Supplemental to this week's Bunker Update

RE: Literary Inspirations and Birthdays

For those of you who wish to do something about it, Robert E. Howard was born on this day, 116 years ago. Howard is best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian and the architect of sword and sorcery as we define it today. His other sword and sorcery characters and hero-kings, such as King Kull, Bran Mak Morn, and Solomon Kane, are also quite popular. But Howard was also a gifted humorist who wrote in the traditions of Texas tall tale telling. His funny boxing and western stories, featuring Sailor Steve Costigan and Breckinridge Elkins have taken their place alongside Howard’s more serious work. Finally, Howard was a gifted poet who enjoyed some recognition during his lifetime for his weird and macabre verses.

The most famous author photo of Robert E. Howard

Howard’s influence, via Conan, and sword and sorcery in general, has had an indelible impact on American Fantasy and popular culture around the world. Along with J.R.R. Tolkien, he’s widely considered the most important fantasist of the 20th century. His direct influence can be most definitely seen in video games and role-playing games. Howard’s work was a core element in the development of Dungeons and Dragons. You can draw a straight line from Conan, to Gary Gygax, to Skyrim.

Frank Frazetta’s eight Conan paintings are a singularity in fantasy, and some of the most influential artwork of all time. This illustration from “Rogues in the House” is a favorite of mine.

It should come as no surprise that Howard means a lot to me; he’s the author who made me want to be a writer. Decades later, I wrote a biography of the man that was well-received, and nominated for a World Fantasy Award. It’s still in print, too, now in an updated and expanded second edition.

If you’re a fan, you should pour yourself a libation, toast his shade, and read something from the man’s voluminous body of work; it’s what a lot of us do. If it’s not to mercenary to suggest, you could also check out Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard. I hear it’s a pretty good read. In all honesty, it’s probably the book I’m most proud of having written.

Maybe you've heard of REH, but haven’t taken the plunge yet. Fair enough! There’s a lot of things out there for you to check out. The two volume Best of Robert E. Howard books are a great place to start and contain a sampling of his stand-out works in nearly every genre he wrote in (and he wrote in a lot of genres).

Either of these books is a great introduction to Howard’s writing. Bonus: They have artwork by the talented Jim and Ruth Keegan, too.

You can also hit the Internets. I understand that’s a good place to find out about important things, like side boobs, whatever those are. In this case, The YouTubes have a collection of videos taken from last year’s Howard Days fan gathering in Cross Plains, Texas. The guest of honor was Roy Thomas. The gents at the Cromcast podcast generously recorded 6.5 hours of talks, interviews, and readings and you can peruse them at your leisure. You can even check me out, at night, standing in the back of the ice house, reading excerpts from Howard’s boxing stories. It was hot and sweaty, and I was being routinely attacked by insects, and my spastic flailings were all captured in high definition, but if you want to hear some of his words read with characterization and inflection, that’s your ticket.

It’s not an overstatement to say were it not for the influence of Robert E. Howard on my life, I would not be writing this, or anything else. I’d probably be selling shoes at a StrideRite in the mall in Abilene, Texas. So happy birthday, REH! And thank you, for all of it!