"Skull Face" is one of those experiments, like Almuric, that Howard made to try and steal another author's successful formula. In this case, Sax Rohmer, whose Fu Manchu was big around WWI. The Yellow Peril racism is pretty hard to swallow these days but Howard wasn't any poster child for racial equality. That having been said, "Skull Face" is a pretty good adventure story. "The Lord of the Dead", "Names in the Black Book", "Taveral Manor" also appeared in the Berkeley edition. None of these are an actual sequel, just more Yellow Peril stories. One connection I did make from this story was the suggestion that Skull-Face was resurrected mummy-like, just like the villain in H. P. Lovecraft's "Out of the Aeons" Skull-Face's actual name is Kathulos-- very suggestive. Richard A. Lupoff wrote a sequel (along with fragments by Howard) called The Return of Skull-Face (1977).
GW
G. W. Thomas has been published since 1987. He has appeared in over 400 publications including Writer's Digest, The Writer and Black October Magazine. His website is www.gwthomas.org
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