Robert E. Howard

1906-
1936

Reviewed by Rob Rhodes
and Greg Hersom

Robert E. Howard was a writer for the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the American depression. Besides fantasy and horror, he wrote historical, westerns, and crime novels. He created the character of Conan the Cimmerian (Conan the Barbarian) and the genre of sword & sorcery. He committed suicide at age 30. Here is the official Robert E. Howard website.

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The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane — (2004) This omnibus contains these previously published stories: The Moon of Skulls (1968), The Hand of Kane (1970), Skulls in the Stars (1978), The Hills of the Dead (1979), Solomon Kane (1995) and some other stories, poems, and fragments. Publisher: With Conan the Cimmerian, Robert E. Howard created more than the greatest action hero of the twentieth century — he also launched a genre that came to be known as sword and sorcery. But Conan wasn't the first archetypal adventurer to spring from Howard's fertile imagination. "He was... a strange blending of Puritan and Cavalier, with a touch of the ancient philosopher, and more than a touch of the pagan... A hunger in his soul drove him on and on, an urge to right all wrongs, protect all weaker things... Wayward and restless as the wind, he was consistent in only one respect — he was true to his ideals of justice and right. Such was Solomon Kane." Collected in this volume, lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Gary Gianni, are all of the stories and poems that make up the thrilling saga of the dour and deadly Puritan, Solomon Kane. Together they constitute a sprawling epic of weird fantasy adventure that stretches from sixteenth-century England to remote African jungles where no white man has set foot. Here are shudder-inducing tales of vengeful ghosts and bloodthirsty demons, of dark sorceries wielded by evil men and women, all opposed by a grim avenger armed with a fanatic's faith and a warrior's savage heart. "In Memoriam," H. P. Lovecraft's moving tribute to his friend and fellow literary genius.

sword and sorcery book review Rober E Howard Solomon Kane The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane: Check yourself for wounds

Dressed in black with the tall slouch-hat typical of Puritan fashion, and armed with sword, flint-locks, and, later, an ancient carved staff, Solomon Kane stalks the 16th century world from the remote reaches of Europe to the bloody decks of the high seas, and into the deepest, darkest African jungles. Whether it be a witch-cursed monstrosity, hell-spawned vampire, mutant throwback, or just a wicked wretch of humankind, Solomon Kane will fight with equal determination and enthusiasm to see good triumph.

Robert E. Howard’s tales are so alive, you almost have to check yourself for wounds. Between the lines broods an ancient feeling of melancholy that lends such realism to the writing. And the beautiful, sweeping illustrations in this book by the award-winning artist Gary Gianni bring that classical storytelling feel to the forefront.

As with all of Howard’s heroes, Solomon Kane is larger-than-life, fearless, and inherited of an ancestral fighting prowess and unconquerable spirit. But Kane’s adventures are the product of his fanatical obsession to root out and destroy evil in any form. He seeks no personal reward — only claims to do the will of God. However, despite his staunch Puritan faith, his inner demons are almost as dark as those he combats. He is a man of violence, filled with a wander-lust to seek out what he judges as evil with a determination and recklessness that is psychotic.

What makes Solomon Kane so endearing to read is, on one hand, Solomon Kane is the archetypical swash-buckler — much like a character from a Robert Louis Stevenson adventure story. On the other hand (probably the left because left-handedness was once thought to be of the Devil), Kane is as foreboding as what he faces — most often horrors as nightmarish as anything Edgar Allen Poe ever created.

Reading these stories in this format is like a journey back to my childhood — when the jungles of an old Tarzan movie were more real than anything documented on the National Geographic channel, and when a horror comic hidden in a text book at school would make me too scared to sleep that night. It reminded me of when I was too young to be allowed to read such violent and terrifying tales but did so anyway because I knew therein were hidden truths of adventures still left in this world that my parents didn’t want me to know about. —Greg Hersom

The Conan Chronicles — (1990-2005) Publisher: “Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities... there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars... Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand... to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.” Conan is one of the greatest fictional heroes ever created–a swordsman who cuts a swath across the lands of the Hyborian Age, facing powerful sorcerers, deadly creatures, and ruthless armies of thieves and reavers. Collected in this volume, profusely illustrated by artist Mark Schultz, are Howard’s first thirteen Conan stories, appearing in their original versions–in some cases for the first time in more than seventy years–and in the order Howard wrote them. Along with classics of dark fantasy like “The Tower of the Elephant” and swashbuckling adventure like “Queen of the Black Coast,” The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian contains a wealth of material never before published in the United States, including the first submitted draft of Conan’s debut, “Phoenix on the Sword,” Howard’s synopses for “The Scarlet Citadel” and “Black Colossus,” and a map of Conan’s world drawn by the author himself. Here are timeless tales featuring Conan the raw and dangerous youth, Conan the daring thief, Conan the swashbuckling pirate, and Conan the commander of armies. Here, too, is an unparalleled glimpse into the mind of a genius whose bold storytelling style has been imitated by many, yet equaled by none.

