The People of the Black Circle

By Robert E. Howard

This early work by Robert E. Howard was originally published in 1934 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The People of the Black Circle' is a novella in the Conan series where he kidnaps a princess and foils the plot of evil magicians. Robert Ervin Howard was born in Peaster, Texas in 1906. During his youth, his family moved between a variety of Texan boomtowns, and Howard - a bookish and somewhat introverted child - was steeped in the violent myths and legends of the Old South. At fifteen Howard began to read the pulp magazines of the day, and to write more seriously. The December 1922 issue of his high school newspaper featured two of his stories, 'Golden Hope Christmas' and 'West is West'. In 1924 he sold his first piece - a short caveman tale titled 'Spear and Fang' - for $16 to the not-yet-famous Weird Tales magazine. Howard's most famous character, Conan the Cimmerian, was a barbarian-turned-King during the Hyborian Age, a mythical period of some 12,000 years ago. Conan featured in seventeen Weird Tales stories between 1933 and 1936 which is why Howard is now regarded as having spawned the 'sword and sorcery' genre. The Conan stories have since been adapted many times, most famously in the series of films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Press
• Release date: Feb 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781473398108

Book preview

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The People of the Black Circle

by

Robert E. Howard

Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Contents

The People of the Black Circle

Robert E. Howard

Chapter I: Death Strikes a King

Chapter II: A Barbarian from the Hills

Chapter III: Khemsa Uses Magic

Chapter IV: An Encounter in the Pass

Chapter V: The Black Stallion

Chapter VI: The Mountain of the Black Seers

Chapter VII: On to Yimsha

Chapter VIII: Yasmina Knows Stark Terror

Chapter IX: The Castle of the Wizard

Chapter X: Yasmina and Conan

Robert E. Howard

Robert Ervin Howard was born in Peaster, Texas in 1906. During his youth, his family moved between a variety of Texan boomtowns, and Howard – a bookish and somewhat introverted child – was steeped in the violent myths and legends of the Old South. Although he loved reading and learning, Howard developed a distinctly Texan, hardboiled outlook on the world. He became a passionate fan of boxing, taking it up at an amateur level, and from the age of nine began to write adventure tales of semi-historical bloodshed. In 1919, when Howard was thirteen, his family moved to the Central Texas hamlet of Cross Plains, where he would stay for the rest of his life.

At fifteen Howard began to read the pulp magazines of the day, and to write more seriously. The December 1922 issue of his high school newspaper featured two of his stories, ‘Golden Hope Christmas’ and ‘West is West’. In 1924 he sold his first piece – a short caveman tale titled ‘Spear and Fang’ – for $16 to the not-yet-famous Weird Tales magazine. He published with the magazine regularly over the next few years. 1929 was a breakout year for Howard, in that the 23-year-old writer began to sell to other magazines, such as Ghost Stories and Argosy, both of whom had previously sent him hundreds of rejection slips. In 1930, he began a correspondence with weird fiction master H. P. Lovecraft which ran up to his death six years later, and is regarded as one of the great correspondence cycles in all of fantasy literature.

It was partly due to Lovecraft’s encouragement that Howard created his most famous character, Conan the Cimmerian. Conan – a barbarian-turned-King during the Hyborian Age, a mythical period of some 12,000 years ago – featured in seventeen Weird Tales stories between 1933 and 1936, and is now regarded as having spawned the ‘sword and sorcery’ genre, making Howard’s influence on fantasy literature comparable to that of J. R. R. Tolkien’s. The Conan stories have since been adapted many times, most famously in the series of films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Howard was enjoying an all-time high in sales by the beginning of 1936, but he was also deeply upset by the ill health of his mother, who had fallen into a coma. On the morning of June 11, 1936, he asked an attending nurse whether she would ever recover, and the nurse replied negatively. Howard walked to his car, parked outside the family home in Cross Plains, and shot himself. He died eight hours later, aged just thirty.

Chapter I: Death Strikes a King

The king of Vendhya was dying. Through the hot, stifling night the temple gongs boomed and the conchs roared. Their clamor was a faint echo in the gold-domed chamber where Bunda Chand struggled on the velvet-cushioned dais. Beads of sweat glistened on his dark skin; his fingers twisted the gold-worked fabric beneath him. He was young; no spear had touched him, no poison lurked in his wine. But his veins stood out like blue cords on his temples, and his eyes dilated with the nearness of death. Trembling slave-girls knelt at the foot of the dais, and leaning down to him, watching him with passionate intensity, was his sister, the Devi Yasmina. With her was the wazam, a noble grown old in the royal court.

