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| Panned view of the Howard House & Museum (Picture courtesy of Ben Friberg) |
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| Dierk & Chie Guenther Gary Romeo in background (R) |
Thursday June 8 started for me
with breakfast at Jean’s Feedbarn with Todd Vick (spoiler alert, winner of two
REH awards this year!) and David Piske. I had never had breakfast at this
august establishment so it was on my must-do list. Excellent meal and company.
Many of the REHupan’s were there at another long table and the conversation was
lively and erudite. Then it was a pleasant, slow day of checking in to the REH
House and Pavillion to meet others arriving for the weekend, greet and catch
up. It is always a thrill to see who comes in and to make the initial walk through
the house and take in the small room and desk where REH created all of his
characters and stories. The Project Pride folks, like Arlene Stephenson and her
husband Tom, are warm and hospitable and help create the atmosphere of
inclusion and celebration that marks the long weekend.
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| Derie's REH Bar Guide (Pic courtesy of Howard Works) |
Dinner that night was at the
Senior Center on Main Street for a fish fry and more conversation with arriving
folks like Jeff Shanks and his wife Claudia. Rusty Burke and “Indy” Bill Cavalier, who are
the initiators of Howard Days from their first formal gathering of fans here in
1986, were also in attendance. After dinner the Howard Days parade went through
downtown Cross Plains to kick off the celebration.
Day 1
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| The REH Foundation |
These are very sparse villages now
but in their day were much larger settlements. Rusty and Jack helped us fill
in the scenery from the 1920s. The Howards lived on the N side of a cemetery in
Cross Cut and had the Newton family as friends on the S side. Dr Howard would
walk to visit the Newtons and whistle his way through the cemetery. The school
REH attended here has been demolished.
As we rode the narrow road to
Burkett, Jack Baum explained that a “sand rough” is an accumulation of sand and
weeds that develop where there are fence posts and create almost a wall or a
thick barrier outside a pasture. We saw them all along the way. The connection with Howard? “Post Oaks and
Sand Roughs” is the title of REH’s semi-autobiographical novel. Dr Howard bought property in
Burkett but did not build a house there and wound up moving to Cross Plains to
the home we know, that he bought from JM Kaufman who built it. Dr Howard did a
lot of land speculation in the many towns the Howards lived in prior to
settling in Cross Plains. They moved 8 or 9 times prior to 1915 when they moved
to Cross Cut. Relocated to Burkett in 1917 and then Cross Plains in 1919 when
REH was 13.
In Burkett, we crossed the Burkett
Bridge over the Pecan Bayou that was seen in the movie The Whole Wide World. The movie was mostly filmed in Austin as it
was too expensive to film more in the country. Other facts from Jack Baum and
Rusty were that REH did not hunt because he did not like hurting animals, but he would tag along when his friends David Lee and Lindsey Tyson hunted.
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| "The Glenn Lord Collection" panel (L to R: Paul Herman, Rob Roehm, Patrice Louinet) |
All panels were at the Methodist
Church fellowship hall on N Main St which was a new location that was spacious,
bright and had excellent acoustics. It was very generous for the Methodist
Church and pastor Kevin Morton, to go out of their way to provide all the
attendees with a great venue to see and hear the presentations. It made the
experience richer and more comfortable. I don't know how we can all say thank
you enough for this privilege.
Ben Friberg has videoed all of the
panels and they are posted on YouTube. I would encourage everyone to look at
them as they were all informative and full of wonderful moments.
This first panel went over details
of how REH wrote and how his his manuscripts can be, in part, dated and tracked
by forensic knowledge of mechanical key errors that developed over time on Howard's typewriter, such as a slightly dropped lower case “a” or a “t” with a “tail.”
REH did not keep an index for his
manuscripts which has made sorting them out very difficult. He also would write
multiple drafts of stories and use the back of one draft to start a second
draft.
He did not always number his pages
and when he did he often made mistakes. Many of his drafts did not have
titles or the titles changed. “Servants of Bit Yakin" became “Jewels of
Gwahlur.” surprisingly, Farnsworth Wright did very
little editing of REH’s stories. However, De Camp, for the most part, tended to leave published
stories alone. But, as we know, he did extensive rewrites of stories and partial
drafts if they were not published.
Glenn Lord started collecting all of Howard manuscript drafts together in 1960 or 1961. He initially got all the
drafts from the Otis Adelbert Klein agency (OAK was deceased but it was run by
his wife and daughter for a while) and then spent years, from 1966 to 1971,
tracking down the manuscripts that Dr. Howard had sent to Ed Price in California
(who lent many of them out to various individuals).
We have 13 King Kull stories
rather than 2 because of Glenn’s persistence. There are two "Post Oaks and Sand
Roughs" scripts and the original title was likely “Clutchers at the Fringe,” as
remembered by Tevis Clyde Smith.
