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"Shadows in the Moonlight" | |||
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Short story by Robert E. Howard | |||
Original title | Iron Shadows in the Moon | ||
Country | United States | ||
Language | English | ||
Genre(s) | Fantasy | ||
Publication | |||
Published in | Weird Tales | ||
Publication type | Pulp magazine | ||
Publisher | Rural Publishing Corporation | ||
Publication date | April 1934 | ||
Chronology | |||
Series | Conan the Cimmerian | ||
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"Shadows in the Moonlight" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard [1] and first published in Weird Tales magazine in April 1934.[ citation needed ] Howard had originally named his story "Iron Shadows in the Moon". It's set in the fictional Hyborian Age and narrates Conan's escape to a remote island in the Vilayet Sea where he encounters the Red Brotherhood, a skulking creature, and mysterious iron statues.
Olivia, having fled from her captivity in the city of Akif, is finally cornered near a marsh on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Olivia's pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. Suddenly, before Amurath can lay his hands on Olivia, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has witnessed all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There, he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly kills Amurath, and he and Olivia climb aboard a boat while deciding to lie low for a while. Only then does the stranger identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.
Conan rows towards a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping near ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a bizarre dream where she witnesses a race of dark-skinned humanoids being transformed into statues by a vengeful god, and is convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced by Olivia's fears; he's more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders down at the two fugitives.
Eventually, a pirate ship arrives on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the foliage, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from another pirate's sling. The pirates capture Conan and drag him to the ruins, where they discuss his fate, before passing out drunk. Meanwhile, Olivia narrowly escapes from a dark figure which pursues her close to the ruins.
Olivia sneaks past the drunken pirates and frees Conan. Soon, Conan slays the dark figure pursuing Olivia, a giant ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the ape, he hears the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.
The two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of bruised and bewildered pirates appear while asking for his aid in leaving the "devil island". Conan challenges the pirates and they accept him as their new captain. At the end, Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her into a "Queen of the Blue Sea".
The story was republished in the collections Conan the Barbarian (Gnome Press, 1954), Conan the Freebooter (Lancer Books, 1968), and Black Colossus (Grant, 1979). It has more recently been published in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle (Gollancz, 2000), Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933) (Del Rey, 2003), and The Complete Chronicles of Conan (Gollancz, 2006).
The story was adapted by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala in Savage Sword of Conan #4 in 1974, then by Tim Truman and Tomás Giorello in Conan the Cimmerian #22-25 in 2010. The Marvel adaptation uses the title Iron Shadows in the Moon, and was reprinted in issue 13 of "Conan Saga" dated May 1988. In 2019, Editions Glénat published a new version by Virginie Augustin (script and pencils) in a one-shot volume (78 pages). The story has also been adapted by publishing company Ablaze in their "Cimmerian" series of comics as The Cimmerian: Iron Shadows in the Moon.
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films, television programs, video games, and role-playing games. Robert E. Howard created the character in 1932 for a series of fantasy stories published in Weird Tales magazine.
Kull of Atlantis or Kull the Conqueror is a fictional character created by writer Robert E. Howard. The character was more introspective than Howard's subsequent creation, Conan the Barbarian, whose first appearance was in a re-write of a rejected Kull story.
"The Phoenix on the Sword" is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine in December 1932. The tale, in which Howard created the character of Conan, was a rewrite of the unpublished Kull story "By This Axe I Rule!", with long passages being identical. The Conan version of the story was republished in the collections King Conan and Conan the Usurper. It has most recently been republished in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932–1933). It is set in the fictional Hyborian Age and details Conan foiling a plot to unseat him as king of Aquilonia.
"Jewels of Gwahlur" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard. Set in the fictional Hyborian Age, it concerns several parties, including Conan, fighting over and treasure hunting for the eponymous treasure in Hyborian Africa. The tale was first published in the March, 1935 issue of Weird Tales. Howard's original title for the story was "The Servants of Bit-Yakin".
"Queen of the Black Coast" is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine c. May 1934. Set during the fictional Hyborian Age, Conan becomes a notorious pirate plundering the coastal villages of Kush alongside Bêlit, a head-strong femme fatale.
"Rogues in the House" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine in January 1934. It is set in the fictional Hyborian Age and concerns Conan inadvertently becoming involved in the struggle between two powerful men fighting for control of a city-state. It was the seventh Conan story Howard had published. It features a fight between Conan and an intelligent ape-like hominid.
