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REH: His Life & Times
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The prologue was good, and did what a prologue should do. It provided background information and context outside the main narrative, while setting the tone. It's basically description of Cross Plains, Texas, and describing the house REH grew up in within context of his neighbors. The only thing it lacked that I would have like was maps. It would have been nice to see a drawing showing REH's house in relation to his neighbors, and how far it is from Cross Plains. Maybe even a map of Cross Plains. Like most prologues, it could be skipped without losing the core story—though I felt this prologue enriched the experience.
Chapter 1 is titled "I Seek a Vicarious Pride in My Ancestry." Basically this chapter goes back through REH's family tree as far back as can be traced, indicating where REH rather stretched the truth and where he was reasonably accurate. It was interesting to read the bits of knowledge shared here about his distant ancestors on down to the birth of his each of his parents, first from his father's side, then from his mother's.
Chapter 2 is titled "Dr. Isaac and Hester Ervin Howard, 1870-1906." This covers Isaac and Hester's early years, how Isaac became a doctor - and the state of medical education at that time, and where Isaac and Hester met. They marry, and the chapter talks about how Hester helped Isaac do his doctoring, and how her early experiences caring for sick family informed her ability to help her husband. The chapter ends with Hester's pregnancy, setting the stage for the birth of Robert E. Howard.All this was covered in far greater detail than in Renegades and Rogues: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard or Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard, although those books hit the high points more than adequately. Doctor Oliver is definitely trying to be the definitive book though and it shows. It's pretty comprehensive.
One thing Dr. Oliver doesn't go into is how odd it was for Hester to have waited so long to get married. Mark Finn's book talks about how she was already considered an Old Maid by the time she married.
Chapter 3 is called, "A Peripatetic Childhood, 1906-1915." (Peripatetic means "traveling from place to place, in particular working or based in various places for relatively short periods," which definitely describes REH's early childhood.)This chapter covers the years before the Howards settled in the post-oak country around Cross Plains. He was born in Peaster, even though they didn't live there. We get information and stories regarding the Dark Valley region. They seemed to follow boom towns. They moved to Seminole, then to Bronte. Then to Crystal City, where Dr. Howard's sister lived. Soon after that, they moved to San Antonio, then to Poteet. Then ton Palo Pinto, then to Oran. Then on to Byers in the Wichita Falls country, which REH remembered hating. Then on to Bagwell, where REH first went to school at age 8 (the typical starting age for school back then).
It was in Bagwell, that REH encountered Black people and listened to old slaves' tales of horrors and hauntings that he'd later write about. Eventually, they headed to central west Texas, to post oak country.
Again, very detailed when details were available. It's not vastly different than Vick's Chapter Two or Finn's Chapter Three. This is to be expected. Most of the same sources were used, I imagine.
Chapter 4 is titled "Post Oak Country, 1915-1919." It covers the time the Howards spent in Cross Cut and Burkett, as well as their visit to New Orleans for one of Dr. Howard's postgraduate courses. The chapter expands on similar material in Vick's Chapter 3 and the first half of Finn's Chapter 4. It details some of the friends young REH had, and the memories the people had of him and his family. Dr. Howard was well liked, and Mrs. Howard was respected as well. REH had more free time than most kids because Dr. Howard was a doctor, not a farmer.
Chapter 5 is titled "Cross Plains, Texas, 1919." In 1919, Robert E. Howard was 13 years old, living in the small Texas town of Brownwood. This year marked a formative time in his youth, during which he began developing a strong interest in reading and storytelling, especially in history, adventure, and heroic tales. He had already started writing short stories and poems, influenced by the pulp magazines of the time and the adventure novels he devoured.His family moved frequently due to his father’s work as a traveling physician, which exposed Howard to various Texas towns and helped shape the rugged, often violent settings that would later appear in his fiction. Though not yet published, 1919 was a year of creative incubation, where Howard’s imagination and passion for writing began to crystallize—laying the groundwork for the sword and sorcery stories he would become famous for in the 1930s.
In summary, 1919 was a quiet but critical year of early literary development and personal discovery for the young Robert E. Howard and this chapter chronicles all of that.
