One of those things, I’m certain, would have been more quality historical stories. If his letters and accounts of conversations in the final months of his life are any judge, those historicals were likely to have been westerns, but Howard may have returned to other genres as well. Sadly, we can never know. We should take solace, though, in the excellence of the work Howard left us. It is my hope that this volume will help acquaint both Howard fans and curious newcomers with some of the finest work in his canon. It has been unfairly overshadowed by that featuring his more famous characters and perhaps at last will find the audience it has long deserved.
• Weinberg, Robert, “The Long Journey of the Morning Star,” in Swords from the West, pp. xiii–xiv.
NOTES ON THE ORIGINAL HOWARD TEXTS
The texts for this edition of Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures were prepared by Rusty Burke, with the assistance of Rob Roehm, Paul Herman, Glenn Lord, Patrice Louinet, and the Cross Plains (Texas) Public Library. The stories have been checked either against Howard’s original manuscripts and typescripts, copies of which were provided by Lord or the Cross Plains Public Library, or the first published appearance if a manuscript or typescript was unavailable. Every effort has been made to present the work of Robert E. Howard as faithfully as possible.
Deviations from the original sources are detailed in these textual notes. In the following notes, page, line, and word numbers are given as follows: 1.15.12, indicating page 1, fifteenth line, twelfth word. Story titles, chapter numbers and titles, breaks before after chapter headings, titles, and illustrations are not counted. The page/line/word number will be followed by the reading in the original source, or a statement indicating the type of change made. Punctuation changes may be indicated by giving the immediately preceding word followed by the original punctuation.
We have standardized chapter numbering and titling: Howard’s own practices varied, as did those of the publications in which these stories appeared. We have not noted those changes here.
French names in these stories have been given their correct forms (or as nearly correct as possible) by Patrice Louinet. Howard did not have even elementary French, and some of his names (for instance, “d’Valence”) are simply impossible. We have made a note of these changes at the beginning of the notes for the stories in which they occurred, but have not documented each occurrence throughout the story.
Throughout these stories, certain of Howard’s preferred spellings have been used even when editors of the magazines in which the stories appeared changed them. Hence we have used “scimitar” throughout, rather than “simitar,” “bazaar” rather than “bazar,” etc. Such changes are noted.
Please note that locations below refer to print ISBN 978-0-345-50546-0.
Spears of Clontarf
Text taken from Howard’s typescript, a copy of which was provided by Glenn Lord. 1.15.12: comma rather than period after “son”; 2.10.7: save that of; 2.12.7: no hyphen; 2.22.10: comma rather than period after “frankly”; 2.30.11: comma rather than period after “boldly”; 2.37.2: Do; 2.38.9: comma rather than period after “calmly”; 3.40.12: semicolon rather than comma after “began”; 4.9.5: “haste” not in original; 4.13.7: no hyphen; 4.16.3: comma rather than period after “threats”; 4.27.10: comma rather than period after “horseman”; 4.30.8: comma rather than period after “wanderer”; 5.2.6: conciousness; 5.4.1: no comma after “driftwood”; 5.7.11: comma rather than period after “kern”; 5.9.7: comma rather than period after “Dunlang”; 5.10.4: more weightier; 5.12.3: comma rather than period after “Conn”; 5.14.7: comma rather than period after “Dunlang”; 5.38.2: no comma after “Conn”; 5.38.3: unconciously; 6.1.13: comma rather than period after “angrily”; 6.13.7: comma rather than period after “Dunlang”; 6.21.9: comma rather than period after “his”; 6.25.6: statue; 6.31.10: period outside the quotation mark; 6.32.9: comma rather than period after “embrace”; 7.1.7: comma rather than period after “dully”; 7.6.3: “until” not in original; 7.11.11: comma rather than period after “sun”; 7.32.4: My; 7.36.1: comma rather than period after “passionately”; 7.39.6: comma rather than period after “Dunlang”; 8.1.10: comma rather than period after “answered”; 8.17.5: comma rather than period after “answered”; 8.18.12: comma rather than period after “gently”; 9.10.7: hyphen following colon; 9.17.9: statue; 10.8.5: Here; 10.14.3: comma rather than period after “said”; 10.16.6: comma rather than period after “stolidly”; 10.20.9: comma rather than period after “boldly”; 10.32.5: comma rather than period after “repeated”; 10.39.5: comma rather than period after “Conn”; 11.2.1: comma rather than period after “brusquely”; 11.5.3: comma rather than period after “grimly”; 11.8.8: comma rather than period after “Brian”; 11.13.5: It; 11.27.13: no comma after “priest”; 11.33.1: Your; 12.6.2: no hyphen; 12.31.11: comma rather than period after “moodily”; 13.3.8: comma rather than period after “sombrely”; 13.7.2: statue; 13.11.1: It; 13.17.14: comma rather than period after “grip”; 13.20.10: comma rather than period after “grasp”; 13.22.4: comma rather than period after “snarled”; 13.29.3: comma rather than period after “snarled”; 13.37.3: But; 14.2.3: dire; 14.3.6: comma rather than period after “her”; 14.5.6: comma rather than period after “bitterly”; 14.10.12: comma rather than period after “teeth”; 14.19.4: comma rather than period after “recoiling”; 14.27.11: comma rather than period after “girl”; 14.33.6: comma rather than period after “Eevin”; 15.5.11: comma rather than period after “disgust”; 15.10.11: no comma after “and”; 15.15: no section break; 15.20.8: comma rather than period after “provoked”; 15.29.2: comma rather than period after “wearily”; 16.13.11: comma rather than period after “tranquilly”; 16.22.12: no comma after “grinned”; 16.25.1: comma rather than period after “Dalcassian”; 17.16.7: comma after “Lennox”; 17.20.3: devision; 17.23.3: within in him; 17.25.8: devisions; 17.33.12: devisions; 18.8.14: comma rather than period after “call”; 18.18.12: comma rather than period after “Murrogh”; 18.41.5: no hyphen; 19.18.1: comma rather than period after “silver”; 19.20.12: no comma after “tall”; 19.23.4: no comma after “in”; 20.25.8: no hyphen; 21.9.1: comma after “Dubhgall”; 21.21.5: comma rather than period after “fiercely”; 21.34.11: cuiras; 21.35.6: comma after “armor”; 22.3.11: comma rather than period after “eyes”; 22.9.8: comma rather than period after “paw”; 22.11.6: comma rather than period after “strokes”; 22.23.6: My; 22.32.4: It; 23.3.7: comma rather than period after “Turlogh”; 24.7.3: comma rather than period after “Sigurd”; 24.8.5: comma rather than period after “Asmund”; 24.10.4: comma rather than period after “desperately”; 24.12.4: comma rather than period after “left”; 27.37.12: devided; 28.37.10: comma rather than period after “whispered”; 29.17.5: What; 29.18.8: comma rather than period after “Conn”; 29.21.3: comma rather than period after “cloud”; 30.8.4: no comma after “down”; 31.6.12: comma rather than period after “Dubh”; 31.13.9: comma rather than period after “arms”