For those who are interested, check out this page from the World Wide Words website, which gives a historical analysis of the phrase “Blood and Thunder.” This commonly used expression in Howardian circles has its roots in the eighteenth century and earlier.
Howard Andrew Jones has been a good friend of Robert E. Howard scholarship for years. Best known as the guy who’s been studying, publishing, and popularizing the work of Adventure writer Harold Lamb, he has often used Lamb’s work to cast insight into REH’s. Readers of the V3n11 issue of TC (November 2006) know that Jones was a staunch defender of Two-Gun on one of the REH-themed panels at the 2006 World Fantasy Convention, thoroughly rebutting some “REH was juvenile” evaluations of our favorite Texan’s style.
Jones has recently become the editor at Black Gate magazine. While the publication has always tipped its hat to Sword-and-Sorcery and the classic writers who made the genre what it is, under Jones’ editorship it is slated to become even more of a repository for the latest and greatest in rugged fantastic adventure writing. Cimmerian proofreader, blogger, and regular contributor Steve Tompkins has already published a tribute to David Gemmell at the Black Gate website, and Cimmerian contributor Darrell Schweitzer has landed items in the magazine — in fact, an evaluation of Darrell’s fantasy writing is available there.
I especially liked the recent entry at the Black Gate blog, which details Mr. Jones’ foray into the massive BG slush pile. He constructs a fine list of clichés and problems with most of the stories he receives, warnings that potential authors would be wise to heed when writing their own efforts.
Fans of Howard’s desert adventure writing will definitely want to check out all of the great Harold Lamb books Jones has been willing into print over the past few years. Amazon now has the complete Khlit the Cossack stories of Lamb available in four volumes: Wolf of the Steppes, Warriors of the Steppes, Riders of the Steppes, and Swords of the Steppes. Jones notes on his Curved Saber website dedicated to Lamb that L. Sprague de Camp said of these stories:
They are tales of wild adventure, full of swordplay, plots, treachery, startling surprises, mayhem, and massacre, laid in the most exotic setting that one can imagine and still stay in a known historical period on this planet.
Pretty cool endorsement, I think you’ll agree. And note that, further on down the homepage of the site, Jones reveals that he got his Lamb collection from none other than John D. Clark, who once wrote to Robert E. Howard way back in 1936, and who later was involved in editing the Conan stories for hardcover in the 1950s. Small world.
As if all of that isn’t enough, Jones was also instrumental in creating and growing the foremost website dedicated to Sword-and-Sorcery, the aptly-named Sword-and-Sorcery.org. Lots of interviews, stories, reviews, and other material for the fantasy and S&S enthusiast, including several Howard related items.
So scoop up those Lamb books to get a major Howardian style fix of adventure fiction, and if you are a lover of Sword-and-Sorcery, do yourself a favor and subscribe (and submit) to Black Gate. With the proper editing and the right fan base, it could slowly grow into a modern answer to the great venues and authors of old.
Just got a batch of Cross Plains Reviews, and the March 1, 2007 issue carries a blurb on the REH Foundation‘s new Cross Plains High School Writing Competition. The text of the piece is identical to the press release found at the Foundation web site, so I won’t repost it all here. But now the town is aware of it, and it will be interesting to see how many Cross Plains kids give it the old college try, as the saying goes.
Sorry there hasn’t been any new posts lately, but all of the Cimmerian bloggers have been busy with other things. Both Rob and Steve have been hard at work on Howardian book projects that are going to rock your world later this year, Mark’s been working on getting his movie theater running in between Howardian speeches in Cross Plains, and I’ve been wrestling with a whole slew of things including the April issue of TC, the V3 Index issue, the V3 slipcases, the Cimmerian Awards trophies, REH Days scheduling, mastering some REH recorded poetry (!?!), selling REHupas and other Howardian items on eBay, and a host of other stuff, including something called Real Life.
Nevertheless, slowly but surely all of us are crawling out from under the mounds of work we’re engaged in, and you should start seeing some new posts soon. Not to mention some new Cimmerian issues and such. It looks as if the REHupa blog has been suffering from a lack of posts for many of the same reasons. Indy’s in the middle of assembling the April mailing of REHupa, Morgan’s been hard at work on an essay for me, and Rusty has his usual list of stuff to do stretching from here to the moon (of skulls). All a part of doing this as a hobby, riding the crests and dips as they come.
Stay tuned….