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| The Harry Ransom Center Austin, TX |
1:30 PM Panel was “Collecting REH: What Makes for a Core Howard Collection?” with panelists Jeff Shanks, Lee
Breakiron, Patrice Louinet, and Bobby Derie.
This again was a tour de force
overview of collecting REH in multiple forms: Pulps, pulp reprints, books
starting even before Arkham House's “Skull-face and Others,” chapbooks, paperbacks, fanzines, comic books, trade editions, and letters collections.
It was an exhaustive overview. You can watch Ben Friberg's video at this link on YouTube.
Just a few nuggets:
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| “Collecting REH: What Makes for a Core Howard Collection?” (L to R: Lee Breakiron & Bobby Derie) |
In 1937 in the UK A Gent from Bear
Creek was published by Herbert Jenkins. As most fans know this is the
rarest of Howard collectibles with only 17 known copies and 7 of them in major
libraries with 10 in individual hands.
The show stopper finale for this
panel was when 5 of the 10 copies were brought out for inspection sitting side
by side on the table. Patrice owns the Glens Lord copy which is the only known copy
with a dust jacket. He had his prior “reader” copy which has been sold to a collector.
Lee Breakiron obtained a copy this year on eBay, and the Howard family copy was
brought to the panel (it had been given by Dr. Howard to his brother) and the
REH Museum copy donated by Leo Grin. That’s 5, count ‘em. No one will probably
ever see that many copies together again.
2:30 PM Panel “Travels with Ol’
Two-Gun” by Rob Roehm, Bob Roehm (Rob’s dad) and Todd Vick.
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| “Travels with Ol’ Two-Gun” (L to R: Todd Vick, Bob Roehm, Rob Roehm) |
Todd Vick gave a presentation on
traveling to Bagwell, Texas to track down the grave site of a former slave named Mary Bohannon. She helped the Howard's clean and possibly cook in Bagwell, but she also used to tell a 7 year old Howard ghost stories. Todd showed pictures of the abandoned grave site near Bagwell, Texas where Mary Bohannnon was buried. He then turned his attention to Lincoln, NM to track a photo of REH taken in front of the Murphy Store (and eventual Lincoln County Courthouse) from the Lincoln County Wars and Billy the Kid fame. REH is with Ramon Maes—actually
Roman Maes, Howard made a common name error in his letters—who Todd confirmed was the grandson of Lucio Montoya, the sharpshooter for Lawrence Murphy who ran the town with the
Sheriff (Brady). Both, along with several others, fought John Tunstall, Billy the Kid, and the Regulators during the Lincoln County Wars. Tunstall's faction lost. Todd explained that he spoke with Roman Maes' family to confirm that Roman Maes was the man standing next to Howard in the photo.
6:30 to 9 PM Robert E Howard
Celebration Banquet and silent auction at the Community Center.
This is a Howard Days tradition and not to
be missed. Chicken fried steak from the Staghorn Cafe and a silent auction to
benefit Project Pride which hosts Howard Days and supports the REH House/Museum. There was a great collection of books, fanzines, posters, and art to bid on this
year. I scored a bound collection of the Arkham Collector donated by Bobby Derie
at a very reasonable price and the original art for Indy’s first Howard Days
poster. There were a lot of happy bidders when the auction ended.
Paul Herman was a fantastic
speaker. He began his talk by dropped the mike (since his speaking voiced boomed throughout the room) and spoke emotionally
and profoundly about his life story. He discussed his discovery of REH's work and how that impacted his
life as a poor alienated teenager from modest means attending a wealthy prep school. Conan was an outsider and proud of it and used his
differences/talents to his advantage. Paul learned to accept his differences
and talents without embarrassment and he also used them to create a rich and full life.
It was a very inspiring speech that may be the very best one I have heard at
all the Howard Days I have attended. As always, a young man from the community—Nain Martinez—was given a $1000 scholarship to use at the college of his choice. The Cross Plains
community was well represented with ministers, business leaders, and the hard-working
Project Pride volunteers.
This small town opens its heart to
a bunch of eclectic Howard fans every year to create an event that is part
celebration and part reunion. Friday's dinner is a forum for all of us to
commune and appreciate the impact that REH’s writings have had and continue to
have on all of us. This banquet is the heart of Howard Days.
9:00 PM "Fists at the Ice House"
A staple of Howard Days with
dramatic readings of boxing stories by Mark Finn, Chris Gruber, and Jeff Shanks
under the stars on the slab floor of the Ice House where REH boxed in his time.
