- Dark Valley Destiny
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Dark Valley Destiny: the Life of Robert E. Howard 
Dust-jacket illustration for Dark Valley DestinyAuthor(s) L. Sprague deCamp, Catherine Crook de Camp and Jane Whittington Griffin Cover artist Kevin Eugene Johnson Country United States Language English Genre(s) Biography Publisher Bluejay Books Publication date 1983 Media type Print (Hardback) Pages 402 pp ISBN 0-312-94074-2 OCLC Number 9945011 Dewey Decimal 813/.52 B 19 LC Classification PS3515.O842 Z62 1983 Dark Valley Destiny: the Life of Robert E. Howard is a biography of the writer Robert E. Howard by science-fiction writer L. Sprague de Camp in collaboration with Catherine Crook de Camp and Jane Whittington Griffin, first in hardcover published by Bluejay Books in 1983. An E-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form.[1][2]
The work, an examination of the famous fantasy writer and creator of Conan the Barbarian, was the first major independent biography of Howard. It is an expansion of de Camp's earlier study The Miscast Barbarian: a Biography of Robert E. Howard (1975), itself an expansion of his article "The Miscast Barbarian", which appeared in the magazine Fantastic in June, 1971.
Controversy
De Camp's "warts and all" approach to his subject has been branded by some fans as unflattering and unbalanced. For instance, Mark Finn, author of Blood & Thunder: The Life & Art of Robert E. Howard, argues that De Camp deliberately framed his questions about Robert Howard in order to elicit answers which matched his Freudian theories about the "neurotic" and "Oedipal" Howard.[3]
Notes
References
- Laughlin, Charlotte; Daniel J. H. Levack (1983). De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography. San Francisco: Underwood/Miller. p. 47.
Robert E. Howard Topics 
Books about
Robert E. HowardThe Blade of Conan · Blond Barbarians and Noble Savages · Blood & Thunder · The Conan Swordbook · Dark Valley Destiny · The Last Celt · The Miscast Barbarian · One Who Walked Alone · The Robert E. Howard Reader · The Spell of ConanFilms about
Robert E. HowardRelated people Interwiki links Works by L. Sprague de Camp Viagens Interplanetarias Krishna"Finished" (1949) · "Perpetual Motion" (1950) · The Queen of Zamba (1949) · "Calories" (1951) · The Hand of Zei (1950) · The Hostage of Zir (1977) · The Prisoner of Zhamanak (1982) · The Virgin of Zesh (1953) · The Bones of Zora (1983) · The Tower of Zanid (1958) · The Swords of Zinjaban (1991)
KukulkanThe Stones of Nomuru (1988) · The Venom Trees of Sunga (1992)
Other"The Animal-Cracker Plot" (1949) · "The Colorful Character" (1949) · "The Continent Makers" (1951) · "The Galton Whistle" (1951) · "Git Along!" (1950) · "The Inspector's Teeth" (1950) · Rogue Queen (1951) · "Summer Wear" (1950)
CollectionsHarold Shea (with Fletcher Pratt and others) de Camp/
Pratt canon"The Roaring Trumpet" (1940) · "The Mathematics of Magic" (1940) · The Castle of Iron (1941/50) · "The Wall of Serpents" (1953) · "The Green Magician" (1954) · "Sir Harold and the Gnome King" (1990) · "Sir Harold of Zodanga" (1995)
Additions
by others"Professor Harold and the Trustees" (1992) · "Sir Harold and the Monkey King" (1992) · "Knight and the Enemy" (1992) · "Arms and the Enchanter" (1992) · "Enchanter Kiev" (1995) · "Sir Harold and the Hindu King" (1995) · "Harold Shakespeare" (1995) · "Return to Xanadu" (2005)
CollectionsThe Incomplete Enchanter (1941) · Wall of Serpents (collection) (1960) · The Compleat Enchanter (1975) · The Complete Compleat Enchanter (1989) · The Enchanter Reborn (1992) · The Exotic Enchanter (1995) · The Mathematics of Magic (2007)
