REH scholars Justin Everett and Dierdre Pettipiece have sent out the “Call for Papers” for the 2011 Popular Culture Association Conference in San Antonio, Texas, next April. This is open to everyone (you, too, can be an “Independent Scholar”) and is becoming a bigger deal each year. Now that both Howard’s popularity and importance in literature as well as pop culture is enjoying a huge resurgence, recognition in more scholarly circles is certainly enjoying the benefits of that.

REHupa Bloggers Amy Kerr and Barbara Barrett presented papers at this conference earlier this year in St. Louis and were very well received. As the interest in the more scholarly aspects of Robert E. Howard’s work continues to grow, more and more folks will be paying attention to something that a number of us have known for quite awhile.

So, please read over the proposal below and if you’re interested at all, follow up with our great Howard Friends Justin and Dierdre. We were lucky to have them at Howard Days this past June and to find out they’re not the stereotypical “scholarly-types”, but pretty cool folks with a infinite passion for Ol’ Two-Gun Bob Howard that they want to share! Looking forward to having them come back in 2011! In the meantime:

CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR A PROPOSED SESSION ON ROBERT E. HOWARD

AT THE COMBINED SW/TX AND NATIONAL

PCA/ACA CONFERENCE, SAN ANTONIO, TX

APRIL 20-23, 2011

Pulp Studies Area

Robert E. Howard is arguably one of the most influential writers to contribute to the evolution of American fantasy, adventure, western and horror, but he continues to be one of the least-studied contributors to early pulp magazines.  His contemporaries H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber and others have received more critical attention though Howard almost single-handedly created the sword-and-sorcery genre that was imitated by C. L. Moore and Fritz Leiber, and continues to influence contemporary writers.  Though a number of biographies have chronicled the pulpster’s brief and tragic life, very little analysis of his work has appeared.  The recent publication of The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard by the Robert E. Howard Foundation in three volumes, and the upcoming A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E . Howard, have set the stage for invigorating Howard scholarship.

The proposed session will consist of 20-minute presentations that discuss Howard’s contributions to the development of the genre of sword-and-sorcery, and may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• The evolution of the genre through specific “series,” including Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Kull, the Gaelic heroes, El Borak, Conan.
• Howard’s boxing stories and the concept of manhood.
• The development of themes in particular series:  moral justice in Solomon Kane; racial degradation in Bran Mak Morn; the immorality of civilization in Kull’s Valusia; the barbarism/civilization debate as manifest in the Conan tales; El Borak as a modern barbarian; Howard’s women.
• The evolution of Howard’s idealized barbarian hero across different series or within a particular character (Kull’s evolution from Am-ra to Kull; Brule and the Picts; Bran Mak Morn and the degenerate Picts; Conan’s manifestations as youth, pirate, and eventually king; El Borak as evolutionary hero).
• Howard’s horror stories:  “Pigeons from Hell” and other tales.  Cthulhu mythos in Howard’s tales.
• Elements of sword-and-sorcery in Howard’s historical tales and horror tales.
• Howard’s theory of race and its contribution to the development of the barbarian hero.
• Howardian influences in other writers such as Leiber’s Lankhmar series and Moore’s Jiril of Jiory.
• Evolutionary themes in Howard’s work.
• Howard’s epistolary relationships with other writers.
• Howard’s influence on later writers such as Robert Jordan.

Please submit 250 word abstracts of proposed papers to:  j.everet@usp.edu or dpettipiece@wcupa.edu.

Submission Deadline:  November 15, 2010

The weekend of July 30-August 1st was the time for Pulpfest 2010. Rising from the ashes of the old Pulp-Con, Pulpfest is picking up speed. If you ever thought of getting into reading pulp magazines, this is the place to go. Held in Columbus, Ohio, which makes for easy driving for me, it is an excuse for a 3 day weekend 2/3 of the way into the summer.

There you will finds dealers of pulp magazines, paperbacks, pulp reprints which includes both books and pulp replicas.

Membership was just a few people shy of 400 this year. Guest William F. Nolan, author of Logan’s Run among others, proved to be a great raconteur. I was able to ask him about the claim that he rewrote some Frederick Faust/Max Brand stories for some collections back in the 80s. He denied he did stating he wrote a framing sequence for one novella at the bequest of Faust’s family for copyright purposes. He told me there is a Faust biography by him on the way. Also a new treatment of Logan’s Run.

