Boxing Stories (The Works of Robert E. Howard series)

By Robert E. Howard

Book Overview

Although he is best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian and as a writer of historical fiction and fantasy, Robert E. Howard was both a successful author of popular boxing stories and an avid amateur boxer himself. The sixteen stories and three poems collected in this volume show the full range of his talents for action, humor, and fistic philosophy. ? Ten of the stories feature the sailor Steve Costigan, a lovable, hard-fisted, and innocent semipro pugilist, who takes on dastardly villains in exotic ports of call. Howard's brilliant blue-collar humor belies his preoccupation with the real-life issues near and dear to his heart--death, honor, pride, and a man's love for his dog ? Other stories are more dramatic and somber, including "Iron Men," which Howard called "the best fight story I ever wrote--in many ways the best story of any kind I ever wrote." Severely edited and truncated for its original publication in 1930 in Fight Stories magazine, the tale has never been published in its original form--until now. It appears here, completely restored from Howard's original typescript, in an authoritative version that Howard fans everywhere will appreciate. ? In these stories Howard created a realistic, richly populated boxing universe, with intertwining characters and histories that carry on from tale to tale. With them he takes his place in a tradition of American boxing writers but always with a uniquely Howardian twist, a gritty brooding atmosphere, and a reserve of humor that captures the often brutal ambiance of the 1930s.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803224230
• ISBN13: 9780803224230
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Length: 313 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

If you only know REH from his Conan stories....

you're missing out! Robert E. Howard was a proflic author of exciting stories, including westerns, swords and sorcery, adventure, and horror. Boxing Stories collects a sample of REH's sports stories, filled with bruising battlers who fight for a variety--but usually noble--reasons. Of note, the collection contains a story that REH regarded as one of his finest 'The Iron Men,' here presented as Howard originally intended.

Boxing Stories (works of Robert E. Howard)

Boxing stories is a good sampler of R.E.H.'s sport fiction. Ten of the stories are from his humorous Sailor Steve Costigan series. The Spirit of Tom Molyneaux is an interesting combination of ghost and boxing story featuring an african american boxer, (fair warning, it contains non p.c.elements).Iron Men ,which Howard considered one of his best stories, is included in its original form, restored from the heavily edited version first published in Fight Stories Magazine in 1930. While Howard thought it one of his best,I think Fists of the Desert and They Always Come Back are actually better. They are gritty and realistic, telling of the shabby, brutal lives of low level boxers of that era.If you enjoy R.E.H.,sports stories,or just the style of 20's and 30's pulp fiction I think you will like Boxing Stories (the Works of Robert E. Howard).

Fun read!

I got this book as an ongoing effort to collect as much of the works of Robert E. Howard as I can. But when I opened it and started reading, I was hooked! These stories are excellent. Short and quick to read, they are full of action, drama, humor, and really place the reader in the world they are set in. If you are a fan of the era, like boxing, or just wasnt a rousing read, I highly reccomend this book.

Wickedly Entertaining, Highly Addictive

Robert E Howard is a legend along with H P Lovecraft for writing hundreds of short stories for cheep pulps and getting hardly any money or recognition for their talent. While Robert E Howard is best known for his Conan stories, fans who look beond are rewarded. Such is the case with this collection of Boxing Stories. The stories are fantastic and completely over the top, and there is a vocabulary Robert E Howard uses skillfuly that will have you cracking up. The fight scenes play out like violent and gory Looney Tunes, and the diologue makes the charecters jump out of the page. Once you read a few of these short storys you'll begin to realise that this is a type of writing to be savored. Robert E Howard literally wrote the book on this type of fiction.