Bobby’s Comments (group member since Oct 16, 2014)

Bobby’s comments from the Robert E. Howard Readers group.

Meant King Saul, Samuel was the priest. Anyway, the relevant quote:

I have always felt a deep interest in Israel in connection with Saul. Poor devil! A pitiful and heroic figure, set up as a figurehead because of his height and the spread of his shoulders, and evincing an expected desire of be king in more than name—a plain, straight-forward man, unversed in guile and subtlety, flanked and harassed by scheming priests, beleaguered by savage and powerful enemies, handicapped by a people too wary and backward in war—what wonder that he went mad toward the end? He was not fitted to cope with the mysteries of king-craft, and he had too much proud independence to dance a puppet on the string of the high priest—there he sealed his own doom. When he thwarted the snaky Samuel, he should have followed it up by cutting that crafty gentleman’s throat—but he dared not. The hounds of Life snapped ever at Saul’s heels; a streak of softness made him human but made him less a king. He dared too much, and having dared too much, he dared not enough. He was too intelligent to submit to Samuel’s dominance, but not intelligent enough to realize that submission was his only course unless he chose to take the ruthless course and fling the high priest to the vultures and jackals. Samuel had him in a stranglehold; not only did the high priest have the people behind him, but he played on Saul’s own fears and superstitions and in the end, ruined him and drove him to madness, defeat and death. The king found himself faced by opposition he could not beat down with his great sword—foes that he could not grasp with his hands. Life became a grappling with shadows, a plunging at blind, invisible bars. He saw the hissing head of the serpent beneath each mask of courtier, priest, concubine and general. They squirmed, venom-ladened beneath his feet, plotting his downfall; and he towered above them, yet must perforce bend an ear close to the dust, striving to translate their hisses. But for Samuel, vindictive, selfish and blindly shrewd as most priests are, Saul had risen to his full statue—as it was, he was a giant chained.
—Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, c. Feb 1931, MF 1.160-161

REH had unusual ideas about King Samuel, as expressed in his letters. These ideas probably helped inspire King Kull, especially in "By This Axe I Rule!"

It's an extended metaphor for a cloistered nun gazing out the window.

I don't know if I have an absolute favorite. "Solomon Kane's Homecoming," "Cimmeria," and "Kid Lavigne is Dead." For his shorter verse, I always enjoyed:

NUN

I have anchored my ship to a quiet port;
A land that is holy and blest.
But I gaze through my bars at the tempest’s sport
And I long for the sea’s unrest.

The "naughty" poetry was never published during Howard's lifetime, and much of it was written in his letters to Tevis Clyde Smith - folks with the Collected Letters will recognize it.

Robert E. Howard also wrote the El Borak story "The Iron Terror" where the adventurer faces an invincible robot. I got permission to reprint it in THE ROBERT E. HOWARD SAMPLER.

Danke. Unfortunately (?), most of these books I give away never show up on ebay. I think folks either keep their copies or toss 'em.

Vincent wrote: "Yes, he does put together well researched works. I have a couple of his books, actually. Just missed out on this one coming out.

I have:
[book:Weird Talers: Essays on Robert E. Howard and Others|4..."

Yeah, a lot of my self-published books are just giveaways for Howard Days:

2017 - The Robert E. Howard Bar Guide
2018 - Index to One Who Walked Alone and Day of the Stranger by Novalyne Price Ellis
2018 (w/Chris Gruber) - A Robert E. Howard Sampler
2019 - Weird Beginnings
2021 - Strange Stories of Robert E. Howard & Co.
2022 - Cross Plains Pilgrimage
2023 - The Robert E. Howard Trivia Book

Michael wrote: "They were free? I went back there later and the table had closed down I believe due to the wind and rain. Bummer!
The only copy I saw later was one you gave to the museum. You had signed it and the..."

Yeah, Cross Plains Pilgrimage was the giveaway book last year and I don't many extra copies to the museum, so they were handing them out at the sign-in table. Too bad you missed it...but there's always next year!

Michael wrote: "I got the Trivia Book but missed the Cross Plains Pilgrimage. I wanted to get it but didn't have the cash on me when I saw it.
The trivia book is great! I went through the first several pages Frid..."
That's too bad. They were handing out CPP for free at the sign-in table. Still, glad you like the trivia book.

Michael wrote: "You're welcome. I got to run my hands over the top of the table that REH wrote all his great stories on!
I highly recommend you plan a trip in the near future. You would have to fly in to DFW airpo..."

Did you get a copy of the trivia book or Cross Plains Pilgrimage?

