All right, I confess. I bought this book because of the great Brom cover. And I had a 40% BORDERS coupon. I’m doing all this tap-dancing because I really can’t recommend this book. “Queen of the Black Coast,” “Jewels of Gwalhur,” and “The Devil in Iron” are not the strongest Conan stories. The best Conan the Barbarian book now available is published by DEL REY: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. Of course, this edition lacks the great Frazetta paintings, but you can find them elsewhere. What are included are the best of the Conan stories, 463 pages worth, for less than $12 (on AMAZON). A bargain! Of course, I read Conan as Lancer Books (remember them?) brought out those classic paperbacks with the unforgettable covers. So skip “…and their memory was a bitter tree…” and invest in The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. If you haven’t read these wonderful stories of swords & sorcery, you’re in for a treat. If you haven’t read these classic stories in a while, you’ll find they hold up well. Robert E. Howard knew how to write a gripping adventure story.
I’m not a big Conan fan, I confess, but I love that cover!
Brom is a very talented artist, Jeff. I’ve enjoyed his work for years. And, yes, this is a very eye-catching cover!
You can’t love them all.
The cover reeled me in, Patti. But what’s between the covers is mediocre.
Appropriate choice since it’s Robert E. Howard Days in Cross Plains this weekend.
I’m glad to be part of the Robert E. Howard Days celebration, Bill.
I did like the Howard movie with Vincent D’Onofrio and Renee Zellweger.
Apparently June 11 is the anniversary of his death, in 1936.
I liked THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, too, Jeff. Robert E. Howard died too young.
I’ve never loved Howard’s work, certainly not like I’ve loved Leiber’s, but he was there some years ahead of Leiber…if after mutual influences such as E.R. Eddison.
Was it Howard who made her so pale? Um…I wouldn’t be surprised, if you get my drift.
Mae West said, “I used to be Snow White, but I drifted,” Todd. Leiber was a completely different order of writer, comfortable in multiple genres. Howard could write adventure fiction and that was about it. I’ve never read any of Howard’s westerns.
You Really don’t want to read his “spicy” stuff. Or you do, if you want bad laughs.
Most “spicy” stuff is bad, Todd. But that just goes to show Howard had a limited range with his writing talent.
Everyone should keep in mind that REH–whom I find compulsively readable–was only thirty when his personal demons overwhelmed him. If he’d had a few more decades of life, who knows what he would have written.
That he is still read over seventy years after his death speaks well for his talent. Almost all his contemporaries are forgotten, their stories buried in decaying pulps.
I find Robert E. Howard very readable after 70 years, Drongo. His stories still burst with energy.
This is hardly a forgotten book, but it’s always nice to see REH remembered. I’m with Drongo on this one, I enjoy all of the Conan tales, and the Bran Mak Morn, the Solomon Kane and King Kull. I don’t care much for his boxing stories and other stuff, but that’s because I don’t much care for those other areas of genre fiction. I think the stories in the book you feature here are only “weaker” if you happen to like the ones in the other collection better.
There’s a cottage industry endlessly reprinting Robert E. Howard, Rick. I just wanted to issue a “consumer warning” about “…and their memory was a bitter tree…” The DEL REY collection is far superior. And less money.
Well, Drongo, yes and no. If not for the Lancer program and its success, or perhaps even the much-loathed de Camp and Lin Carter before that, Howard might’ve languished in relative obscurity–I rathr doubt the comics nor the films would’ve happend. Lovecraft wasn’t the best writer of his generation, to be sure, but among the WEIRD TALES writers you might think he was by his ominpresence, and aside from the Conan stories, he outstrips Howard. What’s popular often is keyed to what Was popular, and sometimes to sheer luck more than talent.
Though it would be good to see what a less suicidal Howard might’ve accomplished…if, as Lovecraft had time (albeit barely) to do, he might’ve outgrown some of his less likable aspects…
CONAN THE CONQUEROR was half of ACE DOUBLE D-36 (published in 1953 with Leigh Brackett’s THE SWORD OF RHIANNON on the other side), Todd. That predates de Camp and Lin Carter.
And Howard at his best definitely has conviction going for it.
Howard was good at what he did: churning out pulp adventure, Todd. How much conviction he had was debatable.
Yes, Todd, but deCamp and Carter–whatever their shortcomings as writers–recognized the talent REH had. If he’d been a mediocrity, the two of them would have paid him little attention. Instead, they and Lancer backed him vigorously. Presented to a wide audience, and helped by some fine Frazetta covers, REH’s books took off. That he remains popular and in-print to this day says something for canny marketing, but it says a lot more for Howard’s abilities. Although this is something we can never be 100% sure about of course, I believe he would have found posthumous success even if deCamp and Carter and Lancer had never existed.
