Iron Shadows in the Moon

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1932 - 1933
The Phoenix on the Sword
The Frost-Giant's Daughter
The God in the Bowl
The Tower of the Elephant
The Scarlet Citadel
Queen of the Black Coast
Black Colossus
Iron Shadows in the Moon
Xuthal of the Dusk
Rogues in the House
The Vale of Lost Women
The Devil in Iron
The Pool of the Black One

1934 - 1935
People of the Black Circle
The Hour of the Dragon
A Witch Shall be Born

1935 - 1936
The Servants of Bit-Yakin
Beyond the Black River
The Black Stranger
Man-Eaters of Zamboula
Red Nails

Unfinished/fragments
The Snout in the Dark
Drums of Tombalku
The Hall of the Dead
The Hand of Nergal
Wolves Beyond the Border

"Iron Shadows in the Moon" is one of the original stories by Robert E. Howard about Conan the Cimmerian, first published in Weird Tales in 1934 under the title "Shadows in the Moonlight". It has more recently been published in the collection Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933) (Del Rey, 2003).

An interior panel of the Iron Shadows in the Moon comic adapation by Roy Thomas, featuring the art of John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala.

The original short story was written by Robert E. Howard and first appeared in a 1934 issue of Weird Tales magazine.

[edit] Plot Overview

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

"Shadows in the Moonlight" (Howard's original title was "Iron Shadows in the Moon") is a moody little tale, and one of the better Conan yarns. It begins a little unusually though as 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 our 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.