The Free Range

Conan the Barbarian was created in 1932 by Robert E. Howard. Initially appearing in pulp magazines of the day, the character has spread into every form of media imaginable: novels, comics, movies, games and art. Beyond the Black River was written after Howard had developed the character quite thoroughly. It is the first of the "King Conan" stories, in which the titular character is more mature and wise -- though still ultra-violent in his approach to problem-solving. Which, it must be admitted, is his most endearing quality. We can all sympathize with the desire to yank out a broadsword and go to work when we are sitting in traffic, watching as some mouth-breather does something immensely and infuriatingly retarded. Alas, civilization forbids. For now.

(Image copyright 2015 by Georgi Simeonov)

Howard himself was a troubled young man. Much like his contemporary fellow writer H.P. Lovecraft, he held a cynical view of life that is uncommon -- and arguably unhealthy -- in one so young. He was terrified of growing old and wrote on several occasions of his desire to die young. At the age of 30, with his beloved mother on her deathbed, Robert E. Howard walked out of her bedroom to his car, pulled a pistol from the glove compartment and shot himself in the head. Thus ended the life of the man who is widely acknowledged as the father of the swords and sorcery literary genre and all that it has spawned over the last century.


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