I agree with you about his conviction. His best stuff had a crazed intensity to it, which I think is one reason his work still resonates to this day.
Rick, I think some of Howard’s best work featured Bran Mak Morn, and the Solomon Kane stories were also pretty good.
George, I think Todd was referring to the fact that deCamp was an advocate of REH back in the 50’s, long before Lancer got involved.
Also, George, I think Howard’s writings ooze conviction. One wonders if the stories were real to REH on some level. He was an unusual fellow.
Say what you will about this book, I see they brought H.P. Lovecraft back from the dead to write an afterword. Quite a coup.
See what can be done with an Ouija board, Evan!
Yes, I think that your’e using the term “energy” for something similar to what Drongo and I are referring to as “conviction,” George–along with Drongo’s notion of the stories having at least a strong personal metaphoric reality for Howard. And Drongo is correct in noting that I was referring to De Camp and Carter’s drum-beating (up to and including “posthumous collaboration” with Howard, starting in the ’50s, in the Derleth mode). Certainly the small presses, Arkham and others, had some Howard out in the late ’40s/early ’50s, too…it is, however, difficult to argue that Clark Ashton Smith, to cite only the most obvious from the WEIRD TALES school, wasn’t a more assured literary artist, or that the likes of Thorne Smith weren’t doing work that is at least as readable as HPL or RAH.
Yes, most spicy stuff is pretty dire, and racist, and sexist, and otherwise remarkable…but what I’ve read of Howard’s is extraordinarily so, with a serial rapist “hero” and Chinese women with “lemon-tinted charms” on display…
Plenty of REH’s pulp fiction is dated, Todd. And, as you point out, politically incorrect. But whether it’s energy or conviction, Howard’s best stories still give me a thrill.
Drongo, De Camp was a good writer, but is much resented for his assumptions about Howard in his biography…and the resenters do have a case. It’s hard to accuse Lin Carter of having been a good writer, usually, but he was frequently enthusiastic.
De Camp was a much better writer than Lin Carter was, Todd, but Carter’s enthusiasm for fantasy resulted in plenty of out-of-print classics being reprinted by Ballantine in the 1970s. We have to honor Lin Carter for that.
Todd, I’m a big fan of CAS, and it annoys me that he hasn’t found a wider audience. He was an extraordinary writer.
I’m somewhat indifferent to Thorne Smith. I think back in the 80’s Ballantine reprinted a handful of his novels. Although they apparently didn’t sell too well, I would be surprised if TS did not see print again. He does have his share of admirers.
Howard’s spicy stuff is of its time. He didn’t do much of it, had little flair for it, and I wouldn’t be shocked if he thought those stories among his lesser work.
I don’t care too much for deCamp’s Conan tales, but he did some decent writing. Nobody else seems to have read it, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Willie Newberry collection THE PURPLE PTERODACTYLS. His ANCIENT ENGINEERS was pretty good, too.
Lin Carter…well, he did love fantasy, even if he couldn’t write it with much competence. We should be grateful for the Ballantine series he edited way back when.
I’m enjoying the Clark Ashton Smith project that Night Shade Books is undertaking to bring CAS’s wonderful work to a new audience, Drongo. Great editions!
There you go, Drongo…THE PURPLE PTERODACTYLS as your own FFB entry…since you don’t seem to keep a webpage, you could submit it to Patti to post. I haven’t read the collection, but probably read most of the contents as they were published in F&SF and FANTASTIC in the 1970s…I certainly enjoyed the Willy Newbury stories they ran. De Camp did a lot more good work over the decades.
As you might gather, I’m a Thorne and CA Smith fan.
I like Thorne Smith when I’m in the mood, Todd. He’s an acquired taste.
Ah, but who isn’t…Thorne Smith was the template for much of what made UNKNOWN distinctive, after all.
Thorne Smith also inserted some “spicy” situations in his work, Todd.
Yes, without confusing East Asians for extremely severe jaundice victims (to affect their labia thus) nor rape for seduction. Altogether a more sophisticated approach.
Yet Robert E. Howard’s work survives while Thorne Smith’s is relatively forgotten, Todd. Sophistication might not be the essential ingredient for longevity.