She threw up her head in a gusty gesture of wrath and despair as the thunder of the distant drums reached her ears.

The priests and their clamor! she exclaimed. They are no wiser than the leeches who are helpless! Nay, he dies and none can say why. He is dying now—and I stand here helpless, who would burn the whole city and spill the blood of thousands to save him.

Not a man of Ayodhya but would die in his place, if it might be, Devi, answered the wazam. This poison-

I tell you it is not poison! she cried. Since his birth he has been guarded so closely that the cleverest poisoners of the East could not reach him. Five skulls bleaching on the Tower of the Kites can testify to attempts which were made—and which failed. As you well know, there are ten men and ten women whose sole duty is to taste his food and wine, and fifty armed warriors guard his chamber as they guard it now. No, it is not poison; it is sorcery—black, ghastly magic-

She ceased as the king spoke; his livid lips did not move, and there was no recognition in his glassy eyes. But his voice rose in an eery call, indistinct and far away, as if called to her from beyond vast, wind-blown gulfs.

Yasmina! Yasmina! My sister, where are you? I can not find you. All is darkness, and the roaring of great winds!

Brother! cried Yasmina, catching his limp hand in a convulsive grasp. I am here! Do you not know me—

Her voice died at the utter vacancy of his face. A low confused moan waned from his mouth. The slave-girls at the foot of the dais whimpered with fear, and Yasmina beat her breast in anguish.

In another part of the city a man stood in a latticed balcony overlooking a long street in which torches tossed luridly, smokily revealing upturned dark faces and the whites of gleaming eyes. A long-drawn wailing rose from the multitude.

The man shrugged his broad shoulders and turned back into the arabesque chamber. He was a tall man, compactly built, and richly clad.

The king is not yet dead, but the dirge is sounded, he said to another man who sat cross-legged on a mat in a corner. This man was clad in a brown camel-hair robe and sandals, and a green turban was on his head. His expression was tranquil, his gaze impersonal.

The people know he will never see another dawn, this man answered.

The first speaker favored him with a long, searching stare.

What I can not understand, he said, is why I have had to wait so long for your masters to strike. If they have slain the king now, why could they not have slain him months ago?

Even the arts you call sorcery are governed by cosmic laws, answered the man in the green turban. The stars direct these actions, as in other affairs. Not even my masters can alter the stars. Not until the heavens were in the proper order could they perform this necromancy. With a long, stained fingernail he mapped the constellations on the marble-tiled floor. The slant of the moon presaged evil for the king of Vendhya; the stars are in turmoil, the Serpent in the House of the Elephant. During such juxtaposition, the invisible guardians are removed from the spirit of Bhunda Chand. A path is opened in the unseen realms, and once a point of contact was established, mighty powers were put in play along that path.

Point of contact? inquired the other. Do you mean that lock of Bhunda Chand’s hair?

Yes. All discarded portions of the human body still remain part of it, attached to it by intangible connections. The priests of Asura have a dim inkling of this truth, and so all nail trimmings, hair and other waste products of the persons of the royal family are carefully reduced to ashes and the ashes hidden. But at the urgent entreaty of the princess of Khosala, who loved Bhunda Chand vainly, he gave her a lock of his long black hair as a token of remembrance. When my masters decided upon his doom, the lock, in its golden, jewel-encrusted case, was stolen from under her pillow while she slept, and another substituted, so like the first that she never knew the difference. Then the genuine lock travelled by camel-caravan up the long, long road to Peshkhauri, thence up the Zhaibar Pass, until it reached the hands of those for whom it was intended.

Only a lock of hair, murmured the nobleman.

By which a soul is drawn from its body and across gulfs of echoing space, returned the man on the mat.

The nobleman studied him curiously.

I do not know if you are a man or a demon, Khemsa, he said at last. "Few of us are what we seem. I, whom the Kshatriyas know as Kerim Shah, a prince from Iranistan, am no greater a masquerader than most men. They are all traitors in one way or another, and half of them know not whom they serve. There at least I have no doubts; for I

