His sword rose and fell, a frosty arc in the moon, showering blood 
as it split misshapen heads, clove shambling bodies.
Conan - The Hour of the Dragon
Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard was born in 1906 in west Texas, and spent much of his life, including his final years, in tiny Cross Plains, Texas. An only child, he was inordinately close to his mother. As a teenager, Howard was viewed as an eccentric due to his love of books, and his library included works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack London, Mark Twain,  Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. Howard decided to be a writer at a young age, and had his first story published in the "pulp" Weird Tales when he was 21. He was considered a dream come true for pulp editors because of his ability to both create compelling characters and write in multiple genres. In 1930, Weird Tales published H.P. Lovecraft's ?The Rats in the Walls? and Howard wrote to the magazine's editor praising the story. When the editor forwarded Howard's letter on to Lovecraft thus began one history's truly weird correspondences. For the next six years, Howard and Lovecraft debated civilization versus barbarism, the mental versus the physical, and art versus commerce.

In 1935, Howard's mother began a slow, inexorable slide toward death from tuberculosis, and Howard announced his long-standing plan not to outlive his mother. When she entered her final coma on the June 8, 1936, Howard asked the doctor attending her whether there was any chance of her recovering. When told there wasn't, Howard went to his room and composed this poem: "All fled, all done. So lift me on the pyre. The feast is over. And the lamps expire," got into his car, and shot himself in the right temple. Both Howard and his mother were buried on June 14th; Robert E. Howard was 30 years old.

In order to read The Conan Collection on your Pocket PC, you must have the Microsoft Reader installed. This reader is included with most Pocket PCs however, if you don't have it installed, check your Pocket PC's web site or the Microsoft web site to see if the reader can be downloaded. Because the Collection is downloaded in a zipped format, you must first unzip it using either Winzip or Stuffit Expander on your PC. Then, use your Microsoft desktop software to install the books to your Pocket PC. Start the Microsoft Reader, and select the book you want to read. It's that easy!

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