Again, what’s popular (starting in the ’60s) might just stay popular (in the ’10s)…more people know Conan than Topper today, but A Hell of a lot more people now remember Topper than they do, say, Tros of Samothrace, yet Talbot Mundy was a Very big deal when Howard was alive. As was Noel Coward…sophistication trumps in that matchup, at least as far as BLITHE SPIRIT is still seen, TROS not read much. Tolkien relatively sophisticated, and seems to be surviving well from the ’40s and ’50s onward.
More to the point, without a certain organization’s support, L. Ron Hubbard would be completely out of print, yet he was a very comparable writer to Howard, and probably was more popular in the ’30s. There is no reliable guide for what will keep someone popular.
Literary survivability seems to be character-driven, Todd. Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Conan, etc.
I believe the correct Mae West quote is, “I was as pure as the driven snow, but I drifted.”
Hubbard comparable to REH? In his bloated dreams.
Thanks for the Mae West correction, Bob! I bow to the expert.
Bob–I find LRH’s work a bore at best, what I’ve seen of it, with the exception of “Fear” and the mild exception of “Typewriter in the Sky”…but I’ve never loved Howard’s work, as I mentioned, and they were publishing in a lot of the same places at the same time…and for better or worse were fixtures of two of the most fondly-remembered magazines (so fondly remembered that they have continually or with multiple revivals survied into the present).
George–hm…well, maybe characters that have caught the public’s imagination, after getting sufficeint push one way or another. I doubt Conan would be as famous as he is if the stories didn’t lend themselves to comics and mediocre films. I mean, if well-drawn distinctive characters were the primary factor, R. A. Lafferty and Carol Emshwiller would be among our bestselling writers.
R. A. Lafferty is one of our great forgotten writers, Todd. I’ll have to dig out one of his books for FFB.
Me and many other Howard fans think that, even considering the marvellous Brom cover, “… Memory” is one of those rare books that deserves to be forgotten. The introduction by Fenner is full of baseless assertions presented as generally acknowledged axioms (not to mention a few opinions that are, to put it bluntly, inappropriate for a book’s introduction), the Frazetta illustrations are poorly matched and cropped, and even the typeface has come under criticism.
It’s a shame, since I think a nice book collecting the Frazetta illustrations with corresponding Howard tales would be highly sought-after.
““Queen of the Black Coast,” “Jewels of Gwalhur,” and “The Devil in Iron” are not the strongest Conan stories.”
I’d agree on the latter two being at most average for Howard, but you can’t recommend “Queen”? I’m very surprised by this assessment, since I (and others) consider it to be very much one of the strongest Conan stories.
“Was it Howard who made her so pale? Um…I wouldn’t be surprised, if you get my drift.”
Howard depicted Belit as “ivory-skinned.” Ivory is off-white: fairly pale, but not really the ghost-like pallour seen in Brom’s picture. Sure, Howard wrote a lot of pale heroines, but remember that this was in an era where miscegenation was *illegal*. Howard was perfectly capable of writing about the beauty of black, asian and Semitic women. Read the descriptions of Nakari in “The Moon of Skulls” and tell me that she isn’t described as lovingly and sensually as any of his white women. But exotic women wasn’t what the editors – or the public – wanted, at least not as frequently as lily-white damsels.
“Everyone should keep in mind that REH–whom I find compulsively readable–was only thirty when his personal demons overwhelmed him. If he’d had a few more decades of life, who knows what he would have written.”
And if Hodgeson didn’t fall at Ypres, who knows what he would’ve written. There’s a lot of “could’ves” when it comes to writing. It’s also possible Howard would’ve burned out entirely and abandoned writing altogether. All conjecture. On that note, Steve Tompkins wrote a fantastic essay called “Newer Barbarians” that gives an inkling of possible directions Howard may have taken.
“But that just goes to show Howard had a limited range with his writing talent.”
Eh? Howard wrote historical fiction, westerns, fantasy, horror, spicies, comedy, even science fiction. He wrote rollicking adventure, two-fisted action, chilling horror, raucous humour, metaphysical fantasy, and was capable of surprising tenderness. You don’t consider that “range”?
“Yes, most spicy stuff is pretty dire, and racist, and sexist, and otherwise remarkable…but what I’ve read of Howard’s is extraordinarily so, with a serial rapist “hero” and Chinese women with “lemon-tinted charms” on display…”
Howard’s spicies are also his most notably commercial work. He was writing for an audience, and adhering to submission guidelines, many of which included some of the horrible archetypes you note. Howard wrote about his utter disgust for these stories, including the brutish heroes he created, in his letters.
Outstanding post, Al! Howard had his personal demons, and sadly, they got the better of him. I’m glad DEL REY is reprinting Howard’s work and making it available to a new audience.