Chapter 6 is titled, "Influential Authors, 1920-1922." Between 1920 and 1922, Robert E. Howard entered his mid-teens. During this period, he immersed himself in literature, particularly historical epics, adventure stories, and poetry. He became increasingly focused on writing, producing a large volume of handwritten stories, many of them imitations of the pulp fiction he was reading. Though still an unpublished author, these early years were essential in helping him hone his voice and narrative instincts. Howard was also athletic and competitive, developing a love for boxing and physical fitness, which would later influence many of his characters’ physicality and themes of strength and survival.Academically, Howard was an intelligent student with a special passion for history and languages, but he had little interest in most formal education. He often felt like an outsider, struggling with social isolation and a growing awareness of death and violence, which would become recurring themes in his later fiction. By the end of 1922, he was preparing to graduate from high school in 1923, already determined to pursue a writing career. His notebooks from this time show a deepening commitment to his craft, including attempts at verse and adventure fiction. These formative years marked a turning point where the boy who devoured pulp magazines began consciously shaping himself into a professional writer.
As per the title, this chapter focused on several of REH's literary influences, and what he read in an area where reading material was scarce. Arabian Nights, "The Saga of Grettir the Outlaw," Mark Twain, Zane Grey, Rudyard Kipling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and, most importantly, Jack London.
He also started buying magazines during this time, exposed now to the pulps that would become his primary market.
Chapter 7 was titled "Brownwood, Texas, 1922-1923." In 1922–1923, Robert E. Howard was living in Brownwood, Texas, where he completed his final year of high school. This period was marked by his growing intellectual independence and a sharpened focus on becoming a professional writer. Surrounded by a college-town atmosphere due to Howard Payne College’s presence in Brownwood, Howard found a more stimulating cultural environment than in smaller towns he had previously lived in. He spent countless hours in the local library, devouring books on history, mythology, and poetry, while also refining his storytelling style. He also continued writing prolifically in private, experimenting with genres and developing recurring character types that embodied strength, independence, and often, grim fatalism.During this time, Howard was also forming important early friendships and correspondences, laying the groundwork for his later literary network. He was first published here, with "'Golden Hope' Christmas" and "West is West" in The Tattler, the school newspaper. He took his writing seriously and began submitting stories to pulp magazines. His life in Brownwood offered both solitude and inspiration—he felt intellectually engaged but also emotionally detached, often expressing a deep sense of alienation and preoccupation with the fragility of life. He graduated from Brownwood High School in 1923, and though he briefly attended college afterward, his real ambition was already clear: he would become a writer. These years in Brownwood were pivotal, marking the transition from a promising teenager to a young man intent on forging his identity through the written word.
The chapter covered that he was a sleepwalker, and the beginnings of his friendship with Truett Vinson and Tevis Clyde Smith.
Chapter 8 is titled, "Struggling Author, 1923-1924." In 1923–1924, after graduating from Brownwood High School, Robert E. Howard took the decisive step of trying to become a professional writer, though success remained elusive. He briefly attended Howard Payne College in Brownwood, taking business courses that neither interested nor fulfilled him, all while continuing to write in his spare time. Living at home and often plagued by self-doubt, Howard faced the harsh realities of trying to break into the world of pulp fiction publishing. He sent out numerous submissions to magazines like Adventure and Weird Tales, receiving a stream of rejection slips. Yet he remained undeterred, using the rejections as fuel to improve his craft. This was a time of emotional and psychological intensity for Howard: he was ambitious and driven, but also introverted and prone to periods of brooding introspection.Financially, Howard was dependent on his parents, but he did try his hand at a few jobs, including work at a tailor shop. He also began to isolate himself socially, focusing more on the world of his imagination than on the small-town life around him. He read voraciously, Norse sagas, classical history, epic poetry, and used these influences to build the foundation of the mythic tone and larger-than-life characters he would later become famous for. Although 1923–1924 brought little external success, these years were crucial in developing Howard’s discipline and artistic identity. He was slowly transforming from a teenager with literary dreams into a struggling but determined young writer with a unique voice, on the brink of his first professional breakthrough.
