The Robert E. Howard Reader

by Poul Anderson, Fritz Leiber, Darrell Schweitzer (Editor)

This anthology presents a wide range of analysis, criticism, and opinion about one of the most influential fantasy authors of the twentieth century, with contributions by such well-known writers and critics Poul Anderson, Fritz Leiber, George H. Scithers, L. Sprague de Camp, S. T. Joshi, Howard Waldrop, Steve Tompkins, Darrell Schweitzer, Leo Grin, Robert Weinberg, Mark Hall, Charles Hoffman, Don D'Ammassa, Robert M. Price, Gary Romeo, and Scott Connors. A "must have" for every fan of Robert E. Howard.

Genres: Essays

211 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2007

About the author

Pseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.

Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.

Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]

Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.


Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry

Reviews

[Walt O'Hara]

Just picked this up at Balticon last weekend. Consists of several essays on Robert E. Howard (of Conan fame), basically rehashing the sentiment: "We should have taken this guy more seriously when he was alive, he would have been greatly respected had he lasted a little longer" and "history short-changed Howard, he was far more skilled than he is given credit". There's a lot of Same-old, Same-old here, but I'm enjoying the older essays by Leiber and De Camp quite a bit. Darrell Schweitzer can do literary criticism and editor chores fairly well. I have an old chapbook entitled "Discovering H.P. Lovecraft" that he did a yeoman's job on. I think I like the earlier one better but this is a decent read so far.