The Black Stranger is not too bad as a collection of stories, however it draws a few stories from other books by R. E. Howard such as the Black stranger and the Gods of Bal-sagoth which are from Cthulhu mythos or Conan the barbarian books. It is very well written, and the descriptive power of Howard's writings comes out as is expected. REH rewrote it as a Black Vulmea story ("Swords of the Red Brotherhood"), which was also not accepted.

"The Black Stranger" is a fantasy short story by American writer Robert E. Howard, one of his works featuring the sword & sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian.It was written in the 1930s, but not published in his lifetime.

Karl Edward Wagner (Tor 1987). Wagner, in his introduction to "The Black Stranger" in Echoes of Valour, claimed: "I have the photocopy of Howard's original manuscript of 'The Black Stranger', which clearly shows Howard's efforts to change the story from the Conan to the Black Vulmea The Black Stranger is a novella by Robert E. Howard first published in Echoes of Valor, ed. This was originally written as a Conan story, but was not accepted for publication. The Black Stranger is a fiend from the outer gulfs of existence that was given the form of a man and raised up into the world by an unnamed magician for Count Valenso. The Black Stranger and Other American Tales demonstrates that in some of his most powerful heroic fantasy and horror stories, he also explored a New World older and more haunted than that which we’ve seen in textbooks or museum exhibits. It crushed and slew his enemies.