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!

A milestone in support of the Legacy of Robert E. Howard happened recently within the pages of Dark Horse Comics’ Conan the Cimmerian title. Issue #9 marks the one hundredth appearance of  the fantastic comic strip THE ADVENTURES OF TWO-GUN BOB by Jim & Ruth Keegan.

In all of Dark Horse’s Robert E. Howard inspired comic books (Conan and all its various offshoot books, Solomon Kane, Kull, Pigeons from Hell, etc.), Jim & Ruth’s absolutely brilliant half-page comic strip detailing the life of REH has been present. Each strip uses either the words of Robert E. Howard as its text, or the words of people who actually knew REH, like Novalyne Price Ellis or Tevis Clyde Smith, as the basis for the mini-story line.

When Jim & Ruth combine their wonderful cartooning skills with the actual words of REH, the result is today’s most important pop culture presentation of the man who was Robert E. Howard. I’ve said this before, and I will continue to sing the praises of 2GB. The service and entertainment that Jim & Ruth provide all of Howard fandom with Two-Gun Bob cannot be adequately measured.

If you have not picked up a Dark Horse comic with THE ADVENTURES OF TWO-GUN BOB, shame on you! Jim & Ruth Keegan have indebted all of us with their marvelous talent, and as fans of REH, we all need to support this important work that spreads the Gospel According to , well - Two-Gun Bob!

Indy sez Check It Out!

To help the Cross Plains Public Library raise some much-needed funds, Callahan Furniture has donated a beautiful front-porch swing, like the one pictured here, to be raffled off.  You can find full information at their website, along with PayPal links so you can buy as many raffle tickets as you’d like.  The tickets are $1.00 each, or $5.00 for 6, or $40.00 for 50.  If you want another amount, you can specify quantity when you are on the PayPal page.  It’s a worthy cause, and that swing is a knockout, isn’t it?  The drawing will be held during the Barbarian Festival, Saturday, June 13th (Howard Days weekend).  Buy a bunch of ‘em! (By the way, you don’t have to be present to win the raffle, and Callahan Furniture will arrange shipping anywhere in the contiguous U.S. at no charge.)

Also, speaking of donations — Project Pride is in need of donated items for the Silent Auction, always a favorite feature of the Howard Days banquet on Friday night.  In particular, interesting and unusual items are needed, as these are the sorts of things that stimulate competitive bidding.  Most of the folks who attend Howard Days are, of course, Howard fans and generally have all of the more-readily-obtainable paperbacks, so there’s little need for those.  But old fanzines, REHupas, ARCs, toys, posters or prints, and other such collectibles are always in demand.  It would also be most helpful if you would provide suggested minimum bids for these items (but try to make them realistic!).

More sad news.  This morning, Dr. Lou Rodenberger passed away at her home north of Cross Plains after a long struggle with cancer.  Her husband, Charles, posted an obituary today at his blog.

Charles and Lou were gracious hosts to the first REHupa visit to Cross Plains in 1986.  We had a marvelous dinner of barbecue brisket and all the fixin’s, and got to meet many of the Friends of the Library group, people who would later take a prominent role in Project Pride and Howard Days.  Over the years, they’ve been frequent attendees at Howard Days banquets, but I’ve never really gotten to spend as much time as I’d like talking books with them.  Lou was a fine writer and editor whose passion was to bring the stories and observations of women writers — particularly West Texas women writers — to the world.  She edited or co-edited some really wonderful volumes, such as Her Work: Stories by Texas Women, Texas Women Writers: A Tradition of Their Own, Writing on the Wind: An Anthology of West Texas Women Writers, and Let’s Hear It: Stories by Texas Women Writers.  Her latest book was a biography of author Jane Gilmore Rushing.

Lou was something of a pioneer herself, being among the first women admitted to Texas A&M, where she earned her MA and PhD in English.  She taught English at high schools in Levelland and Abilene and at Cisco Junior College, then taught for 12 years at McMurry University in Abilene.

