Sunday, October 06, 2019

Books read in 2019: No. 42 -- A Robert E. Howard Sampler

edited by Chris Gruber and Bobby Derie

Started: Sept. 26
Finished: Oct. 6

Notes: I thought I'd read all the books I'd picked up at Howard Days 2018, but then I came upon this little gem stuffed back on one of my shelves. 250 of these were given away free at Howard Days that year, so they might be something of a collector's item. The table of contents (along with the title) make this appear to be a collection of Howard's work from all the different genres in which he wrote, and I have to say I believe all of them are covered here. I believe I've read all these, but then I've read just about everything of Howard's other than some of the El Borak tales and maybe a few detective or horror stories that have slipped past. Still, I expect to enjoy what I find here, and I try to work in at least one or two Howard reads every year.

Mini review: This was definitely a good introduction to Howard's writing outside of his famous Conan and Kull tales. El Borak makes an appearance, as does boxer Steve Costigan, plus there's a detective story, some horror, and more. True Howard fans will likely want this one for their collection; admittedly the presentation is somewhat amateur, but that's not necessarily all a bad thing, bringing a certain level of charm and getting back to the roots of pulp fiction.

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