Robert E. Howard Conan Kull, The Coming of Conan The Cimmerian, The Bloody Crown of Conan, The Conquering Sword of Conan

Available for download at Audible.com

book review Robert E. Howard The Bloody Crown of Conan The Bloody Crown of Conan

Nobody can touch Robert E. Howard when he was at the top-of-his-game. The three stories in The Bloody Crown of Conan are not only some of his best, they are some of his best Conan stories and Conan was his greatest creation. Howard was the father of Sword & Sorcery and next only to J.R.R. Tolkien in being the largest influence of fantasy today. His stories have stark imagery that’s nothing short of amazing. The action moves at break-neck speed, and despite that they were written as pure adventure “pulps,” there’s harsh reality that lying just beneath the surface.

In "The People of the Black Circle", a princess and her kingdom are the target of an elite group of evil sorcerers, the Black Circle. Only Conan, the chief of the outlaws ranging her land, can save her.

In "The Hour of the Dragon," King Conan is struck down by a resurrected wizard from an ancient evil kingdom. Now Conan must take up a long, dangerous quest to retrieve a relic of great power; the undead wizard’s weakness, and rebuild his armies in order to regain his throne and achieve his revenge.

"A Witch Shall Be Born" is the tale of a evil and beautiful witch, who enslaves her twin sister, the queen of the border-city Khauran and allows merciless Shemite mercenaries reign of the kingdom. However, when they nail the captain of the guard, Conan, to a cross in the desert, they make the mistake of not confirming his death.

Del Rey publishing has done an excellent job putting these, The Fully Illustrated Library of Robert E. Howard, books together. They are chockfull of commentaries, letters and notes that can be appreciated by die-hard Howard fans and newcomers alike. Gary Gianni’s artwork for Bloody Crown compliments the story perfectly, as do the artists in the other books. The beautiful illustrations lend a classical feel that’s well-worthy of the master that Robert E. Howard was. —Greg Hersom

Kull: Exile of Atlantis — (2006) Publisher: In a meteoric career that spanned a mere twelve years, Robert E. Howard single-handedly invented the genre that came to be called sword and sorcery. From his fertile imagination sprang some of fiction’s most enduring heroes. Yet while Conan is indisputably Howard’s greatest creation, it was in his earlier sequence of tales featuring Kull, a fearless warrior with the brooding intellect of a philosopher, that Howard began to develop the distinctive themes, and the richly evocative blend of history and mythology, that would distinguish his later tales of the Hyborian Age. Much more than simply the prototype for Conan, Kull is a fascinating character in his own right: an exile from fabled Atlantis who wins the crown of Valusia, only to find it as much a burden as a prize. This groundbreaking collection, lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Justin Sweet, gathers together all Howard’s stories featuring Kull, from Kull’s first published appearance, in “The Shadow Kingdom,” to “Kings of the Night,” Howard’s last tale featuring the cerebral swordsman. The stories are presented just as Howard wrote them, with all subsequent editorial emendations removed. Also included are previously unpublished stories, drafts, and fragments, plus extensive notes on the texts, an introduction by Howard authority Steve Tompkins, and an essay by noted editor Patrice Louinet.

Available for download at Audible.com

Kull: Foundational reading for the sword & sorcery fan

* If you're not — or not looking to become — a reader of sword-and-sorcery or fantasy tales, then you can probably skip the rest of this review and move on... unless you might acquire a taste for stories of a philosophical barbarian-king, whose axe or sword slays on-comers as easily as you might mosquitoes... *

OK, now that they're gone: this intriguing compilation probably merits 3-1/2 stars, but I'll give one of the genre's cornerstones the benefit of the doubt. Be warned, though, REH's writing can be quite different from that of modern writers: sometimes brooding, sometimes utterly pulp-ish in its almost garish vividness. Nonetheless, it's that very quality that makes it so fascinating and, at times, as strong and elegant as the axe of the protagonist.