This was also when he sent his first extant letter to Tevis Clyde Smith on June 8, 1923. Also, Robert E. Howard became serious about his health and stature at this age, and began exercising.
And then he sold "Spear and Fang" to Weird Tales.
Chapter 9, "Weird Tales, 1925," was mostly history of Weird Tales up to the point where REH entered the picture. It was interesting, and most of it I didn't know.Weird Tales was launched in March 1923 by J. C. Henneberger, an enterprising Chicago-based publisher, who saw an opportunity to cater to fans of the strange, macabre, and fantastic—genres largely neglected by mainstream magazines. The first issue appeared under the company Rural Publishing Corporation.
The magazine’s initial editor was Edwin Baird, who sought to attract readers with a mixture of horror, fantasy, and mystery stories. However, the earliest issues were a bit unfocused. Sales were modest, and the magazine struggled to find its niche.
In 1924, Henneberger recognized the need for a stronger editorial vision. He replaced Baird with Farnsworth Wright, a former music critic with a keen sense for weird fiction and a talent for building relationships with authors.
Despite its growing stable of authors, Weird Tales struggled financially in its early years. Pulp magazines in general had tight budgets, and Weird Tales sometimes couldn’t pay authors on time. However, its reputation as the “Unique Magazine” (a nickname it adopted around this time) began to spread, attracting both readers and writers who appreciated its distinctive voice.
In late 1925, Weird Tales moved its offices from Chicago to Indianapolis, seeking a more stable business base and lower costs.
By the close of 1925, Weird Tales had established itself as the premier pulp magazine for weird fiction, though it was still a financial underdog compared to larger, more mainstream pulps. Under Wright’s editorship, it was carving out a loyal readership, laying the foundation for the Golden Age of the magazine in the 1930s.
Wright’s willingness to publish innovative and often controversial material—combined with a roster of emerging genre authors—set Weird Tales on its path to becoming a legend in the annals of weird fiction.
Chapter 10, "On Werewolves and Horror Yarns, 1925" was about REH's submissions to Weird Tales and other magazines in 1925, and some practical jokes that went awry with his friends. In 1925, Robert E. Howard was a 19-year-old novice writer, still learning the craft, experimenting with different genres, and beginning to gain a foothold in the pulp market with his first professional sale (Spear and Fang) in Weird Tales. It was a formative year—a time of exploration, frustration, and gradual progress that set the stage for his later success.
Chapter 11, "'Ye College Days,' 1926-1927," started out with a problem. Wright's illustrator had lost REH's "Wolfshead" manuscript, and REH didn't have a copy. He had to rewrite it from memory. REH was not selling a lot in these years, despite his initial successes, so he took a job as a soda jerk. He also finished his bookkeeping certificate from Howard Payne's Commercial School in Brownwood. REH intentionally caught the measles.
Chapter 12, "The Anguished Poet, 1927," is about REH's love of poetry, both in reading/hearing it, memorizing it, and writing it. It also showcased REH's attempts to get poetry published. Outside of Weird Tales, it was hard to get them published without subscribing to the poetry magazine, or buying multiple copies. It was basically a pay-to-play racket, and REH didn't like that.
Is anyone reading this? Is this group still active? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
Vincent wrote: "Is anyone reading this? Is this group still active? "
I do :)
Sorry, but I've had a very busy couple of weeks. Am getting back to reading this. Chapter 13 is "'The Last Celt,' 1927-1928.During the period from late 1927 to fall 1928, Robert E. Howard was actively experimenting with different literary personas as he sought to find his true voice within the competitive and unstable world of pulp publishing. Though Weird Tales was his primary outlet, it was not yet a reliable source of income, prompting him to test various genres and narrative styles in search of wider appeal.
He largely created the Irish background he wanted, and this chapter details how he did it. It also details his meeting with Harold Preece and how that spurred on REH's "Celtic persona" and how it influenced his writing. This chapter goes into the Junto and REH's Irish reavers, Turlogh Dubh O'Brien and Cormac Mac Art. The chapter ends with the writing of "Post Oaks and Sand Roughs."
