This short novel was first published in Strand Magazine between June and December 1897, with illustrations by Sidney Paget. The first British book edition on 1 February 1898 retained the name. The first American edition on 22 January 1898 used the title A Desert Drama / Being /The Tragedy of the Korosko. This was changed for the second issue of that edition in 1903 to The Tragedy of the Korosko / A Desert Drama. Doyle later dramatized the novel as The Fires of Fate.