About the Author

Robert E. Howard (1906- 1936) grew up in the boomtowns of early twentieth-century Texas, eventually settling in Cross Plains where he lived for the remainder of his short life. Deciding early on a literary career, he spent the bulk of his time crafting stories and poems for the burgeoning pulp fiction markets: Weird Tales, Action Stories, Fight Stories, Argosy, etc. Howard's literary reputation was assured with the publication of "The Shadow Kingdom" in 1928, which featured a unique blend of fantasy and adventure which has since been termed Heroic Fantasy. The creation of Conan the Cimmerian, Kull the Conqueror, Solomon Kane and many more has earned him lasting recognition. Rusty Burke's father always answered his questions with "You could look it up," which is probably why he finds annotation, and the research involved, among life's most enjoyable pursuits. He does have an unfortunate tendency to spend too much time chasing down one rabbit hole after another. He has been hanging around Howard fandom for nearly 40 years, writing, editing, researching, and working to promote Howard studies. John Bullard is a recovering attorney who has irreparably hurt his eyesight reading the small print and wants satisfaction and reparations. He also wants to thank Bobby Derie for demanding he add his name as co-creator of the index (even though all the hard work was originally done by Bobby).