Vincent wrote: "Chapter 1 is titled "I Seek a Vicarious Pride in My Ancestry." Basically this chapter goes back through REH's family tree as far back as can be traced, indicating where REH rather stretched the tru..."By the way, his tree can be traced here: https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/...
Awesome! Thank you!
Chapter 14 is "Solomon Kane and Historical Fantasy, 1928." In 1928, Robert E. Howard was a 22-year-old writer living in Cross Plains, Texas, still residing with his parents and devoted to his mother’s care. It was a year of significant progress in his literary career. After several years of sporadic sales and rejections, Howard achieved a major breakthrough with the publication of “Red Shadows” in Weird Tales (August 1928), which introduced Solomon Kane, a grim, justice-obsessed Puritan adventurer who roamed the world battling evil with sword and flintlock. Kane’s debut marked Howard’s first truly iconic character and showcased the dark, brooding hero archetype he would become famous for. In 1928, Howard was also writing in a variety of genres—from historical adventure to horror—adopting different narrative voices and refining the hard-hitting, emotionally charged style that would become his hallmark. Though still early in his career, 1928 marked the start of Howard’s transformation from a regional Texas writer to a rising star in the pulp fiction world. He was also starting to write boxing stories, which will lead us to the next chapter...
Chapter 15 is titled, "Steve Costigan and the Boxing Yarns, 1929."In 1929, Robert E. Howard continued to build momentum as a pulp writer, expanding both his creative output and his market presence. Still based in Cross Plains, Texas, he remained dedicated to writing full-time, living a disciplined, isolated life focused on his craft and his mother’s fragile health. While he continued contributing to Weird Tales, particularly with grim and adventurous tales like those featuring Solomon Kane, 1929 also marked the emergence of a new, more humorous side of Howard’s writing: the debut of Steve Costigan, a rough-and-tumble sailor and amateur boxer. Costigan first appeared in “The Pit of the Serpent” (published in Fight Stories in July 1929), launching a long-running and popular series that blended slapstick humor with brawling action and Howard’s deep love of boxing. These tales showed Howard’s versatility, as he shifted from dark, atmospheric narratives to fast-paced, comic misadventures featuring Costigan’s dogged sense of honor and frequent poor judgment. A large benefit of this new market was that the sports magazines paid upon acceptance, while Weird Tales paid upon publication. By the end of 1929, Howard had firmly established himself not only in the weird fiction market but also in the growing niche of sports pulps, setting the stage for even greater success in the early 1930s.
One thing I learned is that by the time Farnsworth Wright and Weird Tales learned how popular King Kull stories were, Robert E. Howard had stopped writing them two years before. He didn't think he could go back to them. That's also why the sports stories paying upon acceptance was a big deal to him - it could take a LONG time for Weird Tales to publish one of his stories and pay him.
Vincent wrote: "These tales showed Howard’s versatility, as he shifted from dark, atmospheric narratives to fast-paced, comic misadventures featuring Costigan’s dogged sense of honor and frequent poor judgment. ."I haven't read anything humoros by him yet, gonna check these stories
Oleksandr wrote: "I haven't read anything humoros by him yet, gonna check these stories"You should! They are much better than you might expect!
Chapter 16 is titled "King Kull and the Birth of Sword and Sorcery, 1929." I mentioned before that by the time Farnsworth Wright and Weird Tales learned how popular King Kull stories were, Robert E. Howard had stopped writing them two years before. He didn't think he could go back to them. The chapter gives an overview of the history of fantasy, and how REH mined the gothic and mixed it with history and fantasy to create sword & sorcery. "The Shadow Kingdom," published two years after it was accepted, was immensely popular. Only one more of the ten Kull stories REH wrote would be published in Weird Tales, also two years after acceptance. People were writing into Weird Tales to plead for more Kull stories. But REH had already moved on.
He wrote "Skull-Face," which had a Thulsa Doom-type character with a similar name (Kathulos vs. Kuthulos) and similar appearance... and both from Atlantis. This was also a hit with Weir Tales readers.
Chapter 17 is "'Lovecraft, One of the Greatest Writers of Our Time,' 1930" and details REH's relationship with Lovecraft, and their long history of writing letters back and forth. It starts with Lovecraft's memory of the first time he learned who REH was when he sat on a bench in Prospect Park, Brooklyn to read "Wolfshead." The chapter concludes with discussions of the odd hours and lifestyle led by REH.
