Click to Subscribe
‘Not to Be Trifled With’
Blood & Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard by Mark Finn
© 2016 James LaFond
APR/25/16
In 2009 my son asked me to ‘help with security’ at a 150 person event he was running for a hobby store owner. I had been paying attention to the tales of big ghetto goons mugging geeks at these events and was glad to help, primarily to make certain my son was safe. There was some downtime, during which I perused the meager book collection. Among the titles was a biography of Robert E. Howard, my personal literary hero. When I saw the author’s photo had him wearing boxing gloves, then I knew he was a real Howard lover, and snapped the remaining copy up.
Robert E. Howard is my single greatest literary influence. The others, in order of importance are: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Luis L’Amour, Gene Wolf, and George R. R. Martin. People might assume that Howard’s propensity for writing violent adventure and his and my love for boxing indicates that I mimic his style in action writing. It is quite the opposite. I have studied Howard as a means of using metaphor and atmosphere. My action scenes are constructed in an almost opposite fashion from Howard’s. My point is here, that where people see Howard as an action writer, I see him as an atmospheric artist. I was thrilled, in Finn, to find a Howard fan who seemed to have Howard’s same sense for atmosphere.
I was sold—the book was mine.
Blood and Thunder
The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard
Mark Finn, 2006. MonkeyBrain Books, Austin TX, 264 pages
Three things sold me on this book: the table of contents which demonstrated a commitment to a comprehensive biography; the almost psychotic ‘about the author’ [You know we write those ourselves.] piece on the back cover; and the fact that rare photos and reproductions of pulp magazine covers were to be found on the interior.
Mister Finn treats Howard first and foremost as a Texan, and, just as importantly, a man of his times. Aspects of Howard’s ancestry, upbringing, family and associations that found reflection in his writing are covered. Though a self-professed Howard fanatic, Finn does not engage in hero worship but scholarship. This is, quite unexpectedly, a vigorous investigative biography. As a Texan himself, sitting on much of the evidence, Finn was well placed for this project, and made good use of this advantage.
A writer communicates incompletely to his readers, in a deliberate attempt to express himself and at the same time obscure himself. This is at the nexus of the writer’s art, in fiction and non-fiction. Howard was noted for creating the second most recognizable character in modern literature, Conan, second only to Tarzan. Most biographical treatments of him focus on this dazzling creation. Finn gives all of Howard’s creations equal space, fully rounding out their creator.
For me the highlights of the book were the photos of Howard, which were well selected and the reproduced covers of pulps he wrote for: Fight Story, Oriental Stories, Top Notch, and Weird Tales. For an aspiring writer, a biography of a writer who struggled so much in such obscurity and then posthumously achieved a longer and more vibrant life for his fictional creations than any writer short of Tolkien, is instructive as well as inspirational.
Mark Finn’s biographical style is good enough that I hope he tackles another project. Likewise, his eye for the poignant quote and illustrative passage would make for a fine editor. I will be looking to see what other titles Mark has authored or edited.
Note: Deuce, a Howard biographer who emails me regularly, has assured me that there is a mountain of biographical material, in the form of letters, for a person studying Robert E. Howard to work from and that his actual reading list and literary influences have been traced.
Mark has also been interviewed on video, portions of which may be viewed on YouTube.
'To Smite the Moslem Dogs'
book reviews
‘Thus Spake the Silent Halls’
eBook
into leviathan’s maw
eBook
masculine axis
eBook
fate
eBook
on combat
eBook
logic of steel
eBook
uncle satan
eBook
z-pill forever
eBook
son of a lesser god
eBook
fanatic
eBook
on the overton railroad
eBook
hate
eBook
logic of force
eBook
dark, distant futures
eBook
book of nightmares
eBook
barbarism versus civilization
eBook
america the brutal
eBook
the year the world took the z-pill
eBook
triumph
eBook
the fighting edge
eBook
winter of a fighting life
eBook
your trojan whorse
eBook
fiction anthology one
eBook
the lesser angels of our nature
eBook
the gods of boxing
eBook
cracker-boy
eBook
blue eyed daughter of zeus
eBook
the first boxers
eBook
let the world fend for itself
eBook
thriving in bad places
eBook
orphan nation
eBook
sorcerer!
eBook
the combat space
eBook
advent america
eBook
the greatest boxer
eBook
under the god of things
eBook
the greatest lie ever sold
eBook
predation
eBook
taboo you
eBook
time & cosmos
eBook
wife—
eBook
ranger?
eBook
menthol rampage
eBook
sons of aryas
eBook
honor among men
eBook
all-power-fighting
eBook
broken dance
eBook
songs of aryas
eBook
the sunset saga complete
eBook
by the wine dark sea
eBook
beasts of aryas
eBook
solo boxing
eBook
within leviathan’s craw
eBook
night city
eBook
song of the secret gardener
eBook
when you're food
  Add a new comment below:
Name
Email
Message