A short biography of Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) ranks among the greatest writers of action and adventure stories. The creator of Conan the Cimmerian, Kull of Atlantis, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, ‘El Borak,’ Sailor Steve Costigan and many other memorable characters, Howard (known as REH to his millions of fans), in a career that spanned barely 12 years, wrote well over a hundred stories for the pulp magazines of his day.
Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) ranks among the greatest writers of action and adventure stories. The creator of Conan the Cimmerian, Kull of Atlantis, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, ‘El Borak,’ Sailor Steve Costigan and many other memorable characters, Howard (known as REH to his millions of fans), in a career that spanned barely 12 years, wrote well over a hundred stories for the pulp magazines of his day.
While he is widely regarded as the ‘father of Sword and Sorcery’ and the creator of Conan the Barbarian, this reputation has been something of a double-edged sword.
It has helped keep his work in the public eye for six decades since his death, but it has also obscured the astonishing breadth of his imagination, his talent for mastering a variety of genres and his ability to weave his magic in both prose and poetry.
Robert E. Howard contributed his most celebrated work to the pre-eminent fantasy pulp magazine of the era, Weird Tales. However, his stories also appeared in such diverse publications as Action Stories, Argosy, Fight Stories, Oriental Stories, Spicy Adventure, Sport Story, Strange Detective and a number of others. That his stories were a consistent hit with readers of the time is not surprising, for he created thrilling, vividly realized adventures populated by colorful, larger-than-life characters.
He was a consummate and dynamic storyteller. Even after his death publishers continued for some time to publish his stories or reprint them under other by-lines. So enduring is the appeal of his work that over a half century later he continues to gain new fans, introduced to his tales through paperbacks, comics, and movies.
His work has also inspired subsequent generations of fantasy writers and a loyal following that has taken to cyberspace to spread the word.
It has helped keep his work in the public eye for six decades since his death, but it has also obscured the astonishing breadth of his imagination, his talent for mastering a variety of genres and his ability to weave his magic in both prose and poetry.
Robert E. Howard contributed his most celebrated work to the pre-eminent fantasy pulp magazine of the era, Weird Tales. However, his stories also appeared in such diverse publications as Action Stories, Argosy, Fight Stories, Oriental Stories, Spicy Adventure, Sport Story, Strange Detective and a number of others. That his stories were a consistent hit with readers of the time is not surprising, for he created thrilling, vividly realized adventures populated by colorful, larger-than-life characters.
He was a consummate and dynamic storyteller. Even after his death publishers continued for some time to publish his stories or reprint them under other by-lines. So enduring is the appeal of his work that over a half century later he continues to gain new fans, introduced to his tales through paperbacks, comics, and movies.
His work has also inspired subsequent generations of fantasy writers and a loyal following that has taken to cyberspace to spread the word.
Additional Robert E. Howard Biographical Information
One Who Walked Alone: Robert E. Howard, The Final Years,
by Novalyne Price Ellis (West Kingston, RI: Donald M. Grant, Publisher, 1986). A memoir of Robert Howard’s final two years by the woman who dated him: unquestionably the best first-hand account of Howard, particularly for this period.
The book was adapted into the film The Whole Wide World in 1996.
More on the World of REH Howard Works Buy it - amazon!
The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard,
edited by Rob Roehm and John Bullard (REH Foundation Press, 2021). Extensively annotated by Rusty Burke, this three-volume series collects all of the known letters to Tevis Clyde Smith, Harold Preece, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and others. It’s Robert E. Howard in his own words.
More on the World of REH Howard Works Buy it!
Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard,
by Mark Finn (Austin, TX: MonkeyBrain Books, 2006). An updated biography that attempts to correct some of the problems in previous biographies. Incorporates new information and dispells many long-held beliefs regarding Howard’s life. As a Texan himself, Finn is able to “decode” many of Howard’s behaviors that were interpreted poorly in earlier biographical efforts.
More on the World of REH Howard Works Buy it!
A slightly fictionalized autobiographical novel which covers the period from 1924 to 1928. Although the chronological sequence is sometimes altered and certain episodes are undoubtedly exaggerated for effect, this is still a very revealing document covering Howard’s beginnings as a professional writer. Also contains several fictional stories by Howard.
More on the World of REH Howard Works Buy it!
The Last Celt: A Bio-Bibliography of Robert E. Howard,
by Glenn Lord (West Kingston, RI: Donald M. Grant, Publisher, 1976). Contains autobiographical material by Howard from school essays and letters, and biographical and memorial articles by Glenn Lord, E. Hoffmann Price, H.P. Lovecraft, and Harold Preece, in addition to an extensive bibliography of Howard’s work.
More on the World of REH Howard Works
Report on a Writing Man, and Other Reminiscences of Robert E. Howard,
by Tevis Clyde Smith (West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press, 1991). A collection of all the articles written about Robert Howard by one of his closest friends.
The All-Around Magazine was a fanzine published by Smith
More on the World of REH Howard Works
Day of the Stranger: Further Memories of Robert E. Howard,
by Novalyne Price Ellis (West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press, 1989). An interview with Mrs. Ellis, a radio play she wrote in which Robert Howard is a character, and her speech given at a banquet in Howard’s honor at the 1988 World Science Fiction Convention.
More on the World of REH Howard Works
Dark Valley Destiny: The Life of Robert E. Howard,
by L. Sprague de Camp, Catherine Crook de Camp, and Jane Whittington Griffin (NY: Bluejay Books, 1983). This biography is marred by de Camp’s amateur psychologizing. A seemingly indefatigable researcher, de Camp is to be commended for having tracked down and interviewed so many of Howard’s associates and relatives before they passed away. However, he has arranged the information in such a way as to support preconceived ideas about Howard, not always favorable, and in fact subsequent research has called into question not just his interpretations, which were subject to dispute upon publication, but many of his purported “facts.” Nothing in the book should be accepted without cross-reference to other sources of information. Before reading Dark Valley Destiny, researchers should read this.
More on the World of REH Howard Works