The son of a country physician, Howard's early youth was spent in traveling to various Texas towns where his father's work took him. He began writing when he was nine and many of the characters that would later form his professional output were constructed in his early teens. He graduated from high school in Brownwood, Texas, where he won prizes for his fiction. He then spent a few years in various jobs until he sold his first story in 1924 to the fledgling Weird Tales magazine. His relationship with the magazine would continue until his death. Over the years, Howard invented many iconic characters such as Conan, Kull, El-Borak and Solomon Kane and became one of pulp fictions most prolific and best known authors. He is credited with inventing the genre which became known as 'Sword and Sorcery'. He developed a life-long friendship with H.P. Lovecraft and influenced many future sci-fi writers such as Paul Kearney and Fritz Leiber. When his mother went into a coma shortly before her death, the distraught Howard committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. His many works include Red Shadows (1928), The Shadow Kingdom (1929), The Hills of the Dead (1930), Kings of the Night (1930), The Garden of Fear (1934), Alleys of Darkness (1934), The Apache Mountain War (1935), Blood of the Gods (1935), Black Canaan (1936) and A Gent from Bear Creek (1937 Posthumous). |
