In September 1937 an English Don named John Ronald Reuel Tolkien published a children’s book called The Hobbit. Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan, had been dead for fifteen months. In 1950 Gnome Press published the first Conan stories in hard cover. July 1954, Tolkien begins publishing a second version of his mythology, but this time as an adult book called The Lord of the Rings. Jump still further to 1965 and the unauthorized paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings by Ballantine Books exploding across campuses in the United States. Now, finally after thirty years, these two giants are going to meet head-on. Tolkien (through Ballantine) and Howard (through Lancer) drive a new wave of Fantasy publishing that results in a cultural shift that is still being felt today. Fantasy went from being that stuff nobody published to the bestsellers list.
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https://amazingstories.com/2013/07/sword-sorcery-j-r-r-tolkien/
