After examining some of Robert E Howard’s approaches to opening a yarn, in part two it’s time for a snapshot overview to show how other famous pulp and Swords and Sorcery authors have also used these eight opening elements to great effect.
Read MoreSince Robert E. Howard was a master at story openings, it pays to take a look at some of the ways he begins his own yarns to catch a glimpse of what he may possibly have advised us had he spoken on the topic at greater length.
Read MoreThe merits of Robert E. Howard’s fiction have long been overshadowed by public perception of him as a one-dimensional writer of simple-minded adventure and fantasy stories. Despite the fact that Howard’s work was roundly praised by readers during his lifetime, postwar awareness of the man and his works consisted of faintly damning praise.
Read MoreHoward distilled the proud, heroic tradition of works like the Iliad and the Odyssey into pulse-pounding, blisteringly-paced novelettes, novellas, and shorts. Nowhere is this more obvious than in "Spears of Clontarf" and "The Grey God Passes."
Read MoreToday, I'm looking to crowdsource answers to some Merritt-related enigmas, one of which has plagued me for well over a decade.
Read MoreAs important to me as A. Merritt is, it constantly surprises me that there are still many today who have never heard of him. Actually - let me walk that back a bit. It used to surprise me.
Read MoreThis week: Vikings, Merrit, Kuttner, Moore, Zelazny and more.
Read MoreEdgar Allan Poe, who was born on the 19th of January 1809, has a great literary – and personal – connection to Scotland.
Read MoreHank Reinhardt would have turned eighty-five today. Though I never knew him personally, Hank affected my life in some unique ways and he shall receive due honor from me for that.
Read More“The fragment I worked with was first hand-written by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1930. It was left unfinished, and then lay hidden in his safe for decades after his death.”
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