Jim’s Comments (group member since Dec 04, 2008)

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

Jim passed 1/7/24. This account will be monitored by either his daughter Erin, or his son James. Do not expect messages back regularly. Here is a message from him:

For the past few years my health has declined, a deadly combination of MAC lung disease (a noncontagious cousin of TB) on top of COPD. I've done everything I could to stop it, but there is no hope of getting better & I've been slowly drowning. At this point my best bet is to stay out of the hands of the medical community which would prolong my suffering to no good purpose. "Do no harm" doesn't mean disallowing death, but they seem to think so. Stupid & heartless. We treat our pets better.

I don't believe in an afterlife, a bit of egotism I'll leave to those who believe in fairy tales. I had my shot at life & really enjoyed it for the most part. I have plenty of regrets, but I've made my peace with them & haven't added any in decades. It took me a while to grow up, but I managed to empty my bucket list. There's nothing I want to do any more than what I have been for the past 20 years. I've been every where I wanted to go, done what I wanted to do save for honing my knowledge & various skills & enjoying life. It's been a good one, so don't mourn for me. I was lucky enough to live in a great country in great comfort during one of humanity's most fascinating periods. New wonders appeared constantly.

It is. King Robert had his queen Constance playing bouncer. She didn't like the way the Pope's clerics treated her husband so she knocks one guys eye out then leads the kids in rebellion. Red Sonja would have trouble keeping up with her!

Not to be outdone by the Europeans, the Scandinavians have their own stories.

"Sigurd the Mighty, the Second Earl of Orkney who reigned between 875–892, was killed by by an infected wound after he strapped the decapitated head of Máel Brigte the Bucktoothed to his horse. The bouncing head and jaw chewed into Sigurd's leg on his victorious ride home from their fight."

https://sofrep.com/news/viking-named-...

I'm working on the family genealogy. The old European royals could provide an entire series of books with fodder. Here's one example from one of my distant ancestors. It's a bit long, but I recommend reading it through. It's crazy. (Another ancestress was torn apart by horses because her son was upset with her antics.)

Constance d'Arles, Queen consort of the Franks
French: Constance d'Arles, reine consort de France
Also Known As: "Constance de Provence", "Constance de Toulouse", "Constance de Taillefer"
Birthdate: circa March 27, 974
Birthplace: Arles, France
Death: July 22, 1032 (54-62)
Château de Melun, Melun, Île-de-France, France
Place of Burial: Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France
Immediate Family:
Daughter of Guillaume II "le Liberateur" comte de Provence and Adélaïde la Blanche d'Anjou, Reine consort d'Aquitaine
Wife of Robert II Capet, "the Pious" king of the Franks

Mother of
Emergarde de Auvergne;
Hedwige de France, comtesse d'Auxerre;
Hugues, roi associé de France;
Henry I, king of France;


Adela of France, countess of Flanders; Constance de France, heritiere de Dammartin; Robert I le Vieux, duc de Bourgogne and Eudes de France

Sister of Lucia de Provence, comtesse consort de Razès; Guillaume III le Pieux, comte de Provence and Ermengarde of Arles

Half sister of Alajarde de Provence, souveraine d'Antibes; Ermengarde de Toulouse; Pons, comte de Gévaudan; Ermengarde / Humberge de Limoges de Gévaudan, [daughter of Etienne II de Gévaudan and ADelais d'Anjou]; Almodis de Limoges de Gévaudan; Eimilde de Gévaudan; Guillaume III Taillefer, comte de Toulouse and Tota de Toulouse « less
Occupation: Grevinne, Drottning av Frankrike, Drottning av Frankrike, Queen Consort of France (1001-1031), Queen consort of the Franks, Queen of France, Queen Consort of France, Queen of the Franks, QUEEN OF FRANCE, b. abt 0986, Princess, reine de France
Constance of Arles (c. 986 - 28 July 1032), also known as Constance of Provence, was a queen consort of France as the third spouse of King Robert II of France.
Life
Born c.?986 Constance was the daughter of William I, count of Provence and Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou, daughter of Fulk II of Anjou. She was the half-sister of Count William II of Provence. Constance was married to King Robert, after his divorce from his second wife, Bertha of Burgundy. The marriage was stormy; Bertha's family opposed her, and Constance was despised for importing her Provençal kinfolk and customs. Robert's friend, Hugh of Beauvais, tried to convince the king to repudiate her in 1007. Possibly at her request twelve knights of her kinsman, Fulk Nerra, then murdered Beauvais.

In 1010 Robert went to Rome, followed by his former wife Bertha, to seek permission to divorce Constance and remarry Bertha. Pope Sergius IV was not about to allow a consanguineous marriage which had been formally condemned by Pope Gregory V and Robert had already repudiated two wives. So the request was denied. After his return according to one source Robert "loved his wife more."

In the famous trial in 1022 of members of the clergy, including Constance's previous confessor Stephen, on charges of heresy Robert had his wife Queen Constance stand at the door to prevent any mob violence. However, as the condemned clerics left the trial the queen "struck out the eye of Stephen... with the staff which she carried". This was seen as Constance venting her frustration at anyone subverting the prestige of the crown.

At Constance's urging, her eldest son Hugh Magnus was crowned co-king alongside his father in 1017. But later Hugh demanded his parents share power with him, and rebelled against his father in 1025. Constance, however, on learning of her son's rebellion was furious with him, rebuking him at every turn. At some point Hugh was reconciled with his parents but shortly thereafter died, probably about age eighteen.

