The Second Book of Robert E. Howard

by Robert E. Howard, Glenn Lord (Editor)

Contents:

"Introduction" by Glenn Lord
"Letter" REH to Wilfred B. Talman, September 1931
"Sword Woman"
"Which Will Scarcely Be Understood" (poem)
"The Striking of the Gong"
"The Song of Horsa's Galley" (poem)
"The Good Knight"
"A Word From the Outer Dark" (poem)
"Black Canaan"
"The Song of a Mad Minstrel" (poem)
"Kelly the Conjure Man"
"Surrender" (poem)
"The Footfalls Within"
"Knife-River Prodigal"
"Musings" (poem)
"Life" (2, "They bruised my soul . . .") (poem)
"The House of Suspicion"
"Rueben's Brethren" (poem)
"Two Against Tyre"
"The Guise of Youth" (poem)
"For the Love of Barbara Allen"
"Guns of Khartum"
"Lines Written in the Realization That I Must Die" (poem)

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Horror, Poetry, Fiction, Science Fiction

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Robert Ervin Howard was an American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. Howard wrote "over three-hundred stories and seven-hundred poems of raw power and unbridled emotion" and is especially noted for his memorable depictions of "a sombre universe of swashbuckling adventure and darkling horror."

He is well known for having created—in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales—the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can only be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond.

—Wikipedia

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a second wide-ranging collection of short stories, poems, and other material by Howard that Glenn Lord put together to showcase the variety of his works and fields of interest. There are representative pieces of his historical fiction, detective, boxing, Western, "spicy adventure," and humorous pieces, along with horror and sword & sorcery. Lord also provides interesting notes and commentary. Howard was, of course, the consummate pulp action writer, with a remarkable gift for storytelling. He was also, unfortunately, a product of his time and situation, and, like Lovecraft, showed streaks of racism and misogyny; Black Canaan, for example, should be read only with that cautionary idea in place. Many of the pieces collected in this book weren't published until long after his death, and some of the more obscure pieces here do give a fuller picture of the scope of his talent.

[Leothefox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this collection high marks because, unlike most, it really showcases the broad range of fiction Howard put out. Here we've got the sword and sorcery stuff, detective stories, straight adventure, horror, historical, westerns and even a boxing story! It isn't all solid gold, but it's enjoyable stuff, especially if you're a Howard fan.

I also rather doubt that some of these stories will get reprinted in this day and age (especially "Black Canaan"), for good or ill, so this book makes an interesting record.

I especially enjoyed the detective tale "The House of Suspicion" and the surprisingly humorous boxing tale "The Good Knight".

[Frankie Roxx · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection that shows the range and diversity of Howard's interests and talents as a writer. This was actually the first Robert E. Howard book that I ever owned and thus it hold's a special place in my heart. That's not to say that it's without faults; far from it in fact, but the good in this case far outweighs the bad. The book opens with a brief, but interesting enough, introduction by Glenn Lord. Nothing new there but enjoyable enough. However the letter that follows, a correspondence between Howard and Wilfred B. Talman to be insightful and interesting. During it's course Howard speaks of his youth, the jobs he's worked and his dislike of working them (or working in general). It added to my overall enjoyment of the book.


The book opens with the origin tale of one of Howard's more intriguing characters, Dark Agnes, in the tale “Sword Woman”. A fairly lengthy tale and one I became engrossed in—I absolutely need to delve into her other two penned Howard tales sometime and learn more about the character. definitely on my “to do” list. After such a strong start the following poems and tales (including a Kull story and a well written boxing tale) while entertaining enough didn't quite stack up in comparison. After reading through them I came on the next tale, Black Canaan, which I'll save my thoughts on for when I do my review of it when I cover the Berkley release that bore the tale as the book's title.

Two more poems and the short, but interesting enough, horror tale—Kelly the Conjure-Man follow before another gem pops up in the form of the Solomon Kane tale “The Footfalls Within”. Kane is my personal favorite of Howard's many wonderful characters and I never tire of reading his tales. Though this one isn't one of my personal favorites it's still an excellent read and definitely added to my overall enjoyment of the book (and served as my introduction to Solomon Kane as a youth). After this we're treated to a hilarious and extremely entertaining Western tale “Knife-River Prodigal” focusing on the adventures, or rather the misadventures, of the dull witted but overall good-hearted Buckner J. Grimes. As someone that absolutely loves Howard's comedic Western tales I loved this particular story and it's one I've read and re-read many times over the years.

Two more poems follow as well as the excellently written detective tale “The House of Suspicion”. I've not yet had the opportunity to read many of Howard's pulp drenched detective tales (something I intend to rectify having recently purchased the Berkley released Skull-Face collection of detective stories) but I enjoyed the tale immensely and look forward to reading more of his detective stories in the future. Next came the historical fiction adventure “Two Against Tyre” which, as it turns out, is one of my favorite tales houses in this excellent collection.

Another poem follows as well as the folk music inspired tale “For the Love of Barbara Allen”. An okay story but not one I found myself enjoying in comparison to the bulk of Howard's other writing that I've encountered. Still it's unique enough in the sense that it's the only Howard tale (that I know of) that focuses it's story around folk music so that's something I suppose. Next to follow, however, was an excellent and spicy little Howard tale “Guns of Khartum” which I loved and consider another favorite of mine from this collection. Closing out the book we get a very somber and powerful poem; “Lines written in the realization that I must die”. All in all a good ending to a wonderful and diverse collection of Howard's writing. I recommend this book highly especially to those that wish to read Howard material outside of the Conan work that he's best remembered for.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

More stories by REH, many of them rarely seen before. Includes a Solomon Kane and a very short Kull story. Covers the whole range of REH's works. Cowboy stories, horror stories, detective stories, funny stories, historical adventures, sword and sorcery, and saucy adventure. Really shows how REH could take any subject and make it his own, as long as it involved someone getting punched in the face. Or stabbed. REH knew how to give the people what they wanted, and then just as it is now the people wanted to be entertained. Are you not entertained? I am.

[Keith B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a fan of all he wrote so 5 stars quite easily. Only one or two of the stories are unique to this book but the collection itself is a great sampling of his work. Bought and read this back in the 80's and dug it out for a friend and got sucked in again before passing along.

[Johnathan J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice cross section of Howard's career.

[Little Timmy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Robert E. Howard is my all time favorite writer, but for many years much of his work was heavily edited. This is another of the heavily edited collections of Robert E. Howard's stories. I am a purist when it comes to a writers works. I know some of these stories are no longer PC but they should be read as Howard wrote them and understood that he wrote in another time period. Don't read this book unless you just can't find any others of Howard's unedited books to read. Message me if you need a list of what is good from this awesome fantasy and action writer.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of various stories from Howard.