A Gent from Bear Creek

Robert E. Howard

The stories are humorously written as if told by Breckinridge Elkins, a hillbilly with no schooling. He and his kin live in the Humboldts in Nevada. Elkins is six feet six inches tall, is as strong as a grizzly bear. He can be just as bad tempered if riled. And there is a lot to rile him, especially his relatives.

Almuric

Robert E. Howard

The creator of Conan looks to the stars in one of fantasys most enduring science fantasy classics! Robert E. Howards Almuric is a savage planet of crumbling stone ruins and debased, near-human inhabitants. Into this world comes Esau Cairn, Earthman, swordsman, murderer. Only he can overthrow the terrible devils that enslave Almuric, but to do so he must first defeat the inner demons that forced him to abandon Earth.

Almuric and Other Fantasies

Robert E. Howard

An Earthman transported to Almuric, a remote alien world where he must contend with apelike humans, winged monsters, and other sinister forces. Robert E. Howards collection of fantastic fantasy science fiction short stories will not fail to entertain!

A Witch Shall Be Born

Robert E. Howard

Taramis, Queen of Khauran, awakened from a dream-haunted slumber to a silence that seemed more like the stillness of nighted catacombs than the normal quiet of a sleeping place. She lay staring into the darkness, wondering why the candles in their golden candelabra had gone out. A flecking of stars marked a gold-barred casement that lent no illumination to the interior of the chamber.

Beyond the Black River

Robert E. Howard

A young settler named Balthus walks blissfully unaware through a forest trail when the sound of combat draws his attention. He hides behind a tree and sees Conan step into the open, having just slain a Pictish robber who was about to ambush Balthus. Conan had been tracking the Pict for some hours, as he has been chasing the encroaching Picts on commission from nearby Fort Tuscelan.

Black Canaan

Robert E. Howard

Good collection of stories. Black Canaan is a favorite of mine. I have some doubts that REH would have finished The House with the suicide of John Conrad, but it is a Lovecraftian ending (Augest Derleth finished the REH fragment in this volume).

Black Colossus

Robert E. Howard

A powerful wizard named Thugra Khotan is awoken from his three-thousand year sleep by an audacious yet unlucky Zamoran thief named Shevatas. Thugra wakes with dreams of world domination. He assumes the name Natohk, the Veiled One, gathers an army of desert tribes and sets out to conquer the Hyborian nations.

Black Hound of Death

Robert E. Howard

Some such thoughts flitted vaguely through my mind that night as I groped along the narrow trail that wound through the deep pinelands. Such thoughts are likely to keep company with any man who dares invade, in the night, that lonely stretch of densely timbered river-country which the black people call Egypt, for some obscurely racial reason.

Black Vulmeas Vengeance

Robert E. Howard

Pulp adventure, seemingly a bit crude and dashed off quickly, but good storytelling none the less. Pirates and lost cities a bit of Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones rolled into one, but also with echoes of one of Howards best known tales of piracy, the Conan story Queen of the Black Coast a superior story. The writing here is okay, entertaining enough, and even manages a little character exposition, but Howard could do and did do better work.

Black Wind Blowing

Robert E. Howard

In Black Wind Blowing, Howard lays it on so thick I half suspected he was trying to do a spoof on the genre. But then, his normal storytelling was always full of bizarre images, hyperactive violence and heavy use of adjectives so this story is probably just an extreme example. It helps too, that Black Wind Blowing has enough wild premises to build at least two or three effective horror stories on. If youre not moved by whats going on at the moment, by the next page the story has shifted gears in a weirder direction.

Blood of the Gods

Robert E. Howard

I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Croms realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimers Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.

Boot-Hill Payoff

Robert E. Howard

San Leon lay as if slumbering in the desert heat as the five brothers rode up to the doors of the Cattlemens Bank. None noted their coming; the Red Lode saloon, favorite rendezvous for the masculine element of San Leon, stood at the other end of the town, and out of sight around a slight bend in the street.

Conan the Conqueror

Robert E. Howard

In this final (chronologically) Conan story, Howard demonstrates why he was one of the best adventure writers of all time. In the only novel he ever produced, Howard is able to maintain the blistering pace he is known for, while still weaving a complex and interesting tale. The story is set during Conans time as King of Aquilonia, which is a period in the heros life often overlooked.

