A gent from Bear Creek

Some people (mostly, I think of the type of snobs for whom almost any other kind of writing is better than fantasy) profess to believe that Howard's Texan tall tales about Brekinridge Elkins are superior to his Conan stories. I would not go that far,but they are often good fun. Elkins is a cheerful, immensely strong and not over-bright young man from the Humboldt Mountains, as much a hillbilly as a cowboy, ready to fight or frolic at the drop of a six-shooter.

This is humorous. The 'gent' is an ignorant, somewhat dim, bumbling, super strong hillbilly. He means well, but just seems to stumble into trouble. Only his great strength, a smart girl friend (who's usually mad at him) & a lot of good fortune manage to get him out. I love the book & chuckle my way through it every few years. My wife's opinion of my sense of humor is pretty poor (warped, childish, low) though, so your mileage may vary.

This is a collection of magazine pieces done by REH for eating money, and there's a certain amount of tough guy "humour" associated with the prose. There's not very funny....this collection is for Howard's hard-core fans.

Robert E. Howard wrote both a novella and a short western story titled "A Gent From Bear Creek".

The short tale features Breckenridge Elkins facing more wild goose chases and cross purposes.

There's the usual blend of comedy and action but I prefer the few earlier written stories that feature Elkins to this one. Although I did like this tale, at times it felt lacking in some way.