A fine teacher, a wonderful writer, an editor who gave West Texas women writers a chance to reach a broader audience, and a delightful and charming person, Lou leaves an enviable legacy, and will be very much missed.

We learned on Friday of the death of Steve Tompkins, a loss I’m still struggling to grasp, and then on Saturday came the news that Joan McCowen had passed away.  Two hard blows in one weekend.

I’d known Joan longer, but she was older than me, only a little younger than my parents, in fact — she and Alton were married the year of my birth.  And Joan had been in poor health for some time, and in a steady decline the past several months, so we knew her passing was a matter of time.  The loss still aches, even when expected.  I’m so thankful that the Cross Plains Public Library sponsored the tribute day for Joan back in December, and I was able to be there and see her one last time and reminisce.  She was a marvelous lady and a wonderful friend, an energetic and enthusiastic champion for literacy and for her adopted home town of Cross Plains.  She’ll be sorely missed.  For more on Joan, you can read the tribute that I wrote for Joan McCowen Day, linked above, and those of Leo Grin and Damon Sasser.

Steve’s loss is a harder one to adjust to.  I just can’t get my mind wrapped around the reality that he’s gone.  To give you some idea how much I leaned on Steve, I keep wanting to call him or email to ask him what I should say.  His was an extraordinary and unique voice, and the thought that that voice is stilled is nigh unbearable.  And Steve was younger than me by ten years, really just hitting his stride — people younger than me shouldn’t die.  I’ll certainly have more to say about Steve, but the idea is just taking some time to get used to.  For now, Brian Murphy, Leo Grin, Damon Sasser and Charles Saunders have posted some initial thoughts.  Damon is planning a special tribute to Steve in the next issue of REH: Two-Gun Raconteur.  If you have stories or comments on Steve that you would like to share, go to his website and click on “Contact Us” to send him your contribution.

           The proverbial truck hit me late Friday afternoon on April 3rd.  I received a forwarded e mail stating that REHupan, Steve Tompkins, died of a heart attack March 23rd.  I had spoken to him three weeks earlier and he had caught food poisoning eating at a Burger King. This has floored me that eating at a fast food place started a tragic chain of events.

            Steve is best known for his essays, articles, and blog post over at The Cimmerian website. He had been been an active member of REHupa from 1995 until last year when he took a break. He had promised me he would be back once his employment situation was under control. Steve was something new and something very unique. He immediately wrote zines containing essays that were gargantuan in size and scope. Disparate elements came in from all directions expanding into something never attempted in Howard studies before. Along the way, Steve would throw in puns, some humor, many literary allusions, and the regular dovetailing of rock & roll music. He had an influence on me. I began writing longer articles and trying to think bigger. I talked to Steve often weekly on the phone bouncing ideas off of him, getting information, telling him about a new book or author I discovered not to mention conversations on music, movies, politics, and pop culture. He was my intellectual wing-man.       

            We traveled to Cross Plains for Howard Days in 1998 meeting up in Dallas and ransacked some of the used bookstores in Dallas. Along the way, we drove to Archer City to check out Larry McMurtry’s book store with Charles Gramlich in convoy with us. Steve also came to some Pulp-Cons in Dayton a few times. The Breakfast Club diner had no greater fan than Steve.

            Among his writings, my personal favorite is probably “Gigantic Gulfs of Eons: Kull, Conan, and Tyrant Time” from The Barbaric Triumph (Wildside Press, 2004). Steve was the guy who discovered that George Orwell had read issues of Fight Stories containing Robert E. Howard stories. He tirelessly made the case for both Robert E. Howard and J. R. R. Tolkien. Publishers of Howard small-press zines had an easier time getting contents, as Steve was always a contributor. His work can be found in the pages of The Cimmerian, The Dark Man, The Robert E. Howard Companion, Two Gun Raconteur among others. It has been a bad weekend. Last year, I lost my buddy Chuck Eschweiler and now Steve. The loss is simultaneous for both Howard Studies and for those of us lucky enough to have shared friendship with him.