Edited by Leo Grin | Illustrated by Dalmatius
40 pages

This issue was printed in two editions. The deluxe edition, numbered 1–75, uses a black linen cover with foil-stamped gold text. The limited edition, numbered 76–225, uses a gold cover with solid black text.

DELUXE COPIES DESTROYED: 15

LIMITED COPIES DESTROYED: 61

Features an important biographical essay by Rusty Burke, a series of scans featuring rarely seen REH biographical documents, a short article on Howard’s use of guns by J. D. Charles, the beginning of an ambitious Hyborian poetry cycle by Richard L. Tierney, coverage of the recent Cross Plains Fire, an obituary of Howard heir Zora Mae Bryant, art, letters, and more.

EXCERPTS:

Not long after my “All Fled” article appeared in The Dark Man, a Howard fan wrote to ask me to explain something: if the suicide couplet was found in Howard’s typewriter, then why did Dr. Isaac Howard write in a letter to H. P. Lovecraft that it had been found in his son’s billfold? Um. . .er. . .good question.

— from “The Note” by Rusty Burke

Robert E. Howard, world-famous writer, was born in the tiny town of Peaster, Texas on January 22, 1906. Thirty years, four months, and twenty days later, he died in Cross Plains of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The readers of this journal are usually concerned with what happened between those two events. Yet the following seldom-seen documents provide a fascinating glimpse into the peripheries of a life.

— from “Birth and Death” by Leo Grin

REH had a wide knowledge of how real guns look and feel, as well as which guns are appropriate to the uses they will be put to. When describing the large caliber Colt .45 peacemaker, he usually mentions the fact that it is a heavy gun. Most writers of Westerns probably never picked one up, so they assume that if Kirk Douglas can twirl one flashily on the Late, Late Show it must not be very heavy. Howard also mentions such little details as, “the firing pin being poised on the face of the hammer like a wicked fang.” Pick up an authentic Single Action .45 revolver of Colt make or style, and the first thing you notice is that it is heavy as a brick. Cock the gun, and you will find that firing pin sticking out like a serpent’s tooth, right where REH says it will be.

— from “REH and Guns” by J. D. Charles

A single star within that darkening sky
Seemed as a portent of my life to come —
Dark lands, dark dooms, the sound of a dark drum,
A darksome Fate that I could ne’er deny.
Those who have known that grim Dark Valley’s spell
In strange, dark visions shall forever dwell.

— from “The Doom of Hyboria” by Richard L. Tierney

Morgan goes on to suggest that we start checking flea markets and antique stores in Texas for books that might once have been owned by Robert E. Howard. But exactly what books, and by which authors, should we be checking? Hopefully, the following information will provide some clues as to what fiction books might have once been owned by REH, as well as books that it is unlikely he ever owned. The latter part of that phrase might give most of you pause to wonder: how can you provide information leading to the conclusion that REH did not own a book? Read on.

— Kevin Cook, writing in The Lion’s Den