The Hardboiled Manuscripts Volume 2 – FC paperback

The Hardboiled Manuscripts Volume 2 continues the exploration of Robert E. Howard’s detective and crime fiction through the surviving papers behind the stories. Compiled and transcribed by Ståle Gismervik, this volume of First Cuts: The Drafts and Fragments brings together synopses, successive drafts, partial revisions, false starts, and unfinished texts.

The collection follows Steve Harrison through The Silver Heel, the untitled synopsis beginning “Steve Harrison Received a Wire . . .,” and Graveyard Rats, then turns to Brent Kirby and Butch Gorman in The Hand of the Black Goddess and Sons of Hate.

Editorial notes describe the surviving typescripts and their relationships. Dierk Günther’s essay, Barbarism and Detective Fiction: REH’s Steve Harrison Stories, examines Howard’s approach to the pulp detective tradition. On Editing Robert E. Howard: A Note on Language, Style, and Fidelity explains the edition’s transcription principles.

The edition retains spelling, punctuation, unusual wording, and textual irregularities with minimal editorial interference. Missing passages and incomplete drafts are identified openly; unfinished material has not been expanded into newly written fiction.

The second of a two-volume companion to Steve Harrison’s Casebook in the REH Foundation Press Ultimate Edition series.

More information and table of contents for Volume 2 on reh.world.

Production Details

Paperback, 510 pages. Full-colour interior on Color 70 paper. Matte cover. 6 × 9 inches. ISBN 9781955446860.

Product image is a digital mockup.