Chronologically Speaking, Part Fourteen: "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula"

Chronologically Speaking is a series focused solely on placing the Conan of Cimmeria stories in timeline order. It's an analysis of only the text of Robert E. Howard's original Conan tales. I'm examining the stories one at a time, in publication order, to show explicit chronological notes to order the stories.

"The Man-Eaters of Zamboula," published under the revised title "Shadows in Zamboula" in the November 1935 issue of Weird Tales, was the third-to-last Conan story that would see publication during Robert E. Howard's lifetime. In-between "Beyond the Black River" and "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula," he'd penned "The Black Stranger," but the public wouldn't see that story for some time, and not until L. Sprague de Camp had heavily edited it and re-titled it "The Treasure of Tranicos."

By mid-1935, Howard was noticeably tiring of Conan the Cimmerian. He said so in letters and to friends, and he in particular grew resentful of the fact that WT editor Farnsworth Wright owed him about $860 (multiple thousands of dollars in today's cash) because the magazine had had financial troubles. He was ready to move on. But letter-writers in "The Eyrie" liked the story, and it did grace the cover of the November issue.

---

There are not a ton of chronological clues in this story, but there are enough that you can place in pretty firmly on one side of "A Witch Shall Be Born:"

• Conan has recently been with the Zuagir raiders, which were introduced to us in "A Witch Shall Be Born," and he's been with them for some time: "You have dwelt for many moons in the tents of the Zuagirs, and you are our brother! Go not to the house of Aram Baksh!"
• Conan has been with the Zuagirs long enough to absorb some of their culture and folk tales: "All the tales he had heard in the Zuagir tents of devils and goblins came back to bead his flesh with clammy sweat. Now the monster slid noiselessly into the room, with a crouching posture and a shambling gait; and a familiar scent assailed the Cimmerian's nostrils, but did not reassure him, since Zuagir legendry represented demons as smelling like that."
• Conan has been in Zamboula for a week: "He had ridden into Zamboula from the desert a week before."
• This appears to be the only appearance of the golden lotus, apparent revitalizing cousin of the black lotus: "He drew a phial from among his robes. 'This contains the juice of the golden lotus. If your lover drank it he would be sane again.'"
• Conan rides out of Zamboula westward, appearing to leave the Zuagirs behind: "The noise followed Conan as he rode westward beneath the paling stars."

Because Conan is in the deserts between Shem and Turan and is familiar with the Zuagirs, this story seems to need to take place either right before "A Witch Shall Be Born," or right after it. Since Conan begins the story with the group but seems to be leaving them behind without word at the end, it makes more sense to me to place it afterword.

This brings our updated chronology to this:

​1. The Tower of the Elephant
2. Rogues in the House
3. Queen of the Black Coast
4. Xuthal of the Dusk
5. Iron Shadows in the Moon
6. The Devil in Iron
7. The People of the Black Circle
8. A Witch Shall Be Born
9. The Man-Eaters of Zamboula
10. Black Colossus
12. The Pool of the Black One
12. The Servants of Bit-Yakin
13. Beyond the Black River
14. The Phoenix on the Sword
15. The Scarlet Citadel