By Crom, It’s Cimmerian September: The Birth of Conan Scholarship

Monday, September 14, 2026 Bob Byrne Comments 2 comments

We’re back for week two of Cimmerian September. Hopefully you saw last week’s post on Marvel’s King Conan comic, which I read for the very first time, to write about. Having read three, it definitely ranks below the two long-running series’ it followed: The Savage Sword of Conan, and Conan the Barbarian, for me.

Some of you know I had a hand in Hither Came Conan, from Rogue Blades Foundation. It is a SUPERB collection of essays on the original Conan stories, from a veritable Hall of Fame of Robert E. Howard scholars and fans. You read some of the essays in the book here at Black Gate, first. Jason Waltz expanded it greatly, incorporating the terrific blog series done by the late, terribly missed, Howard Andrew Jones, and Bill Ward. he also commissioned some new essays, never seen before. I penned a few new ones, including a look at the foundation stone of Conan scholarship.

I came to the REH world from the Sherlock Holmes universe, where writings about Holmes (and Arthur Conan Doyle) probably exceed that of any other fictional character. I certainly contributed my share. As Christopher Morley famously said, “Never have so many written so much about so little.” I brought that Sherlockiana feel to the works of Two Gun Bob. You can find links to all my pieces here at Black Gate, at the end of this article.

But first, read the last essay from Hither Came Conan: REH, two fans, and the Birth of Conan Scholarship.

Sherlockians not named Jon Lellenberg (Jon and I were Solar Pons friends, but he was a cranky Holmes guy) unequivocally point to Signor Ronald Knox’s essay, Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes, as the start of Sherlockian scholarship – even though it’s satire.

Peter Schuyler Miller and Dr. John Clark have that honor regarding Conan and Robert E. Howard. I wrote a bit about that.

Early in 1936, two Conan fans created a map of the Hyborian World, based on the >stories published up to that time. More importantly, they also composed the first Conan chronology. P(eter) Schuyler Miller was about 24, and a science fiction writer with over thirty stories published. He lived in Schenectady, New York, as did his friend, Dr. John Clark, a chemist for General Electric. Interestingly, Clark had roomed for two years at Cal Tech College with L. Sprague de Camp. That fact would certainly come into play down the line.

Schuyler and Miller wrote up their chronology as A Probable Outline of Conan’s Career, and mailed it, along with the map, to Robert E. Howard in Cross Plains. The Hour of the Dragon was being serialized in Weird Tales, and it was the sixteenth Conan tale published. They would not have had access to “Red Nails,” which had been purchased but began running the month after Howard’s suicide. Wright had also rejected the “The Frost Giant’s Daughter,” “The God in the Bowl,” “The Vale of Lost Women,” and “The Black Stranger,” so they hadn’t read those.

This outline (and map) can be properly regarded as the beginning of Conan scholarship. I come out of the world of Sherlock Holmes – As the witty Sherlockian Christopher Morley commented, “Never has so much been written by so many for so few.” No fictional character has had so much study dedicated to them, as has the great detective of Baker Street. This includes Edgar Smith’s cornerstone essay, “The Implicit Holmes.” I have even written Holmes Newsletters, full of my own musings on the stories.

In 1910, Monsignor Ronald Knox wrote the first in depth essay about the Holmes stories: Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes. It was satire, aimed at the stuffy Biblical scholarship going on at the time. But while an amusing read, it was a detailed, analytical look at the Holmes Canon thus far. Over a dozen short stories and one novel were yet to be written and published, but it is acknowledged as the beginning of the field of Sherlockiana. All essays on Holmes and Watson trace their roots back to this effort. It was written for the Oxford Society, but found wider readership when it appeared in Blackfriars (a Catholic journal) in 1920. It all starts with Knox.

Likewise, Schuyler and Clark were the first to make a serious effort to explore the Conan tales. It is a chronology, with biographical details dropped in throughout. Howard kept the map, and sent back some comments on their chronology. He also included a revised copy of the original map which he had himself drawn up.

Howard’s letter, dated March 10, really stands out. He was a voluminous letter writer, and a great deal of his correspondence has been published. If you’ve read some of his exchanges with H.P. Lovecraft, you know he waxed long and intensely on subjects. That wasn’t the only aspect of his personality, of course. But the Howard in the letter to Miller is not the REH which I am most familiar with.

Howard was done writing Conan by this time. And he was hounding Weird Tales editor Farnsworth Wright to pay him what he was owed: around $800, with more coming. This was a substantial amount of money, at a time when Howard’s mother, Hester, had significant medical bills. One might think that a fan letter about the mighty-thewed barbarian would not rate a reply. Or perhaps just receive a curt dismissal.

But Howard is clearly flattered. “I feel indeed honored that you and Dr. Clark should be so interested in Conan as to work out an outline of his career and a map of his environs. Both are surprisingly accurate, considering the vagueness of the data you had to work with….Your outline follows his career as I have visualized it pretty closely. The differences are minor.”

Wow! That is such a positive response. Howard is appreciative that a couple fans like Conan so much that they created the Outline. Arthur Conan Doyle was kind of an ass when it came to his attitude towards Holmes. When a young August Derleth sent him a letter, inquiring about the Baker Street sleuth, Doyle replied in his churlish manner. Howard was the exact opposite here.

He shares thoughts on the Kushite region, Conan’s early background, including his birth, and, even what his reign as King of Aquilonia was like, outside of the stories. It is a friendly letter, from an established writer, to a fan. In addition to the information and the positive feedback, he closes on a completely upbeat and encouraging note:

“Hope the enclosed data answers your questions satisfactorily; I’d be delighted to discuss any other phases you might wish, or go into more details about any point of Conan’s career or Hyborian history or geography you might desire. Thanks again for your interest, and best wishes, for yourself and Dr. Clark.”

I’d be THRILLED to get a letter or email like that from an author who I liked. This is not the Howard we typically see. I know he wrote friendly letters. But more often there was that intensity; and circumstances were certainly not conducive to friendly musings on Conan.

One imagines Schuyler and Clark preparing a followup, with more questions and items to discuss. But Howard, knowing his mother was about to die, took his own life just three months and one day after this letter. The letter would constitute his final writings on Conan, and the last official addition (as far I’m concerned) to the Conan Canon.

This is the Howard that I prefer to remember; even if it is an atypical depiction of him.

The chronology was published two years later in The Hyborian Age fanzine. This version incorporated Howard’s comments, and added the since-published “Red Nails.” L. Sprague de Camp used, and repeatedly revised, it for his Conan efforts. It remained the undisputed standard for at least fifty years.

There have since been notable chronologies by Robert Jordan, William Galen Gray, Joe Marek, and Dale Rippke. But the Schuyler/Miller (de Camp) Outline remains a viable >resource. And while Don Herron and many others (including this essayist) have written extensively about the Cimmerian, Miller and Clark are the Ronald Knoxes of Conan.

And you can read more about all this at Gary Romeo’s website.

Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every Summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, and founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.

You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.

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2 Comments

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Bobby D.

1 hour ago

You could make an argument for Natalie H. Wooley’s “The Adventure Story,” published in The Californian (Fall 1935), which discusses “Beyond the Black River,” but Miller & Clark was much more fan-oriented.

Bob Byrne

Author

Reply to Bobby D.

32 minutes ago

That I have never seen. Or heard of before rn…

MISC MUSINGS RELATED TO REH & HIS WORKS

CONAN – Reviews & Pastiches

CONAN – Comics & Misc. Essays

CONAN – Hither Came Conan

CONAN – Gaming