Theagenes Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) That was actually my undercopy in the VCC. that's what I get for not looking again As for Howard's work, I'm obviously biased, but I certainly recommend checking it out - especially his often over-looked non-Conan stuff, some of which is really very good. Delrey has been publishing a great series of collections of Howard's stories edited by two of the top REH scholars Rusty Burke and Patrice Louinet. These are considered to be the most authoritative versions of Howard's work and are beautifully illustrated. The latest volume with his Crusades stories was just released a few weeks ago. REH Del Rey editions on Amazon He wrote in an amazing number of genres other than sword-and-sorcery: horror, historical adventure, oriental adventures, weird menace, hard-boiled detective, western (serious and humorous), boxing (again serious and humorous), sword-and planet, etc. He often mixed genres and in doing so created new ones - S&S (which he is often credited with inventing) is basically historical medieval adventure with a horror or supernatural element thrown in. It's less well-known but he was probably the father of the weird western genre as well. For you or anyone that is curious about checking out Howard's work beyond just Conan I would suggest picking the two Del Rey "Best of REH" volumes for sampling of a stories from a number of different genres. Hope that helps. Oh excellent, thanks for the link and synopsis! I've already added the Horror Stories book to my cart. If I like it well enough, maybe I'll hail you down about Skull Face later if you still have it Are you (or anyone else here) interested in Howard's letters? Hippocampus Press is releasing a paperback version of A Means To Freedom collecting all of the existing Howard/Lovecraft correspondence in 2 volumes for $55 (the hardback was limited to a couple hundred copies and sold out almost instantly a couple of years ago). I'm fascinated by the letters of the Lovecraft circle and judging from the reviews, these would be of much interest to fans of both Lovecraft and Howard. Between this thread and attending MythosCon in Phoenix (an HPL based con held in January) filling me with ideas of things to read, it's going to take me all year to get out from under the books piled on my table. I was fortunate enough to pick up the hardback set (only 300 copies) when they came out and they are an excellent read. Now that they are being released in an affordable paperback version, hopefully more people will get to check it out. It's an absolutely fascinating look into the minds of these two unique individuals. Be prepared for some less-than-PC language, however -- it was a very different time and place. The REH Foundation also offers a three volume set of the complete corpus of REH's letters as well as a number of other collections of material that probably won't make it into the Del Rey volumes. They just released a volume of weird menace stories (including Skull-Face) as well as a collection of detective stories. Both were limted to 150 copies and sold out in preorder, but plans are underway to do a second printing. The Foundation is not-for-profit and the folks that work there are all volunteers trying to help preserve REH's legacy, so there are worse places to spend you money. (thumbs u http://www.rehfoundation.org/ Edited February 24, 2011 by Theagenes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annihilus Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I was fortunate enough to pick up the hardback set (only 300 copies) when they came out and they are an excellent read. Now that they are being released in an affordable paperback version, hopefully more people will get to check it out. It's an absolutely fascinating look into the minds of these two unique individuals. Be prepared for some less-than-PC language, however -- it was a very different time and place. The REH Foundation also offers a three volume set of the complete corpus of REH's letters as well as a number of other collections of material that probably won't make it into the Del Rey volumes. They just released a volume of weird menace stories (including Skull-Face) as well as a collection of detective stories. Both were limted to 150 copies and sold out in preorder, but plans are underway to do a second printing. The Foundation is not-for-profit and the folks that work there are all volunteers trying to help preserve REH's legacy, so there are worse places to spend you money. (thumbs u http://www.rehfoundation.org/ Wow, that Tales of Weird Menace looks awesome - bummer that it's sold out, it looks like something I'd like. I'll have to keep an eye out for the reprint. I'm not bothered by the language of the day, I've read tons of Lovecraft's correspondence and understand that the accepted prejudices of that time and the understanding of them was much different from what they are now. I was (again) late to the party for the Hippocampus hardback release of both Lovecraft's letters to Howard AND Derleth (Essential Solitude). I'm kind of bummed that the Derleth letters might not be reprinted. I talked to Derek Hussey from Hippocampus at the con and he indicated that they needed April Derleth's permission to reprint the volume and he's not sure if (or when) that will happen. I'm positive that 'A Means to Freedom' will sell out though, so hopefully that will provide impetus to get the Derleth letters reprinted too. That Robert E. Howard Foundation website is outstanding. I might have to pick up those volumes of letters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 from pulpartists.com (image too- scans tough from my bound vols) PAUL ORBAN (1896-1974) Interesting - thnx Pat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Robert E. Howard Foundation website very interesting as is REH 'Tales of Weird Menace' book- made me pull out my Dec 1952 Famous Fantastic Mysteries for a glance at old Skull-Face... