Two-Gun Bob: A Centennial Study of Robert E. Howard

FOREWORD BY MICHAEL MOORCOCK In the one hundred years since his birth, Robert E. Howard's reputation has expanded from a mere pulp writer to a leading figure in the horror, fantasy, and adventure fiction of the 20th century. The virtual creator of the genre of sword-and-sorcery, Howard peopled his tales with such imperishable action figures as Conan the Cimmerian, Solomon Kane, King Kull, and Bran Mak Morn. In recent years, students and scholars have been examining Howard's work with increasing care and precision, placing it within the context of American and world literature. Two-Gun Bob commemorates Howard's centennial with an anthology of thirteen new and reprinted essays on Howard, ranging from Glenn Lord's study of Howard's early amateur press work to Fred Blosser's look at Howard's detective writing; from Charles Hoffman's analysis of Howard's portrayal of character to S. T. Joshi's placement of the Bran Mak Morn stories in the context of Roman history; from Charles Gramlich's psychological study of Howard to Michele Tetro's survey of Howard's poetry. Essays by John Goodrich, Frank Coffman, Lorenzo DiTommaso, Steve Sheaffer, Martin Andersson, Pietro Guarriello, and editor Benjamin Szumkyj discuss many other aspects of Howard's life, work, and thought, presenting a balanced and well-rounded portrayal of the man and the writer, and laying the groundwork for continuing study of this complex and enigmatic writer in the decades to come. With a preface by Michael Moorcock.

Benjamin Szymskyj has edited Fritz Leiber and H. P. Lovecraft: Writers of the Dark and is at work on anthologies of criticism on Leiber and on Thomas Harris. He is the editor of the scholarly journal Studies in Fantasy Literature.