You were an indisputable legend in the bodybuilding field: a fitness guru for an eager generation and one of the most memorable Mr. Olympias ever to grace the stage. Who could ever forget your amazing stunt of blowing up a water bottle with the sheer power of your lungs?
On film, you made appearances with your friend, Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Terminator"; "Conan the Barbarian"; "The Running Man"; "Stay Hungry"; "The Comeback"; and "Pumping Iron". You also made your way into "Last Man Standing '87"; "Big Top Pee-wee"; "The Hustler of Muscle Beach" and "Baretta's Island." (And for the record, you would have played Kong in the '70s if only Universal had gotten its version off the ground.)
Thank you for your many talk-show appearances and the kindness you shared with your many fans. You were one heullva special individual, Mr. Columbu: one whose impeccable likes we are not bound to encounter again.
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.
With action, adventure, weirdness and lust, you stirred the soul--and the libido--Mr. Meriggi.
Gazing upon any of your works, whether found in the startling pages of "Hiras"; "Dago", "Mermaids" and "Coven" or among your many barbarous bouts for Conan, Wolf and Crazy Jack, one had no choice but to fall under your spell.
You were a veritable master, praised, respected but still too often underrated.
For those who knew you--knew the absolute grandeur of your artistry--you'll remain regarded among the creme de la creme: a creator that others will aspire to match, but one who'll always exist in a special, revered niche all his own.