Speaking of whom, he is like Rodin's "Thinker" with larger muscles and longer hair. An Atlantian usurper of the throne of Valusia, he finds himself perpetually assailed by conspirators (whether domestic, foreign or, for something completely different, possessed of human bodies and serpent heads). One could thus group the stories here into a couple of categories: (1) The Conspiracies (The Shadow Kingdom, By This Axe I Rule, and Swords of the Purple Kingdom — the latter two being quite similar); (2) The Oddities (e.g. Delcardes' Cat, The Striking of the Gong and The Skull of Silence); and (3) The Unfinished (which are obvious). (So yes, be forewarned, especially if you need closure in your tales.)

REH's genius shows through most clearly in the Conspiracies, where one marvels at the power of his imagination — he seems to have created this pre-Flood world out of whole cloth! As noted, the writing is often fine, and from the viewpoint of the fantasy fan, this is foundational reading. From here, it's logical to read The Hour of the Dragon, REH's only novel and a tale of that legendary king who evolves from Kull of Atlantis: Conan of Cimmeria. —Rob Rhodes

Bran Mak Morn: The Last King — (2005) Publisher: From Robert E. Howard’s fertile imagination sprang some of fiction’s greatest heroes, including Conan the Cimmerian, King Kull, and Solomon Kane. But of all Howard’s characters, none embodied his creator’s brooding temperament more than Bran Mak Morn, the last king of a doomed race. In ages past, the Picts ruled all of Europe. But the descendants of those proud conquerors have sunk into barbarism... all save one, Bran Mak Morn, whose bloodline remains unbroken. Threatened by the Celts and the Romans, the Pictish tribes rally under his banner to fight for their very survival, while Bran fights to restore the glory of his race. Lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist Gary Gianni, this collection gathers together all of Howard’s published stories and poems featuring Bran Mak Morn–including the eerie masterpiece “Worms of the Earth” and “Kings of the Night,” in which sorcery summons Kull the conqueror from out of the depths of time to stand with Bran against the Roman invaders. Also included are previously unpublished stories and fragments, reproductions of manuscripts bearing Howard’s handwritten revisions, and much, much more. Special Bonus: a newly discovered adventure by Howard, presented here for the very first time.

Cormac Mac Art: Tigers of the Sea — (1975) Publisher: Rampaging through the lands of King Arthur, Cormac Mac Art, a Irish descendant of Kull and Conan, is accompanied by Wulfhere the Skull-Splitter in a fight against the men, monarchs, and monsters of a dark age.

The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard — (2004-2007) Publisher: Shadow Kingdoms is the first volume of the Weird Works of Robert E. Howard, presenting all of Howard's work for the pulp magazine Weird Tales meticulously restored to its original magazine texts. This volume begins with "Spear and Fang," Howard's first professional fiction sale, and concludes with "Red Thunder," a gripping sword & sorcery tale. Series characters present in this volume include King Kull and Solomon Kane. Edited by Paul Herman. Introduction by Mark Finn. Cover by Stephen Fabian.

The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard 1. Shadow Kingdoms 2. Moon of Skulls 3. People of the Dark 4. Wings In The Night 5. Valley of the Worm 6. The Garden of Fear 7. Beyond the Black River 9. Black Hounds of Death

The Dark Man OMnibus — (1978-1979) Publisher: The Dead Remember; People of the Dark; Children of the Night; The Garden of Fear; The Thing on the Roof; The Hyena; Dig Me No Grave; The Dream Snake; Old Garfield's Heart; The Voice of El-Lil; The Gods of Bal Sagoth; The Man on the Ground; In the Forest of Villefere; The Dark Man.

