I have been watching my local bookstores' shelves explode with reprinting of some pulp era classics, since they went public. Shadow, Doc Savage, Lovecraft, and of course one of my all-time favorite authors, Robert E. Howard.

This new Del Rey collection covers every aspect of his writings, every genre type, major character, and series. Here we have perhaps the best starting point, volume one of "The Best of" collection. I bought one for my brother also.

This volume has a wide-ranging sample of his work, from fantasy adventure to Wild West to horror to detective to poetry to his comedies. A great way to survey Howard's range.

Howard remains one of the best genre writers ever. Reading this you can see why.

Now, on to Volume Two.