Red Nails

Conan is travelling, finds a dead woman, and then encounters Valeria of the Red Brotherhood. After trading some insults, they have the misfortune to stumble across a dragon. Then they have fun in an abandoned city full of crazed warriors, two evil, leering royals, and a third undead type one. Capture, bondage, slayage, all the great stuff in this tale of a fantastic partnership.

Take a trip into our barbaric past, when the white race did not question the necessity of manifest destiny or the need to subdue non- whites by violence, and women existed as chattel and threat to male dominance. This collection of stories is not politically correct, and hopefully readers' enjoyment will contend with their discomfort at Howard's obvious racism and sexism. Readers should know that Howard was destroyed by the very system he so faithfully represents in his stories; he committed suicide during the Great Depression due to his distressed economic situation. For a blunt representation of the mind set that led to the internment camps, the Tuskegee medical experiments, and Hiroshima/ Nagasaki, this anthology is unsurpassed. Sword and sorcery/fantasy fans may wish that these stories are "simple, escapist fun", but there never is such a thing.

One the very first fantasy novels I read, I am interested in finding an available copy. Am also searching for a copy of "The Hour of the Dragon", by Howard as well.