Robert E. Howard is one of the most unsung heroes of modern speculative fiction.
The man pioneered modern fantasy with Conan the Barbarian and the Hyperborean Age, as well as charachters like Soloman Kane, Krull of Atlantis. He penned over a hundred stories across a range of genres, ranging from sword and sandals fantasy, to Lovecraftian horror, to westerns, adventure, historical fiction, detective stories, and even boxing. The man was prolific in a way few authors, even in the pulp era, ever managed to be.
He had a signature style, most notably the resourcefulness of his characters. To name an example, his Lovecraftian horror, where HP Lovecraft protaganists would often give into despair, Howard's would go down swinging.
The mind-blowing thing - he did all of this by the age of 30, when he committed suicide out of both grief over his dying mother, and lingering mental health issues.
Let's say Howard doesn't commit suicide though - maybe he couldn't go through with it, or lets go ahead do him a solid and say his mother doesn't get cancer and lives another 20 years like his father did.
For the sake of our discussion, Robert E. Howard lives at least until the age of 65, until 1971.
Does he flesh out his fantasy works into something more formal, as Tolkien would eventually do with Middle Earth? Does Howard become the American answer to deeply British Tolkien? Conan of Cimmeria grow into a proper rival of Frodo Baggins?
Does he get the big break he always craved - he had just sold his first novel prior to his suicide, does he eventually gravitate from short fiction to novels as many other authors of the era did?
With the rise of publications like Astounding, and men like Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke, would we see Howard dabble in the one genre he never tackled, science ficiton?
Does not being effected by the death of his friend give HP Lovecraft a few more years too?
Or does Howard stumble, never graduating from being a prolific pulp author?
What does one of speculative fiction's most seminal and prolific names do with another three decades?
The man pioneered modern fantasy with Conan the Barbarian and the Hyperborean Age, as well as charachters like Soloman Kane, Krull of Atlantis. He penned over a hundred stories across a range of genres, ranging from sword and sandals fantasy, to Lovecraftian horror, to westerns, adventure, historical fiction, detective stories, and even boxing. The man was prolific in a way few authors, even in the pulp era, ever managed to be.
He had a signature style, most notably the resourcefulness of his characters. To name an example, his Lovecraftian horror, where HP Lovecraft protaganists would often give into despair, Howard's would go down swinging.
The mind-blowing thing - he did all of this by the age of 30, when he committed suicide out of both grief over his dying mother, and lingering mental health issues.
Let's say Howard doesn't commit suicide though - maybe he couldn't go through with it, or lets go ahead do him a solid and say his mother doesn't get cancer and lives another 20 years like his father did.
For the sake of our discussion, Robert E. Howard lives at least until the age of 65, until 1971.
Does he flesh out his fantasy works into something more formal, as Tolkien would eventually do with Middle Earth? Does Howard become the American answer to deeply British Tolkien? Conan of Cimmeria grow into a proper rival of Frodo Baggins?
Does he get the big break he always craved - he had just sold his first novel prior to his suicide, does he eventually gravitate from short fiction to novels as many other authors of the era did?
With the rise of publications like Astounding, and men like Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke, would we see Howard dabble in the one genre he never tackled, science ficiton?
Does not being effected by the death of his friend give HP Lovecraft a few more years too?
Or does Howard stumble, never graduating from being a prolific pulp author?
What does one of speculative fiction's most seminal and prolific names do with another three decades?
