Robert E. Howard is David C. Smith's mentor, even though Smith never conversed with the burly Texan. The Conan creator died well before any such meeting could have transpired. However, Howard's audacious journeys prompted Smith to shape his own stealthy sword-and-sorcery alternatives, including the towering tales of Oron of Attluma and six, successful Red Sonja novels with Richard L. Tierney.
Smith emotes his gratitude in "Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography", published PulpHeroPress. The biography is detail-laden and because of it, essential for any Howard fan.
The text covers a stupendous span, though I found Smith's allusions to Howard as an Ernest Hemingway variant most intriguing. The comparison makes sense, even without Smith's penned implicitness. After all, both men were moody, robust and when the opportunity rose, eager to seize life by the gullet. They also committed suicide, leaving their admirers yearning for stories that were never to be, though their existing labors continue to echo. Of course, there's more to Howard's presence than his tragic, Hemingway-esque traits, as Smith deftly demonstrates.
Smith introduces us to Howard's parents, Issac Mordecai and Hester Jane: the latter, a lifelong, nurturing force, whose passing left a horrendous hole in her son. Smith also caters to Howard's colorful contention with H.P. Lovecraft and his links to raconteurs, Tevis Clyde Smith and Novalyne Price: Howard courted Price for a spell, though their relationship never progressed beyond platonic.
Howard's discourteous views are highlighted among these interludes, granting a comprehensive view of the man: an individual of plebeian restrictions and flaws, who yet administered the astounding penchant for mass-appeal exoticism.
To heighten the biography, Smith supplies overviews of Howard's works. Through each synopsis, one absorbs Howard's genius and from the condensed but extensive queue, one comes to understand why readers grew captivated by the author's content, not only for its sensational scenarios, but its iconic, elemental personas: Conan, Kull...Red Sonya. (FYI: Howard's renowned redhead differs from Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor Smith's chain-mail-bikini Sonja of Marvel myth, who Smith and Tierney further popularized per their ACE paperbacks. Sonya, unlike Sonja, swashbuckled the 16th Century.)
To make its varying ingredients gel, Smith mounts the biography's chapters like pieces of an ever expanding mosaic. From his passages, portraits and events (often poetic in their flow) cross, spotlighting the author's ascent to the prestigious peak of Edgar Rice Burroughs, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien: in other words, the stuff of legend.
Howard's impact on audiences and artists throughout the pop-cultural sectors is indubitable and all-consuming. Smith's powerful profile proves this beyond debate, giving fans a vital reference source to appreciate and contemplate.
David C. Smith's "Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography" can be purchased at https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Howard-Literary-Biography/dp/1683900979/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544912968&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+e.+howard+literary+biography.
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