Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Happy 113th Birthday, Robert E. Howard

Today marks the 113th anniversary of the birth of pulp writer Robert E. Howard. It has become a
tradition on this date for Howard fans to read a favorite story and raise a toast.

Howard wrote something for every interest: sword and sorcery, hard-boiled detectives, weird horror, historical fiction, boxing, westerns, pirates, and poetry.

Two-Gun Bob's fans who are also tabletop gamers are seeing another resurgence of products, with the Conan adventure board game (recommended), and the main rulebook and many sourcebooks for the Conan RPG out now. This month Marvel Comics released the first two issues of their new Conan comic series, with Savage Sword and other new books on the way.

One of the best brief introductions to Howard is the mostly true, somewhat fictionalized film THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD (1996), based on the writings of Novalyne Price Ellis.

For more information on his life and career, start with the following sites:

I highly recommend Mark Finn's Howard biography, the Locus and World Fantasy Award-nominated Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard available as an expanded edition from the REH Foundation.

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