Robert E. Howard
(January 22, 1906 -- June 11, 1936)
An American pro writer who wrote pulp fiction in a wide range of genres. He is probably known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of sword and sorcery. He was born and raised in Texas, living most of his life in Cross Plains.
He wrote for many of the pulps, but his best known market was Weird Tales in which appeared Conan, Kull, Cormac Mac Art, Almuric, Bran Mac Morn, and Solomon Kane. In the early 30s, he became a member of the Lovecraft Circle and he wrote a number of stories set in the Cthulhu Mythos.
He killed himself in 1936 after a short but prolific career. His work is the foundation of sword and sorcery and continues to be popular. One biography of Howard is Dark Valley Destiny by L. Sprague de Camp.
One of Howard's favorite authors was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Howard owned a copy of Doyle's SF novel, The Poison Belt, and of course, named his most famous character (Conan, the Barbarian) after Doyle.
There have been a large number of Howard-related fanzines, including:
- Amra
- The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard Studies
- The Howard Collector
- The Howard Review
- REHUPA
- REH -- Two-Gun Raconteur
- Barbarian Scroll
- REH -- Lone Star Fictioneer
- The Conan Companion
- Robert E. Howard Companion
- Chronicler of Cross Plains
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
In 1973, the first year of the British Fantasy Awards, the BFS gave him their British Fantasy Awards Special Award for Marches of Valhalla.
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