Saddle Up for the Wild, Wild West

When you think of western fiction what writers come to mind? Naturally one would be quick to name the modern genre greats such as Louis L'Amour, William W. Johnstone, Larry McMurtry, Cromac McCarthy, Elmer Kelton, Ralph Compton, or even lesser known western writers such as Dirk Fletcher, Luke Short, or Tabor Evans. If you read westerns regularly, chances are you recognize most of these writers in that genre. But, did you know that Robert E. Howard wrote westerns?

Long before any of the above mentioned names, Robert E. Howard was writing and publishing western short stories. That's right, the creator of the Sword and Sorcery (a.k.a. Heroic Fantasy) genre also wrote westerns. Obviously Howard's heroic fantasy stories are unarguably his most popular stories, but let's not be so quick to dismiss other genres this Texas tale spinner worked within. Howard wrote westerns that were comic and dialect, serious westerns, as well as weird westerns.
  

In fact his humorous westerns can be found in an out of print collection titled The Riot at Bucksnort and Other Western Tales edited by David Gentzel. For additional western stories Rusty Burke's edited volume titled The End of the Trail: Western Stories is a good volume to track down. Another excellent volume—still available—of Howard's western tales, including several unpublished stories and characters is titled Robert E. Howard's Western Tales—see the REH Foundation website for that particular volume.

It's no surprise that Howard took to writing western stories. He was born in Peaster, Texas and spent the better part of his days in central West Texas. This would certainly lend to his fascination with gun fighters, western outlaws, Texas Rangers, and the like. I'm sure he spent time listening to stories about "old-timers" and their tales of the old west, the gun fighters, cattle towns, etc. Also, in his own personal library Howard had several books about the wild west and famous outlaws. One such book was titled The Saga of Billy the Kid by Walter Noble Burns. Howard also mentioned Billy the Kid in a letter to H.P. Lovecraft (circa 1931). Of course all this lends to the fact that Howard was no stranger to western tales and folklore.

Many casual fans may not know that Robert E. Howard was so influenced by Texas lore, western tall tales, and stories of struggling pioneers that this influence eventually found its way into several of his heroic fantasy yarns, namely several Conan stories (e.g. Beyond the Black River). Additionally, one of Howard's more successful characters, created and published toward the end of his life was none other than Breckenridge Elkins. Elkins first appeared in Mountain Man, a humorous western story published in Action Stories Magazine Volume 12 Number 7 (March-April 1934). In fact, in my humble opinion, I think Breckenridge Elkins is one of Howard's more interesting characters (other than Solomon Kane). 

With a hearty zeal Breckenridge bursts on the literary scene high in a tree with his fist in a bee's hive. Here are the first few lines from Mountain Man, and the first appearance of Howard's flamboyant character—

I was robbing a bee tree, when I heard my old man calling, "Breckenridge! Oh, Breckenridge! Where air you? I see you now. You don't need to climb that tree. I ain't goin' to larrup you."

Gary Chaloner has done a wonderful job animating this first scene in the illustration at the left.

From these first lines Breckenridge lights up the printed page with wild shenanigans that are deeply funny and wonderful to read. Breckenridge is tough but tender and he's not really a trouble maker but always seems to find himself in the middle of trouble. And, just when you think Howard can't elevate this character any higher, he gives Breckenridge a brutish temperamental horse named Cap'n Kidd. If we stopped with just Breackenridge and Cap'n Kidd, you'd have several action packed afternoons of great reading material. One of my favorites of these stories is titled The Haunted Mountains. Howard certainly wrote one of the most hilarious and memorable beginnings to this story:

The Reason I despises tarantulas, stinging lizards, and hydrophobia skunks is because they reminds me so much of my Aunt Lavaca, which my Uncle Jacob Grimes married in an absent-minded moment, when he was old enough to know better.

I can't think of an opening line in Howard's westerns I enjoy more than this one. Not only did it make me laugh for several minutes the first time read it, but it makes the reader really want to know just who this woman is. It should also be noted Howard created several other characters in his humorous western stories: Buckner J. Grimes and Pike Bearfield. While Breckenridge is from Nevada, Buckner and Pike make their homes in Texas. All in the same vein, these characters are humorous and larger than life. All of the humorous western stories are well worth reading.

