The book in your hands includes the original story “Red Nails” by Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan. This is the story that inspired author S. M. Stirling to write Blood of the Serpent, a prequel to Howard’s work, thus revealing the events that led Conan to first meet Valeria of the Red Brotherhood.
“Red Nails” is pure Howard, restored from his original manuscript. Raw and powerful, it’s also very much of its time—written almost a century ago, when our culture could be less socially aware and genre fiction in particular often exhibited rough edges some of today’s readers may find jarring.
Yet this is seminal fantasy by a writer whose work Stephen King has called “so highly charged that it nearly gives off sparks.” Rather than alter it in any way, we’ve chosen to offer it in its original form for the reader to experience.