The Moon of Skulls by Robert E. Howard
"The Moon of Skulls" by Robert E. Howard is a fantasy adventure novella written in the early 20th century. It follows the grim Puritan swordsman Solomon Kane as he penetrates the lost African city of Negari to rescue the kidnapped heiress Marylin Taferal, clashing with the cruel queen Nakari and the echoing horrors of an ancient Atlantean past. The opening of the tale shows Kane climbing a jungle crag at night, dodging
a hurled boulder, ignoring a corpse “signpost,” and being escorted—then betrayed—by hidden warriors at a chasm-spanning bridge. He falls with a foe, survives on a ledge, fights through a bat-haunted cavern and a giant serpent, and discovers man-built secret corridors within a vast, ancient palace. Spying on the throne room, he witnesses Nakari’s ruthless rule before slipping into a private chamber where he finds Marylin; she recounts her abduction and his long pursuit across seas and continents. Caught by Nakari, Kane is trapped and chained, rejects her offer to rule the world at her side, then escapes via a hidden door and meets a dying Atlantean priest who reveals Negari’s origin, its worship of the skull of Nakura, and the coming “Moon of Skulls” sacrifice. Racing to stop it, Kane reaches the wrong stair but improvises: he kills a guard, regains his pistol, shatters Nakura’s skull with a shot, and plunges the city into homicidal madness; Nakari dies in the chaos, Kane smashes the masked sacrificer, frees Marylin, and faces a final onrushing attacker as the scene cuts off. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Howard, Robert E. (Robert Ervin), 1906-1936 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Rankin, Hugh, 1878-1956 |
| Illustrator | Senf, C. C. (Curtis Charles), 1873-1949 |
| Title | The Moon of Skulls |
| Original Publication | Indianapolis, IN: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, 1930. |
| Series Title | Solomon Kane |
| Series Title | Produced from Weird Tales June and July 1930. |
| Credits | Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at www.pgdpcanada.net |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Horror tales |
| Subject | Vampires -- Fiction |
| Subject | British -- Africa -- Fiction |
| Subject | Puritans -- Fiction |
| Subject | Rescues -- Fiction |
| Subject | Kane, Solomon (Fictitious character) -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 77605 |
| Release Date | Jan 1, 2026 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 475 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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