Hello, Readers!
Sorry for my absence. It has been a few months since anything has been posted here at
On An Underwood No. 5. Even so, there are several things to announce and a few new projects on the horizon for those of you interested in Weird Tales, Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, etc.
First, I've been feverishly researching and writing an upcoming biography about Robert E. Howard. I submitted a proposal for the biography to the University of Texas Press and met with the senior editor of UT Press last May in Austin, Texas. He told me they were interested in seeing two chapters from the work, so I was given the thumbs up to move forward. There's a whole story about how all this unfolded, something I'll save for an upcoming article here. Anyway, this project has had me traveling to various places all over the state of Texas. Because of this, a new idea for a series here at
On An Underwood No. 5 about those research/biography trips has developed and hopefully the first in that series will be posted here relatively soon.
A number of fun adventures have been had on these research trips, new places discovered, and lots of Texas history learned. So be expecting this series.
Second, the new
Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard Studies is soon to be released. According to Mark Hall on the Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard Studies'
Facebook page:
Vol. 8, No. 2 is finishing up in layout and then off for proofing, so it should be available for purchase in a few weeks. Contents for this 70+ pages of Howard goodness is as follows: Gunter's Local Color and Its Underlying Meaning in Robert E. Howard’s Weird Western, Southern Gothic Horror and Detective Stories. Vick's The Mistaken Identity of a Barbarian: Conan, Hero or Anti-Hero? and a review by Jason Carney on a recent Karl Edward Wagner collection.
I'll certainly announce its release when that occurs, so be watching for that.
Third, if you have not already bought or subscribed to the recent
Skelos: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy, then I highly recommend it. It has a nice mix of new weird fiction, non-fiction essays, poetry, and books reviews. If you are interested, you can subscribe or buy individual copies at the
Skelos Press website.
Fourth, have you tried to track down copies of the two volume set titled,
A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, only to discover it costs hundreds of dollars? Good News!
Hippocampus Press will soon republish the set and you can now pre-order it
at their website.
Fifth, if you are not a member yet of the
Robert E. Howard Foundation, then you can become one for free or pay for a membership (which is now tax deductible and greatly helps the Foundation with funds to publish books, etc.) at
their website.
Sixth, Howard Days in Cross Plains,. Texas is just a little over 4 months away. If you are wanting information about attending this year's event you get info
here and
here.
That's all for now. I'll also be attempting to get new guest writers and articles here for 2017. And remember, be looking for upcoming posts about my biography/research trips. Have a great 2017! Cheers!