Pusadian series StoriesThe Tritonian Ring (1951) · "The Eye of Tandyla" (1951) · "The Owl and the Ape" (1951) · "The Hungry Hercynian" (1953) · "The Stone of the Witch Queen" (1977) · "Ka the Appalling" (1958) · "The Rug and the Bull" (1974) · "The Stronger Spell" (1953)
CollectionsNovarian series Stories"The Emperor's Fan" (1973) · The Fallible Fiend (1973) · The Goblin Tower (1968) · The Clocks of Iraz (1971) · The Unbeheaded King (1983) · The Honorable Barbarian (1989)
CollectionsThe Reluctant King (1985)
The Incorporated Knight NovelsThe Incorporated Knight (1987) · The Pixilated Peeress (1991)
Conan series (with Robert E. Howard and others) NovelsConan and the Spider God (1980) · Conan of the Isles (1968) · Conan the Barbarian (1982) · Conan the Buccaneer (1971) · Conan the Liberator (1979) · The Return of Conan (1957)
Short stories"Black Sphinx of Nebthu" (1973) · "The Treasure of Tranicos" (1953) · "Black Tears" (1968) · "The Blood-Stained God" (1955) · "The Castle of Terror" (1969) · "The City of Skulls" (1967) · "The Curse of the Monolith" (1968) · "Drums of Tombalku" (1966) · The Flame Knife (1955/81) · "The Frost Giant's Daughter" Conan (1953) · "The Gem in the Tower" (1978) · "The God in the Bowl" (1952) · "The Hall of the Dead" (1967) · "Hawks Over Shem" (1955) · "The Ivory Goddess" (1978) · "The Lair of the Ice Worm" (1969) · "Legions of the Dead" (1978) · "Moon of Blood" (1978) · "The People of the Summit" (1970/78) · "Red Moon of Zembabwei" (1974) · "The Road of the Eagles" (1955) · "Shadows in the Dark" (1978) · "Shadows in the Skull" (1975) · "The Snout in the Dark" (1969) · "The Star of Khorala" (1978) · "The Thing in the Crypt" (1967) · "The Witch of the Mists" (1972) · "Wolves Beyond the Border" (1967)
CollectionsConan (1967) · The Conan Chronicles (1989) · The Conan Chronicles 2 (1990) · Conan of Aquilonia (1977) · Conan of Cimmeria (1969) · Conan the Adventurer (1966) · Conan the Avenger (1968) · Conan the Freebooter (1968) · Conan the Swordsman (1978) · Conan the Usurper (1967) · Conan the Wanderer (1968) · Sagas of Conan (2004) · Tales of Conan (1955) · The Treasure of Tranicos (1980)
Other speculative fiction NovelsThe Carnelian Cube (1948) · Genus Homo (1950) · The Glory That Was (1960) · The Great Fetish (1978) · Land of Unreason (1942) · Lest Darkness Fall (1941) · None But Lucifer (1939) · Solomon's Stone (1942)
Short stories"Aristotle and the Gun" (1958) · "A Gun for Dinosaur" (1956) · "Judgment Day" (1955) · "The Wheels of If" (1940)
CollectionsAristotle and the Gun (2002) · The Best of L. Sprague de Camp (1978) · Divide and Rule (1948) · Footprints on Sand (1981) · A Gun for Dinsaur (1963) · The Purple Pterodactyls (1980) · The Reluctant Shaman (1970) · Rivers of Time (1993) · Scribblings (1972) · Sprague de Camp's New Anthology (1953) · Tales from Gavagan's Bar (1953/78) · The Undesired Princess (1951) · The Virgin & the Wheels (1976) · The Wheels of If (1948) · Years in the Making (2005)
Historical fiction NovelsThe Dragon of the Ishtar Gate (1961) · The Arrows of Hercules (1965) · An Elephant for Aristotle (1958) · The Bronze God of Rhodes (1960) · The Golden Wind (1969)
Fiction edited AnthologiesThe Fantastic Swordsmen (1967) · The Spell of Seven (1965) · Swords and Sorcery (1963) · Tales Beyond Time (1973) · 3000 Years of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1972) · Warlocks and Warriors (1970)
Single authorConan the Conqueror (1967) · Conan the Warrior (1967) · The Wolf Leader (1950)
Nonfiction edited Multi-authorThe Blade of Conan (1979) · The Conan Grimoire (1972) · The Conan Swordbook (1969) · The Spell of Conan (1980)
Single authorTo Quebec and the Stars (1976)
Poetry Demons and Dinosaurs (1970) · Heroes and Hobgoblins (1981) · Phantoms and Fancies (1972)
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