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"Night Falls on Asgard"
by Rusty Burke (Introduction)
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Swords of the
North
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"Niflheim" (poem)
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"The Frost King’s
Daughter" (Amra version)
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"The
Valley of the Worm"
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"The Garden of
Fear"
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"Marchers of Valhalla"
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“Feach Air Muir
Lionadhi Gealach Buidhe Mar Or” (poem)
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"The People of the
Dark"
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"An Echo From the Iron
Harp" (poem)
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"Kings of the Night"
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"Swords of the Northern
Sea"
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"The Night of
the Wolf"
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"Delenda Est"
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"The Ballad of
King Geraint" (poem)
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"The Song of the
Last Briton" (poem)
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"Memories of Alfred"
(poem)
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"Dreaming on Downs"
(poem)
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"The Song of Horsa’s Galley"
(poem)
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"Song before Clontarf"
(poem)
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"The Grey God Passes"
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"The Dark Man"
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"The Gods of Bal-Sagoth"
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"The Outgoing of Sigurd the
Jerusalem-Farer" (poem)
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"Marching Song of Connacht"
(poem)
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"Reuben’s Birthright" (poem)
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"The Ghost in the Doorway"
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"Black Michael’s Story"
(poem)
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"Dermod’s Bane"
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"The Cairn on the Headland"
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"Black Harps in the
Hills" (poem)
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Appendix 1 – James Allison
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"Brachan the Kelt"
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"Genseric’s Son"
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"The Guardian of the
Idol"
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| "Akram the Mysterious" |
Appendix 2 – Cormac
Mac Art
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"Tigers of the Sea"
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"The Temple of Abomination"
(early draft)
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"The Temple of Abomination"
(later draft)
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Untitled, "Between berserk
battle rages"
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Appendix 3 – Turlogh Dubh
O’Brien
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Untitled, "The Dane came
in with a rush"
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"The Shadow of the Hun"
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Miscellanea
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"The King’s Service"
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"Where Are Your Knights, Donn
Othna?" (poem)
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"No More the Serpent Prow" (poem)
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Untitled, " ‘I,’ said Cuchulain"
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"The Harp of Alfred" (poem)
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"Viking’s Vision" (poem)
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"Thor’s Son" (poem)
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"To Harry the Oliad Men" (poem)
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"Hy-Brasil" (poem)
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"Heritage" (1, poem)
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"Singing Hemp" (poem)
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"The Return of the Sea-Farer"
(poem)
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"Heritage" (2, poem)
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"Viking’s Trail" (poem)
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"To a Friend" (poem)
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"Twilight on Stonehenge" (poem)
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"The House of Gael" (poem)
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Notes
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Edited by Rob Roehm and Paul Herman
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Kindle utilizes the mobi format.
Nook utilizes the ePub format.
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eBook prepared for publication by Ståle
Gismervik, Savage Studios.
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The following are changes from the first
version (December 2014) of this book.
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Retitled: "The Isle of Hy-Brasil"
was retitled "Hy-Brasil"
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Deleted: "The Skull in the
Clouds"
Added: "Reuben’s Birthright" (REH's name for the poem)
"The Skull in the Clouds" is a published alternate version of "Reuben's Birthright."
The poems are very similar and contain the following differences:
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"Reuben’s Birthright"
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"The Skull in the Clouds"
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Line 16:
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"at my own black shame."
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"like a roaring flame"
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Line 19:
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"Western chiefs"
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"Irish chiefs"
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Line 29:
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"black brain"
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"dark brain"
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Line 41:
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"As I rode from a task undone …" |
Omitted
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Line 42:
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"Nor life, nor limb, …"
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Omitted
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All of the REH stories, poems, and portions
thereof come from Howard's original typescripts, manuscripts, and carbons
with the following exceptions:
"The Cairn on the Headland" - text taken from Strange
Tales, January 1933
"The Dark Man" - text taken from Weird Tales, December 1931
"Feach Air Muir Lionadhi Gealach Buidhe Mar Or"- text taken from The Junto,
February 1930
"The Frost King's Daughter" - text taken from The Fantasy Fan, March 1934,
where it appeared as "Gods of the North"
(The title Howard used in his submission letter was restored.)
"The Gods of Bal-Sagoth" - text taken from Weird Tales, October 1931
"The Grey God Passes" - text taken from Dark Mind, Dark Heart (Arkham House,
1962)
"Kings of the Night" - text taken from Weird Tales, November 1930
"The Outgoing of Sigurd the Jerusalem Farer"- text taken from Verses in
Ebony (Hamilton, 1975)
"People of the Dark" - text taken from Strange Tales, June 1932
"The Song of the Last Briton" - text from a Glenn Lord transcription
"The Valley of the Worm"- text taken from Weird Tales, February 1934
"Viking's Vision"- text from a Glenn Lord transcription.
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"Marchers of Valhalla"
As it appears here, the text for "Marchers of Valhalla" comes
from several incomplete drafts that have been stitched together to make a
complete tale. One of the earlier drafts has the following Hyborian reference
(compare this to the passage on page 69):
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I am Ishtar, a daughter of a king
in dim Lemuria which the sea gulped so long ago. Thoth-amon, the sorcerer
of Stygia, hated my father, and to spite him, he put the curse on me of Life
ever-lasting! / Oh, man, I have lived for so many, weary, weary ages! I saw
Atlantis and Lemuria sink below the waves, and the rise of the Hyborians.
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The pages containing the ending of the story have Ishtar using
a gem to make Allison remember his past life. The beginning of that draft
does not survive, so the same fix used by Glenn Lord in the tale's first
publication was employed here: "Seconds only had elapsed since the woman
had held the gleaming gem to my gaze" was changed to "Seconds only had elapsed
since the woman had gestured before my eyes."
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