Robert E. Howard: "Men of the Shadows," "Kings of the Night," and "The Little People"

In our last episode we read three stories from the January 1927 issue of Weird Tales, including a story by Robert E. Howard of Conan fame that is associated with the Bran Mak Morn character, "The Lost Race." Today I'm taking my 2005 paperback edition of Bran Mak Morn: The Last King off the shelf to read three stories about the Picts, the little people who conquered Britain and then in turn were overthrown by the Celts and driven underground, where they nurtured a desire for revenge and became the basis for our legends of elves and dwarves."Men of the Shadows" (1969)"Men of the Shadows" was first printed in 1969 in the edition of Bran Mak Morn with the unforgettable Frazetta cover. According to Rusty Burke in the 2001 intro to my copy of Bran Mak Morn: The Last King, in 1926 Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright rejected "Men of the Shadows" as lacking "story," saying it was more of a "chronicle." Of course, since then, it has reappeared in a multitude of Bran Mak Morn-themed Howard…