Saturday, there was a Robert E. Howard Foundation lunch at the Pig Iron Grill. Those pictured above include myself, Jason Landers, Jim Barron, Ed Chaczyk, Eric Johnson, Scott Hartshorn, Rusty Burke, Don Herron, and John D. Squires. Don Herron told tales of E. Hoffman Price while John Squires reminisced about Karl Edward Wagner.

This is a golden age for pulp reprints. John Gunnison’s Adventure House continues to bring forth a steady number of affordable replicas. Black Dog Books has sprinted, and I mean sprinted ahead to become the leader of pulp reprint authors collections and anthologies. Paradox should give serious thought to allowing Black Dog to do some Robert E. Howard books. I can remember when Tom Roberts was producing cool chapbooks. Now he is producing cool trade paperbacks. I just started reading The Best of Adventure Volume 1 1910-1912 and am enjoying it mightily.

Haffner Press continues to be the benchmark for small press hardbacks. Steve Haffner just unveiled Detour to Otherness, a great big honkin collection of Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore stories.

Ed Hulse’s magazine Blood and Thunder is a great publication. The production values keep going up with each issue. It might be the best looking pulp oriented magazine today though I am awaiting the triumphant return of Pulp Vault.

So next year, block off the last weekend of July and make plans for heading to Columbus. Remember, all serious Robert E. Howard fans wear Hawaiian shirts at events such as these.

Pulpfest 2010 starts in three days in Columbus, Ohio. I will be there, so will Rusty Burke. Don Herron, editor of the landmark collection The Dark Barbarian will be there as will George Knight, author of  “Hardboiled Fantasist,” and my co-writer of “Conan the Argonaut.”

New books from Haffner Press, Black Dog Books, Off Trail Press, Adventure House among others will be unveiled. Plus a very big room filled with boxes and boxes of pulp magazines. The pulp magazines gave Robert E. Howard a platform. There is wide world of pulp magazines to explore whether you like adventure, detective-mystery, science fiction, weird-horror, hero, western, sports, love etc. See you there.

PulpFest 2010 is only a week away and some last minute updates have been posted in the Latest News section of their website.

The schedule is almost complete – one of the “New Fictioneers” readers canceled, but a replacement for the slot is in the works.

Also The Pulpster, the official PulpFest program, is finished and ready to go. This is the 19^th edition of the publication and the first to have a color cover.

One of the main focal points of PulpFest 2010 will be the 90^th anniversary of the legendary Black Mask magazine, which was launched in April 1920 by H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan.

The best way to stay informed about PulpFest is to subscribe to their updates. Just fill in the blanks in the email list section of the home page, answer the confirmation email and you can stay in the loop on all things related to the convention.

So, if you are in the Columbus, Ohio area or can get there, you don’t want to miss PulpFest 2010.  And you won’t be alone – each year there is a sizable contingent of Robert E. Howard fans who attend — no doubt on the prowl for copies of Weird Tales and other pulps with Howard content.

Finally, an added incentive to attend will be Don Herron. The Godfather of Howard Scholarship will be there with high hopes of snagging this year’s Munsey Award.

PulpFest 2009 replaced PulpCon last year and was an amazing success.  One of the organizers, Howard bookseller Mike Chomko has an update on this year’s event, which will be held at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Columbus, Ohio from July 30 through August 1. Here is Mike’s update:

PulpFest 2010 is proud to announce that award-winning author, editor,  screenwriter, and biographer William F. Nolan will be the Guest of Honor at this year’s convention.

Nolan, an authority on Max Brand, Dashiell Hammett, and Black Mask magazine will help PulpFest to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Brand’s first appearance in Western Story Magazine as well as the first issue of Black Mask.

An accomplished fictioneer in his own right, having written numerous works in the fantasy, horror, and science-fiction genres, Nolan is perhaps best known as the co-author of LOGAN’S RUN and author of its sequels. He’s also a
multiple award-winner, including the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association.

For further details on this exciting development, please visit the PulpFest 2010 website to read the full post. For more on Mr. Nolan, please click the “guest of honor” link within the post or look for the topic under the “programming” category.

Like the Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu shown here, the 10th Annual Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention is just around the corner, or at least close enough to start making plans to attend! Keep April 23-25 open on your convention calendar and y’all come out to the Chicago suburb of Lombard. Check it all out at www.windycitypulpandpaper.com.