Conrad and Kirowan

Robert E. Howard

Professor John Kirowan is a fictional character from Robert E. Howards contributions to H.P. Lovecrafts story cycle the Cthulhu Mythos. Kirowan is often partnered with the character John Conrad, to the extent that these stories are often referred to under the group title Conrad & Kirowan. Professor Kirowan is a younger son of a titled Irish family and a scholar of the Mythos who travelled widely in search of forbidden knowledge. His ancestor, Sir Michael Kirowan was a medieval knight famous for killing a particularly fierce and notorious villain, whose ghost Kirowan will meet and escape from.

Drums of the Sunset

Robert E. Howard

Drums of Sunset was published in eight parts. Steve and Hard Luck, his newfound companion (or is he? The curious should check those back issues linked above!), are hot on the trail of a host of criminals ranging from Navajoes to a ring of counterfeiters. Pieces of the mystery that have plagued Steve for six installments are starting to come together. And oh, the CLIFFHANGER! Steve and Hard Luck are locked in mortal combat with a rowdy group of Native Americans.

Fangs of Gold

Robert E. Howard

Harrison is a brawny police detective who patrols the unquiet slums and dives of River Street, in an unnamed port city where the sun never shines. But REHs stories were far-removed from the mean streets of Hammetts and Raymond Chandlers stories in Black Mask. Like Skull-Face they owe more to Sax Rohmer and to REHs own contemporary horror stories.

Gates of Empire

Robert E. Howard

The castles of the Twelfth Century, fortresses rather than mere dwellings, were built for defense, not comfort. The hall through which the drunken band was hallooing was broad, lofty, windy, strewn with rushes, now but faintly lighted by the dying embers in a great ill-ventilated fireplace. Rude, sail-like hangings along the walls rippled in the wind that found its way through.

Graveyard Rats

Robert E. Howard

Despite an aversion to the detective formula, he wrote the tales in Graveyard Rats during the same years he chronicled the adventures of Conan. This collection features a new introduction by scholar Don Herron, editor of The Dark Barbarian, the definitive look at the life and work of Robert E. Howard.

Hawk of the Hills

Robert E. Howard

This early work by Robert E. Howard was originally published. Hawk of the Hills is a story in the El Borak series where El Borak leads a tribe to war in Afganistan. I recommend this book

Hawks of Outremer

Robert E. Howard

Hawks of Outremer is a tight tale. The main character is Cormac FitzGeoffrey, a bastard Norman-Gael who has thrown his lot in with the Crusaders. Once a loose peace was established in Outremer, Cormac returned to Ireland but after a short stint fighting, peace broke out there, too. Cormac returns to the Holy Land (Outremer) seeking to attach himself to a liege, only to learn that his liege of choice has been assassinated. Plots are afoot between Muslims and Christian lords who want nothing to do with Saladin nor European kings. Rather than jeopardize the peace with an armed force, FitzGeoffrey vows vengeance and embarks solo to deal death to those who deserve it.

Historical Adventures

Robert E. Howard

The immortal legacy of Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Cimmerian, continues with this latest compendium of Howards fiction and poetry. He will always be best remembered for his sword and sorcery tales but his work was extraordinarily varied. Unlike most of his better known works such as Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane, etc., these stories are all historically based adventure stories. These adventures, set in medieval-era Europe and the Near East, are among the most gripping Howard ever wrote, full of pageantry, romance, and battle scenes worthy of Tolstoy himself. Lots of swashbuckling adventure here but no magic or supernatural elements. Historical Adventures is a must-have for every fan of Robert E. Howard, who, in a career spanning just twelve years, won a place in the pantheon of great American writers.

Iron Shadows in the Moon

Robert E. Howard

Shadows in the Moonlight is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine in April 1934. Howard originally named his story Iron Shadows in the Moon. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan escaping to a remote island in the Vilayet Sea where he encounters the Red Brotherhood, a skulking creature, and mysterious iron statues.

Jewels of Gwahlur

Robert E. Howard

The cliffs rose sheer from the jungle, towering ramparts of stone that glinted jade-blue and dull crimson in the rising sun, and curved away and away to east and west above the waving emerald ocean of fronds and leaves. It looked insurmountable, that giant palisade with its sheer curtains of solid rock in which bits of quartz winked dazzlingly in the sunlight. But the man who was working his tedious way upward was already halfway to the top.

Kings of the Night

Robert E. Howard

The dagger flashed downward. A sharp cry broke in a gasp. The form on the rough altar twitched convulsively and lay still. The jagged flint edge sawed at the crimsoned breast, and thin bony fingers, ghastly dyed, tore out the still- twitching heart. Under matted white brows, sharp eyes gleamed with a ferocious intensity.