoted)

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

The Folly of Conceit (Fragment)
Scottish immigrants

"Gates of Empire"
Scottish borders

"Heritage" (Poem)
Lorne, Nevis

"The King's Service"
Picts

"Meet Cap'n Kidd"
Cap'n Kidd

"Mistress of Death" (Fragment)
John Stuart, Saint Andrew, Scotland

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

"The Rover" (Poem)
Scotland

"The Shadow of the Hun"
Hebrides, One-Eyed Scotsman, Orkney

"Song of the Pict"
Picts

"A Song of the Race" (Poem)
Bran Mak Morn

"Swords of the Northern Sea"
Hebrides, Ladhbhan/Golmara/Valgaard, Orkney

"Tigers of the Sea"
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 ("Three men sat at a table...") AKA "Wizard & Warrior"
Brule, Pictland, Pictland Wizard

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

Untitled Poem ("There's a bell that hangs...")
Heathered hills, Pictish bills

Untitled Poem, AKA "The Drums of Pictdom"
Pictdom

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

"Viking's Trail" (Poem)
Hebrides

"The Wandering Years" (Essay)
Scotch-Irish

1920

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

1922

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

"Bran Mak Morn" (circa 1922-23)
Bran Mak Morn, Cruithni, Picts

"The Iron Terror" (submitted to Cosmopolitan)
Claymore, Scotland

"The West Tower" (circa 1922-23)
Allison line, Border chieftains, Fergus the Black, Galloway, Highland clans, Scotch Kings, Scotland, Steve Allison

1923

"The Dook of Stork," Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (7th July)
Scotch Highlander, 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" (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" (circa July)
Picts

1926

"Men of the Shadows" (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 (14th January)
Highland Scotch, Picts, Scots, Scotland

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" (submitted to Weird Tales)

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

"The Ballad of King Geraint" (Fall)
Dulborn, Picts

1928

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

"The Little People" (written circa)
Galloway, Picts, Scotch

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

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

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

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

Letter to Harold Preece, 20th October

"The Deed Beyond the Deed" (Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith, circa December)
Poem in Scots

1929

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

"The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux," AKA "The Apparition in the Prize Ring" (published April)
Tom Molyneaux toured in Scotland

"Swords of the Purple Kingdom"
Brule

1930

"The Dark Man" (accepted for Weird Tales circa March)
Bran Mak Morn, Brogar, Caledon, 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" (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" (accepted for Weird Tales circa March)
(compare to Rudyard Kipling's "A Pict Song")

Letter to Harold Preece (4th January)
Picts, Scotland

Letter to Harold Preece (circa February)
Dalriadian kingdom, Gallowglasses, James Macpherson, Malcolm Canmore, Scotland, Strath-Clyde

Letter to Harold Preece (circa March)
Caledonia, Dalriadian kingdom, Picts, Scotland

Letter to Farnsworth Wright (circa June)
Scotland

"The Night of the Wolf" (rejected by Argosy, 3rd June)
Brulla, Picts

"The Voice of El-Lil" (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)
Scotland

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

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

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" (accepted for Weird Tales circa October)
Bran cult, Galloway, Picts, Scotch

"Hawks of Outremer" (accepted for Oritental Stories circa October)
Scotland

Letter to Harold Preece, October-November
Caledonia, Caledonians, Galloway, Kenith(sic) McAlpine, Picts, Tuatha Feda

Letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (December)
Scotland strikes

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

"Six-Gun Interview" (likely written 1931)
Cap'n Kidd


1931

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, Caln Cummins, Clan Gordon, Clan Grant, Robert Bruce

"Spears of Clontarf" (submitted to Strange Tales, 1st June 1931)
Donald of Mar, Hebrides, Highlanders, Lennox, Orkney, Rhu Stoir, Scotland, Shetland, Thorwald Raven

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa June 1931)
Scotland

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

"Lord of Samarcand" (as "The Lame Man," 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 October)
Black Douglas, Saint (Marie's) Loch, Scotland, William Wallace

"The People of the Dark" (returned by Strange Tales for rewrite, 29th October)
Picts

"The Grey God Passes" (rejected by Weird Tales, 25th December)
See "Spears of Clontarf"


1932

"The Hyborian Age"
Gorm, Picts, Scotland

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

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft, circa January
Bran Mak Morn, Galloway, Picts, Rob Roy, Scottish histories, Scottish patriotism

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

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft, circa 2nd March
Bran Mak Morn, Picts, Highland Scotch, Scots

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

"Marchers of Valhalla" (circa April)
Kelka, Picts

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (13th July)
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)
Scotland songs

1933

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

Letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa September-October)
Scotland

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

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

1934

"The Valley of the Worm" (February)
Grom, Picts

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

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

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

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

1935

"The Black Stranger" (circa 1935)
Picts

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

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

"Graveyard Rats" (sold to Thrilling Mystery, letter to August Derleth, 1 November 1935) Steve Harrison's Casebook
Scotch-Irish

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

1936

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

"Pistol Politics" (published in Action Stories, April)
Cap'n Kidd

"Black Vulmea's Vengeance" (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" (published in Action Stories, October)
Cap'n Kidd

1937

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


No comments:

Post a Comment