Theagenes

Among the more interesting sights on the tour is the Cross Plains Public Library with its cool mural. Also the building that used to house the ice house where Howard used to box with the local roughnecks. It was also the place where all the beer was kept in those days of prohibition: After lunch we headed to the local post office to send out some post cards. Every year on the first day of Howard Days, the Cross Plains post office has a special cancellation stamp featuring REH that's only available that day. Next we hit the library for some of the panels. One that might be of interest is the history of REH fanzines panel. From left to right, Dennis McHaney, editor of the Howard Review; Damon Sasser, editor of REH: Two-Gun Raconteur, and Lee Breakiron, a big fanzine collector who is currently working on cataloging the vast number of REH fanzines going back to the 30s. Dennis and Damon began putting out their zines back in the early 70s during the Howard boom at that time and unlike many of their contemporaries are still publishing. Of course what began as mimeographed hand-stapled zines in the 70s are now slick professionally printed publications. Lee brought a bunch of zines from his personal collection to pass around, including some rare Fantasy Fans and Phantagraphs from the '30s. One of the fun things about this little small town library is its great collection of REH-related books and pulps. It's really funny to see these sweet little old church-going ladies proudly showing off their collection of Weird Tales with lurid risque Brundage covers.

Day Four The first official day of Howard Days began at the Howard House and the pavilion next door as the crowds began to arrive. One of the first events is a riding tour around Cross Plains led by Rusty Burke. Neil and I did the tour last year, but Claudia hadn't done it so we hopped aboard. As you can see, the tour bus is state-of-art.

Sorry for the delay, but the last couple of days have been whirlwind and I haven't had a chance to post. Some more day 3 pics: Fabrice and I flanking Dennis McHaney, longtime prominent figure in Howard fandom and publisher of one of the first REH fanzines, the Howard Review. Howard's room Geeking out on some pulps and cmics. My fellow former Cimmerian bloggers, Miguel from Paris and Al from Scotland.

Well, that was after quite a few Shiner Bocks.

oops, I'll edit those huge photos in a minute.

Robert E. Howard Days - Day 3 After a yummy, greasy breakfast at Jean's Feed Barn, I started hanging out and catching up with other REHupans and REH fans hard core enough to arrive two days early (the actual start of Howard Days is Friday). In the afternoon the Howard House was opened for us for a couple of hours. It's now on the Historic Register and has been turned into a museum and gift shop (I'll have some pics tomorrow). A picked up a couple of books I needed and headed back to the motel room for some AC and to geek out over some pulps with a couple of Howard Fans from France. Later in the evening everyone drove the 30 miles to nearby Brownwood, the closest town of any decent size. There we had the annual pre-Howard Days dinner at Humphrey Pete's, famous for it's steak and fried pickles. From left to right: Claudia, my lovely and very patient wife; Frank Coffman, English professor and expert on Howard poetry; Rusty Burke, Howard scholar and editor of the excellent Wandering Star/Del Rey editions; and Fabrice Tortey, editor and translator of several French REH editions. Left to right: Frank; Fabrice; a new guy named Chuck; Ryan Flessing, a member of REHupa; Barabra Barrett, author and poet; and yours truly. After dinner a group of us went to the cemetery there in Brownwood where Howard is buried so we could pay our respects. On Day 4 the official Howard Days begins. More soon....

Robert E. Howard Days 2011 - Day 2 Today was long - a 12 hour drive. We almost ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere in Louisiana. Who would have thought you could have so many exits in a row on an interstate with no gas stations? And apparently in Texas they have two different speed limits - one for daytime and one for nighttime. The highway patrol officer very kindly explained it to me. He was incredulous that I would I drive all the way from Florida to Cross Plains. I'm pretty sure he must have thought I was smuggling drugs or something. I had to sheepishly admit what the real purpose of my trip was, at which point he was trying not to laugh. Claudia wasn't even trying. He finally let me go with a warning, mainly I suspect because he felt sorry for Claudia being dragged halfway across the country by her geek husband. We finally rolled into to Cross Plains around 10pm and checked in to the 36 West Motel, the only lodging in town - $50 a night. Let's just say it's a far cry from staying at Rich's. At least they managed to clean up the the chalk line on the floor from the dead hooker before we checked in. With my job, I've stayed in some pretty low budget places, but this is definately up there. But it's right next door to the Howard House - location, location, location. I'm going to hit the sack soon - it's been a long day. More tomorrow!