Just got the Cross Plains Review from early February in house, and fellow blogger [redacted] made the front page with news of his then-impending talk about his new Howard biography. The text of the article, written by Project Pride newshound and Cimmerian contributor Arlene Stephenson, is available at the Cross Plains Library website, and is reprinted below with relevant hyperlinks.
MEET THE AUTHOR FEATURES MARK FINN
Cross Plains Review, Thursday February 8, 2007The popular Meet the Author series sponsored by the Cross Plains Public Library will feature [redacted] next Tuesday, February 13. 7:00 p.m. at the Community Center.
Although Finn, who now lives in Vernon, was born in Abilene, he admits to spending most of his formative years in exotic locations like Sweetwater, Maryneal, Brownwood, and of course. Cross Plains!
As an early and precocious reader, Mark discovered the writings of Robert E. Howard at age 12. Like so many, he became hooked for life. Icing on the cake to the young reader was to discover that Howard had grown up and written his many adventure stories from Finn’s own back yard. As a result of his life long interest in Howard’s wide variety of stories and poetry, Finn has become a frequent visitor, and is one of our top ambassadors who is always quick to tout Cross Plains to the world.
Finn decided at an early age that he wanted to become a writer when he “grew up.” He laughs that his “earliest fiction has thankfully been lost to the winds of time, and no tears will be shed for them.” However, those early efforts did have value as he continues to hone his writing skills from past efforts.
To date, Finn has two books of fiction and hundreds of articles, reviews and short stories to his credit. He also does double duty as the Creative Director for the Violet Crown Radio Players, where he writes, directs and occasionally performs old time radio scripts. His original audio theater version of King Kong was recently nominated for a B. Iden Payne award for best sound production.
Since 1995, Finn has been a regular attendee of the annual Robert E. Howard Days. Right here in Cross Plains, he met a number of colorful people from around the world who would later become his friends and fellow scholars in the Robert E. Howard United Press Association. Like many of these scholars, he agrees that Robert Howard’s greatest gift to Cross Plains was worldwide recognition.
In 1998. Finn became part of the writer’s collective known as Clockwork Storybook. along with Bill Willingham, Chris Roberson and Matthew Sturges. They produced a number of stories and books before disbanding in 2001. Among their more interesting accomplishments was a special online REH tribute issue, wherein all of the stories written for the month dealt in some way with an original REH manuscript — a manuscript that was digitally provided with the generous help of the Cross Plains Public Library, of course.
By 2004, Finn was getting serious about compiling a biography of Howard and was once again working with Roberson and MonkeyBrain Books. The two-year project is now in publication as Blood & Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard and is gaining publicity as the first book-length biography written on the famous Texas author in over twenty years. Over the years, Finn has brought approximately 30 people to Cross Plains in the interest of showing them his favorite author’s old stomping grounds. Among them was his wife, Cathy Day of the Violet Crown Radio group, who commented on their drive back to Austin, “You know, it’s really frustrating to me that Howard isn’t being appreciated as a Texas author.” The Library is proud to note that Cathy’s comment is the premise of Finn’s coming visit — to discuss Howard as a Texas author influenced by Texas history, economy and environs.
Although this event is free to the public, donations are always welcome. Refreshments will be served as patrons mix and mingle and visit with Finn, who will gladly autograph books. Call the library at 254-725-7722 for more information about the evening.
Submitted by Arlene Stephenson
I didn’t know anything about the Clockwork Storybook REH tribute, Mark will have to enlighten us about that at some point.
The Cross Plains Library website is well worth exploring for Howard fans. Researchers wanting copies of the REH typescripts in the Library’s holdings can check out their acquisition PDF here. They also have some choice REH items for sale, so check out the For Sale page. I can also recommend another book on that page, On the Banks of Turkey Creek by James Nichols, which relates his growing up in Cross Plains only a few years after Howard’s time and contains much of interest for fans of Howard who want to learn more about that community and the people Howard knew, such as Lindsey Tyson and Dave Lee. You also might want to acquire copies of the Cross Plains Oral History Project, which has captured the reminiscences of such people as Jack Scott, Zora Mae Bryant, Lois Garrett, and Troy Crockett, all names familiar to attendees of the annual REH Days due to their first-hand experiences with the Howard family during the 1930s. And Charles Rodenberger, known for the part he played in the very first Howard Days (an event which Bill Cavalier covered at length for The Cimmerian, in V3n6‘s “How Robert E. Howard Saved My Life”) has a series of book reviews on the site, including one on the Robert E. Howard 1970s paperback collection The Last Ride. It’s an interesting review because it addresses some of the antipathy felt towards Howard by factions of the populace of Cross Plains who decry his treatment of bloodthirsty barbarians as heroes.