Reviews for The People of the Black Circle

[philsyphe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I rate Robert E. Howard as the most imaginative author that I've ever read. His creative powers are perhaps the most notable in the world of Conan. Howard's detailed map of the fictitious Hyborean Age and its history, including that leading up to the time of Conan's birth, are exceptional.I've read some of the stories featured in this collection twice before, while others are brand new to me. I read a lot of fantasy and sword & sorcery as a child and as a teen, yet in adulthood my tastes have mostly changed, except I still love Howard's Conan stories and most of his other works.Of the two volumes of the Conan Chronicles, this first one appeals to me most. This is largely owing to the type of tale included in the collection. While Volume 2 features an older Conan vying for power and getting involved in more political battles, this first volume shows the barbarian at the beginning of his fame - and that fame had nothing to do with being crowned king or being political.I much prefer the Conan featured in Volume 1, as he is always in search of adventure, which often includes him stealing treasures from a dangerous situation, encountering a scantily-clad - or naked - woman along the way. All good fun!Howard is, in my opinion, the best writer of battle scenes. Conan's sword fighting is superbly depicted. His plotting is always well done without being over-complicated.His characters are vivid, as are his descriptions. A supreme author and a superb read.

[mathewbridle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There are 18 stories in this book together with a brief history of the foundation of the empires in which they are told, spanning over 500 pages. I took a long time reading this book because it was simply too good to rush.

From the first story to the last you are treated to an unrivalled ability to grab hold of the ready and drag them on adventure after adventure. You quickly become acquainted with the huge bronze skinned, black-haired Cimmerian who’s blue eyes blaze with the fire of life. Conan’s passion and zest for adventure are as infectious as his thews are huge. He wields a sword with ease and breaks necks like twigs. He snatches up lithe women aplenty, usually clad in gossamer robes (if that) as often as loots the dead. His blade drips with the blood of the vanquished as he wiped the heavy sweat of battle from his brow.

There is never a dull moment or wasted moment. Never so much as a modicum of tedium. The writing is fluid, exciting and simple. Robert E. Howard has a style that writes itself, a quality that stands, like his creation, a head and shoulders above the rest. There are times when you feel the bones crunch, the sword sing through the air, the flesh rend under steel. I could go on and on, this is a book like no other. If you love the swords and sandals, style of fantasy then you simply must read this. This is the birthplace of many a hero. Many have tried to write Conan stories but none can hold their own against the might of Robert E. Howard.

By Crom ‘tis worth every penny. 10/10

[randulf-3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Conan and the Hyborean Age of his world is the template that the fantasy genre developed from and fantasy writing hasn't strayed too far from the original formula. This is a testament to Howard's writing more than anything else - he knew at the time fantasy needed to be short and action packed to attract readers to a type of story which had only found a home in the pages of the pulp magazines. There are no wasted words and no trudging through backgrounds, settings or trilogies of trilogies to get to the story - something which plagues too much contemporary fantasy. Conan is one literature's greatest creations and deserves a place in every reader's library.

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the real thing, the original Conan stories by his creator, Robert E. Howard. There are vast number of imitations, some quite readable, but for me there is nothing quite like Howard himself. When I was young, "the" Howard was the series of books published by Lancer, which included not only the genuine Howard, but also addition by Lin Carter, L. Sprague de Camp,. and Bjorn Nyberg.Some were made up out of whole cloth, some were expansions of Howard fragment, and some took Howard stories about other adventurers and turned them into Conan stories. (These last have now generally been published elsewhere in teir original form.) This edition is nothing but Howard, including sections cut by earlier editors and fragments which are frankly fragments. They follow th previous series by being arranged roughly in the order of Conan's career, starting in "Tower of the Elephant" (illustrated on the cover, I believe) when Conan was a young thief in Zamora, and going on in this volume through classic adventures "The God in the Bowl" is actually quite a good detective story, with Conan as a tough guy detective --"Queen of the Black Coast" is his doomed romance with the pirate queen Belit (his most serious romance until he meets his queen in the later volume) and many others. This is the first of two volume of this collection. The book begins with "the Hyborian Age" Howard's rather grim background history for the series, and ends with an afterword by the editor

[cbmcguire · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great Fun.

[vincentdarlage · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Pool of the Black One is one of the great Conan stories by REH. This edition is lavishly illustrated. I particularly liked the painting of Sancha between pages 32 and 33.

