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.

James Reasoner, a former REHupan and author of a wagon-load of novels, just made the cut in the Publishers Weekly’s “Top 100 Books of 2009.” Out of fifty-thousand purported contestants, Reasoner walked away in the top one hundred. The novel in question is Hunt at the Well of Eternity. Publishers Weekly said, “Reasoner launches the Gabriel Hunt series with a fast-paced tale of purely entertaining Indiana Jones–like adventure, smartly updated for modern sensibilities.” Right on. Recognition at this level has been a long time coming for Mr. Reasoner. Hopefully, Hard Case Crime gives James another shot at Gabriel Hunt.

Howard Andrew Jones was never in REHupa, but he’s still a card-carrying Friend of The Cimmerian. Jones, as editor of Black Gate and godfather of the Bison Books Harold Lamb series, has name-checked the Man From Cross Plains wherever and whenever appropriate. Howard just announced this late Monday night:

Now that I have a copy of the contract, I no longer feel like I’m jinxing anything by revealing that I have a two book hardback deal with Thomas Dunne, a St. Martin’s division, for my Dabir and Asim historical/fantasy/sword & sorcery novel(s). It’s a good feeling.

A good feeling, indeed, for fans of heroic fantasy. Thus far, Jones’ tales of Dabir and Asim have been excellent examples of historical Sword-and-Sorcery. The fact that Thomas Dunne Books has given Jones a contract also bodes well. That publishing house is the same one that (basically) gave Scott Oden and Robert Low their starts on this side of the pond.

*Scott Oden reveals the serendipity that led to Howard’s book deal here.

A tilt of the mead-horn to both men.

*Art by Ken W. Kelly.