Readings were from "Sluggers on the
Beach"
"Destiny
Gorilla"
"Bulldog Breed"
"Pit of the
Serpent"
The dramatic readings are too good
to miss. I especially appreciate the theatrical talents of Mark Finn, who is
almost "Shakespearean" in his delivery. Chris Gruber almost made me cry with his
story of bulldog Mike, and Jeff Shanks educated us all about fighting and mixed
martial arts which were present in Howard’s day.
Whew, that was a long, packed
first day! Many went back to the Howard House for poetry readings but I
staggered back to Brownwood at 11 PM. There was still another day!
Day 2
On Saturday June 10, the Barbarian
Festival was open at Treadway Park, 3 blocks west of the REH House. I did not
make it there this year but, it is a wonderful community event that is great
fun. I missed the funnel cake! The Pavilion was open for trading
and visiting, and the library was open to see old pulps and their collection of
REH manuscripts, photo copies of which can be purchased on site. There was also some gaming going
on that again I did not participate in.
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| Paul Herman Interview (L to R: Paul Herman & Mark Finn) |
He described publishing public
domain Howard works with Wildside press. In 2006, he was involved with
setting up the REH Foundation with a mission to pick up publishing works where
the Wandering Star/Del Rey editions left off and now nearing the completion of
that mission. Because of these efforts all of Howard’s writings in every genre have
been reprinted, often from the original typescripts, but with a minimum of
editing.
Following this panel, the REH
Foundation Awards were announced and can be found on the REH Foundation website.
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| "Pictures of Howard" panel (L to R: Paul Herman, Rusty Burke, & Patrice Louinet) |
2:30 PM "The 2nd Annual Glenn Lord
Symposium" was convened. Jeff Shanks moderated the
presentations and spoke about the efforts being made to get more REH
recognition from the academic community through the Popular Culture Association
(PCA) meetings and the International Conference for Fantasy and the Arts (ICFA)
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| "Glenn Lord Symposium" (L to R: Frank Coffman & Jeffrey Shanks) |
Jason Ray Carney did an in-depth
analysis of “Post Oaks and Sand Roughs,” the REH semi-autobiographical novel and
made the argument that it is a complex work that contained a multitude of
genres. This genre plurality was an attempt to accurately render the reality of
being a marginalized writer in a rural community. The struggle to find an
accurate genre is a symptom of underlying social and political unrest and
dislocation, which makes sense given that it was written in 1929 (depicting
REH’s life in 1924 to 1927).
Dierk Guenther gave a presentation
on "Civilization Collapse" which expounded on REH’s belief in the ultimate
domination of barbarism as the most natural state of mankind and the cyclical
nature of civilizations that rise but then invariably fall. A discussion
enjoined by Jeff Shanks ensued about the 1920s understanding of societies
progressing from Savagery to Barbarism and then Civilization. Barbarism was
seen as a point of equipoise between Savagery and Civilization. Rusty Burke pointed out that
Howard felt he was not prepared for a barbaric world and would most likely
not have survived if thrown into one. But he still believed that barbarism was the most
natural state for man.
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| Behind the Howard House (L to R: Jeffrey Shanks, Patrice Louinet, Scott Valeri, & Rusty Burke) |
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| (L to R: Anthony Tollin & Chris Gruber) |
Howard Days would not exist if not
for the efforts of the Cross Plains community and Project Pride volunteers who
are among the most generous and hospitable folks you will ever meet. What a rare privilege to spend
quality time with people like Rusty, Indy, Jeff, Mark, Chris, Patrice, Paul, and Rob. And every
year that I spend time talking with Jack and Barbara Baum I come away more
impressed with their hospitality, generosity and love for REH and his fans.
If you have never been to Howard
Days I hope this trip report inspires you to make the journey. It is well
worth the effort and should be on the bucket list of every Robert E Howard fan.
__________________________
About the Author: Scott Valeri
"I discovered Conan and REH with the Lancer book Conan the Conqueror in 1967. I was drawn to it by the Frazetta cover art and collected all the REH paperbacks I could get at that time. I rediscovered REH from a Wandering Star's Bran Mac Morn hardcover that I bought at Heroes Con in 2010 and discovered the REH Foundation and joined then. Just in time to get all the Foundation books as they came out. Went to my first Howard Days in 2011 and have attended every year but one since. Jeff Shanks, who I met in 2011, got me hooked on Howard book collecting, and Lee Breakiron on fanzine collecting. More than anything I value the friendships I have made with all the amazing REH fans and scholars I have met at Howard Days along with the folks of Project Pride."
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| Multilingual Poetry Reading (L to R: Barbara Baum, Chie Guenther, Dierk Guenther, Patrice Louinet, and Bill Cavalier) |
About the Author: Scott Valeri
1 comment:
Great report. Hope to see you there again next year, Scott!
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