Renegades and Rogues : The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard

Winner of the 2022 Atlantean Award, Robert E. Howard Foundation You may not know the name Robert E. Howard, but you probably know his work. His most famous creation, Conan the Barbarian, is an icon of popular culture. In hundreds of tales detailing the exploits of Conan, King Kull, and others, Howard helped to invent the sword and sorcery genre. Todd B. Vick delves into newly available archives and probes Howard's relationships, particularly with school teacher Novalyne Price, to bring a fresh, objective perspective to Howard's life. Like his many characters, Howard was an enigma and an outsider. He spent his formative years visiting the four corners of Texas, experiences that left a mark on his stories. He was intensely devoted to his mother, whom he nursed in her final days, and whose impending death contributed to his suicide in 1936 when he was just thirty years old. Renegades and Rogues is an unequivocal journalistic account that situates Howard within the broader context of pulp literature. More than a realistic fantasist, he wrote westerns and horror stories as well, and engaged in avid correspondence with H. P. Lovecraft and other pulp writers of his day. Vick investigates Howard's twelve-year writing career, analyzes the influences that underlay his celebrated characters, and assesses the afterlife of Conan, the figure in whom Howard's fervent imagination achieved its most durable expression. You may not know the name Robert E. Howard, but you probably know his work. His most famous creation, Conan the Barbarian, is an icon of popular culture. In hundreds of tales detailing the exploits of Conan, King Kull, and others, Howard helped to invent the sword and sorcery genre.0Todd B. Vick delves into newly available archives and probes Howard's relationships, particularly with schoolteacher Novalyne Price, to bring a fresh, objective perspective to Howard's life. Like his many characters, Howard was an enigma and an outsider. He spent his formative years visiting the four corners of Texas, experiences that left a mark on his stories. He was intensely devoted to his mother, whom he nursed in her final days, and whose impending death contributed to his suicide in 1936 when he was just thirty years old.0'Renegades and Rogues' is an unequivocal journalistic account that situates Howard within the broader context of pulp literature. More than a realistic fantasist, he wrote westerns and horror stories as well, and engaged in avid correspondence with H. P. Lovecraft and other pulp writers of his day. Vick investigates Howard's twelve-year writing career, analyzes the influences that underlay his celebrated characters, and assesses the afterlife of Conan, the figure in whom Howard's fervent imagination achieved its most durable expression "Robert E. Howard (REH) was the creator of such characters as Conan the Barbarian, Solomon Kane, and King Kull. He is credited as the creator of the sword-and-sorcery genre, but among his hundreds of short stories are also works on boxing, Westerns, horror, and history. He traded voluminous correspondence with H.P. Lovecraft and others of Lovecraft's circle who wrote for the pulps. Although his career was short (he committed suicide at age 30 in 1936), his legacy continues today. His stories have been adapted to numerous media, and Conan stands as one of the 20th century's most enduring fictional characters. The annual Robert E. Howard Days in his hometown of Cross Plains, Texas, draw hundreds of fans and scholars for tours of his home/museum, panels and talks, and other activities"-- Provided by publisher Dedication 6 Contents 8 Introduction. Who Is Robert E. Howard? 12 1. Pioneering Stories: The Family of Robert E. Howard 16 2. From Birth to Bagwell 27 3. Cross Cut and Burkett 44 4. The Birth of a Writer 54 5. Tattlers and Yellow Jackets 62 6. Pulp Fictioneer 75 7. The Other Side of the Counter 88 8. A New Species of Fantasy Fiction 99 9. Friends and Letters 107 10. Novalyne Price 127 11. Broken on the Plowshare of Fate 141 12. The Aftermath 165 13. Writing a Legacy: Selected Stories 173 14. Circle: The Publishing Journey of a Barbarian 198 Afterword 219 Acknowledgments 222 Notes 224 Index 256 A comprehensive biography of Robert E. Howard, the enigmatic creator of Conan the Barbarian and progenitor of the sword and sorcery genre, who published hundreds of short stories and poems before taking his own life at the age of thirty.