'The Fire of Asshurbanipal' is one of Howard's stories that feature in the Cthulhu Mysthos. Robert Ervin Howard was born in Peaster, Texas in 1906. During his youth, his family moved between a variety of Texan boomtowns, and Howard a bookish and somewhat introverted child was steeped in the violent myths and legends of the Old South. At fifteen Howard began to read the pulp magazines of the day, and to write more seriously.