The Hour of the Dragon, also known as Conan the Conqueror, is a fantasy novel by American writer Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian. It was one of the last Conan stories published before Howard's suicide, although not the last to be written. The novel was first published in serial form in the December 1935 through April 1936 issues of the pulp magazine Weird Tales. The first book edition was published by Gnome Press in hardcover in 1950. The Gnome Press edition retitled the story Conan the Conqueror, a title retained by all subsequent editions until 1977, when the original title was restored in an edition published by Berkley/Putnam. The Berkley edition also reverted the text to that of its original Weird Tales publication, discarding later edits. Later editions have generally followed Berkley and published under the original title.
Cover of first edition
Cover of Weird Tales (December 1935) in which The Hour of the Dragon was first serialized
One side cover of Ace Double D36 (1953) for CONAN the CONQUEROR, the first paperback edition of the book
Robert Ervin Howard was an American writer who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He created the character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre.
Howard in 1934
Robert E. Howard at about five years old (circa 1911)
The Robert E. Howard Museum in Cross Plains, Texas
Robert E. Howard in his Senior Year at Brownwood High School, 1923