Robert E. Howard came into the fiction magazine scene virtually on Dashell Hammett's heels. By that time Howard was a full-fledged professional writer; he was willing to try any marketplace to make a living. Despite an aversion to the detective formula, he wrote the tales in "Graveyard Rats" during the same years he chronicled the adventures of Conan. This collection features a new introduction by scholar Don Herron, editor of "The Dark Barbarian," the definitive look at the life and work of Robert E. Howard. The stories included are: "Black Talons" (first appeared in Strange Detective Stories, December 1933); "Fangs of Gold" (first appeared in Strange Detective Stories, February 1934); "The Tomb's Secret" (first appeared in Strange Detective Stories, February 1934); "Names in The Black Book" (first appeared in Super-Detective Stories, May 1934); "Graveyard Rats" (first appeared in Thrilling Mystery, February 1936); and "Black Wind Blowing" (first appeared in Thrilling Mystery, June 1936).