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 That's a great issue, and one of the one last REH stories to make a pulp cover. Awesome Finlay illustrations on the interior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annihilus Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Dangit you guys have convinced me. I signed up for membership on the REH Foundation website and am going to pick up a 2nd print of that Weird Menace book along with the three volumes of letters. Thanks a lot. (No really!) My pocketbook is cringing at the thought of fully stepping into the pulp world. I've picked up the stray Planet Stories here and there, but I've managed to avoid Weird Tales and the like. I have a feeling browsing this forum will be the death knell for my fun money. As if starting an Arkham House collection wasn't enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Yeah, you'll be broke soon. Truthfully though, collecting pulps is a lot cheaper than comics relatively speaking. To put it in perspective, you can get the first appearance of Conan in the 12/1932 issue of Weird Tales for $1000-2000 in really nice shape. In contrast a CGC 9.8 Conan 1 from 1970 sold for $15,000 last year. Something's out of whack there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) well, that said, FFM can be pretty cool (& cheap!)- they used Lawrence Sterne Stevens art a lot covs (Skull-Face above was his) & ints- and he's real good! here's June 1945- all Lawrence in & out on a novel by the great William Hope Hodgson who wrote many classics before getting blown to bits on a WW1 battlefield... Edited February 24, 2011 by pcalhoun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Calhoun Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 (edited) 2 Stephen Fabian plates for ‘The Dream of X’ published in 1977 by Donald Grant. This was a synopsis of Hodgson’s 2 vol ‘The Night Land’ (1912) which he used to secure US copyright. In a nice eldritch touch he described the short version as recovered from the ashes after the author burned the original. ‘The House on the Borderland’ (1907) came out from Ace in early 1960s when Wollheim was introducing a new generation to some fantasy triumphs. (re HP on BC- Kalpa is a Sanskrit word meaning an aeon, or a long period of time in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology.) Edited February 25, 2011 by pcalhoun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annihilus Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I like the 50's-60's paperback reprints almost as much as I like the pulps or hardbacks that the stories originally appeared in. Most of the time they are a lot easier to find and they've got a character all their own. I've not read any Hodgson. That one looks pretty interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 The Arkham House edition has an especially nice Hannes Bok cover illustration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 When REH failed to sell the original Conan version, he himself had rewritten the story as a pirate yarn, "Black Vulmea's Vengeance," and sold it to Golden Fleece. It was published posthumously in the November 1938 issue. Golden Fleece (November 1938) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 Does anyone have the St. John book "Grand master of Fantasy"? Waiting for it to arrive from Amazon. St. John is a god. I've got it on my Amazon "Wish List." There are a few books I'll probably order first, but it's definitely one I'm planning to buy in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 How do you store them to minimize damage to the overwrap? I have a few 50s Weird Tales in Mylites with fullbacks. Is that the best thing? I personally keep my pulps lying flat on bookcase shelves. I know some people keep theirs standing up in long boxes but I think that just adds unnecessary stress to the cover overhang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I've not read any Hodgson. That one looks pretty interesting. It's available at Project Gutenberg @ The House on the Borderland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 The Arkham House edition has an especially nice Hannes Bok cover illustration. Beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 When REH failed to sell the original Conan version, he himself had rewritten the story as a pirate yarn, "Black Vulmea's Vengeance," and sold it to Golden Fleece. It was published posthumously in the November 1938 issue. Golden Fleece (November 1938) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theagenes Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 How do you store them to minimize damage to the overwrap? I have a few 50s Weird Tales in Mylites with fullbacks. Is that the best thing? I personally keep my pulps lying flat on bookcase shelves. I know some people keep theirs standing up in long boxes but I think that just adds unnecessary stress to the cover overhang. I actually do a combination of all that. I use regular size gold 2mm Mylites with a fullback to store them in. I think the fullback is critical with pulps, because the buffer should help with the off-gassing. For my better pulps i put them in the Mylites upside-down, then slide the whole package rightside-up into a 4mm super gold size Archive - that eliminates the need for tape and gives 6mm of protection, almost like a slab. But if you are going to seal them up like that you must use a fullback or microchamber paper because of the offgassing. Then I store them flat like BZ on bookcase shelves. I do this with my best comics now as well, even slabbed ones. After seeing the pics that BZ posted here showing how he stored his collection and doing a little research, I believe this is the best position to store both comics and pulps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annihilus Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I've not read any Hodgson. That one looks pretty interesting. It's available at Project Gutenberg @ The House on the Borderland Thank you sir - reading it right now! I love that Arkham House cover. I have seen it several times before but it didn't register with me that it was this particular story until seeing it here again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
