Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard was one of the greatest authors from America, who liked to write pulp fiction novels in a wide range of genres, including fantasy, historical adventure, detective fiction, boxing, horror, sword & sorcery, and western. He is particularly well known for creating the character of Conan the Barbarian, and is considered as the father of the subgenre of sword and sorcery. Author Howard was born as Robert Ervin Howard on January 22, 1906, in Peaster, Texas, United States.

The best place to start is the Dark Storm Conan Chronology series, the earliest of Robert E. Howard's multi-book series: it opens with The Phoenix on the Sword (1932) and runs to 16 books across 1932–1986, ending with The Pool of the Black One (1986). Robert E. Howard's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Robert E. Howard has 313 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1667 and 2026. 192 of them belong to 17 named series — the largest being the Dark Storm Conan Chronology series with 16 books — and 121 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Robert E. Howard's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Dark Storm Conan Chronology (1932–1986, 16 books), King Conan (1932–2016, 4 books) and Conan (Donald M. Grant) (1950–1986, 10 books), plus 13 more.

This guide splits Robert E. Howard's 313 books into 17 named series and 121 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Dark Storm Conan Chronology (16 books, 1932–1986); Conan (Lancer/Ace) (12 books, 1966–1977); Savage Sword of Conan (12 books, 1974–2026); Weird Works Of Collections (10 books, 2004–2011); Conan (Donald M. Grant) (10 books, 1950–1986), plus 12 further series.

This guide splits Robert E. Howard's 313 books into 17 named series and 121 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Dark Storm Conan Chronology (16 books, 1932–1986); Conan (Lancer/Ace) (12 books, 1966–1977); Savage Sword of Conan (12 books, 1974–2026); Weird Works Of Collections (10 books, 2004–2011); Conan (Donald M. Grant) (10 books, 1950–1986), plus 12 further series.