Welcome back Cromrades! On today's inaugural episode of Season 5, we begin our exploration of Robert E. Howard's fight stories! On board to induct us into the cult of masculinity and the world of boxing pulps are Cromcast stalwart Mark Finn, and making his first appearance on the show, Chris Gruber! Chris serves as an editor of Skelos: The Journal of Weird Fantasy and Dark Fiction, and edited "Boxing Stories" by Bison Books which collects sixteen of Howard's boxing tales. If you're looking for a more comprehensive collection of Howard's boxing stories, you'll want to check out the four-volume Fists of Iron set published by the Robert E. Howard Foundation!
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| Fists at the Ice House, from Robert E. Howard Days, 2016. |
Chris and Mark have been pivotal in bringing Howard's boxing stories into the limelight, and we have an excellent conversation about these stories, their place in Howard's literary canon, and why they should be as widely read and discussed as the Conan, Kull, and Solomon Kane stories.
Have you listened to Waterfront Fists yet? Find it here!
Looking to dig further into fight stories and boxing pulps? Check out The Best Boxing Stories Ever Told!
Want some insight into why fighters fight? Mark recommended On Boxing by Joyce Carol Oates.
One Things
Luke: The Black Mirror Christmas Special!
Josh: Krampus, from 2015, directed by Michael Dougherty.
Mark: Shut Eye, a Hulu Original series.
Chris: Hell on Wheels!
Jon: Luke Cage, a Netflix Original series!
We also recommend Mark's podcast The Gentlemen Nerds! If you check them out, tell them The Cromcast sent you!
Also, listen to Chris Gruber's lecture "Robert E. Howard : boxing and the cult of masculinity" from June 2016 at St. John's College!
Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.
Closing theme: The eponymous track from the Dropkick Murphy's album The Warrior's Code. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!