Robert E. Howard was born on January 22, 1906.  I’ve been reading through the Conan stories for the series at Black Gate. (The latest post is here.)

I realize a lot of people have favorite Howard characters other than Conan.  Conan was the first Howard I read.  Call it imprinting, but Conan is still my mental template for what a sword and sorcery character is like.  I see more and more things each time I reread one of those stories.

I’m also not into the pastiches very much.  I’m open to reading some, especially some of the ones that will be published this year in the new comics, but to my mind they will never be canonical.  No offense intended to anyone writing them.  I feel the same way about the James Bond books.

There will be other tributes to Howard posted today.  I’m not sure what I can that someone else will probably say better.  And frankly, after my father-in-law’s funeral this past weekend, I’m about eulogized out.

I will say this, though.  I reread several of Howard’s stories for last year’s Black Friday post, including but not limited to, Conan.  Between that and the reading I’m doing as Black Gate’s series progresses (including the multiple readings I made for my entry in that series), I’m coming to appreciate one thing.  Howard is worth rereading, multiple times.  I’ve always known this, but at a more cerebral level than a visceral level.  Rereading Howard over the last few months has really impressed upon just multilayered he could be, especially when he was at the top of his game.  As busy as I’ve become over the last few years, I’d lost my appreciation of Howard as a wordsmith.  It’s good to have that back.