Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) was a big Texan dude and both the codifier and GOAT of sword-and-sorcery thanks to his creation Conan the Cimmerian. I wish I could have been Bob’s therapist.
Conan the Cimmerian
A badass nearly naked guy with a bad haircut travels an ancient world resonant with echoes of our own, hits things with a big sword that need to die, stuffs his résumé, and gets flummoxed by bureaucracy.
- The Phoenix on the Sword
- The Frost-Giant’s Daughter
- The God in the Bowl
- The Tower of the Elephant
- The Scarlet Citadel
- Queen of the Black Coast
Solomon Kane
A brooding big-pistoled goth BF travels the 16th-century world to shoot and stab bad things in the name of God. An exceptionally pleasant Christian character. Lovecraft described him as “an English Puritan of relentless dueling and wrong-redressing proclivities.”
- Skulls in the Stars
- The Right Hand of Doom
- Red Shadows