Among the other western tales Howard wrote—the serious westerns and weird westerns—The Dead Remember is another favorite. This weird western tale is quite unconventional, especially for the time frame in which it was published: in a magazine called Argosy August 15th, 1936. The story unfolds through a series of letters and statements, not in the usual narrative fashion. It opens with a letter from the protagonist to his brother. The letter is bleak. Jim Gordon writes his brother to tell him that he is certain death is imminent because of what Jim has done to a particular witch woman and her man. From here the reader is treated with various witness statements, all of which lead to a very unusual demise for Jim Gordon. 

Howard's weird westerns and serious westerns are replete with twists, turns, second guesses, action, outlaws, gun fights and the like. All very interesting, especially for those who love the western genre. Even if you don't particularly enjoy the western genre, I think it's quite possible Howard's western tales may change your mind.

An Odd Encounter

I had what I would consider an odd encounter with another Robert E. Howard fan today. I took my typical Wednesday trip to the comic book store to buy two comics - East of West issue #9 and Conan and the People of the Black Circle #4.

When I took the two books to the counter, the guy at the register asked me if I was enjoying the Conan series. I told him I had not had time to read them yet, but was not holding my breath. He gave me a strange look and asked if I was a Howard fan. I nodded and asked, "You?" He said, "Yes, huge fan."

Huge fan, I thought to myself. Hmm. He told me he liked this series but was waiting to read Howard's story The Hour of the Dragon before reading Tim Truman's comic book series titled the same. I told him that was a good idea (even though Truman does his best to stick with Howard's storyline), but make sure you read the story from the Del Rey book. He nodded and said, "The Del Rey's are the original manuscripts, right?"

I told him they were, and that those were the best editions to buy. He then asked me if I had ever been to Howard Day's in Cross Plains. I told him I had gone the last two years and intended to go again this year. He said he had friends who attended a lot, rattled off a couple of names I had never heard (which doesn't mean anything) and then told me he was from Brownwood. I explained I was from Abilene.Small world.

This led to a discussion about the Howard home and he detailed his story about seeing it for the first time. I told him the first time I saw Howard's home someone was living in it. I don't think he understood the time frame or weight of that claim. During this brief conversation, he brought up the new Conan movie (now in pre-production) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I cringed inside and did not voice an opinion, until he said he really enjoyed the first two Conan movies with Arnold. I shook my head and told him I did not care for them. He told me he thought the wizard in the first film made the movie great, then preceded to quote a line the wizard has said from the film. I tried to explain to him that I thought those movies were good Sword & Sorcery films for their day, but they were certainly not REH's true character. I told him I thought L.Sprague de Camp was too heavy an influence on the filmmakers. That comment was pejorative, I'm just not certain he understood that.

He told me he was introduced to Conan through de Camp's Conan series. I told him I was too. However, I then preceded to explain how I realized that de Camp did a wonderful job introducing reader's to Conan but a terrible job introducing readers to Conan's creator. He gave me an odd look (I think he was attempting to process what I sad), then he piped up and said, "de Camp's introductions in those books were wonderful." He then made the most ignorant anachronistic statement I have ever heard, "Howard even gave his approval of those introductions by de Camp."

I was so taken aback by the comment it tied me up for a few seconds in stunned silence. "That would be impossible," I replied, "since Howard had died decades before de Camp ever wrote those introductions." The guy's face went pale green. To avoid any further embarrassment I said, "The problem I have with de Camp's introductions is their futile attempt to psychoanalyze Howard. I have a real problem with those introductions in that they gave the reader the wrong impression of just who Howard actually was." He looked a little winded at this point but I continued. "I honestly think de Camp did far more damage to Robert E. Howard than he ever did to Howard's characters, though he certainly did not help there much either, unless you consider the amount of people who came to Howard's characters, especially Conan, through that de Camp series." I continued, "Outside of this, I really don't think de Camp was amicable to Howard's real history. However, I am glad you are aware of the Del Rey books - read those introductions and stories and you'll get the real Robert E. Howard, history and works." He nodded.

Now while I think this guy truly is a fan of Howard and his character Conan, it does pain me to see a fan that misinformed. I told him he ought to go to Howard Days and hear for himself a few purist Howard scholars and fans. However, I'm afraid by the look on his face after our discussion, Howard days might short circuit him. I'm rather mild compared to some of the other Howard fans and some of the Howard scholars out there.

