Robert E. Howard: A Closer Look

In 1987, Charles Hoffman and Marc A. Cerasini published a volume on Robert E. Howard for the acclaimed Starmont Reader’s Guides series. Even then, the book was a pioneering study of Howard’s life and work. In the decades that have followed, a great deal of additional research has been done on the life and times of the inventor of Conan, and the authors have now prepared a radically expanded and updated version of their monograph, taking account of these new discoveries.

Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography

David C. Smith looks at all the major and/or significant tales from Howard’s Underwood. Starting with “Spear and Fang” and on up through Bob’s last yarns written in 1936. While every Howard fan has his own list of favorites and his own interpretations thereof, Smith does a solid job of identifying and explicating the standout stories from REH’s career.

The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane

The only hardcover version of this book available, a special edition of the Science Fiction Book Club.

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.

This edition also features exclusive story fragments, a biography of Howard by scholar Rusty Burke, and “In Memoriam,” H. P. Lovecraft’s moving tribute to his friend and fellow literary genius.

Two-Gun Bob: A Centennial Study of Robert E. Howard

This anthology of essays offers a centenary tribute to Howard and his literary achievement. He was regarded as the founder of Sword & Sorcery, and his tales for the pulp magazines of his day included oriental and historical adventures, fantasy, horror, boxing stories, tall-tale Westerns, detection, and science fiction, as well as the stories of Conan the Cimmerian for which he is most widely known. He was also a gifted poet.

El Borak and Other Desert Adventures

Robert E. Howard is famous for creating such immortal heroes as Conan the Cimmerian, Solomon Kane, and Bran Mak Morn. Less well-known but equally extraordinary are his non-fantasy adventure stories set in the Middle East and featuring such two-fisted heroes as Francis Xavier Gordon—known as “El Borak”—Kirby O’Donnell, and Steve Clarney. This trio of hard-fighting Americans, civilized men with more than a touch of the primordial in their veins, marked a new direction for Howard’s writing, and new territory for his genius to conquer.

The wily Texan El Borak, a hardened fighter who stalks the sandscapes of Afghanistan like a vengeful wolf, is rivaled among Howard’s creations only by Conan himself. In such classic tales as “The Daughter of Erlik Khan,” “Three-Bladed Doom,” and “Sons of the Hawk,” Howard proves himself once again a master of action, and with plenty of eerie atmosphere his plotting becomes tighter and twistier than ever, resulting in stories worthy of comparison to Jack London and Rudyard Kipling. Every fan of Robert E. Howard and aficionados of great adventure writing will want to own this collection of the best of Howard’s desert tales, lavishly illustrated by award-winning artists Tim Bradstreet and Jim & Ruth Keegan.

Western Tales

The REH Foundation Press is proud to present Western Tales, a collection of Robert E. Howard’s traditional and weird western stories. The book checks in at 550 pages, and was printed in hardback with dust jacket, in a limited first-print quantity of 200 copies, each individually numbered. Cover art by Tom Gianni and introduction by James Reasoner.

Kull: Exile of Atlantis

The UK based small press Wandering Star issued glorious editions of Robert E. Howard s work, including The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, The Ultimate Triumph, as well as two volumes of Howard’s Conan tales. Subterranean Press is continued this series of limited editions, beginning with Kull: Exile of Atlantis, exquisitely illustrated with color plates.

Dark Valley Destiny – The Life of Robert E. Howard

This is L. Sprague de Camp and his wife Catherines biography of Robert E. Howard. Considered by many to be full of gossip, psychoanalysis, rumors and tall-tales about Howard. There is a lot of Howard’s family history and upbringing including a family tree and all the places that Bob and his parents have lived over the years of his life before settling in Cross Plains, TX.

If you read this, be sure to read many of the more serious and great biographies that have since been written.