Robert E. Howard Readers discussion

I've been reading Western Tales and The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard Volume Three: 1933-1936. Today I re-read "The Thunder-Rider," a past life regression story that uses material REH wrote to HP Lovecraft regarding Quanah Parker, as well as general commentary similar to that which he makes to Lovecraft concerning barbarians, the inability of modern man to live a barbaric life, civilization, and so forth. I got so much more out of "Thunder-Rider" than I ever had before because of the Letters. The story became so much richer because I knew more of the background of the name-dropped mentions, and because I knew so much more of REH's arguments on the matter.

For those who have not read REH's collected letters, I recommend doing it - it lends itself to a much richer experience when reading REH, a richness I didn't expect (and I've been reading REH for 30 years). The Collected Letters are available from the REH Foundation.

I agree. I've read most of the "Collected Letters Volume Three" as well as letters from the other two volumes and the HPL letters as well and it really helps you get inside Howard's head a bit. He was a wealth of information on western history. I wish he would have lived longer to write more western historical fiction. I believe he would have given Louis L'Amour a run for his money.
I have "Western Tales" and plan to read it soon as well.

Howard's letters are packed with western frontier lore - that's one of the reasons why I enjoy reading them so much.

Speaking of R.E.H.'s letters, does anybody recall Howard's letters to Emil Petaja? If I remember a-right, Petaja was some kid who was absolutely mesmerized by Howard's stories. Too, I believe Novalyne Price mentions him in "One Who Walked Alone."

In any event, check out this item for sale on eBay. Damnation, were I in pocket, I'd be purchasing this piece without further ado. Aah, well, some lucky Howard aficionado out there will end up buying it.

http://r.ebay.com/f2YKn8

Speaking of R.E.H.'s letters, does anybody recall Howard's letters to Emil Peta..."


That's pretty cool. I wish I had that much money to spend on such things. Yes, his letters to Petaja are in the Collected Letters volume(s). That particular letter is in Volume Three.

That looks like it comes from the Glenn Lord collection. Paul Hermann said that pieces of it would be showing up on ebay.
It was all scanned beforehand and now it is being sold off to help his family.

Michael wrote: "That looks like it comes from the Glenn Lord collection. Paul Hermann said that pieces of it would be showing up on ebay.
It was all scanned beforehand and now it is being sold off to help his family."

Aaah, you are well informed, Michael. I was wondering where this letter came from. I suspected such a piece of R.E.H. history could only be found in a museum. But who is Paul Hermann?

When you purchase your Robert E Howard Foundation books, Paul Hermann is the person shipping it to you. He is an attorney and REH Scholar who lives here in the DFW area (Plano, TX). He has edited a lot of Howard books in recent years. He has been gathering and cataloging much of Glenn Lord's collections since he passed away. He is Godzilla Dude on the conan.com forum.

Michael wrote: "When you purchase your Robert E Howard Foundation books, Paul Hermann is the person shipping it to you. He is an attorney and REH Scholar who lives here in the DFW area (Plano, TX). He has edited a..."


Thanks for the info, Michael. Damn, I really need to look to the REH Foundation for my future book purchases.

I love, love, LOVE the REH Foundation books. Well bound, heavy, wonderful covers, excellent essays - plus REH's writing.

yup I love them tool. I love collecting them. It's harder to read them though. I like to read reclining and it's hard to read hardcovers that way LOL. I can put up with it though.

I always bought my R.E.H. books on Amazon, Alibris, Ebay, and other such sites... not anymore. The REH Foundation website is the thing! I just checked it out this morn - very cool. I've heard of the REH Foundation many times before, but I never actually delved into it. Hell, I think I'll even become a member. Thanks a lot, fellas. And my apologies for leading this conversation off the subject of The Weird West, an REH theme which I think is very interesting.

That's fine. That's the way conversations go. I'm glad you're interested in the REH Foundation books - that's what keeps them going. They really are the books to get.

I love it when I go to the mail box and the next REH Foundation book is waiting for me.

OT, but just a comment on the Petaja letter, It's not part of Glenn's collection -- that hasn't started selling yet. This letter has been out in the "wild" for some time and has changed hands a couple of times over the last few years.

On Weird westerns, I just thought I'd mention that Mark Finn and I co-authored a chapter on Howard's weird westerns in a recent collection of essays called Undead in the West II. Part of what we're trying to do is educate the modern weird western fans on Howard's early pioneering work on the genre. It's an academic book so it's pricey, but in case anyone's interested:

http://www.amazon.com/Undead-West-II-...

Jeffrey wrote: "OT, but just a comment on the Petaja letter, It's not part of Glenn's collection -- that hasn't started selling yet. This letter has been out in the "wild" for some time and has changed hands a cou..."

Thanks for the clarification. It was an educated guess on my part.

Jeffrey wrote: "On Weird westerns, I just thought I'd mention that Mark Finn and I co-authored a chapter on Howard's weird westerns in a recent collection of essays called Undead in the West II. Part of what we're..."

Thanks for the heads up! It looks interesting.