This is a generic review. The first paragraph concerns the author himself, then there are short sections on his various works. The star ratings will indicate my feelings on the individual books. Howard is however one of my favourite authors so aren't many lower ratings! Robert Ervin Howard was a prolific author of "pulp fiction" one of many people who filled the pages of cheap mass produced fiction in the 1920's and 30's (the time period in which Howard contributed) but don't underestimate the quality of Howard's and other authors work from that period. Yes the pulps can be overwritten at times but those writers were paid by the word so it's perfectly understandable they occasionally... embellish a little. Howard was born in 1906 his writing career began after his family settled in cross plains, Texas. He lived with his father, a local doctor and his mother who was in ill-health. Bob Howard produced hundreds of stories in the short period before his sad death from suicide after hearing of his mother's impending death in 1936. Howard never got to see the acclaim his work would achieve in later years, especially from the 1990's onwards as more of his original work was found and published by a dedicated group of America fans. His output was as varied as it was prolific. He wrote straight westerns, boxing tales, horror, adventure, historical adventure, science fiction, comedy westerns, comedy boxing tales and was the creator of a genre of fantasy that has proliferated to this day: sword & sorcery. Kull the conqueror was one of the first creations but it is conan the cimmerian who consolidated the sword & sorcery format. Howard's writing is fast, energetic, often brutally graphic (for the time) and always entertaining. His comedy writing is great fun, his horror thrilling and his adventure stories exciting. I've spent over 25 years hunting out as much of his original material as I could. For me he is the first and still the best modern fantasy writer. There is something to take into account as with all writing of this age. Language and attitudes reflect the times and may not sit comfortably with us now. Howard was a product of his early twentieth century Texas upbringing. He was fascinated by the stories of neighbours who had been former slaves (and how disturbing is it that a man born in 1906 actually knew people who had been slaves) and he admired them and used elements in his work. Howard wrote in a time period that used words and descriptions that many now find uncomfortable. To be honest I find it uncomfortable myself but you have to read books in the context of when they were written. Take the time period into account and the socio-political landscape at that time. When I first read Howard's work I was surprised by how many strong characters were female or from ethnic backgrounds.  Yes there are stereotypes. It was the 20's and 30's. But if you take things in context and concentrate on the stories and the writing Howard's work along with that of writers from the classics such as Shakespeare, robert louis Stevenson, herbert george wells, through the the crime writers of the golden age of crime to the age of 007 in the 50's and 60's and into those of the recent past are still just as enjoyable as they ever were. So to the books. Kull. A good character and forerunner to conan. The various stories are exciting and fast paced. Conan. Probably Howard's most famous creation and certainly the most successful since his creation. The conan stories are brilliant. They span the life of conan from his time as a young thief to his being a king. The hyborian age is well thought out and varied giving multiple locations for the stories. Howard's conan is intelligent as well as being the brave musclebound warrior. The history of conan is interesting. Created in 1927 he was a hit in the pulps. Fondly remembered by some but mostly forgotten until the 60's when the original stories were rediscovered by Lyon sprague de camp and lin carter. I have a bit of a problem with Lyon sprague de camp. It's a problem which only came to light after I'd read several of the conan books from him. I came to his writing mainly through the conan stories in the late 1980's and several years after reading those 1960's de camp versions I began to read the original Robert Howard versions. They were a revelation. If you believed de camp then he rewrote the stories to improve the poor writing of Howard. Read the original conan stories and those original stories of Howard's that de camp turned into conan stories and you soon realise where the quality and power of those tales lay. Howard historians have spent decades putting the record straight and if you like the conan stories I urge you to read anything and everything from Robert Ervin Howard. I make no apologies here as Howard is one of my favourite authors and de camp's treatment of his legacy was at best unfair and at worst... well I'll leave that for you to decide. Conan also features in one of the rare full novels from Howard, the hour of the dragon. Solomon kane. Another great character.  The puritan warrior stalks through his tales dealing with horrors in Europe and Africa.  These are some of Howard's best stories and after conan, kane is his best character. Sailor Steve costigan Comedy boxing tales that contain all the brutality of bare knuckle boxing but with a touch of rough humour. Costigan is a good character and these are fun stories. Brekenridge elkins. A gent from bare creek was a rare novel from howard. Comprising of a series of short stories originally released separately these were edited to form a novel. This is a comedy western that is a lot of fun. Lots of action as usual with fists flying in funny tales as elkins misadventures untold. A well written set of stories. Bran mak morn. Good fantasy stories. Bran is the last king of a tribe of pictish warriors. Boxing stories. Howard's boxing tales are very good. Standout though is the excellent iron man, one of my favourite stories. Westerns Lots of excellent western stories. Some straight action, some comedy and others horror based. Historical adventures. Including the original red sonya (and yes, that is the correct spelling) the historically set tales are varied and entertaining. Many settings and varied characters. Some brilliant stories including lord of samercand, the aforementioned red sonya story, the shadow of the vulture and the dark agnes tales. Horror. Lots of good horror tales. Pigeons from hell is probably one of the most famous but there are many others that are just as good. Adventure. A lot of adventure stories including the excellent el borak tales. Science fiction. Not much science fiction although there is an element of sci fi in several of his fantasy tales. One full novel in the john carter of Mars style is almuric. There is a debate over whether this novel is pure howard or completed by another author but I don't really mind either way as it was great fun. Fantasy. As well as kull and conan there are many other fantasy stories. Poetry. I'm not a big fan of poetry. But I read a lot of Howard's in various short story collections before buying this excellent collection of his poetry. Biography/letters There are some excellent biographies of Howard including Mark finn's blood and thunder and novalynne price ellis' one who walks alone. Howard was a prolific Letter writer and the collections of the correspondence between him and Howard Phillips lovecraft are fascinating. I'd highly recommend Howard. If you enjoy action filled stories then you'll enjoy these.