As the smell of decaying pulp magazine paper is like an aphrodisiac to a large number of folks who peruse this blog, you won’t want to miss the very best Pulp and Paperback Convention there is. You’ll find a huge room filled with all the “good old stuff” we like: pulps, paperbacks, hardbacks, magazines, comics, original art, movie, radio  & tv memorabilia, science fiction/fantasy/mystery/adventure stuff – well, you’re getting the idea. Plus, you’ll find auctions, an art show, a film room and a con suite. And specifically to this blog, there’s always a good supply of select Robert E. Howard items as well.

Additionally, a passle of Howard Heads show up to swap lies and Talk ’bout Bob, and the REH Foundation hosts a luncheon for it’s Legacy Circle members in attendance. World renowned pulp expert and REHupa Blogger Morgan “Doc Pod” Holmes always attends, and usually Prince Valiant (and REH!) artist Gary Gianni makes an appearance.

So, for a roomful of great stuff along with REH Fellowship, I hope you can make it. No excuses now, I don’t want to hear you crabbin’ about how you meant to be there!… C’mon out, support the dealers and add to your Howard collection. I guarantee a great time!

To say that Howard Scholarship has come a long way in the last 12 years borders on hyperbole, but in the interest of REH getting his just due, check out these Calls for Papers from Justin Everett. (Note that there are two separate calls for proposals):

CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR A PROPOSED SESSION ON HEROISM AND VILLAINY IN WEIRD FICTION, 1925-1945

SW/TX PCA/ACA CONFERENCE, FEBRUARY 10-13, 2010

Science Fiction/Fantasy Area 

Between 1925 and 1945, “pulp” magazines were the primary means of distribution for “weird fiction” which would quickly evolve into the semi-separate categories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.  Though film and radio had begun to make an impact, the mass market paperback industry was in its infancy, and television was still years away.  In the particularly tumultuous years between the stock market crash of 1929 and the end of the Second World War, the pulps provided much more than a means of escape—they were a conduit for coming to grips with the rapid acceleration of technology, the theory of evolution, particle physics and other scientific revolutions.  Beyond this, they allowed the formative writers of the new literatures places (topoi) to debate the virtues and vices of the newly modern world.

The proposed session will consist of four presentations that discuss the roles of heroism and villainy, broadly conceived, as manifest in the pages of Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, and other pulps.  Proposed papers may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• The impact of editors on the evolution of weird fiction (such as Farnsworth Wright’s influence on Weird Tales)
• Feminism in the early pulps (C. L. Moore’s Jiril of Jiory and others)
• Robert E. Howard’s concept of the barbarian hero (Kull, Conan, Bran Mak Morn, and variations of the barbarian—Francis X. Gordon, Solomon Kane)
• H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos
• The impact of the Lovecraft Circle:  Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derlath and others
• The violence of Nature in Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Moore, Howard, and others
• Clark Ashton Smith and the theme of necromancy
• The ‘new’ Lovecraft Circle:  The Cthulhu Mythos in recent fiction
• Lovecraft and Howard on film
• Pulps in MMORPGs such as Age of Conan:  Hyborian Adventures

Please submit 250 word abstracts of proposed papers to:  j.everet@usp.edu.

Submission Deadline:  October 15, 2009

CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR A PROPOSED SESSION ON ROBERT E. HOWARD

AT THE PCA/ACA CONFERENCE, MARCH 31-APRIL 3, 2010

Science Fiction/Fantasy Area

Robert E. Howard is arguably one of the most influential writers to contribute to the early evolution of American fantasy, but he continues to be one of the least-studied contributors to early pulp magazines.  His contemporaries H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber and others have received more critical attention though Howard almost single-handedly created the sword-and-sorcery genre that was imitated by C. L. Moore and Fritz Leiber, and continues to influence contemporary writers.  Though a number of biographies have chronicled the pulpster’s brief and tragic life, very little analysis of his work has appeared.  The recent publication of The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard by the Robert E. Howard Foundation in three volumes, and the upcoming A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E . Howard, have set the stage for invigorating Howard scholarship.

