Q&A: Celebrating Robert E. Howard’s life and writing
In addition to his sword & sorcery stories, legendary author Robert E. Howard also wrote westerns, horror, boxing stories, and more.
How the REH Foundation honors the Conan creator’s legacy as a skillful writer of fantasy, horror, action and adventure stories, and more.
The Foundation’s Paul Herman: “So much of what we do is in the background.”
Sure, Robert E. Howard (1906-1936) is most remembered for creating Conan the Barbarian. And credited with inventing the whole story category now known as “sword & sorcery.” As well as remembered for writing lots of stories for the legendary Weird Tales magazine.
But in his brief author career, REH typed out more than a hundred stories for many more pulp magazines of his era. In addition to his influential sword & sorcery stories, Howard also wrote fantasy, horror, boxing stories, cowboy stories, action and adventure, comedy, and more.
In addition to Conan, his characters also include sailor and boxer Steve Costigan (whose stories are hilarious), Texas gunfighter El Borak, short-tempered sword woman Dark Agnes, somber Puritan Solomon Kane, the philosophical warrior Kull of Atlantis, police detective Steve Harrison, Pict king Bran Mak Morn, and more.
The non-profit Robert E. Howard Foundation is dedicated to celebrating the life and work of the author. With their publishing arm, those goals include—working with other publishers—getting everything REH wrote into print.
Monster Complex® talked with the REH Foundation secretary and treasurer Paul Herman. In this exclusive interview, he shares the group’s mission, the best ways to explore REH’s writing, and how to track the ways that the Foundation continues to celebrate the author’s legacy…
Q&A: Robert E. Howard Foundation’s Paul Herman
What all does the REH Foundation do? What are its goals?
“As our Mission Statement says:
The Foundation is organized to foster understanding of the life and works of Robert E. Howard. Its goal is to honor Howard’s legacy as a skillful, prolific and successful writer of fantasy, regional, horror, action and adventure stories in a wide variety of genres.
“The mission of the Foundation is to promote its belief in the importance of imagination and creative writing. To accomplish its goals and missions, Foundation purposes may include:
Acquiring, conserving and managing archives and collections related to Howard
Serving as a research resource for scholars, historians, fans and others interested in Howard and his legacy
Promoting, awarding and supporting scholarly efforts and young writers of the same genre
Support of Robert E. Howard Days in Cross Plains, Texas, and the Robert E. Howard Annual Day
Support of the maintenance and operation of Howard’s home and museum in Cross Plains, Texas, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and owned by Project Pride, a community organization
Making available through various channels all the works of Robert E. Howard
“And accordingly, we do pretty much all of this. We maintain the world's most complete collection of REH typescript and manuscript scans, over 19K pages.
“We answer all sorts of inquiries around REH, coming from all over the world. We hand out annual REH Awards. We strongly support Howard Days, doing the bulk of the planning, and providing speakers for panels, paying the expenses for a Guest of Honor each year and leading tours.
“And we regularly donate money to Project Pride, the local volunteer organization in Cross Plains, who owns the REH House, handles all its maintenance, and of course locally helps organize REH Days. Finally the REH Foundation Press, in conjunction with Del Rey, have ALL of REH's works in print.”
Given how this all really just started less than 20 years ago, what inspired the organization to get started in the first place? What started all that your organization does?
“The concept of the Foundation was actually created by Fredrik Malmberg, the boss at (what is now) Heroic Signatures, whose company had recently gained control of the IP around REH and Conan. A few of the top REH scholars sat down with him at REH Days, a poof, there we were. All of us recognized the needs, so it was an easy decision to start it up.”
NOTE: Watch for our upcoming interview with someone from Heroic Signatures!
Over the decades since Howard’s death, there have been all these weird editing jobs changing his original stories. Some of the Foundation’s work involves helping readers now see Howard’s actual stories…
“Going back to what REH actually wrote, we had access to a sizable percentage of REH's original typescripts when we first started publishing, then got near complete access to all of it starting in 2012, and that has driven much of our publishing work.
“As the editor of the Ultimate Editions, I will correct spelling errors (cause Bob could be an indifferent speller on occasion), just so folks don’t think WE did that. But other than that, nada.”
Just some of the corrected REH books published by Del Rey (Penguin Random House)
The Foundation has its own press. How does the Foundation coordinate with the other publishers putting out REH works?
“As stated above, we coordinate with Del Rey. And this was all originally conceived by Heroic. They wanted to get REH back to REH, and get rid of other folks trying to ‘improve’ his work. The editing had become a sore point with REH fans and scholars.
“Del Rey started it in the early 2000s. They now publish around 11 volumes of the most popular REH works (Conan, Solomon Kane, King Kull, etc.).
“The REHFP publishes EVERYTHING else. Twenty-two volumes of REHFP, including three volumes of poetry and three of letters.
Just some of the REH books published by REHF Press
For readers just now discovering Robert E. Howard or who want to dig deeper, what are the best ways to explore his work? (BTW, your site is how I discovered that his fiction covers so much more than just Conan! I’m now reading Howard’s boxing stories. They’re so much more fun than I expected!)
“As you said, checking out our website is a great way to see some of vast expanse of genres that REH wrote in. You never know what will hit folks, once they read them.
“Me, I love Breck Elkins, hilarious first-person stories told by a giant hillbilly who would sweep the street with Conan.
“You found his funny boxing works, which he sold like candy back in the day, VERY popular.”
For those just now discovering the REH Foundation—what are the best ways to see what you folks have already done? How do we keep track of what comes next?
“You mean, why don’t we have a blog? We don’t spend an inordinate amount of time patting ourselves on the back. We just get stuff done.
“A quick peruse of the website will show you we are fundraising for repairs to Bob’s House at the moment. There SHOULD be an article about our efforts in returning Bob’s original writing desk to the House—that was a fun story.
“So much of what we do is in the background, working with Heroic or Project Pride. And, of course, our ongoing publishing.
“We HAVE finally started a web channel, and various of our Board members have appeared in podcasts getting the good word out, on our own web channel and guesting on lots of others. We try.”
The Foundation is collecting donations for the REH Museum. (Click through for updates!)
Find more Robert E. Howard online
Penguin Random House (Del Rey)
Remembering Robert E. Howard: Creator of Sword & Sorcery and Conan the Barbarian
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How the REH Foundation honors the Conan creator’s legacy as a skillful writer of fantasy, horror, action and adventure stories, and more. “So much of what we do is in the background.”