author

Howell Calhoun

1920–2007

Best known for the vivid fantasy poem The Lost Temples of Xantoos, this American writer left a small but memorable mark on pulp-era imaginative literature. He also had a very different life beyond the page, serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

1 Audiobook

The Lost Temples of Xantoos

The Lost Temples of Xantoos

by Howell Calhoun

About the author

Howell Vincent Calhoun was an American poet and writer, born on October 3, 1920, and died on February 14, 2007. Public records and library sources identify him as a poet, and his surviving published work points to an author with a taste for fantasy and speculative themes.

He is most closely associated with The Lost Temples of Xantoos, a poem that has remained available through public-domain archives and is remembered by readers of classic weird and fantasy fiction. While details of his broader literary career are limited in the sources readily available online, his name continues to surface in connection with that work and with mid-century literary publication.

Sources also show that he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was later buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. No clearly suitable portrait image could be confirmed from the pages reviewed, so a profile photo is not included here.