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Boxing Stories, Boxing Stories, 0803224230, 0-8032-2423-0, 978-0-8032-2423-0, 9780803224230, Robert E. Howard
Edited and with an introduction by Chris Gruber, The Works of Robert E. Howard, Boxing Stories, 0803273525, 0-8032-7352-5, 978-0-8032-7352-8, 9780803273528, Robert E. Howard
Edited and with an introduction by Chris Gruber, The Works of Robert E. Howard, Boxing Stories, 0803205198, 0-8032-0519-8, 978-0-8032-0519-2, 9780803205192, Robert E. Howard
Edited and with an introduction by Chris Gruber, T
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Boxing Stories
Robert E. Howard
Edited and with an introduction by Chris Gruber
hardcover
2005.
314 pp.
978-0-8032-2423-0
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Out of Print
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 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.
 Robert E. Howard (1906–36) lived and wrote in Cross Plains, Texas. From 1924 until his death, he sold hundreds of stories to pulp-fiction magazines such as Weird Tales, Argosy, Action Stories, Fight Stories, and Cowboy Stories. As a twentieth-century American master of fantastic adventure, he rivals Edgar Rice Burroughs. Chris Gruber is a member of the Robert E. Howard United Press Association.
"The University of Nebraska Press collections are an important contribution to anyone interested in Robert E. Howard, or just how good pulp fiction can be."—Southwest BookViews “Like the Breckinridge Elkin stories, the Costigan boxing tales are humorous…. The stories that come after the ten Costigan tales are dark, savage and bloody, and Howard pulls no punches when he dishes out descriptions of violence.”--Green Man Review
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