Perhaps the most gratifying detail in this morning’s coverage of the box office brawn of Zack Snyder’s 300 is the news that in Greece the film demolished records for a March opening. Gotta say, though, the part of me that has always taken the outcome of the Peloponnesian War personally can’t help wishing for a few riots at midnight screenings in downtown Athens.
Meanwhile still no word on audience reactions in Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Qom…
Watching Clint Eastwood present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Ennio Morricone last night was as close as I’ll ever get to seeing Frank Frazetta give Robert E. Howard the Nobel Prize for Heroic Fantasy. Admittedly not an exact analogy, but close enough for rock-and-roll. Of course the sampler of il maestro‘s soundtracks should have concluded with the music from Harmonica and Frank’s ritualistic showdown in Once Upon a Time in the West, the ne plus ultra of a composer stepping in to co-write, co-direct, and co-act not just any crucial scene, but the crucial scene I would screen for xenoanthropologists from the Andromeda Galaxy who inquired about movies as an artform…
MARK ADDS: When they did their “Salute to Writers in Film” segment, I nurtured a hope that we’d get a shot of d’Onofrio shouting as he typed. Alas, it was not to be.
In a post a few days ago on the 2007 World Fantasy Awards, I gave readers some suggestions on getting Howard projects nominated again this year. In all the hubbub and excitement I forgot to mention one of the most obvious ones: [redacted]’s Blood & Thunder for “Special Award: Professional.” It would be nice to see that book win and provide Howard with a World Fantasy Award to bookend the Award given to Tom Shippey in 2001 for J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. Be sure to remember Mark when you’re filling out your ballots.
It’s time for all those who attended the World Fantasy Convention last year in Austin to once again cast your votes for the World Fantasy Awards. As you may know, anyone who popped for a membership last year gets to also vote for the next two years, even if they don’t buy any further memberships. So all of you guys who purchased Associate Memberships last year just to vote can do so again. I received my ballot in the mail today, so most of you likely have as well. If not, you can e-mail your vote to Rodger Turner, and he will verify your name against the registration lists for the last two cons.
Although we Howardists were shut out of the winner’s circle last year, hope springs eternal. So if you feel TC did a decent job in 2006, do me a favor and cast your vote in the SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT: NON-PROFESSIONAL category for “Leo Grin, The Cimmerian.” It would be nice to show up once again at the gates to the Ivory Tower and raise a barbaric ruckus.
And as you are filling out your ballots, don’t forget to renominate Glenn Lord for Lifetime Achievement. Everyone is pretty much in agreement that slighting Glenn in the year that REH was the theme of the convention was the one unforgivable action of last year’s judges’ panel. So let’s get his name back on their radar, too.
I don’t really have strong opinions about the other categories, but for Best Novel you could do worse than to nominate Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow by the late David Gemmell. He probably won’t win as the prejudice against Gemmell and similar fantasy authors seemed pretty strong among the WFC faithful (whether they’ve actually read a single word he’s written is another story), but it would be nice to see him nominated at least. That would be yet another shot across the bow of those who would deny the continued existence and relevance of Sword-and-Sorcery in the fantasy field. It’s not just a bunch of insipid Tolkien clones — there is good work being done.
And hey, for Best Artist why not nominate “Dalmazio Frau, a.k.a. Dalmatius” who drew over thirty pieces of Howardian art last year to make The Cimmerian‘s third volume a special one? I don’t think illustrating so many different Howard stories in a single year has ever been done before. Fantasy, horror, boxing, westers — he did it all.
Rusty Burke, who ferrets out all kinds of things the rest of us don’t know about, sez:
Doug Ellis and the folks at Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention (Chicago, May 4-6) need material for the program book that is REH and Weird Tales oriented. Payment is in contributor copies, but Doug says he’d be happy to throw in a complimentary membership as well. I’ll have to ask him about the deadline, I’d guess no later than mid-April given the dates. You can contact Doug directly for more info, if needed, or e-mail submissions here.
The theme of this year’s convention is REH/Weird Tales/Conan. Guest’s of Honor are Gary Gianni and Ken Kelly.
Man, between this show, PulpCon in Dayton, OH on July 5-8 2007 (where Glenn Lord will be Guest of Honor), and Gen Con in Indianapolis on August 16-19 2007 (where they are going to start having an “REH Day”), Howard is going to be all over the place again this year. There’s now officially another Trifecta of events to try to make, and that’s not including Howard Days in Cross Plains on June 8-9 2007.
