The Life of Robert E Howard

We’re back and we’re spoiling for a fight. Well, a boxing match at least. There’s this fellow we met down at the ice house who’s promised us a bout or two. We heard he’s some kind of writer, so his fists must be more used to hitting keys than jaws. Uh oh. Look at the size of him! Is it too late to change this to a different kind of competition, maybe something like writing a poem? What? He’s good at that too? Boy, it’s really not our day…. Main Topic: The Life of Robert E Howard Following our recent discussion of sword and sorcery, this episode is the first of a two-part look into the life and work of Robert E Howard. A close friend of Lovecraft (although the two men never actually met), Howard was a cornerstone of the success of Weird Tales. He not only added to the Cthulhu Mythos but created, arguably, two enduring subgenres of fantastic fiction: sword and sorcery and the weird western. Like Lovecraft, most of his success came posthumously, his books selling millions of copies. His creations have appeared in films, comics, video game and even the odd RPG. But who was Robert E Howard? We examine the man himself, looking at how his life might have shaped his writing. For someone who died so young and spent most of his short life in one town, Howard lived a fascinating life. The era of Texan history in which he grew up was a turbulent one, dealing with the fallout of recent conflicts and the shock of the oil boom. These unique circumstances, as well as the oddness of the Howard family, were fertile creative ground for the young writer’s imagination. We offer a brief overview of the key events of his life and some thoughts of our own. As a general content warning, this episode includes some brief discussion of Howard’s suicide. Our next episode builds upon this discussion, looking at Howard’s writing career and his most famous creation, Conan the Cimmerian. Robert E Howard Links Our main research sources for this episode are: * Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E Howard by Mark Finn* A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H P Lovecraft and Robert E Howard edited by S T Joshi, David E Schultz and Rusty Burke* Nameless Cults: The Cthulhu Mythos Fiction of Robert E Howard edited by Robert M Price Other things we mention in this episode include: * H P Lovecraft* Clark Ashton Smith* Texas oil boom* Cross Plains, Texas*