The writer of today faces the same prejudices as the writer of Howard’s day, with mainstream readers recoiling from any depiction of a nonwhite or female villain, just as reactionary whites and masculinity advocates cannot abide the depiction of a diverse racial cast or of striving female characters. For the reader interested in realism in fiction, or in the question of the monolithic political correctness currently smothering any attempts at realism in fiction, whether in print or on film, Dark Art of an Arуan Mystic will illuminate the white, black and red corners of our collective imagination with that most hated and rejected shade of illumination, the gray of truth, which is sought by few and accepted by none.

The selections for this book had been intended to illuminate Howard’s treatment of race in storytelling, and will therefore slant this volume in that direction, with the Race theme dominant. As a reviewer I was tempted to spread the re-worked content or Dark Art of an Arуan Mystic out. But on second thought, an effort to enforce an unnatural balance would be antithetical to the subject of this quest to connect on a textual and subtextual level with my dominant literary influence.