Vincent wrote: "Chapter 16 is titled "King Kull and the Birth of Sword and Sorcery, 1929." "It is interesting to muse how the fantasy genre would have developed if it continued with the likes of King Kull instead of rapidly changing after Tolkien. Would it have been more like (pseudo-)historical stories (with Atlantis, Lemuria) but stuck with 'our' Earth?
That is an interesting conjecture, but even Tolkien's stories were set on 'our' Earth, so when did the setting change to other worlds? Something to research, for sure. Perhaps with Fritz Leiber's World of Nehwon? Maybe Leiber wouldn't have written Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser if REH had stuck with King Kull? Maybe King Kull would have turned more Conan-like with time, so nothing would change but the names in the Conan stories?Intriguing.
Chapter 18, "Bran Mak Morn and the Picts, 1930" is about REH's lifelong fixation with the Picts, and his creation of Bran Mak Morn... hence the title of the chapter. After receiving numerous rejections for both King Kull and Bran Mak Morn, he brought them together for "Kings of the Night," which Wright accepted for Weird Tales. "Kings of the Night," when it was published like 9 months later, was one of the most popular stories he'd ever written for WT. He'd write "The Dark Man" and "The Children of the Night," but then came "Worms of the Earth.""Worms of the Earth" hit the stands in November 1932 (something like 7 months after it was submitted) and garnered rave reviews. However, by the time it was published, he again had moved on from the character.
The chapter goes on with the creation of Cormac Mac Art that went nowhere, then with REH's health problems related to overworking himself. He had what was basically called Nervous Exhaustion.
Chapter 19, "Oriental Stories, The Magic Carpet, and Historical Fiction, 1931" discussed REH's lifelong fascination with history, and how he now had a potential market for historical fiction with the creation of the pulp "Oriental Stories." His first foray was "The Voice of El-Lil," an adventure story with elements of history as its background. It came out in the first issue, and tied with another story for first place in the popularity poll that Wright kept (based on letters that arrived about the stories, mostly). He sold several other historicals to Oriental Stories, but then it folded.Fortunately, "Magic Carpet Magazine" popped up right after. He sold two more to that magazine (including "The Shadow of the Vulture," which introduced Red Sonya of Rogatino) and a Dennis Dorgan story. Interestingly, while the author writes a substantial paragraph about "The Shadow of the Vulture," he never gives the name of the story.
Next up was his James Allison stories of reincarnation, but only two of those were ever published ("The Valley of the Worm" and "The Garden of Fear") during his lifetime, and only the first earned him any money, the second one he gave to a fan publication for no cost.
Chapter 20, "The Cthulhu Mythos, 1931" doesn't move the year forward. Mostly the author has made each chapter a new year, but REH's output at this time was so varied and prodigious, this has probably become difficult. REH is disappointed to find out that Cthulhu and his kith and kin were figments of Lovecraft's imagination, but Lovecraft encourages him to use the names and add to the lore. REH wrote "The Children of the Night," a Pict tale mentioned in the last chapter, which invented Von Junzt's Nameless Cults and Gol-goroth, and used the familiar Lovecraftian elements. He then wrote "The Black Stone" and introduced the mad poet Justin Geoffrey. REH did not like the latter story, feeling he was aping Lovecraft's style too much. He then wrote "The Thing on the Roof" which was initially rejected, but then accepted later.
"The People of the Dark" was accepted by Strange Tales after he made it shorter at the editor's request.
The chapter continues with the effects of the Great Depression on Cross Plains, the Pulps, and REH. It also mentions his correspondence with a young boy, Robert Barlow, who asked for his autograph, and later asked for typescripts and such. If not for Barlow, many of REH's typescripts might have been lost forever.
The chapter also talks about REH's temper as it closes.
