Robert E. Howard Readers discussion

I thought some of you would like to know that Robert E. Howard days will be held this week in Cross Plains, TX.
More info here: http://www.rehupa.com/?p=3330

Hi Enrico: Thanks for the reminder - we do have it listed as an Event here. 2 definitely going, 5 maybes. Will you be going?

Michael, most likely I will be there on Saturday. I live in the DFW area so it should not a problem to reach Cross Plains. Have you ever been there?

No, living in the UK makes the journey a little difficult!

Conan would swim.

And then tunnel his way from the coast using a sea-shell :-)

I hope you guys who were able to make it to this year's REH Days are enjoying yourselves! If you feel the inclination, it'd be great if you could share some of your thoughts and impressions of the event, and maybe post some photos for the Group to enjoy.

Sorry, everybody - I couldn't make it this weekend. A few weeks ago, a close friend announced her wedding date - you guessed it, the same weekend as REH Days. (How thoughtless of her! She didn't even check with me first...)

Alas, my attendance will have to wait until 2013, though I will probably drive to Cross Plains in July just to see the place.

Still a true believer,

P.

Peregrine 12 wrote: "Sorry, everybody - I couldn't make it this weekend. A few weeks ago, a close friend announced her wedding date - you guessed it, the same weekend as REH Days. (How thoughtless of her! She didn't e..."

Oh, bad luck (but good luck to your friend and her husband). Couldn't you persuade her to get married at the Cross Plains Temple of Mitra? :-)

This is the worst days to being REH fan, im always so jealous those fans who live so closely to the event :P

Missed it this year, blast it. I would like to hear about it, though - if anyone is so inclined.

I didn't go this year. I went the last 4 years in a row but this year I just had too much going on with work and family obligations. I plan to get back there next year with at least one of my sons. If you haven't been I highly recommend making it out there one day at least once!

Went there.loved it. I mean, I LOVED it. I was in REH's house, I hasd the opportunity to browse his original manuscripts, to browse and examine the original weird tales! And, wow!, was one inch away from a postcard written by HPL; I have been waiting since I was 14 and in Italy to see a handwritten text by HPL. I almost cried. I was reading it where REH read it!
My wife, not a pulp/scifi fan, enjoyed the trip too. Actually she asked so many questions that I thought she wanted to become a REH scholar:-)

Enrico wrote: "Went there.loved it. I mean, I LOVED it. I was in REH's house, I hasd the opportunity to browse his original manuscripts, to browse and examine the original weird tales! And, wow!, was one inch awa..."

Sounds like you both had a really enjoyable time, Enrico. I'm really jealous! ;-)

Were there any speakers there that you managed to catch?

I was there, my fourteenth in a row. It was a good weekend, bustling but not too overwhelming. There had been rain a few days before so it was not too blazing hot. Chuck Hoffman is a good guy to hang with. We sat around the pavilion talking about underground comix.

Enrico wrote: "My wife, not a pulp/scifi fan, enjoyed the trip too. "

Maybe your wife could convince mine that it'd make for a cool anniversary trip. ;)

I envy your experience at REH's house. Thanks for sharing.

John, well let her read my wife's brief summary of the trip:
http://geekyhouse.blogspot.com/2012/0...

:)

Sorry I missed it this year. Wife's health issues.

Enrico wrote: "John, well let her read my wife's brief summary of the trip:
http://geekyhouse.blogspot.com/2012/0...

:)"

Cool review. Liked the pics. Would still be a hard sell for an anniversary trip but you never know.

Hope your wife is alright, Charles.

Cool review. Liked the pics. Would still be a hard sell..."

there could be a jewelry there.... :)

Can I add pics here?

Charles, what Jim said!

Enrico, you can add pictures. Click n the '(some html is ok)' link at the top right hand side of the reply box & you'll see a way to post them directly into the thread or you can just copy & paste the URL.

Here's the image directly:


Or you can just do the URL like this:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bvRd4c7-INk...

REH Days 2012:












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Super! Thanks!

Man, that's a narrow little room to work in ... goes to show the power of the imagination over physical surroundings.

Thanks for the photos, Enrico! I have always wondered what Howard's life looked like. Since childhood I've wondered about his house, his room, etc. I can't wait to see it myself.

His room was narrow and cramped, his culture (could arguably be described as) narrow and cramped, but his imagination was open and free. This website's postings have caused me to wonder if Howard's constrained life actually fueled his powerful imagination.

PS) And looking at the photos has made me think about something else - his tiny little room had NO AIR CONDITIONING in the murderous Texas heat. How do you survive in a tiny oven like that, much less continue to write? Do you think summertime physical misery might have been an inspiring force for Howard's characters? (Just joking - sort of.)

A fellow Texan,

p.

Cool photos, Enrico - thanks for posting them.

P12: Maybe the Texan heat was why he wrote so many stories set in deserts :-)

Jim wrote: "Hope your wife is alright, Charles."

Unfortunately, it is cancer, but the treatments are going really well at the moment and the tumor has shrunk dramatically.

Best of luck to your both. The old adage about health is true.

Charles, I hope that your wife's treatment continues to go well. Best wishes to both of you.

Whole worlds came out of that simple, little room. Thanks for posting the pics, Enrico.

Charles wrote: "Jim wrote: "Hope your wife is alright, Charles."

Unfortunately, it is cancer, but the treatments are going really well at the moment and the tumor has shrunk dramatically."

Best to you guys here too.

Charles, I join the others in those good wishes!

I didn't go this year (oral surgery, darnit!) but I have some pictures from last year I can upload, looking from outside the door of the bedroom in. So why don't I just post them instead of talk about it, you say? Because...I also just moved and can't find my blasted flash drive right now!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry, teeth hurt like mad, painkillers aren't killing the pain...just what few precious brain cells I have left).

I hope the teeth get better soon, Ron.

Thanks, Jim....right now I'm actually not really in any pain for once! YAY! But...I can't sleep because my gums are so numb...oh what was it Lovecraft said? ....google.....google...

"The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind." -
H. P. Lovecraft

Anyway, I've found all my old pictures but those REH ones...if all else fails, I'll ask my wife once she wakes up. It gives you a really good perspective of how short the room is. There's actually a window that opens between his small bedroom and his parents, presumably left so he could listen in on her while she was sick. I'm not sure if the original poster mentioned it, but the house has been modified since REH lived there. An extra room was added on, where it 'L's around the back was not there in Howard's day.

It is pretty amazing what folks lived in & thought was just fine. We're very spoiled today. I'm quite happy to be spoiled, though.
;-)