The People of the Black Circle

This Conan story is set in mythical Hyborian versions of India–Pakistan (then united) and Afghanistan (Vendhya and Ghulistan respectively). This novella was serialised in Weird Tales between October and December 1934. It was one of the first novellas to feature the recurring character of Conan the Cimmerian. It fits firmly into the ‘sword and sorcery’ fantasy genre and is set in the ‘Hyborian Age’ – a fictional version of the upper Palaeolithic period. The scope is epic as Conan attempts to foil a plot by the Black Seers of Yimsha. The novella’s use of magical lore is more sophisticated than in some of the later Conan tales and has been praised by scholars of fantastic fiction, such as E. F. Bleiler and Fritz Leiber.