[theokester · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have vague memories of the Conan movie(s) from the 80s starring Arnold but beyond those spotty memories, I have had no interaction with the character or stories of Conan. And yet, I felt like I had a pretty decent sense on him just based on his permeation into popular culture. Still, I've always wanted to dive in and read some of the original books about the famed barbarian.Rather than starting at the beginning, I started with The People of the Black Circle. I found many people claiming it to be one of the best stories written by original author Robert E. Howard so I felt like it was a good place to start. The term "sword and sorcery" as a subgenre was largely created for Howard's work such as the Conan stories. This story has a large focus on the sorcery part. The first many pages don't feature Conan or any swordplay at all. Rather we are introduced to some evil wizards known as the Black Seers of Yimsha. Supposedly these wizards normally don't interfere with matters of non-wizards but through a series of intrigue and machinations (that we discover later) they assassinate the emperor of Vendhya. The emperor's sister, the Devi Yasmina, becomes the new queen and she vows revenge.Since no one in her kingdom dare take on the Black Seers, the queen's revenge involves a plan to get the famed warrior Conan to infiltrate the mountains and kill the wizards. She has captured 7 of Conan's chiefs and is holding them hostage with the hopes of convincing Conan to do her dirty work. After that build up, we finally get our first glimpse of Conan as he sneakily infiltrates the palace and kidnaps the queen, thus turning her ransom plan on its head. As he escapes the army that chases after them, he is driven through an adventurous path of interactions with would-be-allies and would-be-enemies before eventually being confronted by the wizards and deciding to go after them.The plot is action packed and filled with as many twists and turns as the treacherous mountain passes that Conan journeys across during this adventure. From Conan's kidnapping of Yasmina until the final confrontation with the Black Seers, the stakes are constantly being raised and adrenaline is kept high. Just when our hero seems to be making strides forward, some new obstacle appears to bar his way. The plot largely centers on Conan but takes the occasional detour to give us glimpses of other characters and situations. These transitions felt fluid and natural.Based on my limited view of Conan, I envisioned him as an uneducated brute just rushing in and swinging weapons with brute strength. Instead, Conan is a well spoken leader who choses his words and his actions wisely. In some cases those words and actions come instinctively but those instincts are based on the experience and wisdom of his character. From what I gathered, Conan is barbarous and uncivilized only in the sense that he lives a more rural existence amid other tribesman rather than in the confines of a palace. At one point in the story Conan remarks on how Yasmina has gained humanity by changing out of the costumes and trappings of her palace life. That sensibility seems to be a commentary on the way society limits our freedoms while claiming to raise us up.The other characters feel less nuanced and developed. Devi Yasmina receives by far the most development of the other characters. As a female character in an early 20th century story, it's not surprising that she's a secondary character with limited influence or dialog. Perhaps more surprising are the moments where she tries to stand up to Conan. The author presents her as a strong leader of her kingdom though still wallowing in grief for her brother and consumed with the need for revenge. It's unclear what her strength and direction will be as a character once she accomplishes her desire. In spite of her fortitude of character, she takes on the foil of the blushing damsel in distress and Conan willingly steps in as the hero to save her.This, among other cliches, felt very familiar but I reminded myself that many of these now common techniques were likely very new, fresh and potentially shocking to the original readers of the story. In spite of the feeling of banality of some elements of the story I had a lot of fun racing along on this adventure with Conan.I found the writing to be fluid and elegant. Howard has a great command of language. The descriptions of the world, the characters and the actions were engrossing. Even though many of the characters felt a bit flat, I found their actions and motivations to be clear and believable. The dialog was solid and fun. I enjoyed the banter between Conan and Yasmina and was again surprised at the wit and intelligence of the barbarian.My biggest gripe of the story was the ending which I think is largely due to the heightened pacing. Since the tension and stakes just continued to raise from scene to scene, that meant the by the time we reached the climax, we had reached a very high point such that the resolution felt slightly abrupt. Still, I did enjoy the staging and the artistry of the climax and the conclusion. I also enjoyed that even after the main confrontation was over that the author continued the journey and even introduced another mini conflict as a sort of afterthought. That allowed for a final bit of commentary from Conan on the state of the world and the nature of his character.Overall I really enjoyed this read. I found the writing to be very solid and the storytelling thoroughly enjoyable. The world was engrossing and I was pleasantly surprised with Conan as a character. It's a great bit of escapism and while slightly dated in nature it's still an enjoyable way to spend some time. Based on this read, I can see myself seeking out opportunities to read more Conan adventures in the future. ***3.5 out of 5 stars

[sarjah_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A collection of the original Conan short stories. These are the stories that helped launch the pulp sci fi fantasy fiction way back in the day. they're decent stories for how old they are though. the stories don't have any sense of time like the author thought of a situation and thought how fun it would be to throw conan into the mix. some of them are better than others all the stories don't have a lot of background story things just are they way they are for no reason that's why I gave it three stars I need a little depth in order to effectively suspend my disbelief