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Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) is
best remembered for his classic sword and sorcery tales of the
brawny Cimmerian swordsman Conan, though he wrote stories in a
number of genres: horror (Pigeons from Hell, Worms of the
Earth), oriental adventure (The Lost Valley of Iskander,
Swords of Shahrazar), westerns both humorous (A Gent from
Bear Creek) and conventional (The Last Ride, The
Vultures of Whapeton), boxing (The Iron Man), and others. Howard's tales of Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, Turlogh O'Brien and
Solomon Kane created and defined the sword and sorcery genre,
leading to innumerable pastiches and outright ripoffs of Howard's
characters.
ISFDB Bibliography
R.E. Howard Site:
1,
2,
3 (in French)
Robert E. Howard Museum, Cross Plains, TX
Conan the Barbarian movie fan site:
1,
2,
3
Conan fan site:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9
SWORD a Conan fan magazine
Red Sonja fan site
Books available:
1,
2
The Whole Wide World biographical movie on R.E.H.
Review of The Whole Wide World
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A review by Georges T. Dodds
[Editor's Note: Here you will find the other collections of Robert E. Howard stories].
In The Black Stranger editor Steven Tompkins collects a number of Robert E. Howard's tales set in the United States, albeit
some occurring in far remote times. In his informative introduction, he introduces the works selected and how they relate
to Howard's development as a writer. As with the other books in this series (e.g., Boxing
Stories). A little over half the book collects what are largely sword and sorcery tales in what is only geographically
America, while the remainder, beginning with "The Strange Case of Josiah Wilbarger" occur in recent historical times and are
graced with a great deal of local colour provided by Howard's hands-on knowledge of south-western American history and
culture. In this sense there is quite a contrast in what makes the latter and the former stories as good as they are.
The stories like "The God of Bal-Sagoth" and "Black Vulmea's Vengeance" are full of the lost races, exotic women,
and nefarious characters of the Conan and Kull tales. Indeed "The Black Stranger" is a rarely seen Conan tale, which as
the editor Steven Tompkins points out has a number of parallels with the story of the first European settlers in what
is now the United States (see for example William T. Vollmann's Argall). Still, whatever
sources it may draw upon, it remains pure pulp fiction at its best. The later "local" tales while they have elements
of the supernatural -- voodoo in "Kelly the Conjure Man" and "Pigeons from Hell" and persons best not unburied
in "The Horror from the Mound" -- are most interesting because Howard weaves local history into his tales. His
description of people and particularly places clearly is one informed from having been there or of knowing and caring
about local legends. These stories also follow Howard's trend towards writing more western and historical stories and
fewer sword and sorcery stories as time went on.
| The Black Stranger |
| Title |
Some Other Appearances |
| Introduction (Steven Tompkins) |
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| The Black Stranger |
in Echoes of Valor, New York: Tor, 1987 |
| Marchers of Valhalla |
in Marchers of Valhalla West Kingston, RI: Donald M. Grant, 1972 |
| The Gods of Bal-Sagoth |
Weird Tales, Oct. 1931 |
| Nekht Semerkeht |
composite story by Andrew J. Offutt in Swords Against Darkness, New York: Zebra, 1977, this version direct from Howard's typescripts |
| Black Vulmea's Vengeance |
Golden Fleece, Nov. 1938 |
| The Strange Case of Josiah Wilbarger |
The West, Sept. 1967 |
| The Valley of the Lost |
as "Secret of Lost Valley" in Startling Mystery Stories, Spring 1967 |
| Kelly the Conjure Man |
The Howard Collector No. 5, Summer 1964 |
| Black Canaan |
Weird Tales, Jun. 1936 |
| Pigeons from Hell |
Weird Tales, May 1938 |
| Old Garfield's Heart |
Weird Tales, Dec. 1933 |
| The Horror from the Mound |
Weird Tales, May 1932 |
| The Thunder-Rider |
in Marchers of Valhalla West Kingston, RI: Donald M. Grant, 1972 |
| Excerpts incl. 'The Classic Tale of the Southwest' |
letters to August Derleth and H.P. Lovecraft |
| The Grim Land (poem) |
in The Grim Land and Others, Lamoni, IA: Stygian Isle Press, 1976 |
Copyright © 2005 Georges T. Dodds
Georges Dodds is a research scientist in vegetable crop physiology, who for close to 25 years has read and collected close to
2000 titles of predominantly pre-1950 science-fiction and fantasy, both in English and French. He writes columns on early
imaginative literature for WARP, the newsletter/fanzine of the Montreal Science Fiction and
Fantasy Association and maintains a site reflecting his tastes in imaginative literature.
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