The proposed session will consist of four presentations that discuss Howard’s contributions to the development of the genre of sword-and-sorcery, and may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• The evolution of the genre through specific “series,” including Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, Kull, the Gaelic heroes, and Conan.
• The development of themes in particular series:  moral justice in Solomon Kane; racial degradation in Bran Mak Morn; the immorality of civilization in Kull’s Valusia; the barbarism/civilization debate as manifest in the Conan tales.
• The evolution of Howard’s idealized barbarian hero across different series or within a particular character (Kull’s evolution from Am-ra to Kull; Brule and the Picts; Bran Mak Morn and the degenerate Picts; Conan’s manifestations as youth, pirate, and eventually king).
• Elements of sword-and-sorcery in Howard’s historical tales and horror tales.
• Howard’s theory of race and its contribution to the development of the barbarian hero.
• Howardian influences in other writers such as Leiber’s Lankhmar series and Moore’s Jiril of Jiory.
• Evolutionary themes in Howard’s work.
• Howard’s epistolary relationships with other writers.
• Howard’s influence on later writers such as Robert Jordan.

Please submit 100-250 word abstracts of proposed papers to:  j.everet@usp.edu.

Submission Deadline:  October 15, 2009

 I’m sure Mr. Everett can answer any questions.

Justin Everett, Ph.D., Interim Director of Writing Programs, Mayes College of Healthcare Business and Policy, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, 600 S. 43rd St., Philadelphia, PA  19104, 215-596-8736.

The first PulpFest was held in Columbus, Ohio this past weekend and appears to have been a rousing success. This particular pulp magazine convention arose out of the ashes of Pulp-Con. I had attended Pulp-Con regularly since 1993 when it was held at University of Dayton, then Bowling Green State University, and then at the Dayton Convention Center. I watched dwindling numbers of attendees the past four or five years while no changes were attempted to revive the show. I even wrote “A Tale of Two Pulp Shows” for The Cimmerian in the September 2006 issue contrasting the Windy City Pulp & Paperback Show to Pulp-Con. I didn’t even bother attending Pulp-Con last year and apparently many others passed. Meanwhile the Windy City show continued to grow and become the premier pulp convention.

Three board members of Pulp-Con decided to split off and start up their new show, which would move to Columbus. The new city itself has proved to be critical with Columbus serviced by most airlines. New ideas were entertained including lots of programs throughout the day. The radio play was consigned to File 13. These changes have paid off.

I like having the show in Columbus myself. It is a shorter drive for me and there is more to do in Columbus in general than in Dayton. The Dealer’s Room was filled if not packed with both dealers and attendees. The pulp selection was pretty good with plenty of Weird Tales, various science fiction titles, hero pulps, detective pulps, and adventure pulps. I was able to expand my Gordon D. Shirreffs and the man who went to high school with Robert E. Howard– Will C. Brown/Clarence S. Boyles Jr. in western pulps. A couple more of Armand Brigaud stories from Jungle Stories and Argosy, fill some more holes in my P. Schuyler Miller collection, and get a good start on my Manly Wade Wellman science fiction collection.

I took my stack of Weird Tales duplicates and sold off two-thirds of them. A side trip to a local Half-Price Books netted some marked down copies of Mark Finn’s Blood and Thunder. Plus, I was able to be home around 4:00 P.M. Sunday and still enjoy a little bit of the weekend at home.

I aided in transportation of refreshments for the con suite provided by the Robert E. Howard Foundation. Howard fans know how to entertain.  Rusty Burke represented the Foundation this weekend and there were some Howard fans such as Jim Barron, Jeff Wentzell, and Jason Landers present.

It looks like there were 350 attendees for the show or maybe a little bit more. So this pulp show is off to a great start and it looks like it will be bigger next year. Same hotel, same weekend in August. See you there.

I spent my entire day Saturday May 2nd at the Windy City Pulp & Paperback Convention “over by dere” in Lombard, Illinois, perusing the spacious dealer’s room and sucking in the ever-disintegrating pulp paper fumes that prevailed in the air. Well, that’s not entirely true – more than half the time I was there, I was chatting up some old and new Howard fans.

The dealer’s room at the Westin Lombard was packed with vendors displaying a big ol’ pile of stuff, and sorting through the pulps, paperbacks, magazines & journals and items of that ilk, one could find the Howardphile likes of: my fellow blogger Morgan “Doc Pod” Holmes, Jim Barron, Jeff Wentzel, Frank “Skipper” Coffman, Jimmy Cheung, Ed Chaczyk, Bob Lumpkin, and dealer Scott Hartshorne. New to the thrills of Howard collecting, but decidedly no slouch, is Jason Landers, fellow Hoosier and one fellow who was pretty glad he hooked up with some of us silverback Howard Heads!

