Robert Ervin Howard was an American writer who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He created the character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre.

Brownwood is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, Texas, United States. The population was 18,862 as of the 2020 census. Brownwood is located in the Northern Texas Hill Country and is home to Howard Payne University, which was founded in 1889.