It's called Forgotten Grails Anonymous. The first step is admitting you have a problem. The second step is picking up a Tarzan Single Series 20.

All these early fandom threads are just blowing me away. Amazing stuff!

Thanks Rich! We will definitely have to do it again sometime. Just crossed the state line into Texas. Man this is a long drive.

Absolutely, though I think Gayle and Claudia might have more fun in the other room making fun of our geekery.

Unfortunately, not this trip., Roger I'll make it back down there one of these days though and hopefully we'll have more time to hang out next time. I'll be seeing Mark Finn again this week, who you met back in April.

Robert E. Howard Days 2011 Day 1 All right I'll give a daily trip report and see how that goes. So most of you know I'm a big REH fan and have even been dabbling in the world of REH scholarship over the last couple of years. I started by writing popular articles for TheCimmerian.com and recently I've been doing more academic work on Howard with a couple of peer-reviewed articles, a book chapter, and paper at the PCA conference. I also joined REHupa, the Howard-oriented apa that's been around since the early 70s. Well, a big part of being involved this deeply in Howard fandom is making the annual pilgrimage to Cross Plains for Howard Days. It began as a small get-together for some of the REHupans back in the 80s and has grown to become almost a mini-con for REH fans with panels, guests, a swap meet, etc. Last year was my first time going to HDs. I met up with fellow boardie lookwhoitis (Neil) and we had great time. There's some pics of our trip in the "Conan Comics" thread in General, btw. This year my wife Claudia agreed to join me, so we decided to drive instead of fly and make a week long roadtrip out of it. That would also allow me to bring along a couple of boxes of books, comics, and pulps for selling, trading, or just for geeking out over. Since its a sixteen hour drive plus from Tallahassee to the middle of nowhere in West Central Texas we decided to break it up. So last night we stopped off in Mississippi to visit our own Rich "Yellowkid" Olson, who graciously agreed to put us up for the night. Rich and his wife are the most wonderful host and have a beautiful home. Rich also has an amazing collection that I love seeing when I visit. He and I have very similar tastes when it comes to collecting and I always really enjoy geeking out with him. We thought it might be nice to post a pic showing all these superhero fanatics what "real" grails look like. So we're back on the road this morning headed to Texas and post some occasional updates as our Howardian adventure continues. Please excuse any typos as I'll mostly be posting with my phone.

Sounds like terrific fun. I hope you take a bunch of photos. Here's a going away present of sorts. The last issue of Strange Tales which includes Robert E. Howard's story, "The Cairn on the Headland." Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror (January 1933) Cover: H.W. Wesso What a great send off!

Well, I'm on my way to Cross Plains, TX for Robert E. Howard Days 2011.

Don't know story, but I really love Williamson's work. RIP.

That's one I still need!

Jeffrey like this.

Cool! I've seen that one.

Airships and land ironclads! Awesome!

Here's some dime novel lost world fiction. "Weird Polar People" Anybody else collect dime novels?

Yes indeed. I tried to pick up a few more early burroughs pulps but there was way to much competition in that auction. I also got this Darrell Richardson copy of the scarce third issue of Jack Dempsey's Fight Magazine a few months ago from a French REH scholar. (Earle Bergey cover)

This is the only early All-Story I have, but I really want to pick up some more.

You are killing me with these glorious covers! I'm happy you're enjoying them. I love them, too. I'm surprised there isn't an entire subset of collectors who specialized in these pulps. The artwork on the covers throughout this period have a beauty that, I think, is irresistible. You man turn me into a one-man subset if you keep posting these.

That's just beautiful Finlay.