OFF TOPIC: Robert E. Howard
Possibly one of the writers most frequently compared to ERB.
Howard was the creator of Conan, the legendary swordsman.
Everything will be OK in the end, if it aint OK,it aint the end.
Howard was a great, if largely unsophisticated, writer whose best tales exude a raw energy I personally find to be pure genius. Had he lived past age 30, he likely would have been another Ray Bradbury as a pulpster who evolved to transcend the genre.
Unfortunately that hot day in June 1936 prevented Howard from ever accomplishing such a feat.
Requiescat in pace, Krystle Papile. I'll always miss you. Justice was finally served.
Oddly enough, I just finished reading the complete Conan stories of REH over the weekend; I knew nothing of REH and Conan beyond the Arnie flicks, but an old uni mate of mine is a huge fan, and when I came across the pristine leather bound anthology in a charity book shop I thought he would love it. As he's in my neck of the woods next month I thought I would give it to him and meanwhile read it, so we can discuss it over a couple of pints.
A couple of weeks before I found the first five Barsoom novels in a charity shop (it's a hobby of mine) and I'm currently wading through Thuvia Maid Of Mars - (I generaly have 2 to 4 books on the go.) I found REH rather more readable, and was fascinated by his life story that was ended by his suicide at a very young age - before many writers even start putting pen to paper tragicaly preventing him from developing as a writer.
I'm not really enjoying the Barsoom novels, but I can see why thier fans are upset with Stanton changing the hot blooded, almost knight errant John Carter into the standard brooding loner of the film.
I'm also been reading another near contemporary influential pulp writer during this period - E E "Doc" Smith's Lensmen novels. I see where George Lucas got the Jedi from, but by God, they are painful.