After my Tolkien post last Saturday, several interesting new insights have come to light. Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull, authors of The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, posted this response to the Daily Telegraph article over on the J.R.R. Tolkien Collector’s Guide forum:
Robert E. Howard’s seminal Southern Gothic horror tale, “Pigeons From Hell,” continues to go from strength to strength in the pop-cultural arena, bloody axe in hand. During the last week of October, a stage adaptation of “Pigeons From Hell” was performed at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. Now, as I just learned from Bill Thom’s Coming Attractions, the television adaptation filmed for Boris Karloff’s Thriller will be released in 2010. Here’s the blurb straight from Bill:
Boris Karloff’s THRILLER – Coming to DVD in 2010!
Boris Karloff’s THRILLER anthology series was aired from 1960 to 1962. The series featured a wide variety of stars such as William Shatner, Mary Tyler Moore, Rip Torn, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughn, Elizabeth Montgomery, Leslie Nielsen, John Carradine, and Ursula Andress. Stories were based on the works of Robert Bloch, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert E. Howard. The entire remastered series will be released as a deluxe collectors box set featuring all 67 episodes of the show. Extensive special features are being developed including audio commentaries as well as never-before-seen extras.Included in this release is Robert E. Howard’s “Pigeons From Hell.”
If one judged by recent posts, it might be hard to tell that The Cimmerian is a “website and shieldwall” for Robert E. Howard and J.R.R. Tolkien. The Man From Cross Plains has dominated our recent blog activity, but never think we’ve forgotten Tollers. The Cimmerian will be giving the Loremaster of Middle-earth his due in the coming weeks and months. I stumbled upon a couple of news items relating to John Ronald Reuel yesterday. While both concerned revelations that are weeks old (at least), I hadn’t known about either of them and I assume that both articles would be news to many others.
‘Nuff said. Mr. Oden (pictured below), novelist and forthright Robert E. Howard fan, weighs in on the slow-motion train-wreck that is the Lionsgate Conan film. Read 
all about it here.
November has started off with a bang. Two scribes of proven talent and solid credentials vis á vis Robert E. Howard have something to crow about.
Charles R. Saunders, legendary Sword-and-Sorcery author and Friend of The Cimmerian, has posted a guest blog over at the Black Gate website. It’s a review of Lee Child’s “Jack Reacher” series. A big reason why it should interest readers of The Cimmerian (besides the obvious), is that Mr. Saunders compares Child’s peripatetic protagonist to Robert E. Howard’s Conan. (Continue reading this post)
Over on the Official Robert E. Howard Forum, [redacted] (at right) let the bulldog out of the bag. Here’s what he had to say…
Just posted on Bill Thom’s Coming Attractions…
Centipede Press: Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle
Now available to order with the majority being released in late November
and early December.
Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle is a massive, oversized celebration of the lives of H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long, Seabury Quinn, E. Hoffmann Price, Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore, Lee Brown Coye, Hannes Bok, August Derleth, Edmond Hamilton, Manly Wade Wellman, Fritz Leiber, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Donald Wandrei, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, and many others. Each writer has their own section in the book, complete with a custom drawing of the author by noted artist Alex McVey.
Ever since Clint Morris (pictured above), founder of Moviehole.net, posted the “casting breakdown” for the upcoming Conan film from Lionsgate, there have been those who persist in claiming that the whole thing is a “trick” or a “hoax.” Such is not the case, and I have proof.
It has been quite a month for fans of Karl Edward Wagner. For days following the dawn of October 13, there were memorial pieces posted all over the Internet, testifying to KEW’s continuing, vibrant legacy. We here at The Cimmerian did our part.
