Spoils from the REH Days Silent Auction

At Friday night's REH Days auction and dinner I fought hard for several items. Most of the items I bid on were won by deeper pockets than mine. And I actually mourned the loss of a few of those items. Nonetheless, I did manage to walk away from the auction with these . . .

A collection of Leo Grin's The Cimmerian. The set I won was from 2005 (an early set); Vol 2. Nos. 1-6 plus the Cimmerian awards issue for 2005. If you're not familiar with Grin's Cimmerian scholarly fanzine then let me explain why I am so excited about getting these issues. First, Leo Grin is a first rate Howard Head. His blog, The Cimmerian, which ended it's tenure on June 11th, 2010 was one of the best REH blogs on the internet. I was sad to see it end. If you have never seen the blog, then let me be the first to tell you that spending an entire day perusing it's contents is a day well spent. Second, The Cimmerian booklets contain some of the best earlier secondary writings from Howard scholars and fans (e.g. Rob Roehm, Gary Romeo, Steven Tompkins, Don Herron, Rusty Burke, Chris Gruber, Mark Finn, Leo Grin, Charles Hoffman, Bill Cavalier, etc.), along with excellent pictures, illustrations, poetry, prose, and maps. The books themselves are bound and printed on first rate paper along with excellent typeset. They are a fine addition to any Howard fan's collection. So, despite the fact that I lost other items, these did a fine job of making up for those losses. I'm very pleased to add these to my Howard collection.

A Sunday Afternoon with an REH Website

I spent yesterday afternoon perusing one of my favorite REH blogs on the internet: REH: Two-Gun Raconteur. I jumped to the sites archives, beginning January 2007 and read all the way through to the current post, August 1st 2012.

If you are new to Howard studies, this site is a must. Even if you are old to Howard studies this site is a must. Just about every possible topic, announcement, new book or fanzine about Howard, etc. is mentioned or discussed on this site. The site also contains links to REH Publishers, REH Scholar Resources, Other REH Websites (which I am proud to say that the old URL for On an Underwood #5 is listed, hopefully the new URL will be listed soon.), and other links such as Friends of TGR, etc. are present on the site.

Having spent the afternoon reviewing all the posts, there were a few that really grabbed my attention. These are certainly worth mentioning:

Feminism and The Women in Robert E. Howard's Fiction—Part 1

This article, written by Barbara Barrett and Amy Kerr, is about how society over the centuries has viewed women, their roles, and how that differed in Howard's stories. This article has three parts and every part is a great read.

Yellow Jacket by Rob Roehm


This article is a brief but wonderful history about the Howard Payne College student newspaper and several stories authored by Howard. These stories were previously "lost" until they showed up in Vol. 4, #3 Fall 2010 REH Foundation Newsletter. Read this article by Rob and you'll get a nice history of REH's beginnings as a published writer.






Psycho Thomas Ellison Makes a Mess by Damon C. Sasser.

Along with a few others—here and here—the "Psycho" article is an attempt to respond to faulty information/posts by others who may not have their facts straight about Robert E. Howard. The faulty articles are worth reading as well, if for no other reasons than the responses given by core Howard fans who actually know what they're talking about. Misinformation about Howard, and downright lies still circulate, it's these posts and hopefully future ones that will aid in correcting the errors, at least via the internet.

Other items of note: Brian Leno offers some nice posts on Howard's favorite books and films, along with those Howard disliked. Leno's articles are well written and informative and well worth a thorough read.

Almuric—One Wild, Wild Planet by Keith Taylor

This article is an expositional treatise about Howard's unique work titled Almuric. The article is well written and also touches on some of the influences of Howard's within the story (e.g. Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom.). Taylor adds great insight into the story and a bit of the historicity of ill-fitted Earth men getting a new start in an alien world since Almuric. This piece is well worth reading. In fact, I'll go so far as to to say that if you only read a few things from the "Two-Gun" website, certainly read this one.

A Mysterious People by Keith Taylor

Another article by Keith Taylor reveals REH's love for history, various peoples, lands, civilizations, times, etc. This article dicusses all these things and more. Taylor brings to bear correspondence between H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard regarding the Etruscans (Tuscans), their Roman origins, and how they play a role in Howard's research and writing.  The historical details in this article are first rate. Here is another "must-read" at Two-Gun by Keith Taylor.

I could mention a lot more but I trust that most of you who read this post will certainly take the time, if you already haven't, to read the posts at REH: Two-Gun Raconteur. Between Sasser's informative articles about new publications, new blog sites, etc., Rob Roehm's excellent "time capsules" on Howard's history, from the smallest piece of history to the more popular history, Keith Taylor's historical expositions, Brian Leno's work on Howard's influences and favorite authors/movies, and others, there's enough on this great blog to keep you busy on a hot Sunday afternoon. Cheers!