He wrote several careers' worth of pulp fiction in a single decade before, sadly, taking his own life.
Historical fiction, science fiction, horror, fantasy, western, sports fiction, etc. You name it, he nailed it.
Best known for creating Conan, his other notable creations include Solomon Kane, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, El Borak, and the Pigeons from Hell.
You're probably like me and have read everything by the guy except for this Sword Woman book, right?
Sword Woman sounds like a girl-power book filled with female protagonists, right? And that's something you don't normally expect from Howard's manly-man testosterone-fueled potboilers.
But nope. There is a story called "Sword Woman" in here and there is a woman and a sword in it. But that's it. Women are mostly collateral damage or carefully placed in fridges in his other stories.
"Are the stories any good, though?"
They're okay. Historical fiction yarns. Globe-spanning. Nothing too complicated. Standard Howard structure: "This guy boasts, that guy boasts, this guy fights that guy and we're done."
Howard has a great eye for historical detail and he loads his stories with sights, sounds, and sensations. As usual.
This is probably the weakest Howard collection I've read. But his worst is better than many writers' best. For completists only. Enjoy, you crazy completists!
-Phony McFakename
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