The Robert E. Howard Reader


The Robert E. Howard Reader is a collection of essays on fantasy writer Robert E. Howard and his works, edited by Darrell Schweitzer. Originally scheduled for publication in 2007, it was ultimately published in September 2010 by Wildside Press.

Summary

The book consists of seventeen essays by various authors, together with an introduction by the editor. A few of the pieces were previously published as articles in George H. Scithers's fanzine Amra, the anthologies The Conan Swordbook, The Conan Grimoire, and Exploring Fantasy Worlds, and the magazines The New York Review of Science Fiction and Weird Tales The remainder are original to the collection.

Contents

  • "Introduction"
  • "Robert E. Howard: A Texan Master”
  • "The Everlasting Barbarian"
  • "Robert E. Howard's Fiction"
  • "The Art of Robert Ervin Howard"
  • "Howard's Style"
  • "What He Wrote and How They Said It"
  • "Barbarism vs. Civilization"
  • "Crash Go the Civilizations"
  • "Return to Xuthal"
  • "Howard's Oriental Stories"
  • "King Kull as a Prototype of Conan"
  • "How Pure a Puritan Was Solomon Kane?"
  • "Balthus of Cross Plains"
  • "Fictionalizing Howard"
  • "A Journey to Cross Plains"
  • "Weird Tales and the Great Depression"
  • "After Aquilonia and Having Left Lankhmar: Sword & Sorcery Since the 1980s”

Reception

The book was reviewed by Paul Di Filippo in Asimov's Science Fiction, January 2012.