I am the in-house mystery guy (that’s how I hoodwinked John O’Neill into giving me a weekly column). Ten years later, he’s still trying to configure the Firewall to keep me from getting up my Monday morning post! I organized the Discovering Robert E. Howard, and Hither Came Conan series’ here at Black Gate. And contributed, of course. That’s the advantage of being in charge of them!

Robert E. Howard is my second-favorite writer (trailing only the terrific John D. MacDonald), and I’ve written over two dozen essays related to him here at Black Gate. With more to come, of course. I posted my second Kirby O’Donnell post in last month, and I’m working on my second spicy tales post.

I came late to Howard. I have loved mythology since grade school. The Iliad remains one of my all-time favorite stories, and I have a copy of Schleimann’s Ilios. That led me to Dungeons and Dragons in middle school, and I know I was reading The Lord of the Rings somewhere around the 8th grade. I was a fantasy fan for life.

I bought the first Ace Conan paperback, but it sat on my shelf, unread. Not sure why. I know I read David C. Smith’s Oron, but not that one. As my son was playing with the Thomas the Train layout in the kids section of Barnes and Noble one day, I started reading the first Dely Rey Conan book. I read that the next time we were there. And I bought it. And Robert E. Howard would move up the ranks of my favorite writers, as I bought more Del Reys.

Conan and El Borak are about even at the top, and then Solomon Kane. But I just continued to like Robert E. Howard, more and more.

Here are all of my own Robert E. Howard-related essays here at Black Gate. A couple are pretty good, I think. Mostly in the first two sections below. Check out a couple, please. By Crom!

MISC MUSINGS RELATED TO REH & HIS WORKS

Weird Menace from REH

Spicy Adventure from REH

Thrilling Adventures from REH/Gold of Tartary

More Thrilling Adventures from REH/Swords of Shahrazar

 

Discovering Robert E Howard – The Entire Series

REH Goes Hardboiled

Ramblings on REH

REH Digital Rights Sold

REH Pastiches Coming in 2018 (I was hoodwinked on that one…)

 

CONAN – Hither Came Conan

Hither Came Conan is a Book!

Here comes Hither Came Conan

Hither Came Conan looks for the Best Conan Story

Hither Came Conan – Rogues in the House

Hither Came Conan – One More To Go

Ruminations on ‘The Phoenix on the Sword’

 

CONAN – Reviews & Pastiches

Tor Conans – Quality may Vary

Some Conan Pastiches are More Equal than Others

Review – Conan of Venarium

Review – A Pair of (Steve) Perry Pastiches

Are Conan Pastiches ‘Official’?

The Animated Red Nails That Never Was

 

CONAN – Misc. Essays

REH Wrote a Police Procedural?

The Khoraja Saga

Arthurian Elements in The Conan Canon

‘Iron Shadows in the Moon,’ The Bible, and Dark Horse

Roy Thomas & Conan the Barbarian

 

CONAN – Gaming

The New Conan RPG

Conan – Age of Exiles

Adventures in an Age Undreamed of – Part One

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Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories – Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.