Shadows in the Moonlight (short story)
The original short story was written by Robert E. Howard and first appeared in a 1934 issue of Weird Tales magazine.
"Iron Shadows in the Moon" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine circa April 1934 under the title "Shadows in the Moonlight." It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan escaping to a remote island in the Vilayet Sea where he encounters the Red Brotherhood, a skulking creature, and mysterious iron statues.
The story was republished in the collections Conan the Barbarian (Gnome Press, 1954) and Conan the Freebooter (Lancer Books, 1968). It has more recently been published in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle (Gollancz, 2000) and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933) (Del Rey, 2003).
Plot overview
"They stood in a great hall, whose floor was of polished stone, littered with dust and broken stones, which had fallen from the ceiling. Vines, growing between the stones, masked the apertures. The lofty roof, flat and undomed, was upheld by thick columns, marching in rows down the sides of the walls. And in each space between these columns stood a strange figure..."
— Robert E. Howard, "Iron Shadows in the Moon"
"Shadows in the Moonlight" (Howard's original title was "Iron Shadows in the Moon") is a moody story, and one of the better Conan novellettes. It begins a little unusually when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay loathsome hands on the hapless heroine, a figure rises from the reeds. Apparently, the newcomer has his own bone to pick with Shah Amurath, having seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man, before escaping into the marshes where he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for the next little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.
The two fugitives, Conan and Olivia, find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably life-like statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears and is more concerned by whatever it is is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.
External links
- Conan wiki • Iron Shadows in the Moon • Synopsis, characters, locations, and publishing history
- Conan the Barbarian at AmratheLion.com
- Conan.com: The official website
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