Chapter 21, "Westerns both Strange and True, 1932" talks about REH's forays into the Western. The Pulps basically improved on the old dime novels of old, and Zane Grey had risen to the heights of popularity. Although he tried to write Westerns when he was younger, he couldn't break into the Western pulps... until now, when he blended genres and invented the Weird Western with "The Horror from the Mound." It was published in Weird Tales, though, and not one of the Western pulps. Weird Tales continued to publish his weird Westerns, but REH wanted a new outlet because WT only paid on publication and could take months. Although he had several later Westerns (including the historically important "Vultures of Whapeton") published posthumously, he did manage to get one story published in Western Aces, one of the Western pulps: "The Last Ride." Published with a different title, it was a story REH had coauthored with someone who sent him a story, asking if he could make it publishable.
The story concludes with more dire information about the effects of the Great Depression, but that REH was able to buy his first car with his earnings - not because of his Westerns, but because of another character he invented in 1932... his most famous character.
Chapter 22, "'Hither Came Conan, the Cimmerian,' 1932" continues with 1932, with a focus on Conan. REH liked writing historical fiction, but he found that it didn't lend itself to a serial character. There were too many eras he wanted to explore. He also liked writing weird fiction. Conan was a way to fix his issues. He could telescope history and still write fictionalized history in a sense and add a weird element.The chapter also went into how REH pronounced "Conan." He pronounced it "KO-nun" not "ko-NAN." Just FYI.
He had to do revisions, and several of the early Conan stories were rejected. He prepared his history of the Hyborian Age. Some of these stories were accepted in 1932 but not published until 1934 (like Queen of the Black Coast), which was one of the problems REH had with Weird Tales... they paid upon publication.
The art by Margaret Brundage was talked about in the chapter, with Brundage's thoughts on REH stories, which she liked. The Conan stories mostly brought praise. Robert Barlow asked for original typescripts of the Conan stories and got them.
Conan is a major reason Weird Tales survived the Great Depression.
Chapter 23, "Steve Harrison and the Detective Yarns, 1933" goes into how REH finally hired an agent (Otis Kline), and that he was encouraged to write detective stories, which were easy to sell... but REH detested writing them. "Talons in the Dark" was the first sale Kline made for him, in a new market, "Strange Detective Stories." REH created a detective team for two stories, but they didn't sell. Then he invented Detective Steve Harrison, which sold four out of the nine stories he wrote on that character.
So, REH went back to writing Conan stories, with "Rogues in the House" and "The Vale of Lost Women," but only the former sold. Then three of his Conan stories appeared in Weird Tales and proved to be very popular, so he returned to writing Conan in the fall of 1933 with "The Devil in Iron."
Now REH had a friend named Chambers type his revisions of the Conan stories for him. REH also began writing Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth.
He also meets Novalyne Price in 1933, when she was seeing Tevis Clyde Smith briefly (she was friends with him since grade school). And then REH invented Breckenridge Elkins for Action Stories.
Chapter 24, "Breckenridge Elkins and the Tall Tale Yarns, 1934," starts with REH getting some bad news about Magic Carpet folding, and some of his book offers died on the vine. No one wanted books of short stories. Action Stories wanted more from him, so he created Breckinridge Elkins. From 1934 onward, Action Stories became REH's main market, not Weird Tales, which owed him money at this point. I learned to appreciate Breckinridge Elkins and his humor stories after reading Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard by Mark Finn. I give him full credit for making me understand those stories and how they work. This book also gives some credit to Mark Finn in this chapter, which I liked.
Howard appeared in Action Stories for seventeen issues straight, plus another one a few months later, posthumously. And if Action Adventures rejected an Elkins story, REH just changed the character to Bearfield Elston and sold it to Star Western. REH was able to sell these humor stories to Argosy (Pike Bearfield). Buckner J. Grimes was the humor character he sold to Cowboy Stories.
REH wasn't done with Conan, though. He wrote "The People of the Black Circle," and was pleased it appeared five months after acceptance. He tried writing a novel (Almuric), but set it aside to write "The Hour of the Dragon." He sent Hour to the book publisher who wanted a novel, not short stories, but the book publisher went broke, so REH ended up selling it to Weird Tales. He then wrote "A Gent from Bear Creek" by taking stories already published, adding a few to fix-up gaps, and adding an over-arching love interest, and it would become REH's first hardcover book - but it didn't come out until after he died, so he never got to see it.
