John J. Miller strikes again! A Wall Street Journal article on REH in December 2006; an interview with me for National Review Online in September of this year, in conjunction with the release of the Best of Robert E Howard books; and now an interview with Paul M. Sammon, author of Conan the Phenomenon, also for NRO.  John is really doing his part to spread the word about REH! Fantasy fans will also want to give a listen to John’s interview with George R.R. Martin, and for those with a wide scope of reading interests, check out some of his other author interviews for his feature Between the Covers.

2007 has certainly proven to be another banner year for Robert E. Howard. Books by and about Ol’ Two-Gun continue to appear, especially now that the REH Foundation is up and running with their publishing efforts. Volume Two of The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard has just appeared, The Last of the Trunk looms on the horizon, Cosmos is crankin’ out regular cheap paperback versions of the Wildside editions of Howard’s Weird Tales stories, Paul Sammon’s CONAN THE PHENOMENON is pretty damned phenomenal, celebrating our favorite Barbarian’s 75th birthday, Del Ray has dropped the H-bomb times two with THE BEST OF REH (with incredibly classy Keegans’ artwork), REHupa continues unfazed and at full force, entering its 36 year of continuous publication, The Cimmerian is going great guns under Leo Grin’s masterful direction, I know The Dark Man is still out there, Damon Sasser continues with REH: TWO-GUN RACONTEUR – Howard continues to be all over the internet with articles and blogs…

I’ve not gotten tired of saying “It’s a great time to be a fan of Robert E. Howard!”, and I’m safe in saying it for a good while to come.

And there’s another reason why it’s such a good time to be a Howard fan: folks are finding out it’s really good to get up off their internet butts and have some face-time with like-minded Howard people. This trend started well in 2006 with three Texas Howard events: a Poetry bash in Ft. Worth in January, Howard Days in Cross Plains come June, and then a large Howard contingent rattled swords on shields at the World Fantasy Con in Austin in November.

’07 started with good intentions, but an ice storm in FW in January wiped out a planned Howard Poetry Slam – but there were t-shirts made! Howard Days in Cross Plains was pretty well attended, I thought, after the monster gathering in Howard’s Centennial year. The Windy City Pulp Con had a Howard theme, celebrating Conan’s 75th birthday, and Pulpcon in Dayton had Glenn Lord as their Guest of Honor. Ol’ Two-Gun had an impressive presence at the Gen Con Game Convention in Indianapolis in August, and both Paradox Entertainment and the REH Foundation were amazed at the interest in our boy. (See the upcoming Cimmerian, V4 N5).

And now, thanks to Dennis McHaney and Paul Herman, a Texas grass-roots of sorts Howard gathering has happened, and there’s a future for in-person Howard get-togethers. It’s in the wind, and it sounds like it’s gonna continue. I’ll let Dennis explain in a guest appearance here in the REHupa blog:

The first casual meeting of Texas fans at the Dog and Duck Tavern took place a little after two on Saturday the 3rd. I pulled up about 15 minutes late, and spotted Todd Woods sitting on the main deck of the pub. I hadn’t seen Todd since our first meeting, which was in Cross Plains for Howard Days 2005. I started to make a quick phone call and Paul Herman roared up in his GTO, hopped out of the roaring beast, which obviously had no muffler and was probably illegal. I could smell the residue of nitrous oxide in the air as his loud engine shut down. As usual when he first gets off the road, he had a crazed look in his eyes. About a dozen people showed up. A couple of others wandered up and talked to people on the outer edges of the thing, but I was firmly planted in the middle and missed out on those conversations. I spent a lot of time talking to Tom Verhaaren, a regular fixture at Howard Days, and I stayed for a while after everyone else left to visit with Barbara Barrett, a lady who flew to Austin Thursday, and drove up to Brownwood and Cross Plains for her first visit to the attractions there. Barbara is typical of a lot of the fans that have discovered Howard recently and are particularly impressed with his poetry. Too bad most of it is out of print. I was impressed with Barbara’s passion for Howard, her enthusiasm to learn all she could and read all she could find. Some of us old-timers lost that enthusiasm a long time ago, at least I know I did, but the passion of newcomers just validates the way I felt upon first discovering REH. Barbara quoted a couple of Howard poems by memory. While she was doing so, I was thinking about how much trouble I had remembering my own phone number.