While the lot of us did our part in helping out the dealers there, it was obvious the tough economic times were affecting everyone in attendance. Scott Hartshorne gave me a deal on a couple of items, but I certainly would not want to be involved in a business that relied on disposable income these days. Everyone is feeling the crunch.

The two items shown above were of special interest to us Howard Heads: Robert E. Howard’s signature on a small scrap of paper (minimum bid $500) and another scrap with HPL’s scrawl, giving a thumbs up to Howard’s story “The God in the Bowl” (minimum bid $750).

Bob Weinberg shared some info on these items. They are from the estate of Robert Barlow, who was undoubtedly the biggest fanboy of the first half of the 20th Century! When we asked about the God in the Bowl HPL comment on a story that was not published in Howard’s (or HPL’s) lifetime, Bob told us about the practice that some pulp writers engaged in: sharing typescripts to generate feedback and comments from their peers. Howard, of course, also carried on this practice with his amateur literary “fanzines” like The Junto and The Right Hook. He and his friends interested in writing and literature would contribute to their own amateur publications (often only producing one copy, or as many copies as carbon paper would allow). They would then share these copies, with each member of the group reading the entire issue that was sent, even doing commentary and adding those pages to the publication, and then mailing it to the next person on the list. Wow – these were people who were passionate about their interests, for sure! Something we all can relate to, huh?

I didn’t hang around for the 8 pm auction, so I don’t know if the REH or HPL items sold. Maybe Doc Pod can add his comments. But I had a great time seeing old friends and making new ones, and best of all: talkin’ ’bout Bob.

Indy Adds: A note from Jason Landers tells me the Howard autograph went for a “paltry” $900! The HPL note sold as well, for an unknown amount. Nice to know someone still has some disposable income!

For those lucky souls who live in the greater Chicagoland area (and a number of folks who don’t), this coming weekend – May 1-2-3 - brings us the Windy City Pulp and Paperback Convention. In the humble opinion of yours truly, it is the best pulp convention going. Check out their web site at www.windycitypulpandpaper.com, and come on over!

A press release from Doug Ellis, the Grand Poobah of WCP&PC is of special interest to Robert E. Howard fans. One of the items up for auction Saturday night is a Robert E. Howard autograph!

DOUG WRITES: The amount of great material in the Saturday night auction continues to grow (and more photos are being posted on the website for the Friday auction). In addition to auction items previously mentioned, the Saturday night auction will contain a set of Weird Tales from the 1930s through 1950s, nearly all of which are in fine to very fine condition (the owner has collected WT for the past 50 years — in that time he’s had around 14 near complete sets pass through his hands, and he upgraded whenever he could).

We’ll also have in the Saturday auction a number of extremely rare items from the Estate of Robert H. Barlow — including REH, HPL & ERB items — as follows:

1. autographs from Weird Tales authors: Greya La Spina, Arthur J. Burks, Seabury Quinn, Clark Ashton Smith, David H. Keller and a note on Weird Tales stationary

2. autographs by ten early SF writers: Stanton Coblentz, S.P. Meek, Hugo Gernsback, Austin Hall, Miles J. Breuer, A. Hyatt Verrill, Francis Flagg, Otis Adelbert Kline, A. Merritt and Ray Cummings

3. Robert E. Howard signature

4. Edgar Rice Burroughs signature

5. H.P. Lovecraft postcard to Alfred Galpin. Signed by HPL as “Granpa Theobald”

6. Partially typed and the rest hand-written, letter from Barlow (to HPL?) dated Feb 14, 1933 describing a particularly vivid dream

7. Note from HPL to Robert Barlow, complete with envelope addressed to Barlow by HPL (his return address written on the back). Six line written note, commenting on Robert E. Howard’s story, “The God in the Bowl.”

INDY’s BACK: This is just a partial list from the auction. Additionally, there are 127 tables for dealers enticing us with all the stuff we want, and stuff we didn’t even know about but now have to have! There’s an Art Show, too. Usually my pal Gary Gianni (Prince Valiant artist and REH illustrator) shows up, living in nearby Chicago, and he always likes to hang with Howard Heads! (Or at least he tolerates us!)

So, if you’re around, come on out to Lombard, Illinois and spend a day or two breathing in that wonderful pulp paper smell and support the dealers and fill in your collections. You won’t be disappointed, and that’s an Indy Guarantee!