Other editions of book The People of the Black Circle

This Conan story is set in mythical Hyborian versions of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan (Vendhya and Afghulistan respectively).The death of Bunda Chand, emperor of Vendhya, (via a curse channeled through Chand's soul with a lock of his own hair) leads to the ascension of his sister, Devi Yasmina, who vows to exact vengeance on his killers, the Black Seers of Yimsha. Meanwhile, Conan has become chief in a tribe of Afghuli hillmen. Seven of his warriors have been captured by the Vendhyans and Yasmina intends on using the hillmen as collateral to force Conan into killing her enemies. However, Conan infiltrates the fortress where his men are imprisoned and kidnaps Yasmina instead (with the intent of exchanging her for his seven men). Inside his subterranean temple, Yimsha agrees on an alliance with Kerim Shah, a mercenary working for King Yezdigerd of Turan, who had arranged for Bunda Chand's assassination so he could conquer Vendhya in the resulting turmoil. However, a man named Khemsa, who was Kerim Shah's contact with the Black Seers, has fallen in love with the devi's maid Gitara. These two abandon their previous agenda, execute the captured hillmen, and pursue Queen Yasmina to kill her as well.Cover of the first stand-alone book publication of the novella, published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. in 1974. Art by David IrelandConan escapes into an Afghuli village near Zhaibar Pass and the Himelian Mountains (Hyborian equivalents of Khyber pass and the Himalayas). Yar Afzal, chief of a Wazuli village, is murdered by Khemsa and the natives accuse Conan of killing him. With Yasmina's aid, he manages to escape. Soon, Khemsa catches up with Conan and Yasmina. However, his attack is interrupted by four rakshasas and their master, Yimsha. The wizard throws his former servant down a cliff, kills Gitara, stuns Conan with an ancient spell, and captures Yasmina. Khemsa survives his fall from the cliffside long enough to give Conan a warning and his magic girdle.Soon after, Kerim Shah and a tribe of Irakzais (Orakzai Pashtun people), hired by King Yezdigerd to capture Yasmina, encounter Conan. They join forces to rescue Yasmina, both explaining their private reasons for doing so, and approach the lair of Yimsha. Most of the men are killed in their attempt. However, following Khemsa's advice, Conan succeeds in killing the Black Seers and rescuing Yasmina. As they escape, the two encounter the Turanian army in battle with Conan's tribe of hillmen, who blame him for the death of their captive fellows. Despite their attitude, Conan feels obliged to assist his tribe - but he is also loath to abandon the Devi. His problem is resolved when a Vendhyan army, invading the mountains to rescue their queen, arrives. Together, Conan with his Afghulis and Yasmina with her cavalry, they defeat the Turanian army. Conan leaves with the hillmen and Yasmina returns to her country.Though they are strongly attracted to each other, the affair between Conan and Yasmina never gets beyond some kissing. Their respective roles pull them in opposite directions - she is Queen of Vendhiya, he's leader of nomadic hillmen engaged in constant robbery against Yasmina's domain. In the original Howard stories, they never meet again. In the 1957 novel Return of Conan, Björn Nyberg and L. Sprague de Camp allow the two rivals in encountering each other again for one night of intensive love-making, many years later - when he is already King of Aquilonia and there is no more a conflict of interest.

The People of the Black Circle is the eleventh of the Conan stories published by Weird Tales in three parts in the fall of 1934. Set in the mythical Hyborian Age in the south Asian regions of Vendhya and Ghulistan (now India-Pakistan and Afghanistan), the story centers around Conan’s kidnapping of princess Devi Yasmina of Vendhya and thwarting an attempt at world domination by the Black Seers of Yimsha. The action begins when Conan, chief of a tribe of hillmen, sets out to rescue seven of his men that have been captured and held by the princess to force him into killing her enemies. Conan instead kidnaps the princess, but the two are set upon by Kerim Shah, agent of the King of Turan, intent upon invading Vendhya. They escape into the mountains, followed by Kemsha, who catches up with them just as he is attacked by Rakhshas from Yimsha, who kill him and capture Devi. Enter a group of Irakzai, who team up with Conan to rescue the princess. All are eventually rescued by the Vendhyan army and join forces to defeat the Turanians.The inevitable attraction between Conan and the princess smolders but never catches fire as forces inexorably draw them apart. The action-packed story is considered one of the finest in the Conan canon due to its epic sweep and insights into magical powers.

The king of Vendhya was dying. Through the hot, stifling night the temple gongs boomed and the conchs roared. Their clamor was a faint echo in the gold–domed chamber where Bunda Chand struggled on the velvet–cushioned dais. Beads of sweat glistened on his dark skin; his fingers twisted the gold–worked fabric beneath him. He was young; no spear had touched him, no poison lurked in his wine. But his veins stood out like blue cords on his temples, and his eyes dilated with the nearness of death. Trembling slave–girls knelt at the foot of the dais, and leaning down to him, watching him with passionate intensity, was his sister, the Devi Yasmina. With her was the wazam, a noble grown old in the royal court.

Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. He is well known for having created the character Conan the Cimmerian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond. Voracious reading, along with a natural talent for prose writing and the encouragement of teachers, conspired to create in Howard an interest in becoming a professional writer. One by one he discovered the authors that would influence his later work: Jack London and Rudyard Kipling. It's clear from Howard's earliest writings and the recollections of his friends that he suffered from severe depression from an early age. Friends recall him defending the act of suicide as a valid alternative as early as eighteen years old, while many of his stories and poems have a suicidal gloom and intensity that seem prescient in hindsight, describing such an end not as a tragedy but as a release from hell on earth.