Howard was a dedicated craftsman, busting arse to write better and find a market for his unique style.
Oh, and if all y'all are reading his stories, it's best to skip de Camp's heavily edited—some have called them bastardized—versions and look for the original unedited versions that show Howard's raw voice.
Ya, I avoided getting thrown out of a con back in the day where he was the GOH.
Used book dealer has a bunch of his bastardized pastiches featured. I REALLY wanted to buy one, get it signed, and then set fire to it while proclaiming loudly that he killed Conan.
Then Reality reared it's head and I figured that it would be my last time at that con, and the old gent's ticker might stop turning over...
I didn't know deCamp had a heavy hand in redacting Howard's work. I don't understand writers or editors who think they can improve on another (usually dead) writer's seminal creations. You'd think modesty would stay their hand, if respect wasn't enough.
Ya he and Lin Carter were bad about it back in the day. It started with unfinished stories and snips, then on to the same with other REH Characters, and then rewriting published stories featuring other characters as Conan stories.
I don't have a problem with expanding snips / finishing stories (if the author didn't object before their passing) as long as it's made clear what's happening. When it reached the point of bastardizing other characters and published stories or including REH's name as a cowriter on complete fabrications I started actively avoiding anything with more than REH's name on it. That didn't work every time, but it helped.
I was REALLY glad when Louinet and Schultz published the editions that stripped out everything that wasn't REH's own words, and then continued for his other characters.
Thanks for the bio on Howard. But please, don’t mention those execrable movies. No slam on Arnold. The writers made a hash of Conan’s backstory. I went there wanting to see sweeping Cimmerian vistas as Conan learned to climb sheer cliffs with fingers and toes. He was supposed to be a teenager during the sack of the Aquilonian colony of Venarium. Having him grow up as a slave was worse than insulting.
I agree, but they went a long way in setting the character in the popular zeitgeist. For all their many flaws they are important reference points.
I say this as someone who STOPPED reading REH for years until the ‘Howard in his own words’ editions started coming out and stripped his works back to what they were supposed to be.
Thanks for sharing, Jesse. đŸ«¡
Howard was a dedicated craftsman, busting arse to write better and find a market for his unique style.
Oh, and if all y'all are reading his stories, it's best to skip de Camp's heavily edited—some have called them bastardized—versions and look for the original unedited versions that show Howard's raw voice.
Ya, I avoided getting thrown out of a con back in the day where he was the GOH.
Used book dealer has a bunch of his bastardized pastiches featured. I REALLY wanted to buy one, get it signed, and then set fire to it while proclaiming loudly that he killed Conan.
Then Reality reared it's head and I figured that it would be my last time at that con, and the old gent's ticker might stop turning over...
đŸ¤£ "Fan kills Beloved Author! News at Eleven!"
Yeah, that wouldn't look good on the resume. đŸ˜‰
Not that he was beloved. I've tried reading deCamp's books, but I didn't enjoy them, merely consumed them before moving onto the next book. đŸ«¤
I didn't know deCamp had a heavy hand in redacting Howard's work. I don't understand writers or editors who think they can improve on another (usually dead) writer's seminal creations. You'd think modesty would stay their hand, if respect wasn't enough.
Ya he and Lin Carter were bad about it back in the day. It started with unfinished stories and snips, then on to the same with other REH Characters, and then rewriting published stories featuring other characters as Conan stories.
I don't have a problem with expanding snips / finishing stories (if the author didn't object before their passing) as long as it's made clear what's happening. When it reached the point of bastardizing other characters and published stories or including REH's name as a cowriter on complete fabrications I started actively avoiding anything with more than REH's name on it. That didn't work every time, but it helped.
I was REALLY glad when Louinet and Schultz published the editions that stripped out everything that wasn't REH's own words, and then continued for his other characters.
Somehow I missed how his life ended. I just didn't know.
Thanks for the bio on Howard. But please, don’t mention those execrable movies. No slam on Arnold. The writers made a hash of Conan’s backstory. I went there wanting to see sweeping Cimmerian vistas as Conan learned to climb sheer cliffs with fingers and toes. He was supposed to be a teenager during the sack of the Aquilonian colony of Venarium. Having him grow up as a slave was worse than insulting.
I agree, but they went a long way in setting the character in the popular zeitgeist. For all their many flaws they are important reference points.
I say this as someone who STOPPED reading REH for years until the ‘Howard in his own words’ editions started coming out and stripped his works back to what they were supposed to be.