Here are Robert E. Howard’s greatest horror tales, all in their original, definitive versions. Some of Howard’s best-known characters—Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and sailor Steve Costigan among them—roam the forbidding locales of the author’s fevered imagination, from the swamps and bayous of the Deep South to the fiend-haunted woods outside Paris to remote jungles in Africa. The collection includes Howard’s masterpiece “Pigeons from Hell,” which Stephen King calls “one of the finest horror stories of [the twentieth] century,” a tale of two travelers who stumble upon the ruins of a Southern plantation–and into the maw of its fatal secret. In “Black Canaan” even the best warrior has little chance of taking down the evil voodoo man with unholy powers–and none at all against his wily mistress, the diabolical High Priestess of Damballah. In these and other lavishly illustrated classics, such as the revenge nightmare “Worms of the Earth” and “The Cairn on the Headland,” Howard spins tales of unrelenting terror, the legacy of one of the world’s great masters of the macabre.

Updated and expanded version of the 2006 MonkeyBrain Press release, this expanded edition is the author's "director's cut" of the popular biography of Texas writer and creator of Conan the Cimmerian, Robert E. Howard.

The Gothic and the Carnivalesque in American Culture Offers an overview and critique of the development of Gothic studies as a field. This provides a short history of the field. Introduces the idea that the way we read Gothic texts is often different to how we might read ‘literature’. This offers a new way of understanding texts that are not wholly ‘serious’ in their representations, and is widely applicable to a number of genre productions. Provides analysis of popular and cult authors, shows and publications that are underdescribed in most discussions of the American Gothic; including H.P. Lovecraft and Weird Tales, Ray Bradbury, EC Comics, Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella magazines, TV shows such as Thriller and Night Gallery, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Poppy Z. Brite and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.

Robert Erving Howard is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre. Howard remains a highly read author, with his best works still reprinted, and is one of the best-selling fantasy writers of all time. Howard's distinctive literary style relies on a combination of existentialism, poetic lyricism, violence, grimness, humour, burlesque, and a degree of hardboiled realism.

The undead are back! In Undead in the West: Vampires, Zombies, Mummies, and Ghosts on the Cinematic Frontier, Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper assembled a collection of essays that explored the unique intersection of two seemingly distinct genres in cinema: the western and the horror film. In this new volume, Undead in the West II: They Just Keep Coming, Miller and Van Riper expand their examination of undead Westerns to include not only film, but literature, sequential art, gaming, and fan culture (fan fiction, blogging, fan editing, and zombie walks). These essays run the gamut from comics and graphic novels such as American Vampire, Preacher, and Priest, and games like Darkwatch and Red Dead Redemption, to novels and short stories by celebrated writers including Robert E. Howard, Joe R. Lansdale, and Stephen King. Featuring a foreword by renowned science fiction author William F. Nolan (Logan’s Run) and an afterword by acclaimed game designer Paul O’Connor (Darkwatch), this collection will appeal to scholars of literature, gaming, and popular culture, as well as to fans of this unique hybrid.

Robert E. Howard published primarily in pulp magazines, creating memorable characters like Conan of Cimmeria. After his suicide at the age of 30, pulps continued publishing Howard material posthumously. His first hardcover book appeared in 1937, a year after his death. That book, A Gent from Bear Creek, is the holy grail for Howard collectors--only 12 original copies are known to exist. This invaluable resource for Howard collectors has information for every known published work. Initial chapters provide a biography, discuss Howard's literary legacy, and give basic tips about book collecting and selling. The main body of the work is a bibliography of Howard's published works from 1925 through 2005. A thorough index locates the publication of every Howard story or poem.

Perfect for school and public libraries, this is the only reference book to combine pop culture with science to uncover the mystery behind mummies and the mummification phenomena. Mortality and death have always fascinated humankind. Civilizations from all over the world have practiced mummification as a means of preserving life after death—a ritual which captures the imagination of scientists, artists, and laypeople alike. This comprehensive encyclopedia focuses on all aspects of mummies: their ancient and modern history; their scientific study; their occurrence around the world; the religious and cultural beliefs surrounding them; and their roles in literary and cinematic entertainment. Author and horror guru Matt Cardin brings together 130 original articles written by an international roster of leading scientists and scholars to examine the art, science, and religious rituals of mummification throughout history. Through a combination of factual articles and topical essays, this book reviews cultural beliefs about death; the afterlife; and the interment, entombment, and cremation of human corpses in places like Egypt, Europe, Asia, and Central and South America. Additionally, the book covers the phenomenon of natural mummification where environmental conditions result in the spontaneous preservation of human and animal remains.

The first issue in the second century of Weird Tales features a new HELLBOY story by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. Editor Jonathan Maberry has built a collection of cosmic horror that will destabilize your worldview. “The Eyrie” by Jonathan Maberry“The City in the Sea: A Hellboy Story” by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden“When the Stars Are Right: The Weird Tales Origins of Cosmic Horror” by Nicholas Diak“A Ghost Story for Christmas” by Paul Cornell“The Forest Gate” by Samantha Underhill“Night Fishing” by Caitlín R. Kiernan“The Traveler” by Francesco Tignini“Cosmic vs Abrahamic Horror” by F. Paul Wilson“The Last Bonneville” by F. Paul Wilson“Lost Generations” by Angela Yuriko Smith“Concerto in Five Movements” by Ramsey Campbell“Mozaika” by Nancy Kilpatrick“Inkblot Succubus” by Nikki Sixx“Laid to Rest” by Tim Lebbon“Call of the Void - L’appel du vide” by Carol Gyzander

Provides an introduction to American pulp fiction during the twentieth century with brief author biographies and lists of their works.