"Shadows in Zamboula" is one of the original stories by Robert E. Howard about Conan the Cimmerian, first published in Weird Tales in November 1935. Its original title was "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula".
"Black Colossus" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine, June 1933. Howard earned $130 for the sale of this story.
"The Slithering Shadow" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in the September 1933 issue of Weird Tales magazine. "The Slithering Shadow" is the original title, but the story is also known as "Xuthal of the Dusk" in further publications. It is set in the fictional Hyborian Age, and concerns Conan discovering a lost city in a remote desert while encountering a Lovecraftian demon known as Thog.
"The Devil in Iron" is one of the original stories by American writer Robert E. Howard about sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, first published in Weird Tales in August 1934. Howard earned $115 for the publication of this story.
"The Pool of the Black One" is one of the original short stories starring the sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard. It was first published in Weird Tales in October 1933. It's set in the fictional Hyborian Age, and concerns Conan becoming the captain of a pirate vessel while encountering a remote island with a mysterious pool which has the power of transmutation.
"The Frost-Giant's Daughter" is one of the original fantasy short stories about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard.
"The Black Stranger" is a fantasy short story by American writer Robert E. Howard, one of his works featuring the sword & sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian. It was written in the 1930s, but not published in his lifetime. When the original Conan version of his story failed to find a publisher, Howard rewrote "The Black Stranger" into a piratical Terence Vulmea story entitled "Swords of the Red Brotherhood".
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian is the first of a three-volume set collecting the Conan stories by author Robert E. Howard. It was originally published in 2002, first in the United Kingdom by Wandering Star Books under the title Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932–1933) and the following year in the United States by Ballantine/Del Rey under the present title. The Science Fiction Book Club reprinted the complete set in hardcover; the set presents the original, unedited versions of Howard's Conan tales. This volume includes thirteen short stories as well as miscellanea for Howard fans and enthusiasts and is illustrated by comic book artist Mark Schultz.
Bêlit is a character appearing in the fictional universe of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian. She is a pirate queen who has a romantic relationship with Conan. She appears in Howard's Conan short story "Queen of the Black Coast", first published in Weird Tales #23. She is the first substantial female character to appear in Howard's Conan stories. Partly thanks to her substantial appearance in the Marvel Comics' Conan series, the character is recognized as being Conan's "true love".
Conan, the sword-and-sorcery character created by Robert E. Howard, is the protagonist of seven major comic series published by Dark Horse Comics. The first series, titled simply Conan, ran for 50 issues from 2004 to 2008; the second, titled Conan the Cimmerian, began publication in 2008 and lasted 25 issues until 2010; the third series, titled Conan: Road of Kings, started publishing in December 2010 and ended in January 2012 after 12 issues; a fourth series, titled Conan the Barbarian, continuing from Road of Kings, lasted 25 issues from February 2012 to March 2014; a fifth series, titled Conan the Avenger, started publishing in April 2014 and ended in April 2016 after 25 issues; a sixth and final series, titled Conan the Slayer lasted 12 issues from July 2016 to August 2017.
The Conan Chronicles: Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle is a collection of fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The book was published in 2000 by Gollancz as eighth volume of their Fantasy Masterworks series. The book, edited by Stephen Jones, presents the stories in their internal chronological order. Most of the stories originally appeared in the magazines The Phantagraph, Weird Tales, Super-Science Fiction, Magazine of Horror and Fantasy Fiction.
The Complete Chronicles of Conan: Centenary Edition is a collection of fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The book was published in 2006 by Gollancz and is an omnibus of their earlier collections The Conan Chronicles, Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle and The Conan Chronicles, Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon, though the stories are rearranged. The collection is edited by Stephen Jones and was issued to celebrate the centenary of Howard's birth. Most of the stories originally appeared in the magazines The Phantagraph, Weird Tales, Super-Science Fiction, Magazine of Horror, Fantasy Fiction, Fantasy Magazine and The Howard Collector.
Conan and the Shaman's Curse is a fantasy novel by American writer Sean A. Moore, featuring Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in paperback by Tor Books in January 1996.
Conan of the Red Brotherhood is a fantasy novel by American writer Leonard Carpenter featuring Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. It was first published in paperback by Tor Books in February 1993, and reprinted in 1998.