The new 3-volume set includes all the drafts and additional letters that have been found (including the ones that were in the index & addenda and a few more), photographs, and an integral index in each volume by John Bullard (he used my index as a basis, but did all the hard work himself and should get the credit for it). So the 2nd edition has everything in the 1st edition and then some; and it should be the new standard going forward.

Thanks Vincent!

Mathieu wrote: "Hi Bobby,

Did the guys from Cabinet reveal anything about the Netflix series like names of people involved?

Also, are the two remaining volumes of the letters out now or only the first one? Do you think there are that many differences with the first edition?"

I didn't catch any names, but then I might have missed it, I was more focused on the Titan books announcement. My experience with Netflix shows is I'll believe they're happening when we see actors in costume on the set between takes and not before.

Only the first volume of the new COLLECTED LETTERS has been released. This includes all the letters & drafts found since the first edition came out, plus photos, corrections, and a new index by John Bullard which is integral to each volume (i.e. no separate index like the one I made!) It's very well done.

Mathieu wrote: And congratulations on your well deserved award. Your book of essays is terrific. I had read them all online but bought the book anyway.

Thank you! If it makes you feel any better, the book standardizes the citations, fixes some errors, and the essay "Robert E. Howard in Mexico" wasn't published anywhere else before.

The book is out now, for anyone that wants a copy. Great cross-section of folks involved, including writers like Michael Moorcock and scholars like Rusty Burke. Really brings home how Robert E. Howard has meant a lot of things to a lot of different people.

If you've never been, Robert E. Howard Days is an annual (except for last year, because of the pandemic) festival held in Cross Plains, Texas, Robert E. Howard's hometown and the site of the Robert E. Howard House & Museum, which is maintained by a local organization called Project Pride. It's a time for fans from across the country (and in non-pandemic times, across the world) to gather and celebrate, learn, and share about Howard's life and fiction. The Robert E. Howard Foundation is there with books, the house is open to the public and with docents on duty, there are panels where Howard scholars talk about different aspects of his life & work & what came after, the folks from Cabinet (who own the Howard literary estate) are on hand to talk about upcoming developments with the TV series, games, and other properties, and most of all, we just enjoy the fellowship of being with fellow fantasy fans, nerding out about minutiae, and having a beer at the pavilion only a few feet away from where Howard himself sipped his own beer, nearly a century ago now.

This year's theme is “Celebrating 51 Years of REH in Comics,” and the guest of honor was Roy Thomas. I rolled into town on Thursday - there isn't much happening Thursday except the fish fry in town, so I spent a few hours hanging out at the pavilion, chatting with whomever showed up, and handing out copies of the book I was giving away this year: Strange Stories of Robert E. Howard & Co.

Friday morning I arrived bright and early, to help the Foundation set up their tent, and I bought a copy of the new edition of the Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard - the previous edition has been sold out, and they're still working on getting a uniform series of print-on-demand paperbacks out, but there have been delays because of the pandemic and life. Still, always nice to see the Foundation books on hand. Jason Waltz of the Rogue Blades Foundation showed up too - he had published the book Robert E. Howard Changed My Life with essays from lots of different folks on how Howard had touched them, from Michael Moorcock and Charles Saunders to Howard scholars like Rusty Burke and Patrice Louinet - who just the other year got his doctorate from the Sorbonne focusing on Robert E. Howard in English literature.

There were a lot of people here this year, many of them showing up for the first time. Many old friends couldn't make it, some because they feared the pandemic (in truth, most folks around town didn't wear masks), others for work or personal reasons. I wish Todd Vick had been there to sell & sign a few copies of his new biography of REH, Renegades & Rogues, but he couldn't make it.

The bus tour started at 9:15; Rusty Burke narrated as they drove all around the surrounding towns to see what was left of Robert E. Howard's time. Many folks wander into town where the Post Office offers a special Howard Days cancellation stamp (designed by Becky Cloonan this year), or go to the public library to view some of the original Robert E. Howard manuscripts on display.

Noon was a hotdog lunch, and in Texas it starts to get hot! We were in the 90s for most of the three days I was there, with humidity creeping up, and you have to be careful to keep hydrated and out of the sun - although thankfully the mosquitoes & other insects were not so bad yet.

At 12:45, the new historical market was presented in front of the Howard House - this is something that's been in the works for years, but the end result is impressive. For those who think of historical markers as small plaques stuck on poles or the sides of buildings, this is a massive bronze slab on a brick-and-concrete base, and some of Howard's relatives were there to help with the unveiling.

The first panels were in the afternoon, and the subject was Robert E. Howard in the Comics. Notable quests were Roy Thomas and Fred Blosser, who had done so much work on the Marvel comics and Cross Plains Comics, Patrice Louinet who was series editor on the Glenat line of adaptations in France, and Jay Zetterberg of Cabinet to discuss the transition of the license from Marvel to Dark Horse and back to Marvel.

