The world of fantasy was shattered in 1936 when Robert E Howard put a gun to his head and ended it all. The fledgling genre of heroic fantasy was at a loss. Who would take up the torch and continue on from where Howard began with his tales of Bran Mak Morn, King Kull, and especially, Conan the Cimmerian? These larger-than-life warriors had found a home in an unlikely place: the horror magazine, Weird Tales. And it was in those same pages that the next sword-and-sorcery writers would appear.
Now Robert E Howard was not the only fantasy writer at “The Unique Magazine.” CL Moore had created her swordswoman Jirel of Joiry in October 1934 with “The Black God’s Kiss” and its sequel “The Black God’s Shadow” (December 1934). Nictzin Dyalhis had written one classic piece, “The Sapphire Siren,” in February 1934. Edmond Hamilton had been writing many kinds of science fiction and fantasy for Weird Tales and could have taken up the crown of sword-and-sorcery. But none of these writers did. CL Moore would write only one more Jirel tale after Howard’s death. Dyalhis and Hamilton wrote other things.
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