REH got to meet E. Hoffman Price, a fellow author, and that visit went off pretty well. But REH needed new markets because Weird Tales continued to pay later and later. So he began writing about a character he created in his childhood, El Borak.
Chapter 25, "El Borak and the Adventure Yarns, 1934," tells how REH's agent got REH's stories into a new market, Top-Notch. He sold the Kirby O'Donnell story, "Swords of Shahrazar," which was a sequel to "Gold from Tartary," which was rejected. Fortunately, the latter was sold to Thrilling Adventures and published two months later. Top-Notch then began publishing some of the El Borak Stories, starting with "The Daughter of Erlik Khan," and two more. Complete Stories bought another El Borak story, and Thrilling Adventures another one.
Yet, he hadn't given up on Conan. "A Witch Shall Be Born" was written and appeared in Weird Tales. It was popular. REH was able to buy a new car, a 1935 Chevrolet Standard.
Then, in the fall of 1934, Novalyne Price reappeared in his life.
Chapter 26, "Novalyne Price, 1934-1935," details the relationship between REH and Novalyne Price. She managed to hear him writing a Conan story, "Beyond the Black River" after REH's mother lied to her and told her he was in Brownwood. Also, REH's mother's health started making a downward turn.
Chapter 27, "Dark Moods, 1935," chronicles REH's mood shifts as his mother waxes and wanes in her health, especially after her gall-bladder removal surgery. Because of the Great Depression, the pulps were slow to pay him, and often only paid half of what they owed months after it was due to him. Because of his mother's health needs, he had rising costs and declining positive cash flow. He was earning enough money, but it just wasn't coming in.The chapter does a great job of showing how his moods affected his relationships, especially with Novalyne Price. This was a particularly poignant chapter, and was well-written to bring that emotion to the reader.
Chapter 28, "Spicy Pulps and Shudder Stories, 1936," details REH's breaking into a new genre of pulp fiction, the "Spicys." It also goes into some of REH's continued dates with Novalyne Price and how their relationship continued to break down. Also, more about the deterioration of REH's mother's health, and the trials & tribulations of trying to restore her to health. Chapter 29, "Future Texas Laureate, 1936," focused on Texas and the state of the Texan authors. It focuses on the great unwritten tales of Texas that REH wanted to write (and, moreover, would have been capable of writing). The writing of "Beyond the Black River" and "Red Nails" is showcased and analyzed.
Chapter 30, "'In the Realization That I Must Die,' 1936," focuses again on just how pre-meditated REH's suicide was. It hits on his last unfinished story, and the difficulty in breaking free of the pulps, which REH now was seeing as another inhibition on his own freedom. The chapter ended with REH's death by suicide. I thought his analysis of why REH committed suicide was interesting. Here, it is presented as basically just a final freedom, a freedom he long desired. I think every biography of REH seems to want to present his suicide differently, from some kind of mind-boggling eccentric insanity to a comforting reach for freedom.
This is followed by an epilogue, "'All Fled, All Done,'" which deals with the aftermath of REH's death, not only for Dr. Howard and the proximate members of the Cross Plains community, but also as the news of his death traveled to his friends, fellow authors, and the readers of his stories. It also went into the 'All Fled, All Done' couplet, which was probably not typed just before his death at all, but found in his billfold. REH, a man given to action, did not leave a suicide note, which is in keeping with a man who did not really like explaining his actions to others.
All in all, this was an EXCELLENT biography. I heartily recommend it.
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Robert E. Howard Readers
Books mentioned in this topic
Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard (other topics)Renegades and Rogues: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard (other topics)
Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard (other topics)
Robert E. Howard: The Life and Times of a Texas Author (other topics)
To start with, this is one of the most professional-looking biographies of REH that sit on my shelf. It looks scholarly, just in its presentation. Good solid cover. The spine is impressive. And Willard Oliver is a professor, a PhD, and a member of the REHupa.
As usual, if you are reading it too, feel free to add your thoughts here. Or just respond to what I am writing. Even if years have gone by, feel free to resurrect this thread with your reading of the book.