Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906–June 11, 1936) was an American author of fantasy, adventure, horror, historical fiction, Westerns, boxing stories and poetry. Best known as the creator of Conan the Cimmerian, Howard was one of the defining voices of the pulp era and the foundational master of the literary tradition now known as Sword & Sorcery.

Born in Peaster, Texas, Howard spent much of his youth travelling through the small towns and oil-boom communities of the state before his family settled in Cross Plains in 1919. The fierce landscapes, frontier history and restless character of Texas left a lasting mark upon his imagination. From an early age, he was fascinated by history, legend, warfare and the rise and fall of civilizations—subjects that would become central to his fiction.

Howard began writing professionally while still in his teens. His first published story, “Spear and Fang,” appeared in Weird Tales in 1925, beginning an association with the legendary pulp magazine that would endure throughout his career. In its pages he developed a succession of enduring characters, including the haunted Puritan adventurer Solomon Kane, the Atlantean exile Kull, the Pictish king Bran Mak Morn and, most famously, Conan the Cimmerian. Howard also corresponded extensively with fellow Weird Tales writers such as H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith.

Conan first appeared in “The Phoenix on the Sword,” published in the December 1932 issue of Weird Tales. Set during the imagined Hyborian Age, the Conan stories combined historical adventure, supernatural horror, mythic grandeur and hard-driving action within a world of ancient kingdoms, lost races and crumbling civilizations. Rather than following a single chronological journey, Howard presented episodes from across Conan’s life—from thief and mercenary to pirate, commander and king.

Although Conan became his most famous creation, Howard’s body of work extended far beyond fantasy. He wrote Westerns, horror tales, historical adventures, detective fiction, humorous tall tales and vivid stories drawn from the boxing world. Across these varied genres, his prose is distinguished by its tremendous momentum, muscular imagery, poetic intensity and abiding concern with freedom, courage and the conflict between barbarism and civilization.

Howard died in Cross Plains in 1936 at the age of thirty. His professional career had lasted little more than a decade, yet within that brief span he produced hundreds of stories and poems and transformed the course of fantastic literature. His work has since reached generations of readers through books, comics, films, games and countless later interpretations.

Today, Robert E. Howard is recognised as one of the great architects of modern fantasy. His heroes endure not merely because of their strength, but because they stand defiantly against tyranny, sorcery, corruption and the inexorable decay of civilizations. His influence remains deeply embedded in Sword & Sorcery, and the fire of his storytelling continues to burn nearly a century after his first tales appeared.

Inferno Books presents selected public-domain works by Robert E. Howard through its Inferno Classics editions and original FirePath adaptations.