Robert E. Howard Readers discussion

I first discovered REH's boxing stories in the old Zebra editions of The Iron Man and The Incredible Adventures Of Dennis Dorgan many years ago. Last year, I "rediscovered" those stories in Boxing Stories, Waterfront Fists And Others: The Collected Fight Stories Of Robert E. Howard, and The Complete Action Stories. One thing I noticed while reading the latter collections was that Howard placed his characters within a shared universe. Main characters in one story appear as background characters in others. That is one reason I am so thrilled that the REH Foundation is putting out these new collections - I think they make make this universe more apparent.

Anyway, in reading this first volume, Fists of Iron: Round 1, I was pleased to discover "Double Cross," which has the same main characters as "The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux." I was also pleasantly suprised that I had both versions of that latter tale. I had never compared them, and so didn't realize there were two different versions - and I that I had them in different collections.

Probably my favorite REH boxing story is "Iron Men." Does anyone else out there have a favorite? I also find myself wondering, if REH hadn't killed himself, what he would have thought of "Rocky." Stallone's character is very much of the iron man mold that REH seems to prefer.

I just finished reading "Mark of a Bloody Hand," which features Jack Maloney in a minor role. Maloney is the main character in "They Always Come Back," and appeared in "Iron Men" as one of the men Iron Mike Brennan smashed up. It's this sense of recurring characters that I really like about Howard's Boxing universe.

Vincent wrote: "I first discovered REH's boxing stories in the old Zebra editions of The Iron Man and The Incredible Adventures Of Dennis Dorgan many years ago...."

Me, too. I love DD & Spike. It's been a lot of years since I read "The Iron Man" to have a favorite character. I should dust it off.

I just finished reading (re-reading?) "Crowd Horror." In Fists of Iron: Round 1 this is the original version of the story, which shares a lot in common with "Iron Men" (REH reused a lot of the intro to that story when it didn't sell), which is the first time it has seen print. Most versions of the story, such as the version found in Boxing Stories, have the shorter, edited version requested by the editor of "Argosy," who then edited it down even further before publishing it.

Are the Sailor Steve Costigan stories different than the Dennis Dorgan tales? I just finished a collection of the Sailor Steve yarns and enjoyed the hell out of them. Hilarious and action-packed.

It's my understanding that a boxing publisher wanted stories like the Sailor Steve stories, and REH had a bunch of Sailor Steve stories in backlog, so he changed the name to Dennis Dorgan, changed the dog's name from Mike to Spike, and - WALAH - Dennis Dorgan. They are exactly the same type of stories because they started out as Sailor Steve Costigan stories.

I'm curious to find out of the new volumes will restore the character to its original form, or leave them as Dennis Dorgan stories. Only one Dennis Dorgan story was published in REH's lifetime before that particular magazine folded.

Vincent,
From talking to Chris and Mark, they decided to handle the Costigan/Dorgan dilemna this way:

All but one of the Dorgan stories was originally written as a Costigan story. In fact on the original typescripts you can see that the names Steve and Mike are struck through and replaced with Dennis and Spike. For those stories they are restored to Costigan yarns as they were originally intended.

There is one Dennis Dorgan story that was originally written as a Dorgan story (after Farnsworth Wright had bought the other converted ones). This one was left as a Dorgan yarn (and according to Chris has a slightly different tone to it than the others). Personnally, I think this was an appropiate way to handle it.

That is excellent. I think that is a very appropriate way to handle it.

I just read on the REH Foundation site that the schedule for the remaining volumes of boxing stories is tentatively: Vol. 2, Sept.-Oct.; Vol. 3, Nov.-Dec.; Vol. 4, early 2014.

I'm very excited about these! Even though I've read most of the Steve Costigan/Dennis Dorgan tales in the past, having them collected is so fantastic. Plus, the five Costigan tales I know I am missing (from REH Fight Magazine #4) should be in there! I am excited about that, too.

Jeff sums up our editorial direction nicely. I am happy to see a growing interest in Howard's boxing tales and am happy to answer any questions you might have about the four volume set.

Best,
Chris Gruber

Chris, what kinds of boxing stories will make up the fourth volume?

Good stuff!

Vincent wrote: "I just finished reading "Mark of a Bloody Hand," which features Jack Maloney in a minor role. Maloney is the main character in "They Always Come Back," and appeared in "Iron Men" as one of the men..."

I saw Steve Costigan was mentioned in Iron Men too and losing to Brennan the second rate boxer that he is;) There was a Mike Costigan too, has he been in other boxing story? Brother of Steve?

I just read my first really strong boxing story by Howard and my favourite one so far in "Iron Men".

I found the calm writing,storytelling to be impressive and it was very absorbing to me and heartbreaking story and Brennon became very human, very real. There has been many real boxers like him ending up worse than he did.

Yes, Iron Mike Costigan is one of Steve's brothers... Steve's dog is named after him (established in "The Bull Dog Breed). "I named him Mike after a brother of mine, Iron Mike Costigan, rather well known in them higher fight circles where I've never gotten to" (pg. 41, Fists of Iron: Round 2).

Iron Mike Costigan appears in the fragments "Untitled: "I had just hung by sparring partner, Battling ", and "Untitled: "Mike Costigan, writer and self avowed futilist . . ."

Another Mike Costigan (or at least I think it is another) is present in "Spanish Gold on Devil Horse" from The Howard Collector. Other Mike Costigans appear in the fragments "The Dominant Male" and "The Splendid Brute" from The Last of the Trunk and/or Sentiment: An Olio of Rarer Works.

In "Alleys of Peril," Steve Costigan mentions his fight with Brennan. I really love the way Howard connected all these stories to create a boxing world.

Mohammed, if you liked "Iron Men" as presented in Waterfront Fists And Others: The Collected Fight Stories Of Robert E. Howard, you'll really love the longer versions of that story (it was edited by the editors of "Fight Stories" so much that it upset REH). The longest draft of that story can be found in both Boxing Stories and Fists of Iron: Round 1. The final submitted draft (shorter than the first draft, but still longer than the published version found in the original magazine and reprinted in Waterfront Fists And Others: The Collected Fight Stories Of Robert E. Howard) can be found in Fists of Iron: Round 1 (this book contains both drafts).

Thanks for the info about Mike Costigan.

I look forward to reading the longer version of Iron Men. Despite it short length it did feel like a real novel the calm writing, the pace, the chapters.

Vincent wrote: "Chris, what kinds of boxing stories will make up the fourth volume?"

Hi Vincent,I'm sorry it took so long to reply but to answer your question the final volume will contain the Kid Allison tales, Mike Dorgan and Bill McGlory and a collection of stand-alone yarns. As in the previous three volumes the Miscellanea is really interesting.

Thank you, Chris!