His early childhood was spent largely on the move, until his family finally settled in the town of Cross Plains in 1919. Robert was an only child and spent his early youth much like any other boy: hunting, fishing, and exploring. He was sickly and began an intensive programme of strength training.
He enjoyed reading, to such an extent that he broke into the public library when it was closed. He loved history and poetry, particularly old legends. Inspired, he wrote his first story when he was about ten.
Howard spent much of his time alone. His strength training paid off, for he eventually grew into a broad, powerful man. He was an avid boxer: he often boxed in local saloons and almost always won. Boxing was the most popular sport in the western world at that time, with boxers being celebrated as the epitome of masculinity. Howard lived at a time when boxing legends like Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney were on the scene, and he was to draw heavily upon the image of these fighters as well as his own experiences when it came to creating characters for his stories.
Weird Tales
Howard began writing for the 'pulp' magazine Weird Tales when he was eighteen, but his income was so meagre he had to supplement it with other jobs. He picked cotton, branded cattle, worked in a pharmacy, a grocery store, and hauled trash. Throughout all, he continued to write. His persistence paid off, and by 1928 he was earning enough money to write full time.
His style was fast-paced and gritty, and covered a broad genre of fiction. Howard was a natural storyteller and his work included westerns, sports stories, horror and thrillers. His stories were packed with action and movement, and he could be humorous as well as dark. He produced hundreds of short stories for other publications besides Weird Tales, but is probably best remembered as the creator of Conan the Barbarian.
Howard declared that Conan was an amalgamation of many different men he'd known, ranging from oil-field bullies and prize-fighters to bootleggers and honest workmen. The appeal of Conan spread rapidly, and Howard's popularity soared. He cultivated friendships with other 'weird' writers like H.P Lovecraft.
Howard was an eccentric man. He struck up a relationship with a woman named Novalyne Price Ellis, a schoolteacher in Cross Plains. Sometimes it went well, sometimes it didn't. Howard was given to bouts of moody introspection, and his views on life were stark and sometimes brutal. He had a great attachment to his mother, Hester Howard, and had often remarked that he did not plan to outlive her.
Hester had a long history of illness and her continuing health problems imposed a severe drain on Howards purse. Finally, on June 11, 1936, after a long illness, Howard was informed by her nurses that she had slipped into a coma and would not awaken. Howard went outside to his car, locked himself inide and shot himself through the head with a .38 pistol. He survived for another eight hours before dying. His mother died the following day and they were buried together in Brownwood's Greenleaf Cemetary. He was just thirty years old.
R.E. Howards Legacy
It is ironic that, whilst he struggled so much in life, his most famous character, Conan, became a multi-million dollar franchise in the decades following his death, spawning several movies, countless comics, computer games, and dozens of novels written by imitators. Novalyne Price wrote a book about him in 1986, entitled One Who Walked Alone, which formed the basis of the 1996 movie The Whole Wide World, starring Vincent D'Onofrio as Howard and Rene Zellweger as Price.
The Complete Chronicles of Conan – Afterword: Robert E. Howard and Conan
Stephen Jones
Gollancz, 2006
A Short Biography of Robert E. Howard
Rusty Burke
http://www.rehupa.com/short_bio.htm