Dave, Julie, and Brigid Hardy were there. Brigid is one of the most self-sufficient little ladies I’ve ever seen. Give her something to munch on and turn her loose — she entertains herself, explores at a safe distance, pops back in from time to time – super kid, and probably the future queen of Howard fandom, if she isn’t too busy breaking hearts. A local couple came, too. I forget their names, but I think I might actually have seen them at the Dog and Duck before. At one point, Paul produced the proofs the printer furnished him for Last of the Trunk and the third letters volumes. Both were still shrink wrapped from the printer.

Paul brought some cool goodies with him — his bound volume of that OTHER version of the Trunk, bound in leather and well-bound at that, plus some of the goodies the upper dollar members of the foundation get, and he huckstered sets of the foundation postcards, which are pretty cute little items. A couple of the rest of the gang brought other goodies to pass around, like the Darrell Schweitzer Robert E. Howard Reader, the Paul Sammon Conan book (which is damned good-looking and impressive), several replicas of Howard manuscripts for alternate versions of stories, and other goodies.

The three hours went by quickly.

If the event had earlier notice, I think it could very well have been CONSIDERABLY larger. Many people contacted me regretting that they had already booked other plans for the weekend.

If any opportunities arise for further get-togethers, I’ll try to give more advance warning. One serious thing that was discussed was having a one day event on or near Howard’s birthday in January, in Cross Plains. Everyone seemed interested in this. I may suggest it to Project Pride.

Also, the next time they run the Conan the Barbarian master pancake theater at the Alamo, the idea came up of an afternoon of debauchery topped off with the evening showing of C the B.

Texas is definitely the right place to expand the scope of Howard fandom, and Austin is a great center for that — everything is encouraged here, and announce it early enough, and the people will come. If this had been an actual organized, planned event, I could have gotten local newspaper, television and radio coverage of the thing. Austin knows how to promote entertainment events.

There are a lot of possibilities and a lot of us here.

Amen to that, Brother Dennis. I’d certainly be up for a January Texas Howard Gathering, Crom willing and the snow don’t fly. What ever comes down the pike in the next couple of months or so, stay tuned here or over at Innercircle or the Conan board for info. It continues to be a great time to be a fan of Robert E. Howard!

What is sometimes termed the “season of giving” is upon us, and I thought I would take this opportunity to remind you of some worthy causes that deserve your support — and through which you can perhaps pick up a gift or two for the Howard fans on your list.

The Robert E. Howard Foundation would, of course, love to expand our membership, as well as solicit donations for our programs such as scholarships and grants for students studying the life and work of REH, assistance with the Robert E. Howard House and Museum and Howard Days in Cross Plains, promotion of creative writing, and others. Please see our mission statement at the website: it is your contributions through membership, donations, and purchases of Foundation Press books, that will make it possible for us to develop these programs to encourage and promote Howard Studies. The Foundation is now a 501(c)3 organization, so your contributions are tax-deductible. Contributions can be mailed to The Robert E Howard Foundation, P.O. Box 251242, Plano, TX 75025, or you can contact us here.

Project Pride, of course, can always use our help. They have to pay for upkeep on the Howard House and grounds, and they are our wonderfully friendly hosts every June for Howard Days. They also do many other good deeds in the community, in the spirit of their stated purpose: “… to make Cross Plains a cleaner, more attractive place to live and to preserve and document the history of the community.” Their volunteers work hard all year long on beautification and service projects — and those same volunteers put in countless hours with other organizations, as well! These are spirited, community-minded people, and they deserve our support. Project Pride, too, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so send tax-deductible donations to PO Box 534, Cross Plains, TX 76443. You might also consider joining Project Pride: memberships are only $3.00/year for individuals and $5.00 for families.

