Authors > Robert E. Howard

Probably best known as the creator of “Conan” Robert E. (Ervin) Howard was a prolific writer in the 1920’s and 1930’s, with over 100 stories published in pulp magazines. Howard was a regular writer for Weird Tales, where his engaging characters and exciting writing style kept readers coming back for more. He also wrote for Oriental Stories, Magic Carpet, Golden Fleece and a number of other magazines.

A Texas native born in 1906, Howard took to reading and writing stories at an early age, wrote his first story at the age of 10 and made his first story sale at the age of 15. In a letter he wrote to Lovecraft, Howard shows his passion for writing:

"It is no light thing to enter into a profession absolutely foreign and alien to the people among which one’s lot is cast; a profession which seems as dim and faraway and unreal as the shores of Europe.... The idea of a man making his living by writing seemed, in that hardy environment, so fantastic that even today I am sometimes myself assailed by a feeling of unreality. Never the less, at the age of fifteen... having only the vaguest ideas of procedure, I began working on the profession I had chosen."

His stories were full of action – fights and sword play. His character, Solomon Kane, was a Puritan swordsman that fought against the wrongs he encountered. His collection of boxing stories, often included a tough but dumb sailor (such as Steve Costigan) who is lured into a boxing match, sometimes because of a woman, and always having the result of a bloody fight, something Howard is very good at portraying.

Howard created the genre that came to be called “sword and sorcery,” with the most well-known and best character created by Howard, Conan. The famous swordsman battles powerful sorcerers, deadly creatures and armies of thieves, often saving a frail damsel at the same time.

Sadly, Howard’s life was cut short in 1936. Dejected over the news that his mother would never emerge from a coma, he committed suicide. Over the years, his heroic characters have grown into pop culture icons and his fiction is thankfully once again back in print.