Ar-I-E?ch and the Spell of Cthulhu: An Informal Guide to Robert E. Howard's Lovecraftian Fiction

What Lurks in Realms Beyond

Robert E. Howard's correspondence with H.P. Lovecraft inspired the two-fisted creator of Conan the Barbarian to pit his square-jawed modern heroes against cosmic horrors, colossal beasts, and cannibalistic children of the night, in a short-lived effort to open new markets for his fiction.

In this book, the first in the "Informal Guide to Robert E. Howard" series, Howard scholar Fred Blosser analyzes each of REH's Cthulhu Mythos stories, unpacking their plots, their themes, and their unexpected linkages to Howard's other works.

Along with his stories set in the Cthulhu Mythos, REH also wrote tales inspired by Lovecraftian themes, but not part of the Mythos itself. Blosser looks at each of these stories as well.

Though Howard couldn't match Lovecraft's dreamy, sinuous prose, nor did he much care for the timid Lovecraftian "hero", his small canon of Cthulhu fiction expanded the Mythos and gave us men (and sometimes women) not afraid to challenge the cosmic terrors that threatened their sanity and their souls.

With Blosser as your guide, you'll shake loose from Conan and experience an important but often overlooked facet of Robert E. Howard's storytelling genius.

The book includes a selected reading list, a study of elder horrors in the Kull stories, and an examination of a trio of tales that REH set in a most unlikely locale (for him): the haunted seaport.