Robert E Howard The Dark Man Omnibus: The Dark Man, The Dead Remember

The Best of Robert E. Howard — (2007) Publisher: Robert E. Howard is one of the most famous and influential pulp authors of the twentieth century. Though largely known as the man who invented the sword-and-sorcery genre — and for his iconic hero Conan the Cimmerian — Howard also wrote horror tales, desert adventures, detective yarns, epic poetry, and more. This spectacular volume, gorgeously illustrated by Jim and Ruth Keegan, includes some of his best and most popular works. Inside, readers will discover (or rediscover) such gems as “The Shadow Kingdom,” featuring Kull of Atlantis and considered by many to be the first sword-and-sorcery story; “The Fightin'est Pair,” part of one of Howard's most successful series, chronicling the travails of Steve Costigan, a merchant seaman with fists of steel and a head of wood; “The Grey God Passes,” a haunting tale about the passing of an age, told against the backdrop of Irish history and legend; “Worms of the Earth,” a brooding narrative featuring Bran Mak Morn, about which H. P. Lovecraft said, “Few readers will ever forget the hideous and compelling power of [this] macabre masterpiece”; a historical poem relating a momentous battle between Cimbri and the legions of Rome; and “Sharp's Gun Serenade,” one of the last and funniest of the Breckinridge Elkins tales. These thrilling, eerie, compelling, swashbuckling stories and poems have been restored to their original form, presented just as the author intended. There is little doubt that after more than seven decades the voice of Robert E. Howard continues to resonate with readers around the world.

The Best of Robert E. Howard 1. Crimson Shadows, 2. Grim Lands

Other Novels

Almuric — (1964) Publisher: The great interplanetary epic of sword and sorcery! Demon Rulers of a savage planet! When Esau Cairn was sent across space to the demon-haunted planet of Almuric, he knew nothing of his destination. Almuric, the secret discovery of the scientist who had invented the space-transition machine was a hell-world of strange and terrible beings, of savages and swordsmen, of winged monsters and incredible mysteries.

fantasy book reviews Robert E. Howard Almuric Almuric

Call me shallow, but I just connect to Robert E. Howard’s yarns.

Esau Cairn is a man born in the wrong age. His freakish strength, athletic prowess, and berserker tendencies only make him an outcast in modern society, where he eventually ends up on the wrong side of the law. So when a scientist who is a sympathetic friend offers him an escape to another planet, it seems like a good alternative to going down fighting.

Once on Almuric, Esau soon regresses to a savage state in order to survive the wild and untamed land. Before long, he runs across a barbaric race of Neanderthal-like men and fair women. Esau’s fighting skills and untamable spirit win him a place among a clan and put him on the path to becoming a warrior-hero. Once Almuric gets rolling, it’s chock-full of the raw action that nobody can do like Howard.

Almuric is a typical Robert E. Howard story, and is also typical of the time in which it was written. A he-man hero wins glory and saves the damsel in distress. The world of Almuric is populated by brutish cave-men, but somehow the females evolved to be no less than beautiful. The story is told in the first person by Esau, who is near-invulnerable and by no means modest.

Despite the lack of depth, Almuric appealed to me like most all of the late-great Bob Howard’s stories. There is always a high level of entertainment value in a Howard yarn (even if it’s in a guilty-pleasure, popcorn kind of way) and he should be acknowledged as one of the pioneers of fantasy. He greatly influenced the genre, both directly and indirectly.

Howard’s work romanticizes barbarianism and by-gone ancient ages in which “men were men,” so to speak. Almuric touches the core of his fascinations and is also autobiographical in a way. Esau Cairn was born in the wrong time, and Howard was known to say the same about himself. I got the sense that Almuric was like a personal daydream of Howard’s.

I’ll be the first to admit that maybe I read just a little too much into Howard’s stuff, but for some reason I always feel like I just “get” what he was trying to say. —Greg Hersom

The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard — (2010) Publisher: Among the great pulp writers whose work continues to enthrall new generations of readers — Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.P. Lovecraft, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler — few were as versatile as Robert E. Howard. Best known as the creator of Conan, Howard also wrote not only of other memorable fantasy characters, such as Puritan swordsman Solomon Kane and Pictish king Bran Mak Morn, but hundreds of stories of boxing, detection, westerns, horror, “weird menace,” desert adventure, lost race, historicals, “spicies”, even “true confessions.” Robert E. Howard is best known as the father of “sword and sorcery” fiction, an exciting blend of swashbuckling action and supernatural horror epitomized by his characters King Kull, barbarian usurper of the throne of fabled Valusia, and Conan, who wanders the Hyborian Age “to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.” But the young Texas author was far more gifted and versatile than many readers know: in a career that lasted only twelve years before his untimely death, he wrote some 300 stories and 800 poems, covering anastonishing variety of subject matter — fantasy, boxing, westerns, horror, adventure, historical, detective, spicy, even confessions — running the gamut from dark fantasy to broad humor, from brooding horror to gentle love story.

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