The Howard Home and Ingress

At this year's REH Days in Cross Plains, Texas, I met several people from California who had developed a multi-player online video game called Ingress. In fact, my friend David and I were sitting in one of the two chairs directly behind the Howard home when one of the Ingress developers approached us and asked, "Are you guys part of the resistance?" I really wanted to reply, "Resistance is futile," just to joke around with him, but since I did not know the guy I replied, "I'm not sure what you're talking about." He then explained to us that the game app marks various different spots across the country/world. These places give off a certain energy force that cause people to be drawn to them. They can be physical locations, monuments, structures, etc. Some have been built by human hands, others purely natural.

There are several teams that wander to these various places to visit. Most have been chosen due to various factors, the main factor being that these locales are where, through the years, people have gathered to visit, watch, see things, etc.

The Robert E. Howard home was chosen as a locale because of REH Days and the number of people who come to visit the house from all around the world. At the official Ingress website there is a brief video that explains the game (see the above video).

The overall concept looks very interesting. Apparently there are a group of people called The Resistance whose sole aim is to debunk the game's theory/concept about these places. Each player can go to the chosen key places that are considered possible portals and visit. So if you choose to play the game it can take you all across the country. I thought it was pretty cool that the Howard home was chosen as one of the portals. And found the whole concept quite interesting, to say the least. Wiki has a whole article on the game if you're interested.

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.

Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936)

Today marks the 77th anniversary of the death of Robert E. Howard. 

I raise my glass to REH a wonderful writer of prose and poetry. Cheers!

REH Days 2013

My second year at REH Days in Cross Plains, Texas was, I think, better than last year's event. Tim Truman was the guest of honor. While all the panels were good, I enjoyed the ones with Tim the best (esp. REH in the Comics).

I've been a fan of Truman's work for some time now, especially his art work on Grim Jack. I also had several opportunities to chat with him about various influential authors. Aside from Robert E. Howard, I discovered that Samuel R. Delaney and George R.R. Martin were two other authors Tim told me had a pretty big influence on his work over the years. We discussed Samuel R. Delaney at some length. I had read Delaney's work titled Dhalgren back around 1978/79. I loved that particular work. Tim recommended The Einstein Intersection; a book I own but have not read. I have since picked it up and begun reading it.

Joe R. Lansdale was a surprise visitor to this year's REH Days. He declared he was there because of his old friend Tim Truman. I am only familiar with some of Lansdale's comic book work—I've never actually read any of his novels/fiction. It was interesting to hear his various views—he has a lot of them—on Robert E. Howard and other authors, comic books, etc.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. I met a few new people, made a few new friends, saw some people I knew from last year's event, ate some great food, and listened to some excellent discussions. Below are some pictures I took while there. If you've never been to REH Days in Cross Plains, you should attend next year; especially if you are a Howard fan. It is well worth the time and money spent.

Above is Robert E. Howard's bedroom and work space.

A front view of the REH Home and Museum

The pavilion next to the REH House and Museum

The first panel discussion on Friday, June 7th. (left to right: Tim Truman, Al Harron, Jeff Shanks, and Mark Finn)

Joe Lansdale & Tim Truman

A Dark Horse Comics promotional poster that was up for auction at the Celebration Dinner & Silent Auction Friday evening June 7th.

Another Dark Horse Comics promotional poster.

Inside the Howard home.

Inside the Cross Plains Public Library.

Tim Truman speaking at Friday night's Celebration Dinner & Silent Auction.

The sunset BBQ at the Caddo Peak Ranch.

Robert E. Howard Days 2013

REHupa recently announce the guest of honor at the 2013 REH Days in Cross Plains, TX.

Timothy Truman, best known for his work on Grimjack with John Ostrander. In 2006 Tim Truman took over the writing from Kurt Busiek on Dark Horse Comics Conan series.

Here are two of the graphic novel formatted Conan series I have in my personal collection that Tim Truman worked on . . .

Here is some of his work on GrimJack . . .

He was also a writer on the Star Wars series published by Dark Horse. Here is an image of the omnibus from that series . . .

I'm looking forward to meeting him and getting him to sign a few items.