Robert and Constance quarrelled over which of their surviving sons should inherit the throne; Robert favored their second son Henry, while Constance favored their third son, Robert. Despite his mother's protests and her support by several bishops, Henry was crowned in 1027. Constance, however, was not graceful when she didn't get her way. The ailing Fulbert, bishop of Chartres told a colleague that he could attend the ceremony "if he traveled slowly to Reims but he was too frightened of the queen to go at all".

Constance encouraged her sons to rebel, and they began attacking and pillaging the towns and castles belonging to their father. Son Robert attacked Burgundy, the duchy he had been promised but had never received, and Henry seized Dreux. At last King Robert agreed to their demands and peace was made which lasted until the king's death.

King Robert died on 20 July 1031. Soon afterwards Constance was at odds with both her surviving sons. Constance seized her dower lands and refused to surrender them. Henry fled to Normandy, where he received aid, weapons and soldiers from his brother Robert. He returned to besiege his mother at Poissy but Constance escaped to Pontoise. She only surrendered when Henry began the siege of Le Puiset and swore to slaughter all the inhabitants.

Constance died 28 July 1032. and was buried beside her husband Robert at Saint-Denis Basilica.

He gives lectures to crowds of up to 6000 people? Wow. I wonder how we've survived as long as we have.

Interesting. I wondered if I was being a grumpy old man after receiving a hardback book without the dust cover that I bought used after looking to make sure it had one. It didn't & it really ticked me off since it was part of a limited run that had 6 books in it (The NESFA Complete Works of Roger Zelazny) & the dust covers were all part of one big painting. I'd bought the full set new for myself & I liked it so much I bought a second set for my youngest boy who is also a Zelazny fan. The reply I got back from the vendor made it seem as if I was expecting too much.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I'm trying to acquire all the Ace/Lancer books but they are getting hard to find in VG or better condition at a reasonable price."

They're over 50 years old, aren't they? All mine have fallen apart, although I have some reprints. I still prefer them to the pure Howard stories since the chronology flows better.

I agree with Michael about his other picks, especially about the later Carter Conans. I never cared much for Thongor (He was better than Jandar.) or most of Carter's stuff, although there was a funny one about a fat little green wizard who turned out to be god. IMO, Carter was a better editor than author. I liked the Flashing Swords books.

Welcome, Brad.

Welcome, Kris. Most people know REH as the creator of Conan, but he wrote so much more in his short life. His horror is exceptional, but I'm not sure how well his humor will work for you. It doesn't work well for many US citizens. I find Breckinridge Elkins, Steve Costigan, & others funny. I'll be curious to see if you like them.

Ron wrote: "A Gent From Bear Creek (Breckinridge Elkins) I have to admit, I'm not really a fan."

It's pretty silly humor, but I love it. It's about the same as the Steve Costigan/Dennis Dorgan humor.

You're welcome. I recommend signing up for their email. Jarred only does so once a week & it's pretty informal. He often discusses what he's reading or watching plus you get a heads up on new projects like this one.

NOT a REH book, but if you're into Ambrose Bierce or weird fiction, you might be interested in the new Centipede Press collection of his work.
http://www.centipedepress.com/masters...

It's $50, so not cheap, but their books are excellent - really well made, great artwork, & highly collectible, if you're into that sort of thing. This one, like several others I have of theirs on other authors, is a door stop at over 700 pages. None of mine are particularly collectible any more since both my son-in-law & I have read them. I have several including a collection of Lovecraft's work & I've been very pleased. I ordered a copy of this one. Order it soon if you want one. They usually sell out fast & don't reissue them.

There is definitely something spare & raw about REH's writing that deCamp & Carter never matched. Few have, although Karl Edward Wagner comes close. However, I liked the way the pair rewrote it into Conan's timeline. Their first efforts at that were far better than the later efforts which added some real crap. I realize that's a minority opinion here where original REH rules, but I also like their completion of the Kull stories far better than the original fragments.

I guess I'm more of a completist & I also have a thing for chronology. I helped Jared with the chronology & list of stories for Centipede Press' 5 books of KEW's Kane. I've also gone to a lot of trouble assembling & updating the complete chronologies for Modesitt's Recluse & Connolly's Harry Bosch universe. Both include the books & short stories. Judging by the community help I had on the last project, I'm not the only one.

That looks like a real deal, RJ. Congrats! They're good stories.

I don't really recall my first Conan story, but I remember the covers clearly. My father bought several of the Lancer editions when they first came out in paperback in the 60s with the Frazetta covers. Seeing Conan astride a big snake in & swinging his axe in captured my bloodthirsty imagination. I was only about 7 at the time & the text was above me, but I remember trying. I got into trouble because Mom didn't think it was appropriate.

A few years later, my father died & I got both of those books as part of his legacy along with several others. I read them to pieces.

Have you noticed many or significant changes to the stories in the various books? I've never really studied them or been bothered by those I've seen, but I know the Zebra editions swapped Dennis Dorgan in for Steve Costigan. Otherwise the stories read about the same to me.

Good buy. I have a copy, although I don't seem to have reviewed it so I guess I haven't read it in the past decade or so. I've read all the stories, though.

We have a topic for Wagner in this group. It's here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Welcome, Lovro. Look around & I'm sure you'll find some other great writing. I'm partial to Karl Edward Wagner's Kane stories.