Jesse’s Reviews > Tales of Weird Menace > Status Update

“Moon of Zambebwei (untitled synopsis)”

Again, a synopsis of the published story with few if any significant differences. I’m struggling to think of exactly where these synopses fit in with Howard’s creative process. Was this his brainstorming? It’s not as though the opening essay tells us anything about this, preferring to laud “Skull-Face”.

“The Black Hound of Death (synopsis)”

A pretty straight summary of the story. No revelations, here, except Brent’s assistant was white in the draft, but mixed race in the finished tale.

“The House of Om (synopsis)”

Sooo this is a full blow by blow synopsis of a Yellow Peril story. Now, the villain is an expatriate American, but some of the broad details are similar to “Guests of the Hoodoo Room”, including a frame-up, an heiress under the power of the bad guy, and a world domination plot. But, uh, Om’s plot sounds like QAnon talking points. Time is a circle, I guess!

“The Devils of Dark Lake (untitled synopsis)”

As I read this synopsis I’m laughing again at how ridiculous this story is, and then I’m surprised because Howard omitted one key detail from the synopsis when writing the main story, resulting in—astoundingly—a LESS racist tale.

“Sons of Hate”

Three partial synopses. They detail the evolution of the story as Howard imagined it. The first two are pretty much in-line with the final story. The third has most of the plot beats, but Howard was considering changing Stalbridge’s last name to Brandon and having Gorman getting brained by the iron slug while driving a car instead of while he was running to the rescue.

“”James Norris…””

This synopsis is a blueprint for a murder mystery with zero occult trappings. I mean, fair enough! I’ve read enough exploitative racism to last the rest of my life and this has none of the like.

“The Spell of Damballah”

A Kirby of unknown provenance investigates a case where a man’s fiance has been hypnotized. But, no, it’s not Oriental, here, but a Haitian con-man who is using voodoo to control affluent young women into stealing their fathers’ riches and then running off with him. As this fragment terminates, Loup is 0 for 2 but has just taken a potshot at our hero, the bullet grazing his scalp.

“Spectres in the Dark”

A city is under siege from spectres that are haunting people and appear to be capable of possessing them, driving them into murderous rampages. This story doesn’t go so far as to reveal what the cause of this epidemic is, but if the weird aside between the narrator and his brother in law is any indication, then it’s some sort of Oriental hypnotism / mesmerism at play.

“The Jade God”

Another night, another cursed treasure. This one APPEARS to be set in the antebellum South and has two men rushing to the defense of a third, who talks about “the jade god” right before he expires. And their locale is kind of isolated due to a recent flood. And the dead man had just entrusted a jade idol to one of his two would-be rescuers.

“Yellow Laughter”

A bizarre fragment, the setup of which I don’t entirely understand. It looks like some sailor’s boat was taken over by Chinese malcontents, one of whom he knows by name. The “yellow” paranoia is palpable, concluding with an image of all the invaders laughing at the MC while he rows away in a small watercraft, which he presumes is his means of escape. God only knows where this was going.