After that were the Robert E. Howard Foundation Awards - because we didn't have Howard Days last year, these involved awards for works produced in both 2019 and 2020. Notable recipients include the Crom awards for Patrice Louinet and Dierk Guenther - who both received their PhDs for Howard studies - and REH Foundation stalwart Paul Herman was initiated into the Black Circle, for those who have spent over twenty years of dedicated excellence in promoting Robert E. Howard and his work.

I was pleased to receive the Atlantean award (best book) for my essay collection Weird Talers: Essays on Robert E. Howard & Others.

Many folks lined up for the first autograph session with Roy Thomas, who was, I have to say, wonderful and friendly with everybody.

In between events, we all tend to head back to the pavilion, wander around town, or hit up the gift shop in the House for t-shirts, books, and other goodies. But around 5:30 we made our way to the banquet and the silent auction...

The banquet is another Howard Days tradition; there's limited seating so you have to sign up in advance, and the entree is chicken-fried steak. Most of the initial interest is on the silent auction - Howard fans donate material to Project Pride, and before dinner is served we rotate among the goodies, writing our bids on slips of paper.

After dinner comes the speeches; these are usually fairly short, but also traditional. Thanks to everyone that made Howard Days possible, the presentation of a small scholarship to a local Cross Plains student, some opening remarks...and then Roy Thomas took the stand.

The ultimate insiders view on how Conan (and Robert E. Howard in general) came to Marvel comics, how Thomas & Barry Windsor-Smith and others brought him to the page - more detail than just the panel.

Dinner was served late, so ran late. The last few minutes of the silent auction were fairly tense - as they tend to be. Some of the items up for grabs were a copy of Keep on the Light, the first hardback publication of "Worms of the Earth"; a set of Conan comics bound in four lovely hardbacks; a hand-illustrated map of the Hyborian age; the original art for the 2021 Howard Days poster; four beer bottles with custom REH labels; and innumerable paperbacks, comics, fanzines, etc. Very little wasn't sold!

At ten, a few of us gathered at the Ice House for the "Fists of the Ice House" special - Mark Finn, who is one of the maestros of the Foundation's four-volume collection of Howard's boxing fiction, told everyone about how Howard had boxed on this very spot, then read excerpts from his top ten Howard boxing stories. His voices have to be heard to be believed.

Saturday started out cooler and a bit overcast. The pavilion and house saw less traffic that early in the morning; Rusty Burke was taking folks on a walking tour of Cross Plains before the heat of the day was on us, and at 11AM Roy Thomas gave an extended interview, followed by another signing. There was a break for lunch and then the Cabinet folks showed up to talk about the things that are in the works: the television series is still in production, and they're working on getting a new line of original books set in Howard's world to publication, and Marvel continues to chug along with their comics, both Conan the Barbarian and Savage Avengers.

Rusty came back to the house in the afternoon to give a tour of the House and grounds - showing where the cellar was (excavated back in 2019!), where the garage might have been, etc. They really put him to work this year! Dealers had set up on the shadier side of the pavilion and were selling Conan comics, original artwork, Frazetta artbooks and the like. There was an impromptu flurry of autograph signing since a number of the folks who had essays in Robert E. Howard Changed My Life were in attendance.

At 5PM (or maybe a little earlier) was the barbecue - again, another tradition. Brisket & beans & coleslaw, on paper plates, everyone shooing away flies and finding a space to eat. You never know you might end up elbow-to-elbow with Roy Thomas or one of the Cromcast guys.

The heat was getting to me, but I stayed on until the Poetry Reading. This is another Howard Days tradition; as the sun sets we gather around the front of the house and his poem "Cimmeria" is read stanza by stanza, translated into and read in as many languages as we can get away with. After that, individuals can read other Howard poems out loud, and many do like to share their favorites with an appreciative audience.

The heat and long days were riding on me after that, though. As the sun slants, it pours into the pavilion in a last dying burst of light, burning the skin and blinding the eye, many folks moving into the shade. The dealers had mostly packed up at that point, and I'd given away my last book. So I said my goodbyes...and that was Howard Days 2021.

They had fifty copies of the first book of the new edition of the Collected Letters available at the table at Howard Days 2021; hopefully there will be more available on the website soon.

Glad to see you Michael, hope you enjoy STRANGE STORIES and ROBERT E. HOWARD CHANGED MY LIFE.

I'll be headed out that way, and as in past years I've got a book to giveaway for attendees.

Yeah, will do.