I am reminded every time I walk in to the Cross Plains Public Library what an amazing resource it is for the community, not just for Cross Plains but for Howard fans and scholars around the world, as well. It’s got a bright and welcoming atmosphere, a friendly and helpful librarian, engaging, committed volunteers, and a selection of books that the small libraries I frequented as a kid would have envied. But it isn’t just these things that got it selected as one of the libraries to be featured in Heart of the Community: The Libraries We Love. They have outstanding programs for small children, aimed at teaching them, among other things, “coordination, social skills, listening skills and manners” — not to mention, I hope, love of books and libraries! In fact, it is in hopes of extending their children’s programs that they bought the vacant building adjacent to the library on the north side, and they could sure use help raising the funds to complete the renovation of that space so they can expand into it. They also sponsor “Meet the Author” events, at which notable writers (such as REHupan Mark Finn, author of Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E Howard) read from and discuss their work, and they have begun a Cross Plains Oral History Project, recording interviews and reminiscences of long-time residents so that the remarkable history of the town is not lost. And of course, from the perspective of the Howard fan, they have copies of a number of original REH typescripts! (For further information, see the Library’s home page, and while you’re there, check out all their other programs.). Cross Plains Public Library, PO Box 333, Cross Plains, TX 76443.

Working with the Library is the Cross Plains Area Genealogy Society. Thanks to this relatively new organization, the Cross Plains Public Library now has a set of microfilm of the Cross Plains Review newspaper, 1909 through 1975. This will be an invaluable resource for Howard fans and scholars, of course, as well as to area residents seeking information on relatives or ancestors. They need help now in acquiring the computer hardware needed to be able to print from their microfilm reader.

Howard fans will also be interested in the packages of notecards sold by the Genealogy Society. These feature photos of early-day Cross Plains and its buildings: there is a view of Main Street from 1911, one of the high school from probably the 30s or 40s, and — reproduced below — a photo of the old ice house where Bob Howard used to box. This photo appears to have been taken in 1938 or later (Bob Roehm tells me that the truck on the right looks like a 1938 Ford), but no doubt little changed from its appearance when Howard boxed there. My informants told me that the boxing took place in the rear of the building, where today there is only a concrete slab. (Sometime later, I don’t know just when, a concrete loading dock was added across the front of the building, and a large door was cut in the front of the building leading out to the dock. The building is now home to Wild Texas Taxidermy. ) There are six notecards in the package, each a different photo. They are available for purchase from the Library, at $6.00 per set plus postage.

I hope the generosity of Howard fans will match that of the hard-working volunteers for these organizations, and show the folks of Cross Plains how much we appreciate all they do.

[Many thanks to Larry Richter for the Santa Bob illo!]

Indy adds: In addition to the nice black and white old time photo/notecards, the Library also offers a six piece colorized packet of notecards. This set is of modern-day scenes from Cross Plains, and the images are nicely enhanced with photoshopped color. Both packets are nifty little Cross Plain souvenirs; one of the color versions is of the Howard House, and another is the large “Home of Conan” mural on a downtown wall. Like Big Russ says, these are great gift items, and the dough supports the wonderful Cross Plains Library.

Move over Batley. You’re not the only fat, furry and photogenic guy around. (I will admit that you have “cute” sewed up, though.)

My wife, artist Shelly Wischhusen, was informed this week that two of her photographs were accepted into the 16th Annual Fall American Photography Exhibition at the Hubbard Museum of the American West. (She placed two photographs into this juried show last year, as well.) One of this year’s entries is “Rusty (Cross Plains, TX)” (shown above) taken at the Caddo Peak Ranch this past Howard Days. If you happen to be in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico, between November 2, 2007 and January 8, 2008, be sure to drop by the Hubbard and see what I look like on a museum wall.

Can the t-shirts, coffee mugs, and other licensed products be far behind?

Well, for Batley, maybe.