Robert E. (Robert Ervin) Howard

Born in 1906 in Texas and raised largely in Cross Plains, Robert E. Howard became one of the standout writers of the pulp-magazine era. He sold widely to magazines such as Weird Tales and created a remarkable range of characters, but he is most closely linked with Conan the Barbarian, whose fierce energy and larger-than-life adventures made a lasting mark on fantasy.

Howard wrote far beyond heroic fantasy. His work also included horror, historical adventure, westerns, detective fiction, and boxing stories, showing how quickly he could shift tone and setting while keeping his storytelling punchy and direct. Readers and later writers have often credited him with helping define the sword-and-sorcery tradition.

His life was brief—he died in 1936 at just 30 years old—but his reputation only grew after his death. Today he remains one of the key early voices in popular fantasy, admired for muscular prose, restless imagination, and heroes who feel as wild as the worlds they move through.